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ferusaurelius · 2 years

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The Tragedy of Israel Hands

A play in three Acts.

Remember how I said I’d write up some Izzy meta? Well here’s the short version. I have a google doc full of 10+ pages of notes and individual scene breakdowns for each episode, but I don’t know if I want to pull all that out and unpack everything with that level of detail just yet.

As a tribute to Con O’Neill, I’m going to stick to the top-level summaries of what I’ve noticed. His acting is brilliant! Go and rewatch OFMD and appreciate his performance, please.

The pure tragedy of Izzy Hands adds an extraordinary level of depth, contrast, and context to the romance between Edward Teach and Stede Bonnet -- beyond mere antagonism! -- that I’m still a bit overcome with inexpressible awe and admiration. I’ll do my best to stick to the outline to encourage you to go back and rewatch the show with a focus on Izzy’s perspective. :)

I also submit to you David’s tweet (pictured here) about the complexities of the relationship between Izzy and Edward and David’s polygon interview (skip to the end) as further motivation to do that rewatch.

I made myself unbearably sad about Izzy as a character while also accepting (and acknowledging) the sheer damage he’s doing to himself and his relationships -- and now you can join me in a hell of Izzy’s own making, too! :D

Warning this is so fucking long you probably should be sitting down.

Act I - Trouble in Izzy’s Pirate Paradise

Basically, Izzy fails to understand that he has never gotten to know Edward as a person beyond what they’ve done to construct the Blackbeard legend together. His assumption that he knows what’s best for Edward and that he has to protect the “legendary Blackbeard” become the seeds of his own undoing. Izzy’s actions directly instigate the series of events that will lead to Edward meeting and falling in love with Stede.

If you look at that process of understanding each other while falling in love as inevitable between Edward and Stede, then Izzy’s attempts to thwart that relationship, as well as his crushing ignorance about the inner life of probably the only person he thinks of as a friend(!), are really devastating.

Con O’Neill plays this really well in scene. I’ll hit the highlights.

01- Pilot (Stede Bonnet & Crew vs. The English Navy)

Izzy doesn’t appear in this episode, so consider the English officers (Wellington and Hornberry) as a kind of stand-in foreshadowing the consequences of hubris. Remember, it’s one of the officers looking through a telescope and calling Stede a “fat woman in a dressing gown” that touches off the series of events that leads to the crew of The Revenge killing Nigel Badminton and taking hostages. As a point of interesting trivia, it’d be the role of a first officer like Izzy to track a ship’s course and prevent it from running aground, as occurs in the very next episode.

02- A Damned Man (...It’s Izzy. Izzy is the Damned Man.)

In a brilliant bit of staging and writing, we ‘meet’ Blackbeard-the-legend before Edward-the-man. Izzy and Edward created Blackbeard together as a practical way of taking prizes with as little resistance as possible because everyone sees the flag and gets terrified. Hint: the motive is fear.

David Jenkins does all of this out in the open because he’s a mad genius like that and we salute him.

Recall also that Izzy’s motivations for approaching The Revenge are purely self-interested. He wants to take advantage of Stede’s misfortune and take those valuable hostages for himself, if possible. I also love the metaphorical implications of Izzy’s undoing being through hostages/damned/condemned men, too! It’s so literal and on-the-nose it’s beautiful.

Anyway, Izzy wastes a perfectly good opportunity to kill Stede Bonnet because as a god-tier duelist he’s too busy playing with his food. He takes so long to put Stede out of his misery that the rest of the crew manages to pull off even an idiotic plan.

Izzy ends up humiliated by Stede in part because he underestimates the Gentleman Pirate and his merry band of imbeciles. Even the best pirates have bad days when they get arrogant. Izzy is totally unprepared to suffer an actual defeat and in even worse news for his dignity, Fang and Ivan were both there and witnessed this and they’re 100% aware of his bullshit.

The end of this episode also gives us a great shot of Izzy, Fang, and Ivan on Blackbeard’s ship. I love the atmosphere with spikes, black rigging, and muted colors. We’ll meet Edward in person -- and so will Stede! -- next episode.

03- A Gentleman Pirate (… who will shortly invade Izzy’s life, while Izzy is the one capturing The Revenge, a study in irony.)

Did you forget that the opening shot of this episode was from Izzy’s perspective while he looks through a telescope at The Revenge? Because I did. Ed appears! Well, kinda. Ed is facing away from the camera and sitting in a chair in the candle-lit darkness, smoking a pipe.

We also get this exchange:

EDWARD: Wait till they make landfall then invite ‘em aboard the ship. And, Izzy, I want you to handle this personally.

IZZY: Oh, Edward, can’t I just send the boys?

EDWARD: Mm-mm. No, I want this done right. After all, he is a gentleman. We want to make a good impression.

IZZY: Stupid fuckin’ Stede Bonnet.

That last line there is the tragic refrain of Izzy Hands. He’s going to think and repeat this so much both internally and out loud, even he doesn’t even realize at this point that it’s the real beginning of the end. He’ll get the picture soon enough, but by then it will be far too late.

And we’ll get to watch him delude himself into believing he ever had a chance at success while further ensuring his own failure. No one sabotages themselves quite like Izzy (thanks Con O’Neill!). Every attempt for Izzy to turn the ship around and restore order through his actions has both immediate and long-term consequences leading to his humiliation, isolation, and defeat.

In this episode, Izzy has done everything in his considerable power to keep this introduction from happening and, in fairness, reveals in the next episode that he’s the one that tracked Stede to the Spanish warship and attacked because Edward directed him to do so.

“Our Prayer” by the Beach Boys plays when Stede and Edward meet. WHAT. This is amazing! Sorry, Izzy, I regret to inform you that Edward and Stede are having a religious experience known only to themselves.

Izzy probably expected Blackbeard to carry on with violence-as-usual after they invade both the Spanish warship and The Revenge as a sort of two-for-one prize. And if Stede weren’t so good at subverting expectations and charming Edward, that’s exactly what would have happened!

Izzy did everything right as a professional and a first mate who is obeying his Captain and still the world is conspiring to thwart him.

David also mentions in his Polygon interview that this episode is the end of the first act. So we’re going to treat it like that.

Act II is where both the love story between Edward and Stede and the contrasting tragedy between Edward and Izzy are both going to play out on-screen and really hit their relative stride (often in the same crucial frames!).

Act II - Izzy Suspects the Obvious Truth About Edward and Stede

No one denies like Izzy Hands, no one lies like Izzy Hands, no one duels and loses and gets thoroughly sidelined like Izzy Hands!

No, I’m not sorry. He brought it on himself in so many ways, partly because he can’t see how much he doesn’t understand about Edward even when Edward explains everything in front of him in very plain language. Izzy isn’t capable of asking the right questions because he already assumes he’s right and has all the right answers. If only Edward could see it, too!

04- Discomfort in A Married State (It’s Stede and Mary but, wait, it’s also … Izzy and Edward.)

Do I even need to tell you how much I adore the scene where Izzy goes along with Edward’s dumb plan of treating Stede like Blackbeard while Stede is wearing Blackbeard’s clothes?

Izzy plays this totally seriously and shoves Stede down in the hold and tries to get him to give orders. Then Edward, dressed like Stede, waits for Lucius to finish counting down and then lays out the situation of what it’s like to be Blackbeard in excruciatingly clear emotional detail.

If you watch Izzy’s face in this scene you’ll realize that Edward has never expressed any of these doubts in front of Izzy.

Izzy is just as taken by surprise as Stede is. It’s BRILLIANT. Then up on deck in the next scene it’s Izzy in the fog at first. He doesn’t believe that Edward has managed to do this. Edward knows Izzy doubted him!

They share a look I still can’t decipher while everyone takes in the thick fog ( @thescreechowl sussed it for me). Izzy is also the one who has to tell Edward that it’s not September 2nd, it’s September the 1st. Izzy is forced to play the harbinger of doom because he’s the only one on the ship who can keep up with Edward’s reasoning.

Is it Izzy’s fault that he has to be the one to tell Edward they’re doomed? No, it’s just what a good first mate does. You’ll notice that Izzy also isn’t around for the lighthouse scene. Everyone else is at the rail celebrating without Izzy.

In the morning, after Edward makes his deal to teach Stede about being a pirate if Stede will teach him about the ways of aristocrats and fine things? Edward has to hide that from Izzy.

Izzy, in a moment of clarity, already knows the game is up and has already packed his bags to leave the ship. He knows that his open doubts from the day before have crossed a line with Edward in a way that even he can understand. And Edward, knowing that he still needs Izzy around if he’s going to follow through on his deal with Stede, tells Izzy what he needs to hear in order to keep him on The Revenge.

Izzy takes this made-up plan of Edward’s as something serious and then admits he was wrong about Ed being a deranged, unstable, erratic “twat.” This could almost count as a reconciliation between the two, except it isn’t because Edward chose to lie to him rather than tell the truth.

At the end, after Izzy tells Ed that “you’ve still got it”? Edward, wearing the clothes of a gentleman and the famous Black Cravat that used to belong to Stede, smiles, says “I know,” and then turns away from Izzy.

When Ed turns around he stops smiling. We the audience can see the change in Ed’s expression, but Izzy is still smiling behind him! Izzy doesn’t see that change from smiling to serious. The contrast between those two expressions? It devastates and chills me because Edward isn’t being honest and neither of them are pursuing a true understanding of the other.

Ed has never been fully himself with Izzy, but Izzy is the one who doesn’t really understand that Ed hasn’t trusted Izzy with everything and has never let his first mate really know who he is past Blackbeard and brilliant sailor.

Izzy, tragic and arrogant fool that he is, truly believes that he understands Edward’s plan and is taking this suggestion to kill Stede and steal his identity at face value.

Ed chooses to lie to Izzy in the hope that he can get what he wants and hedge his bets with that support, even if it means changing the terms of the agreement. Ed baits Izzy with the promise of becoming captain once he’s retired by stealing Stede Bonnet’s identity. Izzy, who probably can’t even imagine Edward not telling him the truth, eats this sham idea up hook, line, and sinker.

It’s the beginning of the end of Blackbeard. It’s also the beginning of Edward starting to figure out who Ed is for real, and Izzy missing or willfully denying those changes.

05- The Best Revenge is Dressing Well (Izzy puts bows in Edward’s beard and skips the party to babysit, except all he does is embarrass himself and sacrifice his dignity and authority by being a dick.)

David Jenkins has confirmed that it’s not Stede who puts those bows in Edward’s beard, it’s Izzy, but that scene got cut for time. Tragic!

Anyway, Izzy is only present to assist Edward or discipline the crew into doing ship chores and to be honest this episode features him losing his grip on reality and authority.

Izzy catches Black Pete and Lucius having sex and confronts them in possibly the weirdest way imaginable. Everyone thinks he’s unhinged. They see nothing wrong with a bit of casual sex and Izzy tries to play that off as a weakness, realizes he’s not getting the shame reaction he expected and has unintentionally revealed himself (Izzy, what the fuck?), and then retaliates by making Lucius remove barnacles from the side of the Revenge.

Fang, Izzy’s long-time subordinate, is also the one who spills the beans about Izzy’s unfortunate nickname as Izzy the Spewer/Dizzy Izzy. I don’t think I have to explain why Izzy wouldn’t appreciate anyone knowing about that one time when Blackbeard left him in charge of the ship during rough seas and he didn’t measure up to the challenge.

When Izzy confronts Lucius with more tasks to do that night and assumes he’ll be able to use his sexual history against him? Yeah, sorry Izzy. That’s not gonna work on this ship.

I’ve never seen a degeneration arc so swift and so complete as what happens to Izzy in this episode. His entire foundation of self-belief and identity is shaken. Who is Izzy without his authority as Blackbeard’s first mate, when everyone knows his weaknesses and no one fears or even respects him?

I don’t know and neither does he. Damn, Izzy, this is a sad pickle you’ve got yourself into.

Also your boss is in love with fuckin’ Stede Bonnet.

(Yes, I’m aware of the innuendo. It started out accidental but now it’s on purpose, because I sent myself into orbit and we’re all in this suffering together.)

06- The Art of Fuckery (Izzy fucks up everything so much worse than Stede.)

Izzy you tragic son of a bitch.

Honestly this is the episode we really begin to watch The Tragedy Of Israel Hands unfold, since Izzy starts to admit to himself what he should have realized from the beginning. He’s the narrator for the opening shot!

Izzy, the most oblivious man alive, deadpanning in the background: “We’ve been almost a fortnight aboard The Revenge, and I’m beginning to suspect that Edward has no intention of ending Stede Bonnet’s life.”

Really, Izzy? It’s been almost a fortnight and you only just now came to that conclusion? I swear if irony could kill, this man would be stone dead. He makes it worse by claiming that “if he didn’t know better” he’d think Edward had been seduced by Stede!

And then we have the whole “run me through” scene with Izzy listening and making all his (for once, correct, but not in the way he thinks) assumptions. It’s funny as fuck that both Fang and Ivan know they’re not killing Stede, despite whatever promises Izzy may think Edward has made to him.

What’s funny about this is that Izzy is simultaneously in denial about the possibility of this relationship and also willing to use it in order to get rid of Stede! Izzy will allow that this seduction may possibly have occurred if acknowledging the attachment will accomplish his goal of ridding himself of fuckin’ Stede Bonnet. The absolute mindfuckery of this strategy is killing me.

This man who knows better? This is the same man who tells Stede, “I know Edward adores you.” That’s so far beyond fucked up as a manipulation tactic that in fairness I don’t have a way to fully unpack it beyond Izzy being simultaneously unable to deny the evidence and also incapable of accepting the probable outcome.

Later, after Stede &. Crew complete their fuckery, Izzy presumably doesn’t understand Edward’s history, what the Kraken represents for him, or that (ouch!) Edward doesn’t consider him a friend.

So when Izzy challenges Stede in order to spare Edward from having to kill the man himself (this would be their usual routine), Izzy won’t be aware that Edward would now rather have worked things out rather than seeing either of them duel. Izzy is carrying out what he sees as his duty.

What really fucks me up here is both that Izzy is trying to spare Edward the pain of killing Stede and that Edward is also letting him go through with it! There’s no world in which Edward successfully puts a stop to this duel or can justify asking Izzy to stand down. They respect(?!) each other too much for that.

When Stede wins the duel on a technicality, further recall and keep in mind that Izzy was the one who doomed himself by suggesting banishment as part of the terms to make it interesting.

The ominous music playing in the background while Izzy rows away from the Revenge is first heard in the “Blackbeard” theme back at the end of Episode 2. Did I mention I really love this show?

I’ve decided to treat this first break between Izzy and Edward as the end of Act II, because ... brace yourself, it’s about to get even worse! :D

Act III - Izzy Betrays Edward’s Trust While Trying to Save Him

Izzy fails to take responsibility for his actions and decides to compound that error by doing increasingly terrible things, including possibly selling out the only friend(?) he thinks he’s ever had ... by rationalizing that it’s for his own good.

Izzy you sick tragic fuck. Edward is never going to forgive you, and you’re going to end up in hell dealing with The Kraken instead of the Blackbeard you knew.

07- This Is Happening (Izzy betrays Edward because Ed betrays Blackbeard, at least in Izzy’s mind.)

Izzy completely fails to admit that Edward likes Stede because Stede wants to get to know him as a person and Izzy can only conceptualize this as insanity. Edward was half-insane before he met Stede and Izzy probably would accept him being half-insane again rather than admit whatever the fuck is going on might be both permanent and, if you’re Ed, preferable to returning to the usual.

We don’t see Izzy until the last minutes of the episode, wherein he is doing his level best to end fuckin’ Stede Bonnet once again because he’s “done something to my boss’s brain.”

Izzy, we regret to inform you that’s called love. We know they’re both idiots, but give them a break, they’ve never been in love before!

08- We Gull Way Back (Izzy fucks up even worse, which is impressive when you consider he doesn’t physically appear in this episode.)

Calico Jack reveals he was sent by Izzy Hands, who he calls a sentimental bastard for wanting to get Edward out before the English showed up.

For Ed, he and Stede are now a “we,” so Ed responds that: “Izzy sold me out.”

Yeah, Izzy, Ed will not be forgiving or forgetting that you only meant to catch Stede in your trap and is definitely taking this personally.

09- Act of Grace (Izzy gets decked by Ed and deserves it.)

Did you catch the part where Chauncey refers to “Captain” Hands? Who has already agreed to commit himself to the King’s service in exchange for Edward’s life? Izzy what has been going on in your head.

IZZY: Edward, I know you’re upset, but it was the only-- [Edward punches him.]

IZZY: Okay ... that’s fair.

Izzy cannot even begin to understand the circumstances of Edward’s fury, but he knows what it looks like when it’s directed at him and he for damn sure accepts Edward’s right to pass judgment on his actions.

Pay really close attention to that speech Izzy makes when he’s trying to convince Edward that Stede’s death is the right thing and the only humane way to end it and then Edward’s reaction to that speech.

Izzy makes every practical argument about how firing squad is the right way for this situation to end and it’s in part his words that push Ed into shouting “Act of Grace.”

Fuck me but the realization in Izzy’s voice when it’s Ed saying the words? Izzy you started this! Yet he still doesn’t realize even when it’s happening that Ed is committed to doing whatever it takes to save Stede Bonnet’s life.

Izzy’s even there when Ed signs the Act of Grace! Of the pirates, it’s just Izzy and Stede there to witness this choice. As it has been since the beginning. Stede sees more of Ed than anyone else ever has, without realizing what it all means. Izzy doesn’t understand what’s changed but probably realizes better than Stede does why it’s happening.

The point is Ed chooses to sign the Act of Grace even when Stede tries to let him off the hook and Izzy has prepared an alternative path. Ed is so thoroughly committed to this path that he’ll accept no substitutes.

Can we talk about how Izzy as Captain Hands portrays himself as “tough and fair” while also eating dinner on the deck of the ship in front of the crew while they’re working? Self-deluded guy thinks Fang and Ivan will back him up and puts himself in the same position as Stede when the crew wanted to mutiny in Episode 1.

Edward told you back in Episode 6 to be careful what you asked your god for, because she might just answer! Coincidence? Haven’t met her.

Can we talk about how surprised Izzy is to see Ed turn up without the beard? How Ed just ignores that the crew is in the middle of a mutiny and is the one who allows Izzy to go right back to his role as first mate? Ed just interrupted Izzy getting the comeuppance for his arrogance.

Let’s move on because thinking about it too much is going to destroy me, and we’ve still got one episode left.

10- Wherever You Go, There You Are (Ed turns into the Kraken and Izzy, because he’s monumentally fucked up, thinks that’s a good thing... for now.)

Izzy has presumably been the only one Ed spoke to until asking for Lucius, because whether Edward likes it or not, he’s used to relying on Izzy to play the role of first mate. Izzy looks so rattled not only by the change in Edward here but also by not knowing what to do beyond ... go back to doing what he’s always done and praying that works out, somehow.

Izzy is sitting up amongst the rest of the crew while Edward is singing and at the end, when he tries to correct them and enforce Captain or Blackbeard as a form of address, it’s Ed who corrects him and says he’d rather be known as Edward from now on.

Izzy’s look of utter shock and surprise gets me every time. Remember, he serves Blackbeard!

Up next: Izzy why are you like this?

Izzy, in speaking plainly, confesses that he should’ve let the English kill Edward and uses what should be a gesture of physical affection as a taunt. Izzy knows Edward well enough to know what will make him doubt himself and his choices to try a different life. Izzy wants Edward to go back to being Blackbeard but he has no fucking idea what he’s just unleashed, instead.

And then we’ve got Leonard Cohen’s “Avalanche” playing while Edward makes his transformation.

Other people have discussed how fucked up the toe scene is (does this show go hard or does it go hard?) and, I’m going to go a bit out on a limb here, and say that Izzy thinks this brutality is what he wants because it’s who Blackbeard should be. Above all else, loyalty to his Captain, no matter who that is or what he has to endure.

And I’m going to stand by the reading that “it’s complicated” because the lyrics overlaying that?

The crumbs of love you offer me / are the crumbs I’ve left behind

The most fucked up reading possible is that these lines are referring to Izzy and Edward’s fucked up relationship. So that’s where I’m going with this.

Fucking Izzy Hands doesn’t fully realize what’s about to hit all of them and is still prepared to be loyal and accept whatever fucked up justice Edward distributes as what he deserves for betraying him in the first place. Did you notice that it’s Izzy who uses Stede’s first name, now?

Or that Izzy has adopted Stede’s language in front of the other crewmembers while he and Ivan are marooning them. That when the crew ask where Jim is, Izzy replies that, “Edward probably wanted to discuss feelings or something?”

That it’s Izzy who sends everyone down into the Kraken’s lair to decide whether or not they’ll be part of his new crew?

That it’s Edward who calls the crew Bonnet’s playthings and no longer uses Stede’s first name?

Izzy’s the one standing next to Edward, holding a gun on Frenchie as he hoists the new flag. No longer is it enough to be loud and a jerk, or to stick to verbal threats until violence is the practical alternative! Think back to the beginning when Izzy just bought Stede’s hostages without getting violent.

Violence is now the rule rather than the exception.

How the fuck far is Izzy going to go when he’s just glad to be serving Blackbeard? How the fuck much is he going to be willing to suffer when violence is the new normal rather than one of many tools to get what they want?

Con O’Neill is a magnificent bastard who managed to act out Izzy Hands’s entire operatic fucked up tragedy in full view of Edward Teach’s love story while in the same frames as Stede Bonnet.

WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK.

#our flag means death meta #izzy hands #ofmd meta #our flag means death #ofmd #our flag means death spoilers #long post #here it is folks ready to be fucked up about how fucked up and tragic Izzy hands is?#because i wasn't and i wrote this #ferus regrets understanding izzy hands and appreciating him #i don't even like him and he's STILL tragic #con o'neill #con o'neill deserves a fucking emmy #WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK #i wrote this and even i don't like it #fucking fuck #ferus izzy meta

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tare-anime · 2 years

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SxF Chapter 55

(Beware spoilers)

Okay, first of all, so many things happening for sxf fandom! I feel so blessed to be part of this fandom 🥰

Spy x Family get an anime!! AAAAAHHH! I'm loving all the artworks, and the tiny bit of Loid's voice. Uuhh... I can't wait to hear Yor and Anya, and the background music, the OP the ED, and of course, to see my favorite panels in color and moving!

And earlier that day, we were granted with vol 8's official Yor art that is so awesomely drawn. She's so pretty 🥰🥰

And then, we have this closure chapter (before the family fluff I believe), that is so warm, almost like it tend to Yor's wound. I'm sobbing 😭😭

We are so blessed. Thank you so much, Endo!

Okay, now unto the chapter.

So, Loid showing off his analytical skills, which once again reminds us why he's considered one of the best.

His deducing skills here??? Top tier!! 😫👌👌

Unfortunately, he needed to experience the ugly side of bureaucracy (Ugh, I always hate when spelling this word. As I also hate the meaning of the word).

Saving face? Usual practice. Fortunately for the SSS, Twilight here was the worker type that had so many creativity to overcome the obstacles given to him.

He managed to save the ship, and all of its passengers. During his vacation nonetheles!

Btw, I love the parrallels here.

Heh.... Loid really learned a thing or two from his wife.

Plus, as @eldraftsman point it out, the arc opened with Yor yeeting something, and ended with Loid yeeting something.

Yep. So poetic 🤣

Another parrallels that I noticed:

> In this arc, Yor's "boss enemy" (a.k.a Sniff Jobs and Snoop) managed to get away from Yor, but getting blown away by Loid.

> In Inusan Crisis, Loid's "boss enemy" (a.k.a Keith) managed to get away from Loid, but getting kicked by Yor.

And in both arcs, Anya was the one pulling the string, manipulating people here and there, to keep her parents (and everyone else) save. Using any disguises and any reasons and any acts accordingly.

🤣🤣

I love this family so much. They really are meant for each other.

Love this Loid getting soft, and slowly but surely turn into real family man.

He's become a real dad.

Good for you, Loid 🥰

Now the thing that made me sobbing in this chapter, were these panels:

I love the metaphore in these panels.

How Yor viewed herself as "dirty". She never enjoyed to be in this job, but then she reminded herself that she is doing this just for a simple purpose: to prevent tragedy befalling one or two person near her.

And by Olka being "the person" to be at the recieving end, didn't hesitate in holding Yor's dirty hand, it's as if Yor's simple wish was approved. And she was rewarded with warmth. From both the mother and the innocent child.

A real warmth that perhaps Yor has forgotten.

These panels.

With her dirty hand, getting a hug from contended Gram. I'm..... I-....... *sobs* 🥲🥲😭😭😭😭

Yor finally get the overdue recognition for her hardwork.

Now please Endo, let Yor got the warmth from her family next, yeah? 🥲🥲

Bonus??

The soft McMahon.

As a family man himself, he of course understand a thing or two that made Yor showing that face.

Finally he let go of that strict mask of him, and gave Yor her rewards. The director relayed Loid's message to Yor. He even teased Yor not to use swimsuit 🤣

Ah, this side of him, made me wonder if @lacrow theory is right. That McMahon's family was long gone. 🥲

Anyway, this week has been super awesome for us.

And I can't wait to see the Forger family reunion 🥰 To be exact, I can't wait to see Loid's face when he saw Yor after 2 days separation.

Praying hard for TwiYor content here 🤞

#spy x family #loid forger #yor forger #anya forger #chp 55 #spoiler #spoilers #review

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the-rogue-mockingjay · 2 years

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you know if the Keelah Si'yah doesn't make it safely to Andromeda I think I'm going to riot. Please let the funky little aliens survive, if we find that ship and it's blown to bits like Natanus was I will Scream. Continuously. for Hours. BioWare this is a Threat.

Also there's drell on that ship, if we ever go back to Andromeda can we have a drell companion? Or a hanar? I'd like that for me5 regardless but it'd be extra fun for Andromeda. Can you IMAGINE the Blasto jokes if we got to team up with a hanar? Also drell are so ridiculously underutilized like HELLO??? You make really cool lizard people with TWO SETS OF EYELIDS and really weird hands that for once don't have 3 fingers and you only include 3 of them in the whole series!!??! And you only bothered to make ONE OUTFIT so Kolyat and Feron just have barely modified copies of Thane's outfit??? HELLO?? YOU COULD'VE DONE SO MUCH MORE???

Also I would literally actually KILL to see alien fashion that isn't just the same basic suit/dress 300 times. The asari are rich as fuck, their fabrics and couture must be TOP TIER. I love the pastels of the angara but what the actual fuck is the shit the civilians wear? How does that even work, how do they put it on??? The material is so strange, what is it? I love to imagine the couture on Aya includes fabrics that look like molten lava. Fabric that glows like the plants on Havarl!

I'm falling down the rabbit hole here so to make it all make sense, some random hopes for me5:

drell companion. PLEASE. BIOWARE I AM BEGGING. I have a track record of falling for drell but even if I didn't, if we got a female drell companion I'd fall in love with her instantly and she'd own my whole entire soul, same as Isabela from DA2

for the love of all that is holy bioware PLEASE TALK ABOUT LANGUAGES. A whole codex entry about the bazillion different languages of the angara, and Jaal doesn't even call a romanced Ryder by a cute name in his language?!?!! TRAGEDY

more hanar. i don't even care in what capacity tbh, they're just so funky. space jellyfish!! what's not to love!! They TALK through BIOLUMINESCENCE. Also we know so little about them like what is up with that? What is the nature of their relationship with the Protheans, back when the Protheans were alive?

KROGAN BABIES!! I WAS PROMISED KROGAN BABIES I WANT TO SEE KROGAN BABIES!! And baby salarians and turians and i'd love to see them all be friends,,, can you IMAGINE a baby salarian though??? Their eyes must be so bonkers disproportionate to the rest of them like baby horses and their spindly legs...if a baby alien looked at me I would die immediately. I love you baby aliens. To die ensuring that you won't see the horrific monsters that inhabit these galaxies would be the greatest honor

if Shepard shows up - which, can't tell a lot from that trailer but imo it looks like Shepard might be the PC again - just let them rest. If it were up to me, the only game Shepard would be in post-ME3 is one in which they're happy and healing and not having to sacrifice themselves to save the fucking world again. Shepard's suffered enough, they've more than earned a chance to rest. The thought of seeing them have to pick up the gun again to fight and suffer and die again breaks my heart.

Quarian ark!!!! What on earth happened??? Did someone bring the plague back? Did kett cause a plague or catch the ship? DID THEY END UP WHEREVER THE JARDAAN RETREATED TO??? the quarian ark dlc haunts me every day. I really hope they're alright :(

I really doubt it's coincidence Cora and the Illusive Man have the same last name. I mean, extended family is a thing, and Harper is probably a really common name considering how many humans there are in the galaxy, but...hmmgh......it eats my brain

and, finally: WHO was that SHADY-ASS MOTHERFUCKER ALEC AND JIEN GARSON WERE DEALING WITH????? The benefactor??? Is it TIM? Is it somebody else entirely? TIM and his somehow limitless money seems like a probable suspect, but where in the world did all that money come from? Why was Jien murdered? How on earth did only the Hyperion not fall into enemy hands immediately on entering Andromeda???

#mass effect 5 #mass effect andromeda #mass effect #mass effect angara #asari #hanar #drell #sorry about the inconsistent capitalization guys the pain in my hands is making this quite difficult #quarian ark #mass effect theories #or questions more accurately #the benefactor #keelah si'yah

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theultimatefanficwriter · 3 years

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My Ships!

Hey guys! So currently it's late at night and I wanna write something to help me sleep. So here I am on my phone quickly writing out all my ships down so you guys can see what a loser I am lol.

Now feel free to discuss your opinions, but dont start any ship wars or bash anyone's ships, alright? Cool! So here we go! Each ship will have a short explanation as to why I ship it. And they are in order from favorite to least, though my least favorite is still one I like.

Ishimondo-This is my biggest comfort ship. I love enemies to lovers so much and these two idiots are just...such a beautiful tragedy.

Saimota-Can someone say bromance? Like please they were flirting so hard it hurts. They are dating your honor.

Saimatsu-Please the way she was able to motivate him? Even after death she helped him improve. They had such chemistry from the very beginning.

SakurAoi-Yeah yeah Sakura has a bf whatever. But they technically werent dating yet cause they were waiting til Kenshiro got well. So...LES GO LESBIANS! Hina was about to commit murder suicide for her boo. Literally lovers.

HaruKaito-So even besides the fact Maki straight up confesses, I disagree with people saying they dont have chemistry. They're adorable and Kaito opens her up to people. This ship is adorable af.

Tokomaru-Similair to Kaito and Maki! Komaru helped Toko be a better person! Like I hated Toko at first, but after UDG, shes a top tier favorite. This ship is too cute.

Soudam-Again I love enemies to lovers. Idgaf if they never show romantic interest in each other shut up. They're beautiful bastards, both of them.

Fuyupeko-...do...do I really need to explain? Just play the second chapter again lol.

Hinanami-Im not a big fan of Hajime. In fact hes my least fave protag. But I think the way they interact and the way he is around Chiaki is too fucking cute.

Sondam-They had the more obvious chemistry in the game, and I love Sonia with Gundham. They fit each perfectly, having similar interests. Plus how sad she was when he died? 😭

Kiiruma-Ok so they're a perfect fit right? Kiibo was one of the only ones to even care when Miu died, and Miu seemed to care about Kiibo. Yeah because she could upgrade him, but I feel theres more there!

Naihiro-Now this is a rare pair. I think the two of them are very cute and soft boys, so they relate to each other. Theyd be a very sweet couple.

Akanidai-Nekomaru literally died to protect Akane, and took two bazookas to the chest for her. They were inseparable. Case closed. They cute.

Daiyakure-Another rarepair. It's hard to ship Hiro with people cause you'll get hit with the "hes 21 and they're underage" argument. But with Daiya Oowada, you can say hey, fuck you! Theres literally no interactions between them. It's almost a crack ship. But I love it more than I should.

Naekure-Another Hiro ship, but this one can be justified by saying they start dating after they escape the game and they know they're both adults. I think Makoto would be a decent balance to Hiro's...everything.

Togakure-Same logic as with Makoto as to when they get together. Byakuya would be able to deal with his idiot enough to calm him down slightly. Plus it would be a funny contrast.

Ishikure-Ok now this is a bit harder to explain. I see it more as they were dating before the mind wipe, and in survivor aus theyd date again. I just think Hiro being the only one to care about him after ch 2 is sweet and that the two would be cute.

Hagekureon-Same reasoning as with Taka;Hiro and Leon were dating before the game and/or they date in survivor aus. I think the two idiots together would be an interesting combo, like with Ishimondo.

Naegami-Finally, back to well known ships!😅 So Byakuya clearly cares for Makoto even if he tries to hide it. He'd be a good partner to Makoto, if not a bit tsundereish.

Kuzusouda-Fuyuhiko was like the only one to try to curb Kazuichi's simping, and they have a nice friendship in the anime(from what I've seen and heard, havent seen all of it😅)so I think Fuyu would be able to help Kaz accept himself.

Asakure-Once again, getting together after game. My friend put it as "the two idiots getting together. Its cute." And hes not wrong lol Despite Hina being slightly smarter and the fact she bullied Hiro a bit in game, I can see them working off each other nicely.

Goshi-Firstly I just love the striking difference in their heights. It's funny as hell to me lmao. But secondly I think Gonta's sincereness and kindness could eventually break through to Ryoma and help him realize he isnt unlovable, and he is worth something.

Twobuki-I just think Ibuki's constant praise and lowkey flirting with Twogami is adorable, especially given his...size. Usually people would make a character like that completely unlovable, so the fact she was seen doting on him so much is adorable.

BandAid-Now I normally dont ship killers and victims. It just doesnt feel right to me. But given Mikan was more or less brainwashed into doing it, i kinda give this ship a pass. Plus i think Ibuki could help her be more confident in herself and stop letting others use her.

Soapies-I dont really like either of these characters, thus why its last on the list, but I think Mahiru is the only one who could "tame" Hiyoko, for lack of a better word. She could help her stop being a bully and actually open up to others. Plus they both care a lot about each other. It's cute. Its sweet.

So that's my list! It might grow, and if it does I'll reblog this post to add onto it! Feel free to give your opinions on it, but remember: no ship wars!

Alright imma go pass out now! Good night guys! Lol

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luxken · 3 years

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rules: list 5 otps from 5 fandoms, then tag 10 people to pass it on

tagged by: @captainremwrites well more like i saw this and was obligated to do it and hey free realestate

hp; harry/hermione/ron (they are amazing together the og ot3),the golden trio (they are brilliant together ppl should appreciate their friendship more), wolfstar (I am tRash leaf me alone-), the marauders (tragic boys D;;;;) tomarry/harrymort (I love both of these sm, the dynamic is legit everything and I love the aesthetics associated w these two), harry/cedric (this is a ship full of romance, written in the stars type bullshit they are such husbands omg), harry & ginny (wlw/mlm solidarity right there) luna/ginny (cute little lesbian gfs what more could u want), severus/death (just cute tings), marlene/dorcas (AHHHH they are such a guilty pleasure of mine), hermione/pansy (they are conniving and will rule the world if no one stops them), harry/regulus (they would be so sad and cute together my heart bleeds), harry/sirius (also a guilty pleasure lmao), harry/george (george is just so calm and harry rlly needs that sometimes)

atla; zukka (tell me u didnt see this coming and I will accuse u of being more oblivious to love and affection than zuko), sokka & azula (they are both mad scientists and will blow shit up u cannot tell me they wouldn't be a grand time together), sokka & mai (yESS pls) teoaang (I havent posted anything for them yet but I will bc I luh them), suki/yue (they are so soft and happy pLS), katara/yue (this is top tier sappho in love w the moon shit right here), katara/suki (they are bad ass fighters and will crush anyone) suki/katara/yue (just some wlw nothing to see here), mai/ty lee (they are the epitome of goth girl/uwu), toph & zuko (sibling. siblings right there), azula/jin (this is relatively new compared to the others and im mad abt it for that very reason. azula is just so angry and jin is so soft and can help her heal skjka I love), hakoda/bato (just bros being husbands), sokka/jet (ik this is so weird but I just love the dynamics also their height difference is great), kanna/yugoda (I dont need to explain this u understand), kanna/hama (the tragedy of it all is very good, not good good ew I just like the circumstances they'd be in and I read this rlly good fic once sjdsdh it was amazing)

got; sansa/margaery (they are soft and feminine and lovely just pure femme/femme love), jon/robb (donthateme this is my comfort ship. also ppl ship jon/danaerys which is worse bc they're far closer in blood relation anyway imsosrry it just happened), lyanna/elia (they are WIVES), danaerys/missandei (wlw at its finest they are bestfriends who are in love), viserys/drogo (dont even get me started-)

gravity falls; dipper/bill (dont even @ me yes I ship dipper w a demonic triangle), pacifica/mabel (it just makes sense), dipper/robbie (for the lols)

skam france; elu (ur mad bro if u didnt see this coming its legit the icon for my ao3 acc), Daphné/Emma (I just like the vibes emma’s rlly chill and daphné’s batshit crazy so it works!) (im mostly here for elu bc they're are my love lmao)

damn I rlly didnt think I would go off that hard but guess what ya boi is full of surprises. this legit took me half an hour to do. also im in like less than ten fandoms full time so it was hard to find something that had enough for me to talk abt lmao. the amount of shit I had for atla was both surprising and not at all?? like we all know im obsessed but to that degree-

if u guys want thats cool if not also cool @fixstationed @circleofplanets @treedaddyd @yeetmeintotheunknown @khaleeseas also anyone else who wants to do if u want tag me too!

#if u noticed a reoccurring theme its that I dont ship straight ppl #they get enough why should I give them more #tags #I am a bitter denim gay leaf me alone #ships

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kenobiapologist · 3 years

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Star Wars Novel Rankings

In celebration of the end of this year, I made a tier list of all of the Star Wars novels I’ve read since I joined this fandom in 2017 (which you can use to rank these books too). And I named all the tiers in a dorky but appropriate fashion. I would love to hear your thoughts on my rankings, as well as how you’d rank the books yourself! I’ve had a blast reading Star Wars novels from both Disney’s canon and the Legends extended universe over these past 3 years. Here’s to many more years of reading stories from the galaxy far far away!

I put longer (but not more coherent) thoughts below the cut.

The Chosen One: Bringing Balance to the Force and My Depressed Soul

1. The first spot of top tier had to go to Matthew Stover’s Revenge of the Sith novelization for obvious reasons. You simply cannot beat it. It’s a masterpiece. I literally had to put the book down to scream when I read the prose associated with the opening battle over Coruscant. It gave a whole new meaning to the triumphant music and the synchronous twirling of Obi-Wan and Anakin’s starfighters as they weave through blaster-fire in the battle over Coruscant. The rest of the book is the same way. You can’t put it down. I have wAyyYyYy too many feelings about this book oh my god.

2. Thrawn was a surprising book for me. For being centered on an admiral of the Empire’s navy, it had so much heart in it! I loved reading from Eli Vanto’s perspective too. god dammit I love that freaking Wild Space hillbilly dweeb with all my heart. I think his experiences getting to know Thrawn and learning from him guides the reader to feel much the same way as Eli by the end. Thrawn is a trusted friend, not the enemy you expect him to be. I could have done without Arihnda Pryce but she’s supposed to be unlikeable so I won’t blame Timothy Zahn this time.

3. The Clone Wars Gambit duology is basically Karen Miller writing fanfic and I’m HERE FOR IT. As is tradition with Karen Miller’s Star Wars novels, the emotions are dialed up the eleven. Our favorite dumbass Jedi team is back at it again with a mission to save the galaxy and this time they end up going undercover as two lumberjacks from the boonies. Anakin holds an energy shield back from collapsing with his bare hands like a total badass. Obi-Wan is in love with another woman despite it always ending in tragedy, while also bickering like a married couple with Anakin every ten seconds. get a fucking room, you two. These two books inspired one of my fics so they’re near and dear to my heart.

Jedi Master: These Books Have A Seat On The Council Too

4. Wild Space was appropriately named, I’ll tell you that. It’s a wild ride from start to finish. *slaps the front cover* this book can fit so much of Obi-Wan’s suffering in it! @forcearama has elaborated on the many reasons why this book is a gem in Snark Wars blog posts (linked here). It’s also the beginning of the best team-up since Anakin and Obi-Wan...Bail and Obi-Wan! These two bastards get under each other’s skin but it makes for the perfect character development. This book is the reason I screech with delight whenever Bail Organa appears on screen, or is mentioned in conversation. Bail gets a mysterious tip about trouble on a planet, and Obi-Wan decides to go with him to investigate. Cue Sith-induced suffering. It’s cool to see a normal person experiencing the weirdness of Force sensitives and how the world has this extra level of sensory information in it. Plotwise this one isn’t the best, but I think the interactions between characters really shine in this novel. Karen Miller’s writing is like a cup of hot chocolate to me. Indulgent character insight, full of sweet moments, has a bunch of extra marshmallowy dialogue, you’re reading it to have a good time but not to be satisfied with plot. You get me?

5. Do I even have to explain myself here? Kenobi by John Jackson Miller is both an interesting western-style tale set on Tatooine, and a beautiful character study of a man stricken with grief he keeps suppressed. How does one continue on when their whole family was murdered and their whole culture burnt to ash? I wanted to give Obi-Wan a hug the entire time I read this. The characterization was spot-on, from the way he wrangled animals to the way he severed a man’s arm off in a bar with his lightsaber. And when he meets a woman named Annileen Calwell, or Annie for short, Obi-Wan can’t bring himself to call her by her nickname ever and if that doesn’t just break your damn heart fucking fuck.

6. Ahsoka was the first Disney canon book I ever read and it kickstarted my love for E.K. Johnston. The writing is simplistic, but that makes it easy to jump into. Overall, it’s a quick and enjoyable read. By far the best parts are the flashbacks that mull over memories Ahsoka has of the time before Order 66. That shit hits you right in the heart, man. And the part where Ahsoka equates Obi-Wan and Anakin to her adoptive family ohhhhhhh god the tears they flow like a river. There are scenes that allude to Ahsoka becoming the vital part of the Rebellion we know her to be from Rebels, balanced with her current struggles to survive and find herself. Despite having cast away her identity as a Jedi and having any remaining bits of her culture destroyed by Palpatine, Ahsoka shows us all how bright a hero can shine in the darkest of times. AND SHE WAS WRITTEN AS QUEER! finally some good fucking food.

7. Oh shit, another E.K. Johnston book? Don’t be surprised. She’s a prequel fan and so am I, hence why Queen’s Shadow is so high on the list. E.K. Johnston pays homage to our favorite queen and badass senator Padme Amidala. There’s politics, there’s solidarity between female characters, and Bail Organa is in it so you KNOW I simply must give it a high rating. All jokes aside, I thought the story added lots of little details to the world of Star Wars without it being all stereotypical sci-fi nerdy language. You know how people want to describe something beyond our technological capabilities so they throw a bunch of nonsense together like “pre-praxis crystal bio-anode circuitry”? I’m looking at you, Karen Miller, I love you but please. There is none of that in this book. It makes sense, it adds color and culture and life to the worlds of Star Wars. Most of all, it devotes time and love to developing Padme outside of her place in canon as Anakin’s wife, Queen of Naboo, and Senator. She is all of these things, but she’s human too. I do agree that the pacing is slow, but it’s something meant to be savored, I think. E.K. Johnston really shines when she’s writing dialogue because she gets these characters. That’s something to appreciate, because not all canon books agree with the way we’ve perceived the characters as an audience.

8. Rogue Planet chewed me up, spit me out, and declared me an even bigger stan for The Team. People who say Qui-Gon would have been a better master for Anakin can ~get out~ because I could read about these two hooligans getting neck deep in space shenanigans all damn day. Anakin is like twelve, which is a time in his training that we don’t get a lot of in canon. Personally, I think it was equal parts heartwarming and funny to read about their adventures. There is some angst sprinkled in there because hey, we’re reading about Anakin here, let’s not forget the emotional trainwreck that is Anakin Skywalker. The duo is sent to a planet that makes super fast ships that are ?sentient? or at least biologically active. They bond with the pilot, which makes Anakin perfect for this mission. There’s a scene where these little floof things attach all over tiny Anakin because he’s so strong in the Force and it’s god damn adorable how dare he?? I’d probably rate this one even higher if I read it again, but it’s been awhile. Characterization is spot on and reminiscent of Matthew Stover’s writing in how it highlights the strong bond between Obi-Wan and Anakin, how they’re fated to know each other. I’m a sucker for soulmates, what can I say?

9. Lost Stars reads like a movie. Not a script, but just the perfect amount of detail that you can imagine the scenes but the pacing is still quick, the dialogue smooth and natural. I couldn’t help wishing this was a film because the story was so all-encompassing. The highs and lows of the emotions of both protagonists, their relationship developing, the differences in culture. Folks, this book has it all! It’s a totally different perspective on the events of the original trilogy, seen from the side of Imperial cadets training to become pilots. Eventually, one splits off and joins the Rebellion while the other perseveres in the Empire. It’s like star-crossed lovers, but covers so much more ground than that. And the characters are fully developed. These original characters knocked my socks off, and that’s hard to do since I’m usually an Obi-Wan stan through and through. For anyone uncertain of reading Star Wars novels, this book is a great place to start. Action-packed, emotion-filled, and stands on its own despite weaving perfectly into the established universe. What more could you want?

10. Back at it again with the prequel shit, amiright? Queen’s Peril is E.K. Johnston’s most recent Padme-centric novel and it does not disappoint fans that wanted a taste of the Queen’s side of the story. Set during the events of The Phantom Menace, we get a “behind the curtain” look at how all of the handmaidens came to be more than their title suggests. There’s teenage girls getting stuff done! It makes more sense why Padme was elected ruler of her home-world, and you come to appreciate that a royal leader is not alone; there’s actually a whole team at her side to help her overcome everything from the drudgery of daily governing to Trade Federation blockades that threaten to starve her people. I think if you enjoyed Queen’s Shadow, you’ll enjoy this book a lot. For those that are unfamiliar with Johnston’s work, I wouldn’t recommend this one first because it does cover events you’ve already seen in movies and therefore is a less suspenseful companion to them. On the other hand, because it does tie in with TPM, it doesn’t suffer from the pacing issues of Queen’s Shadow to the same degree. I read this all in one sitting, so it’s definitely fun, but wasn’t compelling enough in its character development to elevate the book past some of the others I’ve listed already.

11. Thrawn: Treason was a refreshing return to the Grand Admiral we all know and love after the second installment in this series slowed things down a bit. Although it wasn’t as character-driven as the first book (which I love with all of my heart), there were still many moments that had me cackling at the disparity between Thrawn’s immense intellect and the other Imperials’ sheer stupidity, and that’s what we’re here for in a book about the Empire, right? There’s a lot of pressure on Thrawn, as his TIE Defender project has been pitted against Director Krennic’s Project Stardust. Who will get the funds? We just don’t know?? Tarkin sits in between the two and as usual, manipulates everything to his advantage. Palpatine questions Thrawn’s allegiance to the Empire after some of the choices he has made, leaving him in even more of a pickle. Thrawn is sent on a wild goose chase task that should definitely end in failure (on purpose because Imperials all want to watch each other burn as much as they want to watch the Rebellion burn), but you know Thrawn will find a way. My main squeeze Eli Vanto makes his return after being absent from book 2. Missed you, my sweet sweet country boy. He doesn’t have a leading role in this novel, but every scene he’s in makes the story better. Thrawn says “perhaps” way too often for my taste, but if you can ignore that, this book is a solid read. Equal parts action and deductive reasoning, as any Thrawn book should be.

12. Most of Dark Disciple had me thinking this was going to be a top tier book, and damn do I wish we could have gotten this animated. We follow Quinlan Vos and Asajj Ventress on a mission to assassinate Count Dooku. Why the Jedi thought this was a good idea, I don’t know. But I’m here for it all the same. 3/4 of the adventure were intriguing, but the ending didn’t do it for me. I won’t spoil things for anyone who hasn’t read this yet, but after all of the character development, to have it squandered so quickly just left me disappointed? I got really attached to everyone in this novel, and I’m sure you will to. I’ve read this and listened to it as an audiobook, and actually I think it’s more memorable as an audiobook. Would recommend, except for Mace Windu’s voice being exceptionally southern for no reason. Weird. I think this novel captures all of the great things about The Clone Wars show; time to really get to know each character and their motivations, action and adventure with the darkness of impending doom tinting everything, and lightsaber fights! Plus, Obi-Wan and Anakin make appearances in this book and it just adds that extra bit of spice. Worth the read, even if you know they aren’t going to get Dooku in the end (which I am still mad about, screw that guy).

Jedi Knight: Passed the Trials but There’s Room for Improvement

13. Few books in the Star Wars universe are centered around characters with no use of the Force, but in Most Wanted, we see a young Han Solo and Qi’ra struggling to survive on Corellia and it provides a humorous but compelling backstory to both characters in the Disney canon. Han is his usual lucky goofball self, and Qi’ra is smart and cunning. You can see how they grew into the versions of themselves in Solo. While the book stays on the lighter side of things (typical of stories written for a younger audience), there are still moments of depth on droid rights, viewing the Force as a religion, and what life is like in a crime syndicate. Addressing these heavier topics without it killing the pace of the story is hard to do, but Rae Carson pulls it off flawlessly. I went into this book with no expectations and was pleasantly surprised by how much fun I had. Han and Qi’ra start off as competitors, but eventually have to learn to work together to survive as more and more people start hunting them down. They’re honestly so cute together, I loved their dynamic. It makes Solo a better movie, and although I liked it on its own, characters like Qi’ra needed a little more time to get to know, which you can get here!

14. Thrawn Alliances was not what I expected at all, and it took me a lot longer to get through. Hell, it has Thrawn, Anakin/Vader, and Padme in it! What’s not to love? Apparently, a lot. The different timepoints and perspectives in this were more jarring than anything else. Although the interactions between Thrawn and Anakin/Vader were enjoyable, it was not enough to elevate this book into the Jedi Master tier. Things felt dry, the characters didn’t grip me like in the first Thrawn, and it all felt like a ploy to introduce Batuu into canon before the launch of Galaxy’s Edge.

15. Leia: Princess of Alderaan was a dive into young Leia’s life before we see her in A New Hope even though this was marketed as a journey to The Last Jedi book, which I disagree with. We really haven’t seen any content about Leia in this time period before, and although I can’t say I was looking for this, I did enjoy it. The book was a little long, but there was adventure and the seeds are planted for Leia to be a bigger part of the Rebellion. The romance wasn’t too memorable, but Holdo wasn’t pointless in this (a stark contrast to her brief appearance in TLJ just to sacrifice herself). There’s a hint about Leia being Force-sensitive but it’s not in-your-face. It’s a typical coming-of-age story but in the gffa. The best part about this is seeing Bail and Breha as parents. I’m forever in pain that we didn’t get to see more of this in movies because it’s so so sweet. Leia must choose what kind of person she is going to be--and what kind of princess she will become. It won’t be for everyone, but I liked it.

16. Master and Apprentice was a typical Star Wars novel, which means it’s full of original characters that are strange and outlandish to serve the plot, a new world full of beautiful landscapes, and Obi-Wan suffering. I want to make it clear that this book is 80% Qui-Gon, 10% Rael Averross, and 10% Obi-Wan. I was expecting it to be 50% Qui-Gon, 50% Obi-Wan, as the cover suggested. Although I was disappointed by that, the story overall was okay. Qui-Gon is kind of an asshole in this? When is he not, though. We really get to sink our teeth into the way he and Obi-Wan fundamentally disagree with each other, so much so that their teacher-student relationship is falling apart. Tragic! They go on one last mission before calling it quits. Qui-Gon is in over his head with prophecies, Obi-Wan just wants to follow the rules, and Rael Averross is Dooku’s previous apprentice that is living his best life as a regent until Pijal’s princess comes of age. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a solid book. I just don’t vibe with Qui-Gon and want to whack him upside the head every time he avoids confrontation with his own student. My protectiveness for Obi-Wan is showing again, isn’t it? Yikes.

17. James Luceno is one of the most analytical authors I’ve ever read anything from, but it seems to always work? Tarkin is all about...well, Moff Tarkin. He’s ruthless, intelligent, and just downright evil. His backstory was compelling and I found myself drawn into the story by the details, although it is dense and took awhile to finish. I’m not interested in him as a character, but despite that, I enjoyed this story. The plot wasn’t memorable enough for me to recall after 3 years, but it’s similar to how Thrawn rose through the ranks of the Navy, just in a different part of the Empire’s governing body. We don’t get many books completely focused on a villain (I don’t count Vader ones because we know who he was before and the whole damn saga is about him), but this one is good! Don’t be fooled by it only being in the Knight tier. I think people who read a lot of sci-fi will like this book a lot. This is like the opposite of Queen’s Shadow, basically. If you had gripes about that book, you might like this one instead.

18. Battlefront II: Inferno Squad was a worthwhile read for anyone who played Battlefront II. Iden Versio is a great protagonist in the game, and I think Christie Golden totally gets her character. She’s nuanced and relatable. The whole team is interesting and getting introduced to each member before the events of the game makes everything mean more. That’s the real goal of any prequel story, I think. Accomplished! The action scenes are on point, the plot served to highlight what makes Inferno Squad special, and you get a sense for the morally grey area anyone must function in as an operative for the Empire. Although not necessary for the greater canon, it’s a great adventure. Iden and her squad members infiltrate the remains of Saw Gerrara’s group (they’ve become a bit of extremist) and destroy them from the inside. It’s got the suspense of a spy thriller and all of the nerdy space opera elements you expect from Star Wars. Although it’s weird to jump into a story not knowing any of the characters, you’ll get attached to Inferno Squad fast. Well, except for Gideon Hask maybe. He’s kind of a dick.

19. If you’re craving some Dark Side action, Lords of the Sith will give you what you’re looking for. Sidious and Vader crash-land on Ryloth and have to work together to survive, and also defeat the Free Ryloth Movement led by Cham Syndulla. It’s all fucking connected, guys. I love when people weave together stories that fit into the canon timeline like this, bringing in side characters and allowing them to develop some depth. And a chance to sink into the mind of a Sith Lord is always fun, if you’re in the mood to read about destruction and anger. It’s cathartic sometimes. If you’re always wondering, why didn’t Vader just stab Palps when he had the chance, this book explains their dynamic more. It didn’t really change my opinion of any of the characters, which is why it’s not higher on the list.

20. Catalyst suffered from being in a really boring part of galactic history. Despite that, Galen Erso and Orson Krennic have a hilarious relationship that I would have loved to see on-screen. This book really develops Krennic to become more than just the whiny entitled evil man we saw in Rogue One. He’s ten times worse now! But I mean that in the best way, I laugh whenever he’s in a scene, that sassy man just brings me joy. James Luceno is at it again, making things as detailed and dry as possible. I read so many of his stories right at the beginning of my journey through Star Wars canon and it’s a wonder I didn’t quit. Some of them are dark as fuck. And also slow as hell. With this one, I think it all comes down to what you want out of a Star Wars novel. Some people will really enjoy the plot. I think seeing how Galen became a part of Project Stardust was interesting and every time something about the Death Star became more clear, I screeched because I knew what it would eventually become. This book may not hold your interest though, which is why I put it lower on this list.

21. Star Wars: Clone Wars was a decent retelling of the Clone Wars movie. I liked it because I liked the movie, but you have to be able to sit back and enjoy the ride, not thinking too much about the silly parts. For that reason, it’s pretty far down in the rankings. Ahsoka is young and liable to get on your nerves. I certainly wasn’t her biggest fan at this point in the series. The biggest problem is that Karen Traviss is very anti-Jedi. Some authors for Star Wars tend to do this? To me, it’s weird. I didn’t notice it too much because it was one of the first Star Wars books I read, but it contrasts starkly with the truth of the prequel trilogy and some of the other entries in the Clone Wars Novel timeline, like Karen Miller’s books. Needless to say, although this book wasn’t super memorable aside from the familiar plot, it kept me reading Star Wars books, and so it is at least an average book. Plus, any content with Anakin and the clones is worth it for me. I love them.

22. A New Hope was good, for Alan Dean Foster. I’m not a fan, I’ll be honest. But this novelization stands on it’s own. I’m going to have to do a re-read to really go in depth on why this isn’t farther up on the tier list, but the movie is always going to be better to me. If you want to re-live the great beginning of the Original Trilogy, it’s worth your time. I mean, the story is full of adventure and mystery and lovable characters. What’s not to love? I just feel like the movie really elevates the narrative with a great score and fun character design/costumes/sets.

Padawan: These Books Have Much to Learn

23. Attack of the Clones was more entertaining than The Phantom Menace because the characters are in funnier situations. Obi-Wan and Anakin chasing Zam Wesell through the levels of Coruscant? Hilarious, just like the movie. Anakin and Padme falling in love as they spend time together? Holy fuck it’s so much better than the movie. Please read it for that alone. Outside of that, the writing style didn’t really impress me. And my experience with it wasn’t super memorable. There was potential to really make the inner dialogue of these characters impactful, to really develop the story of Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Padme beyond what we could get from the movie scenes alone. I didn’t think it went above and beyond there. Not a bad story at all, but you don’t get to look at Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, or Ewan McGregor the whole time either, so therefore I must rank it lower. So many beautiful people in that movie, holy shit. You can understand my, dilemma, yes?

24. I enjoyed parts of The Phantom Menace book, like deleted scenes with Anakin living on Tatooine before Qui-Gon and Padme meet him. The additional depth is lovely, but I think a story like Queen’s Peril adds more to TPM than this book does. The story overall is still fun. I love this movie so much, it’s hard for me to be critical. I did put a lot of post-it flags in my copy, so it does develop the characters and get you thinking beyond your expectations from the movie. What more could you ask for from a movie novelization? I’d say not much, if I hadn’t read Revenge of the Sith and had my fucking mind blown. In comparison to that, this one is just okay.

25. The Last Jedi novelization wasn’t bad, necessarily. It tried its best to bring this story up to par with some of the interesting novels that don’t have movie counterparts. But still, the plot suffers because of how this movie was made. It’s very focused on Rey and Kylo, and Finn’s little adventure with Rose seems pointless in the grand scheme of things. I’d rather read this again versus watching the film, but that’s all I’ll say on this because I’m trying to keep my opinions on this movie to myself to avoid digging up old arguments. Jason Fry did well, and of the two Sequel Trilogy books I’ve read, I would recommend this one over Ep. 7.

26. The Force Awakens falls short and I think it’s because of Alan Dean Foster’s writing style on this one? It didn’t really expand on anything from the movie, while taking away the beautiful music and visuals. This novel is the antithesis of Revenge of the Sith’s novelization, and for that reason I ranked it fairly low. I wouldn’t read this one unless you really really love the Sequel Trilogy.

27. To be fair, I read the new Thrawn book before I went back and read this one. Even so, Heir to the Empire didn’t impress me at all. Thrawn didn’t seem like a thrilling villain with lots of depth like he did in Timothy Zahn’s reimagined Thrawn novel. We barely saw him. A lot of time was spent on the Original Triology’s trio, which waasn’t bad. I thought Luke, Leia, and Han were all written fairly well. The latter part of the story was redeemed by the interactions between Mara Jade and Luke, for sure. Enemies to lovers, anyone?? Without Thrawn, this book would have been an entertaining story, but for all of the praise it has received from long-time Star Wars fans, I was expecting to be blown away and I wasn’t. Maybe I have to continue the triology to figure out what all of the fuss is about, but after this one, I’m not super motivated to read more. Change my mind?

28. Cloak of Deception really shines when you’re following Palpatine’s perspective because you can feel the undercurrents of his master plan to destroy the Republic underneath his calm persona as a Senator. Other than that, it’s a forgettable plot. This is all about galactic politics and some terrorist group trying to blow up some government officials. Basically the most boring parts of the prequel trilogy. I listened to the audiobook of this at the beginning of this year and I already forget what it’s about. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan should have been able to bring some humor and energy to get you rooting for the good guys, but there was barely any of that. I was disappointed in all of the characters. Everything felt distant, removed from the heart of the characters. Some people in reviews have argued that the events of The Phantom Menace really pinned this novel in a corner because you already know what happens, but I disagree, because we know how Revenge of the Sith goes and The Clone Wars show is that much more tragic and heartbreakingly beautiful because of it. Prequels can be done right. This ain’t it, Luceno. Sorry.

29. Star Wars: The Old Republic, Fatal Alliance needs to go home and rethink it’s life. I’m a huge fan of the Old Republic and I’ve put like 200 hours of my life into playing that game, so I was hoping for some fun content in this part of the timeline. Sadly, this book captured the worst parts of the game, like the fact that there’s way too many factions at war with each other. Jedi, Sith, Empire, Republic, Mandalorians. They’re all here. They’re all ready to throw down. And I’m tired. As with many of the books in this lower tier, I felt there wasn’t enough description of the world or the people in the story. We’re in the gffa, be a little weird and wacky. Be big and bold! Make things terrifying, or beautiful, or both. But give my mind something to work with. The number of characters made the plot messier than it could have been, and it definitely isn’t worth the read. I can’t speak for all Old Republic books, but this one didn’t impress me.

A Sith Lord?! On My Bookshelf? It’s More Likely Than You’d Think

30. So underwhelming, you might as well just read the first half and then stop. Last Shot is absolutely terrible, except for Lando Calrissian’s characterization, which was spot-on. If the whole story had been from his perspective, I probably would have a much difference opinion on the novel as a whole. Sadly, this is not the case. Han was boring, he bottled up his emotions, and seemed drastically different from the badass he was in the original trilogy. There are different timepoints in this novel, and in all of them, Han is unrecognizable. Don’t nerf one of your main characters like that. Daniel Jose Older and I might just not get along. I thought his writing style didn’t fit Star Wars at all. It was like breaking the fourth wall, totally pulling me out of the story constantly. Also, there were little to no descriptions of body language, locations, or movement. It left me feeling disoriented the whole time I was reading. I thought one of the most interesting things would have been seeing Han, Leia, and baby Ben being a family at this point in time, but Han’s family was there as a prop, nothing more. There was a big bad item that was going to cause galactic destruction and our heroes had to go save the day. There was barely any tension and no one lost an arm so I’m pretty pissed off. Is it Star Wars if no one gets their appendage removed? I can’t tell you how much I disliked this book. Which is sad because I was hoping to enjoy it. I like Han. I like Lando. I like space adventures. I’m not that hard to please, or at least I don’t think so.

#Star Wars Novels #tier ranking #long post #i worked hard to put my thoughts into words for you guys #i read these books over a long period of time but I thought I'd encompass all of it in one post #sw lit #i've had so much fun becoming a part of this fandom #and I love the conversations about the books and the gffa in general #hopefully this will inspire some discussion!#i would love you guys to make tier rankings as well #they're always my favorite youtube videos to watch

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confused-stars · 3 years

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what's ur top 5 favorite mha ships?

and ur top 5 favorite friendships!

ooh, okay!!!!

i don’t think i can actually fully rank them, it always depends on what mood i’m in and what project i’m currently working on etc. so it’s top 5, but more in the sense of “these five are sharing the top”

ships:

1. erasercloudmic in any constellation, either the three of them, or your classic erasermic or sweet erasercloud or the idiot solidarity ship that is cloudmic. these all count as one, right?

2. dabihawks. they’re sexy in the same way No Children by the Mountain Goats is sexy and i just like listening to my trashfire playlist for them. it’s the tragedy of it all

3. shigadabi. because i adore villains going soft for each other (but only in some moments because the rest of the time they’re still insulting each other. it’s their form of flirting)

4. shinkami. i don’t actually care a ton about most student ships, but these two are top tier. beautiful purple and yellow gays. sunshine boy and grumpy boy. puppy and cat energy. 10/10 wholesome would recommend

5. tododeku. they tend to just fall together naturally when i write fics with them as side characters. something about them just makes sense. they’re also wholesome but in a more intense, lack of self-preservation kind of way

friendships:

1. Deku & Iida & Ochako aka the class rep and his two small gremlin friends. i adore their dynamic as a group. i’m sure Iida regrets his life choices whenever those two consume caffeine

2. All Might and Aizawa! i like them much more as a friendship than as a ship. they’re very, very different people who slowly start to understand each other and i love seeing them have quiet moments together. also All Might being lowkey terrified of Aizawa is hilarious

3. Kurogiri and Shigaraki, to no one’s surprise. though idk if you can file it as ‘friendship’ when they’re clearly parent and child. i absolutely don’t have to go into detail here, you’ve seen my blog

4. Toga and Twice :( they’re both outsiders, even within the League, at least in the beginning. they bond together because they’re so different and they understand each other and i love them sm

5. Bakugou and Kirishima, another case of grumpy and sunshine. i like them fine as a ship but i wouldn’t read, like, a whole fic centered around them. but what i really love is watching their friendship develop. how Kirishima just latched onto him and didn’t let go and Bakugou slowly opened up to him, and how Kirishima understands his way of thinking enough to know what he means when he says things that anyone else might get offended by. also Bakugou genuinely complimenting him and actually choosing to work with him (and Kaminari, too, actually) instead of just doing things on his own

#you see this is why it takes me ages to answer asks #i ramble a lot #also there's so many other good friendships i love #i'm just thinking about todoroki and momo and about the bakusquad now #i miss them where are they #hawks for blacklist #Anonymous

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formless-monkeys · 4 years

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What is your favorite relationship(s) in the show (romantically or platonically, doesn’t matter!)

Anon you will regret opening pandora’s box. Or not. In any case, this post is going to be very long because I’m full of love. Also, anything marked romantic does not need to be romantic for me to lose my shit over them. In no particular order, either. Just in the order I thought of them.

1. The Black-eyed trio

Characters: Otto, Sparx, and Gibson.

Type: Platonic, Romantic,

Explanation: These three are grouped together by virtue of not being obscenely powerful and serving more practical uses on the team. Also, their eyes are all the same color. Besides the poetic connections of the colors of their design, they were alone in the robot together while the other three monkeys were out training.

Sparx and Gibson’s interactions give me life, going from playful jabs to genuine fighting right back to ride-or-die is amazing. The beginning of Night Of Fear, the battles in Brothers In Arms, and a bunch of small moments throughout the series are wonderful for this.

I could write an essay about Otto and Gibson, and someone else already has, but I’ll summarize it as ADHD autism solidarity with a side of Shut The Fuck Up Gibson. They care about each other and learn to respect each other in a way that’s better for both of them. I know a real-life Gibson to my Otto and learning that she’s just pretentious and doesn’t really hate anyone, and figuring out that we’re both equally brilliant and incredibly similar has made life a million times better.

Otto and Sparx don’t have as much development as Gibson with both of them, but their jokes together and general trust is amazing. Sparx is the dumb monkey and Otto supports him in his himbo endeavors.

These three together make an unstoppable technical team, and the only reason they probably couldn’t be a superhero team on their own is because of the raw power and fun dynamics brought by the other half of the team.

Romantically, these three would make the DUMBEST polycule ever. There is no true mediator here. It’s three dumbasses figuring out how they could possibly share a twin-sized bed when they have the ability to just make a bigger bed. Gibson calculates the most efficient 3 monkey makeout and none of them follow the statistics. They all give Chiro equally useless and conflicting advice on homework. Trying to give them a mediator in the polycule just makes me go back to shipping polymonkeys because I literally can’t decide if Antauri or Nova go better with them.

2. Quiet trust and encouragement

Characters: Otto, Antauri

Type: Platonic, Romantic

Explanation: When Otto is being dismissed by the other monkeys, or by the show itself, Antauri is usually the first to say “that’s bullshit, Otto is wonderful”. Circus Of Ooze is a notable example, but there are little moments in other seasons as well.

I just love the idea of the historically MOST SERIOUS and strongest monkey, sometimes even elevated to god-like status by some fanworks... paired with the monkey that has been infantilized and disrespected to no end. I personally like making Antauri have to lean on Otto, just to subvert that even further.

Beyond spite, I ship this simply because I like their dynamic. Antauri needs someone to ground him with more tactile physical things, and Otto needs someone to share his more nebulous thoughts I can’t imagine the others listening to. I love them.

Also, I want Antauri to unlock his true dumbass potential. He has the abilities, but not the will. Be silly with Otto. I want to hear him snort-laugh.

I literally forgot all the silver monkey stuff but I got three fics about that you know I go nuts over mechanic x robot shit.

3. The monkeys and their human son.

Characters: Chiro, Antauri, Nova, Sparx, Gibson, Otto

Type: Familial

Explanation: This family gives me joy. They were forced together through astronomical means and they made the best of it.

Everyone living in the robot is absolutely fucked up. They help each other in the darkest of times. They lift each other up when it’s light. They are a perfect team and nobody can be missing without it feeling wrong. But they can add people!

“Girl Trouble” as a concept is AMAZING to me but my secondhand embarrassment is so strong that I hate the episode. But never once is any of the monkeys resentful of Chiro. Not even Mandarin is like “wow I wish he didn’t take my place” no he’s also struck with the urge to nurture this kid to his fullest potential. Whether you see the team as a bunch of older siblings or 4 dads and a mom doesn’t really matter, they’re a family.

I mean, this also has a sprinkling of shipping all the monkeys in a really domestic way because I like seeing my optimal future in characters I like, but like literally all of these, it doesn’t need to be romantic for me to go nuts. I just think it would be fun to throw just a big monkey wedding or whatever. And funnier for Antauri to go “Chiro I’m having a baby. The baby is you” and holding up adoption papers because on the principle of Toby “Radiation” Fox I love that joke, especially when made much less weird than the original context.

I have a set of characters who is just 5 people in a polycule raising kids and living life because I really love this concept as a family.

4. Evil Coworkers

Characters: Mandarin, Sakko

Type: Romantic, Platonic,

Explanation: Why the hell are these two, in particular, working together? SK could’ve put Mandarin with literally anybody else and he chose what on the surface appears to be the LEAST compatible person on the account that they’re both monkeys. Some bitter asshole who now looks like the epitome of toxic masculinity and this tiny pink pet who used his femininity both as an advantage and a style. They’re different but it ends up working really well for both of them because they’re different in ways that cover each other’s bases. It’s wonderful. Pink and Orange go well together. Green and Purple go well together. Mandarin and Sakko go well together. Also, they clearly trust each other. During almost the entirety of “Hidden Fortress” Sakko was presumably just chilling inside of Mandarin’s armor. Mandarin trusted him enough to have Sakko in a place where he’s able to mess with his cybernetics, and Sakko trusted Mandarin enough to go into the battlefield with him and probably get tossed around.

If they were both human and in a more modern media, then they would definitely be shipped in the straightest way you can get without actually being straight. The Straightest Gay Ship.

5. A Witch and her Accidental Evil Coworker

Characters: Skelemandarin, Valeena.

Type: Platonic, Romantic,

Explanation: These two have been through some shit. Skelemandy was made to serve Skeleton King only to have that purpose yanked away from him. Valeena was groomed to idolize and serve Skeleton King for nearly her entire life. They were forced together by SHEER CHANCE and they both hated it. Arguably they both died at some point.

They both have absolutely NOBODY they can trust so let’s make them trust each other. All hilarity and sweetness comes from that.

Their dynamic is so good that I have them on a blog for a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FANDOM and people love them with no context.

This is the only cross-species ship I have (besides chinmay and the antauri ships but that doesn’t count), but the fact that Skelemandy isn’t actually a monkey and needs no cybernetic assistance to be human-level sentient makes it a lot less weird. Just put them on equal ground power-wise (like by nerfing Valeena’s magic) and you have the ingredients for bonding.

They have like, no cute moments in canon, but that’s why we have fics and art. They have potential. I want them to help each other figure out who they are without their purpose. I want them to survive this horrible life together. I want them to figure out how to trust again. I want a lot but Valeena is fucking dead.

But she doesn’t have to be.

(Also Valeena is REALLY HOT and Skelemandarin is just me as a monkey)

6. Gay Dads

Characters: The Alchemist, Captain Shuggazoom

Type: Romantic, Platonic

Explanation: Oh my stars. Oh null. Oh me oh my hhougfhfakjghf. These two have the angst of Mantauri but on crack.

They only appeared in about two episodes each and all three episodes are top tier. They call each other “Friend” multiple times in their shared episode. THEY’RE FRIENDS!!!!!!!!! The face Al makes when he realizes that Cap is visiting makes me really happy. The fact that Cap had this whole Batman Double Life thing and he shows the Alchemist BOTH OF THEM is amazing. The alchemist is a hermit living in the woods and he lets Cap into that life.

There isn’t a lot shown, much less than everything else here. But that makes every single fanfic so much richer since they’re almost completely based on headcanons. Friends who have a mutual crush on each other but are No Homo about it? Secret boyfriends? Husbands with 6 monkey kids? An Old man and a grumpy Skeleton making it work? Literally just platonic friends? Dude, you can do whatever you want.

The tragedy of these two losing each other to one big horrible event crushes me. It influences my every move in my creative work. I have an entire character dedicated to reuniting these two in the most astronomical and ridiculous way possible because the alchemist angered the gods but she thinks he needs some company in his eternal punishment.

I want Clayton to unlock Al’s less serious, more fun side. I want them to work together. I want them to hold hands. GHGHGHDFBG UTTHTYE CNAZSNT EBCV ASUA ER

7. The girl power duo

Characters: Nova, Jinmay

Type: Familial

Explanation: These two were my only comfort during the uncomfortable nightmare that is “The Hills Have Five”

Nova was the one who trained Jinmay, and it seems like they hang out a lot offscreen in season 4. They fulfill the early 2000′s cartoon archetypes of girl and Girl, so they’re supposed to get along. If they didn’t I probably wouldn’t like Jinmay.

Nova is a really good big sister/parental figure to Jinmay, who never had any family to speak of.

Anyway, this entry has to be shorter because most of their bonding is in “The Hills Have Five” which is either #1 or #2 in my least favorite episode list. Not because it’s bad, but because it makes me viscerally uncomfortable. I really wish literally any other character than Jinmay was in her role in that episode. Or that the “taken to an offscreen area by an adult man while she screams” just wasn’t there. SHE’S 13!!! Nova did literally all she could to help.

I really like that scene in questionable where Valeena kills almost the entire gang. It’s what they deserve.

Look I just really like Jinmay and I always have. She deserves a good Mom.

8. "My Second In Command”

Characters: Antauri, Mandarin

Type: Theoretical

Explanation: The fandom has really made this ship go from “literally nothing to stand on” to “integral plot point in a lot of fics”. Seriously. I have TWO screenshots that vaguely imply these two ever stood next to each other on the battlefield. This was entirely title-based and fan-made until ProjectAfectivity interviewed Ciro. Yeah he knows Antauri but only as well as the rest of the team. Anyway. Wow. This ship.

This is by far the worst breakup in history. These two, despite what Antauri says, were on equal ground at some point. According to Ciro (and fan speculation), they trained together. This (and other Mandy ship) changes wildly depending on if you think Mandarin was corrupted by the portal or not. Maybe Mandarin was once a kind leader who just crossed the wrong boundaries and paid for it. He could’ve held Antauri gently before battle. He could’ve been the monkey Antauri went to when he needed someone to talk to. He could’ve hyped the team up like Chiro does.

Or maybe, they were constantly fighting against each other in small ways. An incredibly unhealthy relationship, yes, but an interesting story. I like stories where Antauri isn’t this all-knowing pillar of stability. He’s got weaknesses. One of them may have been Mandarin.

Now that’s a good nickname from one to the other.

Imagine Antauri, in a moment of complete trust, declaring Mandarin his weakness. A sweet sentiment. They both know the other is incredibly strong, and trust that the other would never take advantage of that connection. They love each other. Until...

9. "My Closest Ally”

Characters: Otto, Mandarin

Type: Theoretical

Explanation: Okay I'm looking at the screenshot I put for this entry while also having watched Evil Ages recently. My brain is making uncomfortable connections. Combine that with the fandom and the show’s general treatment of Otto and I’m about to slam my head into a wall. I really do not like that, but I feel like there’s somebody out there who does.

Anyway, this is Gibotto and Ottauri but with all the spice that shipping Mandarin with one of the other monkeys brings. When done well, it’s all the respecting Otto that comes with Ottauri and all the intimate partnership of Gibotto. And the Angst of Mantauri, but a lot more grounded.

It paints a lot of stories. A story of a single point of comfort in a world Mandarin thinks is out to get him. A story of powerful validation from the one authority in Otto’s life. Of letting your guard down. Of trust, then breaking that trust.

I’d LOVE to see some things with Mandottotauri because that’s epic and cool and poggers. Don’t see a lot, though.

10.The Hets, I guess.

Characters: Jinmay, Chiro.

Type: Romantic. Platonic. Canon.

Explanation: Look two entries on this list are polyamorous and four of them are mandarin so I have to say SOMETHING for the heteroes following me. Picked this ship over Spova because when I was a young child still suffering from comphet, I never watched the last episode of the show. I only saw up to season 3 at the most. This was the only canon ship for me. And out of all the ships, it’s the most relatable. I’m currently a teenager with black hair who looks really good in eyeliner dating a girl with pink hair who can pick me up and is unbelievably sweet. Except we’re gay and polyam. Wait a second I totally had a crush on Jinmay as a kid and now my gf is the Jinmay in this situation. Oh my god I was going to make this comparison if I did Spova too and I liked Nova.

ANYWAY

These are two LONELY kids. Chiro had bullies during school, and now he doesn’t even go to school. Jinmay hasn’t really had friends at all. Two kids with places in their universe that they aren’t too sure about, and just need someone to lean on. Their date was cute. They instantly bonded over their love of monkeys and I love that.

The super robot is sometimes an analog for Chiro, in the first two season at least, and the way the super robot held Jinmay’s hands to keep her steady on the COB while her head flew in was SO SWEET. Chiro’s instant recognition and reaction to Jinmay’s head being thrown at the team, as well. He really loves her.

I think it’d be interesting if she didn’t love him back, though. I might take a stab at writing that.

#srmthfg #super robot monkey team hyperforce go #srmthg #chinmay #Mandotto #Mantauri #Mandareena #Manokko #Captain Alchemist #Ottauri #Polymonkeys #Gibottarx #Anonymous

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joannalannister · 4 years

Text

Anonymous asked:

Hey! It’s me again, your GOT secret Santa. Could you please elaborate on what aspects of the Tywin/Joanna ship you like? They’re not a ship I’ve ever written for, so I’d appreciate it if you could tell me why you like them so much. Anyways, I hope things are going great with you and that you’re getting ready for the holidays 😊

I love Tywin and Joanna because this ship is ASOIAF in its simplest form, stripped down to the bare bones, the meaning made plain.

In my opinion, ASOIAF is different from a lot of other fantasy I’ve read because it doesn’t focus on a magic system, and it doesn’t focus on a great war (we still barely even know anything about the Others).

ASOIAF is different; ASOIAF is about what makes us human. (Even GRRM’s term for the enemy, Other, comes back to this central theme of our humanity, because it suggests that humanity is fighting against something other than human beings, something un-human, something inhumane.)

Tywin is one of the most un-human human beings in the entire series. He’s also the villain that we get the most information about, and he still looms large over the text even in death. (Even in the brief glimpses of TWOW that he’s shared, GRRM keeps bringing him up.) GRRM has shown us all of these monstrous things about Tywin, but in doing so, he’s made the tiny glowing embers of Tywin’s humanity burn like the beacons of Minas Tirith.

It’s our joy and our love and our laughter that make us human. It’s our sorrow and our pain. But more than all that, our humanity is the connections we make to other people. It’s shared joy, shared love, shared laughter. Shared sorrow. Our compassion. To build a society is to connect people, to share with others. Tywin and Joanna is a society of two.

(That weirwood net of shared consciousness fascinates me - it’s an idea GRRM has written about before in his other works, and he keeps coming back to it.)

So those handful of smiles: for his wife, for the birth of his (first two) children, for his greatest accomplishments (gruesome as they are).

And the pain in this passage: “when Aerys II announced Ser Jaime's appointment from the Iron Throne, his lordship went to one knee and thanked the king for the great honor shown to his house. Then, pleading illness, Lord Tywin asked the king's leave to retire as Hand.”

And the utter and absolute pain in this one: “With her death, Grand Maester Pycelle observes, the joy went out of Tywin Lannister, yet still he persisted in his duty.”

It’s like a shot glass filled with sorrow. In AGOT through ADWD, the sorrow in those books is slow; it’s (mostly) meant to be sipped, and savored. But the way we experience Tywin’s pain, as GRRM writes it, it’s quick and it burns, and it burns out just as quickly as we move on to Tywin’s next atrocity.

So, for me at least, Tywin and Joanna are like a distilled version of ASOIAF. It’s the moments we share that make us human, and when Joanna died, Tywin’s humanity died with her.

That might not be the most helpful thing for writing a fanfic, so let me give you some other reasons:

My favorite short story is “The Last Rung on the Ladder”. I think I first read it ~20 years ago, and it still haunts me. It hurts. It’s about a brother and sister. It’s about taking things for granted, about the people we depend on, and about what happens when those people are no longer there.

“You're my big brother. I knew you'd take care of me.” “Oh, Kitty, you don't know how close it was.” [...] “No,” she said. “But I knew you were [...] there.”

Maybe this applies to Jaime and Cersei too, and Tywin/Joanna are just a different iteration, but it’s what keeps me coming back: what happens when the people you depend on ... the people you think are always going to be there ... what happens when those people -- those lifelines -- are gone?

Despite Tywin being (imo) a very social person, I think Tywin had very few real friends. In addition to being his wife, Joanna was Tywin’s friend, someone he could talk to, and confide in, and trust. Someone who made it all real. Someone who made it worth it.

And I think Tywin thought Joanna would always be there, the same way that everyone in AGOT-ASOS thought Tywin would always be there, “eternal as Casterly Rock”. I think Tywin always imagined that Joanna would outlive him, like it never occurred to him that she would die first, but instead she died when he was in his early 30s. That’s life-shattering to have the rug pulled out from under you like that.

Similarly, I think Joanna had this idea that she and Tywin would be together, but instead he was “often away”. We’re told that they were children together at Casterly Rock, but then at ~10 Tywin was sent away to be Aegon V’s cupbearer, and later he went away to war on the Stepstones, and then after her wedding Joanna had to be sent away because of Aerys, and we have Tywin sent to Lys at some point. What did it mean to her, that Tywin wasn’t there? For Joanna, I don’t necessarily think that Tywin not being there was entirely a bad thing, at least eventually, although I imagine it was painful at first. I think these forced separations from Tywin allowed her to grow, allowed her to eventually rule the Westerlands in Tywin’s name while he was away.

The thing that I always think of when I think about Tywin and Joanna is this poem, “Mrs. Beast” by Carol Ann Duffy, and I always think of this line, “Bring me the Beast for the night. Bring me the wine-cellar key. Let the less-loving one be me.” The more loving one is Tywin in my mind, no doubt about it. (I played with this poem for Tywin/Joanna here.)

There’s this scene I imagine in my own fanfiction, about a year before Joanna’s death, where there’s these silent tears, this despair on Joanna’s face, and Jaime asks his mother why she’s crying, and she says, “Because your lord father is home.”

I think Joanna always loved Tywin, to the very end, but Tywin is a difficult person to live with. I think his homecomings eventually became bittersweet. On the one hand, the love of her life has come home to her across hundreds of miles through snow, through bandits etc, but on the other hand, whenever Tywin comes home, Joanna has to take a back seat. Tywin sucks all of the oxygen out of the room. Everyone has to take a back seat to Tywin: “It has been hard for Kevan, living all his life in Tywin's shadow. It was hard for all my brothers. That shadow Tywin cast was long and black, and each of them had to struggle to find a little sun.“

This is all kind of leading into another reason I like Tywin/Joanna in that it’s an exploration of gender roles, and the ... the limits that women are under in Westeros, even under the very best circumstances. With Joanna, she’s white, she’s filthy rich, she’s a top-tier noblewoman, she’s beautiful. Contrasted against Rhaella, Joanna has a husband who loves her so much that we get lines about Joanna ruling Tywin and how this man who never ever smiles smiled for her. But there are still limits. We’re told that Tywin was ruled at home by his lady wife. Joanna’s influence is restricted, it’s dependent on what power Tywin gives her. While Rhaella physically was confined to Maegor’s Holdfast, Joanna’s influence is confined to the domestic sphere.

Westeros is a broken place, one that’s always been broken into little pieces (Seven Kingdoms, not one). Westeros breaks people. Like Mrs. Beast in the poem, I think Joanna was able to forget, for a time, about the world’s abused women. She was able to forget that Westeros breaks people, and that it especially breaks women. I think Joanna thought she was the exception, that she would have more, achieve more, do more ... and eventually I think she hits a wall, realizing that Tywin is her limiting factor, even as he lifts her up and grants her the power to do.

It’s these limits that fascinate me about House Lannister as a whole. Like, the Lannisters are introduced to us as infinite. (Thinkin about this a lot lately.) Bottomless wealth, eternal life, unfathomable beauty, all I do is win win win. But over the course of the books GRRM knocks all of this down and shows us that there is a finite quality to House Lannister. Tywin dies. With Jaime, I think GRRM is exploring the limits of redemption imo. Cersei is going to hit a wall. It’s that the culture of House Lannister, their fundamental values -- they don’t work.

Tywin is the poster boy of Westeros - he is the feudal system, he’s the face of its misogyny, he’s the walking embodiment of classism and income inequality and privilege and everything horrible about Westeros.

I don’t think it was ever possible for Joanna to be dealt a winning hand with Tywin, The system is rigged against women, and a woman would have to break the system entirely to win. But Tywin is the system, so it just doesn’t work.

I think of Joanna as a tragedy.

um.

idunno if any of that is helpful, but i sure wrote a lot. Also, I really like power couples and courtly intrigue and stuff like the Borgias. Hopefully that helps a little bit, I’m so sorry.

If you want to read other stuff I wrote, I collect my Tywin x Joanna writings under this tag:

#tjmeta

And these tags might also be useful: #joanna meta and #tywin meta

I’m so sorry, please know that I will absolutely love whatever you write! There are so few fics of Tywin/Joanna that I am excited for anything.

(Also I hate Aerys and he can go fuck himself. I think that Tywin tried to see Joanna as a person, as much as a man in such a deeply misogynistic society can see a woman as a person. I think Aerys saw Joanna as a battlefield. Also I really hate the theory that Tyrion is Aerys’s. Really hate that.)

Ok, im sorry, ILU SANTA! I HOPE YOU ARE ENJOYING BEING DONE WITH YOUR FINALS AND HAVING A BREAK!!!

#tywin lannister #joanna lannister #tywin x joanna #joanna meta #tywin meta #tjmeta #lannister thoughts #secret santa #secret santa 2019 #got secret santa #the meaning of asoiaf

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medea10 · 4 years

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My Review of Magical Girl Site

How did I get into this anime? I…huh…Good question! I don’t recall. Probably some other anime reviewers mentioned it and I put it on the Amazon/Netflix list hoping I won’t have to watch it any time soon. Two years later and here we are!

Aya Asagiri’s life is a living hell. She is constantly bullied at school and no one does a thing to stop it. Her teachers don’t care about her well-being. Her father barely notices she exists. And to top it off, her brother beats the crap out of her just for him to relieve stress! Is it any wonder that she wants to commit suicide? One night, her computer mysteriously turns on to a website, promoting Aya to become a magical girl. She brushed it off and thought nothing of it…

That is until the next morning when she finds a note and a gun in her shoe locker. After being tortured by her bullies and almost raped, she finds herself at the end of her ropes and pulls out the mysterious gun. When she pulled the trigger, her bullies disappeared. Turns out, the targets are transported to another place. In the case of some of her bullies, they were transported to in front of a moving train.

Karma, bitches!

It’s unknown why Aya was specifically chosen to become a magical girl, but fellow magical girl Yatsumura feels she could use Aya’s magic to combat a looming threat to other magical girls. But they must not overuse their magic, otherwise they will die.

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: As of this moment, this anime seems to be in the capable hands of Amazon Prime. And we all know how well they treat animes, right?! Hahaha! Funny! Anyways, don’t expect a dub! The cast seems to be comprised of many female seiyuus I’m not particularly familiar with. I mean with the exception of Aina Suzuki, I hear her sounds every day thanks to the Love Live game apps! Add to that the creepy, raspy voice of Frieza playing the site administrator! One voice actor however I heard the second he let out a creepy, hygena-like laugh, I knew exactly who this crazy bastard was! Nobuhiko Okamoto plays a great psychopath. Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

*Aya is played by Yuuko Oono

*Yatsumura is played by Himika Akaneya

*Sarina is played by Haruka Yamazaki (known for Ruka on Hayate the Combat Butler, Mero on Monster Musume, Aika on High School DxD, and Natsumi on Danganronpa 3)

*Nijimi is played by Yuu Serizawa (known for Shera on How Not to Summon a Demon Lord)

*Shioi is played by Aina Suzuki (known for Mari on Love Live Sunshine)

AUTOMATICLY THROWN ON DISLIKED LIST: Okay children, who automatically ends up on my hate list for life?

Fuckers who commit rape and fuckers who kill animals for fun!

Damn right! Give this anime some credit for not showing Aya’s bullies throwing a cat in front of a moving train. If this were 10 years ago, they probably would have animated it and I would have been puking afterward. I’m not sure which of Aya’s bullies threw a cat in front of a moving train, but for the time being, I’m throwing them all on the list.

And while I’m here, Sarina! She was like the ring-leader in the bullying of Aya. I’m almost certain she’s the bitch that killed the stray cat but I have no proof of that. With my history with horrible people like that, I have no sympathy for bullies in the slightest and feel she got what was coming to her. Bitch, you got that big, ugly scar on your neck for a reason. You got what was coming!

DEFINITELY BELONGS IN DISLIKE HISTORY: Now that I got the usual gripe off my chest, gotta add Aya’s onii-chan, Kaname! Sweet merciful crap, do I love hearing Nobuhiko Okamoto play a psychopath, but this is going way too far. And Kaname is just irredeemable! He has this complex that makes him think he’s on God-tier and everyone else is beneth him. Now I do have to hate Kaname and Aya’s father for placing this kind of pressure on Kaname and beating the shit out of him if he gets bad grades. But good fuck, this guy just pushes past the line of no return when he tries to manipulate little girls, steal their power, and lose control. And this wasn’t like he had no control over his own body and wants to stop this from happening! Kaname meant every thing he did to his sister and her friends. OH…and that one guy he forced to off himself! I just can’t even with this guy!

SHIPPING: I know a lot of people ship the hell out of Aya and Yatsumura and yeah, I can see that and I would ship them too. But for reals, I just want these two girls to live a life of peace together for as long as they’re around. For fuck’s sake, did you see the shit they put up with in their lives? Aya was bullied relentlessly at home and school. Yatsumura watched her whole family be slaughtered by a creep. These girls deserve some sort of peace! I know this is the shipping category, but I felt the need to say this.

STICKS: Okay anime, what are you doing? Aya uses a magical gun! Sarina uses a magical yo-yo! Nijimi uses magical panties (insert immature laugh here)! Yatsumura uses a magical remote! How hard is it to have them say that! And I probably shouldn’t put blame on the anime and holler at the manga! But calling magical items “Sticks”, that feels…I don’t want to say stupid, but I can’t think of any other word to go along with that. I just feel like the manga was on some deadline and they were frantically finishing what to call their magical items and just went “FUCK IT, IT’S STICKS”.

COULD HAVE FOOLED ME: In the “Could have fooled me” category we have a boy who identifies as a girl magical girl! Man, 2018 definitely was the progressive AF year! I mean, we had Lily from Zombieland Saga, we had the girls who transformed into magical buff men in Magical Girl Ore, and now THIS! So we have Kiyo! An openly transgendered magical girl that’s not a token joke! Okay, well done guys! Pearl points all around!

ENDING: Early in the series, we learned about a moment called “The Tempest”. A catastrophic even set to take place once enough negative energy is caught. There are a lot of Magical Girl Site administrators that take advantage of “POOR UNFORTUNATE SOULS”. They pick the most unfortunate girls as pawns in their game. And once “The Tempest” hits, everyone will die and the world will start over anew. Aya and Yatsumura end up meeting new magical girl allies and even a few that were coersed by different administrators. Not to mention one of Aya’s bullies is a magical girl too with a score to settle! What could be worse?

How about we add Aya’s disgusting brother to this mix?! As I’ve mentioned before, Aya’s brother Kaname would use Aya as a personal punching bag in order to get rid of stress. When Aya became a magical girl, she would spend more time with Yatsumura or the other girls, leaving Kaname to go without slugging his sister. So fuckface over here manipulates another magical girl, Nijimi to do what he says. This leads to him stealing Nijimi’s underwear and gaining her magical power of mind control. I never thought I would have to say a sentence like that, but here we are.

Kaname went out of control with this power as he managed to injure all of the girls and give a fatal blow to Nijimi. But another possible enemy dropped a bomb on us when they kidnapped Kaname. THEN, these girls are targeted at Nijimi’s funeral and they almost died. Add another plot-twist, a police officer that’s been seen from time to time in a lot of the tragedies in the show is in cahoots with one of the magical girl site administrators. This keeps getting fuckier by the minute! Well, the girls felt it was time to take action and try to take out the administrators that screwed them with this doomed fate. But once they took out one of the administrators, they came across an ugly truth.

Sight administrators are magical girls who died previously!

Yeah, not that big of a shock! Madoka Magica gave us magical girls who end up so corrupt that they become witches they’re supposed to fight. While some of the administrators ended up falling to these girls, Nana (the creepy one we’ve been watching since ep 1) is the hardest one to take out. She ends up killing Yatsumura (because she used up too much of her power), but then manipulates her to become an administrator.

Once she manipulated Yatsumura, she ends up going after Aya. And after a lot of back-and-forth between the two girls, Yatsumura was able to snap out of Nana’s control and they managed to take out Nana. And we end the series with a brighter future for Aya and Yatsumura as their lives become a little less unfortunate.

Yeah, few issues here!

1.) There are still a butt-load of site administrators. Isn’t there still a “Tempest” going to happen? 2.) Aya and Yatsumura’s lives aren’t in danger anymore after using fuck-tons of their power? WTF?! 3.) What was the point of Aya shooting herself to get Yatsumura back? I am not following you. Is this some sort of Insception shit?! 4.) That detective! Misumi was his name? Why was he just casually talking to Nana a few episodes back? 5.) Why don’t we see him until the final few moments in the finale? 6.) WHY DID HE RAPE KANAME?! 7.) WHY WAS THIS SCENE A THING? 8.) I don’t want to say Kaname deserved it, buuuuuut… Uuuggghhh…Mumble, mumble. I can’t finish that thought. 9.) These site administrators are probably pissed and are going to want revenge on these magical girls. What’s going on here?

…Let me guess, I need to read the manga to get all my questions answered…

FUCKING FIGURES!

Seriously...what Misumi did. That scene is forever etched in my brain forever. Next to that scene of Kaname wiggling his junk in front of a guy.

This anime was pretty bad. No wait...

This anime was way too edgy for me! Episode 1 was just absolute torture porn involving Aya. The first episode managed to combine the bully scene in Vivid Strike, the puppy killing scene in Elfen Lied, and every bullying episode of Hell Girl all into one single episode. As for the rest of this series, they go above and beyond to grab some of the worst aspects of other animes and implement them here. Aya’s older brother almost has a God-complex that rivals that of Light Yagami of Death Note. Nijimi has a devoted fan that’s almost crossing over from the movie Perfect Blue. Body mutilation scenes on levels not seen since Higurashi! And fill this world up with the worst kinds of humans imaginable like in Elfen Lied! This was just too much hatred! Too much!

Add to that, there’s absolutely no resolution to this story. Yes, Aya and Yatsumura are alive and together. But guys, there are still some other-worldly strong site administrators looming! Tempest is still happening. KANAME IS STILL FUCKING ALIVE…literally and figuratively speaking! And with how much this anime has been panned by anime fans across the board, I doubt if this anime will ever receive a sequel. Guys, if you want a really good 12-episode anime about magical girls with an edge, just watch Madoka Magica. But if you’re a curious idiot like me, whatever, you do you!

As this anime is an Amazon Prime exclusive, I’m afraid that’s the only legal outlet for this.

Now that this is over, my next Amazon/Netflix/Crunchyroll anime is…

Grand Blue!

Oh, it’s set in a cute ocean town. Am I going to enjoy some cute absurdity like I did with Tsuritama?

Sort of!

OH GOOD FUCK, WHAT FRAT HOUSE WAS THIS BIRTHED FROM?!

#anime review #magical girl site #mahou shoujo site #aya asagiri #tsuyuno yatsumura #kaname asagiri #sarina shizukume

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theworldinclines · 4 years

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hey it's rec anon again! i watched his a few days ago (it was so good i wanted to cry) and i've got ingredients on my watch list! the ones i've seen off the top of my head are lbc (for tincan, watching s2 as it airs), tol, dbk, 2gether, 2m2, h3 trapped, uwma, together w u, 3wbf, and a few other ones that aired this year! i really liked dbk, 2m2, 3wbf, and twy but i'm open to any tropes that aren't horror/noncon/tragedy 💙💙

hi again anon!! (im dead at the way u felt the need to clarify ur only watching lbc for tincan dfjhgjdk SAME)

i really enjoyed h3: make our days count, i would only tell you to stop watching after xi gu leaves to get salt. that doesn’t make sense right now but if u choose to watch it, u’ll get it. otherwise the end is tragedy and it frankly sucks. i really liked the characters and laughed a lot, so without the otherwise terrible ending it was really good! (here’s ep 1 if you’re interested)

the untamed is another one that is much more time consuming but the general consensus is that it's so worth it!! the acting and costuming is god tier and if you like ‘historical’ settings, you’ll like the untamed. it’s on youtube and netflix, and it’s 50 episodes dfgfhkldfgj it starts off pretty slow but once u get into it it’s WILD. there are fight scenes and blood, but they’re not super realistic in my opinion so the gore aspect is lessened. also a lot of gays Yearning LMAO happy ending too! (ep 1)

love is more than a word is also an ‘historical’ setting with a VERY happy ending and another one that has a plot you don’t see every day (aka it isn’t the usual ‘uni students being shipped by random girls’ kdfjhgkdfj) wholesome w a side of brief angst 10/10 (ep 1)

i did like together with me bc im a sucker for friends to lovers, but i’d only tell u to watch that for max and tul, the leads, bc theyre hilarious irl and have a new series premiering later this fall, manner of death, that will have a mystery murder premise we’re all LOSING OUR MINDS waiting for. oh and if u watch twm, don’t watch s2 on god DON’T sdfhgghjf (ep 1)

i hope you havent seen these and that any of them seem watchable to you LMAO you’ve seen like all the ones i have so i dont have much to rec im sorry fhghglfj thank u for the ask :))

#thanks again!!#answered #bl recs #recs

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caffeineivore · 4 years

Text

Commission #1

For @ellorgast

Prompt: A Very Spirited Wedding

Ships: Usagi/Mamoru, Senshi/Shitennou

Rating: PG

Get your own commissions from me here or check out other people offering commissions here!

Something Old…

Her dress is spotless white satin glimmering with seed pearls and a flowing overlay of chiffon embroidered with rosebuds. Angela has just finished dressing, and makeup, and had kicked out the well-meaning army of her mother and future mother-in-law and bridesmaids and photographer after the requisite pictures and champagne, just to take a moment for herself. The woman in the mirror glows with excitement and the flush of love, but there’s always a hint of nerves, of the finality of tying oneself to another person for the rest of one’s life. She knows, more than most, anything can happen. Countless tragedies spring from a single blink-of-the-eye catastrophe, or one bad decision.

A knock, a harmonious, familiar voice at the other side of the door. “It’s Jay. Are you decent?”

He looks exceedingly handsome and somehow a bit stately, dressed in pale grey linen with a sprig of sage and ivy— silvery and lush green— pinned to his lapel. It’s not a typical choice for a suit or boutonniere, but it suits more than black-tie would, and he’s holding something in his hands— gleaming silver.

It’s a delicate tiara, wrought branches of metal so intricately worked as to look like the slender stems of living flowers and vines twisted together. Drops of clear crystal like dew glitter against the silver, along with fantastical flowers carved out of jewels— blue irises, pink rosebuds, yellow daisies and red poppies— an effect which should’ve been crass, but when he places it on her head, over the filmy lace veil, she looks like a fairy princess. The metal feels slightly warm and almost alive against her hair, and she smiles up at this surrogate brother, this forever friend. “How did you know I’d looked in every single boutique in this city and couldn’t find anything?”

He grins, and the stately, somewhat remote look vanishes. “Well. For one thing, this is super old. But I am firmly of the belief that it will bring you good luck, you little ball of sunshine. I brought it out of storage.”

She thinks art nouveau, circa 1920’s, perhaps out of a safety deposit box somewhere in a bank. He knows, but doesn’t say, that it had been wrought by the masterful hands of his clan’s greatest artisans, in moonlit smithies high up in mist-shrouded mountains back before the first ships had ever even crossed the ocean, blessed by starshine and magic and centuries’ worth of romantic hopes and dreams. She just knows that it fits perfectly, and her eyes shine a bit brighter in the reflection, and she reaches up, impulsively, to give him a hug. “Something old, right? Thank you.”

“I wish you all the best and brightest of this world’s blessings, my friend.” He presses a brief, grave kiss to her forehead, right under where the metal meets skin, and it feels like the strangest of benedictions, almost solemn and formal. But then he steps back, and he’s Jay again, and he makes a cheeky comment about how beautiful she looks and how Adam is going to swallow his tongue when he sees her, and he leaves as quickly as he’d come on quick and silent feet.

Something New…

The blind date with Jareth’s friend had gone surprisingly well. Zhen, with his indolent green eyes and roguish smile, is well-spoken and courteous, with an almost-dangerous way of looking and listening to a woman as though he’d been waiting all his life for what she had to say at any given moment. Raina considers herself immune to such foolishness for the most part, but that Jareth considers him a friend is a point in his favour. It’s unspoken, but not unknown, that she and Jareth are both a bit out of the realm of the ordinary mortals who surround them.

When she’d mentioned the wedding, he’d cheerfully agreed to go as her date. “I love weddings. Such an optimistic sort of atmosphere, no? Whatever storms the happy couple may face in the future, for today they are deeply in love, heads and hearts full of rose-coloured dreams and hopes. And then they almost always have fabulous food and delicious cake. That cannot be overstated.”

She’s not as optimistic, perhaps, about the concept of marriage. But she rather likes Adam King, out of her colleagues at the hospital. He’s intelligent and capable, as is expected for his profession and academic record, but furthermore, there’s a soul-deep, untarnished light of compassion and empathy in the blue of his eyes. He had not become a healer because it was his birthright, like her, but because he genuinely, in his quiet, mortal way, felt and wanted to heal the pain of his fellow humans. It stirs a long-dormant feeling of fond protectiveness in her, and when she and her date go to wish the happy couple well at the start of the reception, she means it genuinely.

Zhen looks keenly interested in the proceedings, and though she’s quite sure that neither the bride nor groom had ever met him before, he greets them both with the cordiality of a socially-adroit man intent on befriending them both. He had not brought a gift-- (she had picked a popular programmable coffee and espresso machine out of the online registry, knowing Adam’s fondness for mochas)-- but he’d brought a card, and tucked in a scratch-off lottery ticket. He hands it to Adam, in person, rather than adding it to a pile left somewhere, and the groom opens it, reads the message aloud.

“Best of luck with your love and your lives together. Blessings upon you both.” It’s a nice enough message, and written in exuberant flourishes of looping script. Good-humouredly, Adam claps Zhen on the shoulder, and scratches off the silver wax on the lottery ticket, then his eyebrows shoot up to his hairline as he scans the ticket again.

“Did you win something?” Zhen inquires pleasantly, his lazy smile playing across his lips.

“Three matched sevens across, and then these two numbers mean…” Adam furrows his brow, and glances around before lowering his voice. “I’m not much for playing the lottery. But if I’m reading this correctly, did I just win $5000?!”

“Well, well.” Zhen’s voice is low and pleased as an animal’s purr. “How lucky for you, my friend. I do think that is a fantastic beginning to your new life together, wouldn’t you say?”

Raina hears pleasure and something close to triumph in her companion’s voice, but not even a little bit of surprise. This man, with his scintillating gaze and effortless charm, is much more than he seemed. She’d have to keep an eye on him.

Something Borrowed…

Linden Thorne does not often work in the role of caterer, but on impulse, she had accepted to provide both the cake and food for this wedding, and she had found herself pleasantly surprised at how much she’d enjoyed it.

The bride and groom were perhaps two of the most pure-hearted, genuinely good mortals that she had ever come across. A doctor and a social worker, both working tirelessly to help and heal the physical and emotional damage of any of their fellows that crossed their paths-- and humans are a fragile lot, indeed. They had been pleasant, easygoing, not at all demanding, and so deeply in love that both of them all but glowed with it. The bride especially, with her boundless energy and equally irrepressible sweet tooth, took particularly well to any and every thing that Linden had her sample.

So, she’s not entirely surprised when Angela-- who had been Angela King for all of perhaps an hour-- peeks into the kitchen area where the wedding reception is taking place. Linden has a half-dozen sous chefs and assistants putting together delicate canapés with the efficiency of a battalion following the directives of their commanding officer: a lanky young man is on top of a step-stool putting the finishing touches on the top tier of the wedding cake-- translucently thin slivers of gold leaf, velvety rosebuds in shell pink and scarlet, a woman with a severely pinned bun is garnishing exquisite smoked salmon toast rounds with glossy black caviar and eyelash-thin fronds of fresh dill. The bride, still in her gown though sans veil, grins at her with a good-humoured yet half-embarrassed look that Linden interprets in an instant.

“You’re starving, aren’t you?”

“A bit, yeah. I had a salad last night for dinner. Then it was my fault this morning because I was too excited to eat. But now I’m shamelessly begging in here like I have no sense. You can totally tell me to buzz off.”

Linden finds herself laughing, unoffended. “It’s your wedding, so it would not make much sense for me to tell you to buzz off, wouldn’t you agree?”

“But you’re busy, and this is probably rude of me, so…”

“I will forgive it this time.” Linden steps away from the buzz of activity, digs through the pantry and fridge. The bride is a silly, bright-eyed slip of a girl, sweet and pure as vanilla buttercream, and if the world has yet to break her spirit, who was Linden to take that onerous task into her hands. She cuts two slices of rye bread, then adds Dijon mustard, peppery arugula leaves, generous slices of red tomatoes and sharp cheddar and cold chicken breast. A sandwich is probably the least glamorous meal that she could have put together in that moment, but the girl’s eyes light up like stars nonetheless.

Linden, with an indulgent smile, slips her own chef’s apron off of her neck, and carefully ties it over the bride’s flowing white gown. “Okay. Eat up.”

“Oh, God, this is the best thing I’ve ever had, and I know I’ll be saying that again like twenty times tonight after everything else you’ve made, too,” Angela says in between bites, looking like a mischievous fairy princess who’d snuck down to the palace kitchens in that borrowed apron. She finishes the sandwich with rather unladylike haste, but then gets up, with her usual endless energy, and reaches up to give Linden a hug. It’s such a human gesture-- warm and impulsive and sweet and unexpected, and Linden pauses awkwardly before returning it.

“Feel better now?”

“Oh yes. Thanks for the apron. And the sandwich. And everything.” Angela slips the apron off, mussing her hair just the faintest bit, then beams up at Linden again. “I really hope that you’re as happy as I am today. Forever. Does that sound silly?”

Forever is a long time, far beyond the scope of what this silly mortal bride could fathom, but Linden knows that the bright-eyed, perhaps foolish girl means it with every beat of her kind and affectionate heart. And so she lets the genuine goodwill of the wish warm her spirit, like a borrowed candle shining valiantly on a dark night, far after the party is over and the bride is well on her way to her honeymoon.

Something Blue…

The late September breeze filters through the tall, slim boles of a tall aspen decked in autumnal gold outside on the grounds of a Manhattan church, the sound soft and gentle as whispered prayers. Inside, a wedding ceremony is taking place, a young man and woman exchanging their vows to their God and each other to live the rest of their lives together in love and unity and devotion.

Contrary to popular belief, Kafziel does not spend the majority of his time on the premises of churches in the city. But this morning finds him on the rooftop of this particular building, a stalwart sentinel visible only in the fleeting, ever-changing reflections of the panes of the intricate rose window in the facade of the building. Of course, there is no one around to see him-- all the visitors to the church are well enough inside to watch the happy couple getting married.

Kafziel knows, of course, the history of the bride and groom, as he knows the history of every other man, woman and child currently living in that great city, and even by his exacting standards, both of them live decent, upstanding lives above reproach. Neither of them were born here; indeed, the young man in particular had been the product of a most unpromising beginning. And yet, they had found their way here, and to each other, and flourished in love and light and goodness despite everything which might conspire to tarnish the kindness of two such spotless souls.

The pane of leaded glass reflects, at that moment, a face of stark, stern beauty and foreboding. “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” The words are familiar and easy, but Kafziel knows, more than any, of the way great darkness follows great light with dogged, demoniacal tenacity. There is a chill in the air; winter is coming, and with the frost portents sharp strife, perhaps even great trouble. Those who would engender all which he abhors would feed, frenzied, upon the darkest, basest impulses and sins and actions. The happy couple who are even now enjoying their first kiss as man and wife have no idea that their union portends any number of potential catastrophes of a dark and sinful world rebelling against their very radiance. Kafziel’s reflection squares its shoulders, firms its grip on the mighty, fire-tipped sword that throws jewel-like beams of light through the stained glass into the building.

But even as he braces himself for what must inevitably come-- perhaps a day, or a month, or a decade from now-- he feels the presence of others crowding in, like a ragtag bunch of plucky soldiers summoned to a war they might have no call to fight and yet taken on with every bit of courage as such a troop might muster. The chaotic whimsy of a shifter. The primeval fire-and-wildwoods magic of a nature goddess. The calm, steadfast wisdom of a healer and the tireless, graceful agility of a brace of wandering Ælf-kine. Others, too, all gathered here, converging by luck or fate. Kafziel pauses, and allows himself a faint, almost-hopeful smile, and overhead, the sunlight breaks through the clouds as the sky turns a brilliant blue.

#ellorgast #senshi/shitennou #mamoru x usagi #commission #fanfiction #fanfic #sailor moon

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ghostmartyr · 6 years

Text

SnK 104 Thoughts

Hey Galliard.

Hey. Hey. Galliard.

LET’S SEE YOU GRIT THOSE TEETH.

We’re reaching the end of this arc segment, and I think the relief is making it a little easier to appreciate all the things happening. ...I mean it would, if anything remotely positive were still going on in this world.

Wait, Falco’s alive.

Okay team, there’s still hope.

I’m still having trouble working out why all of this is the chosen strategy. Paradis has caused an incredible amount of destruction, and disposed of most of the top brass, so looked at from an Us vs. Them situation, as long as the Scouts and Eren make it out okay, this is a pretty successful operation. It’s going to take some time for Marley to chase after their island with all the devastation.

What’s the score? The harbor, a bunch of surrounding cityscape, plenty of the interment zone, most of their top brass, and... let’s call it four Titans.

The frustrating part is that I’m having a really difficult time working out the scale of it all. In every section of this battle that we’re shown, Paradis has won somewhat easily. But I don’t know how large Marley is. Magath and Willy are willing to offer up the internment zone and all of the talking heads inside of it in order to gain allies in their offensive. They were ready for Eren. They were not ready for their Titans being out of reach, and they were not ready for Armin.

Since Eren’s decision to play along as the villain of Willy’s story, I’ve been sulking and wondering what the endgame is. What’s the point of playing right into Marley’s publicity stunt? What’s the point of making yourselves look so bad when your only contact with the outside world has been self-defense?

Reading this chapter, it’s hard not to think, “what’s the point of standing back when you know you can win?”

(Even though they’re all so very screwed if their escape blimp plan gets derailed. Like. Their eggs have 1 (one) assigned basket. And Eren’s already nearly died several times during this mess. Dun dun dun.)

And I’m not sure how much of that is a sign that Paradis has landed a fatal blow against Marley, and how much is just... here’s where our focus has been. In a very tiny corner of the world, Paradis has the upper hand.

Marley, unlike the rest of the antagonistic world, fights wars with Titans. The lowercase ones too. In this battle, they have lost two of them, one with the unique ability of controlling ravenous hordes of cannon fodder, one with the unique ability of making very kickass weapons.

What they’re left with is Reiner, Galliard, and Pieck. None of them in a state where they are a dominant force.

Magath wants Marley to enter a world where their military strength isn’t determined by Titans, but you can’t change that overnight. Their greatest trump cards have all been beaten or stolen away. In terms of Titan strength, Paradis wins right out. Marley has the numbers to win a siege war, but that isn’t the war being fought at the moment.

A few things are happening with this battle. One (the most annoying, being something Willy and Magath plan to exploit), Paradis is doing a fantastic job of selling themselves as the demons everyone calls them. Two, they’re making it clear who wins in a battle of Titans (however dicey things are during the fight, Paradis is leaving (hopefully) with three of Marley’s Titans horrifically maimed, one MIA, but presumed dead, and one actually dead). Three, they’re leaving a country that the whole world has bad experiences with in a very vulnerable position.

Marley might be putting work into making Paradis the scapegoat, but the night they declare war Paradis stomps every weapon they have faith in. Ambassadors from other countries get along with Willy, less so with Marley. One night of sympathy for the Eldian plight their buddy Willy has gone through isn’t going to change that.

The hope in the aftermath of this might be that Paradis has proven itself too dangerous to be left alone, so other countries will gladly work with Marley to stamp them out of existence, but... I’m wondering a little if those other countries might be more interested in wiping out their known enemy before turning their attention to the island. Marley has zero good will built up.

Ugh, I don’t know. Thinking about all the different ways people could respond to this makes my head hurt. Especially since Paradis does have links with other countries now, and that makes it harder to get the Beauty and the Beast mob song going.

And again there’s the question of scale. Which is really just me questioning how many Erens Armin just pulled, and how many Erens it would take duplicating to raze all of Marley to the ground. Armin’s feat is obviously destructive, but.

Fuck it, I want five pages of next chapter devoted to graphing out population and military personnel of Marley. With real numbers. The sixth page can provide Paradis’.

Has this operation hamstrung Marley as badly as their morale makes it feel like, or not? That’s all I want to know. Acceptable sacrifice vs. monstrous horrifying mass murder of horror is easier to parse out when the mission objectives and accomplishments are written in plaintext.

...It’s obviously going to end up being both anyway. I still feel really lost.

In character land, where things are slightly simpler, Armin’s having his own version of Eren and Reiner’s conversation. If Eren and Reiner are the same, so are Armin and Bertolt. That’s... oy.

I complain a lot about action chapters because I always feel like I just want to watch the anime version and get on with it without turning over every rock, but some of the complaining comes from really, really wanting to get back to the sad monologuing about feelings everyone in this series is prone to indulge. Hell, pull a Naruto and let everyone get a significant backstory flashback when it looks like they’re in mortal danger.

Armin’s from Shiganshina. Ground zero of this war. He’s one of a small percentage of people who lived through watching Wall Maria’s destruction. He’s standing right there when everything their people have known is annihilated.

Bertolt also burns him to death. Basically.

Now Armin’s the one holding all that power in his hands. He kills people and takes away their homes just by taking a few steps.

The good news is that he knows he has an expiration date, so he can look forward to that instead of seeking therapy to help him later in life.

...

Yeah, there is no good news. Let’s pan back to Falco, who is breathing and somehow showing more signs of mental stability than Gabi.

Kid’s made of some stern stuff. If Eren’s betrayal doesn’t completely shatter him, he might be able to make a bright future for himself if he stays alive. He’s compassionate and doesn’t freeze in a crisis.

Unlike some people.

-cough- Jean -cough-

Nah, that’s mean.

From the looks of things, whether it’s Pieck’s interference or Jean’s own heart getting in the way, Jean’s mind was absolutely prepared to kill the little boy if that meant removing the Cart Titan from play. I don’t know if he tried to arrange a shot that would dodge Falco, but I do think that he accepted that there was a good chance the kid would die in the crossfire, and went for it anyway.

This series was so much happier when people were getting eaten alive.

-looks at rest of the chapter-

-rest of chapter looks back-

Well. You know what I mean.

I’m glad Pieck’s alive, even if it’s only for now. Truthfully, I don’t think I want any of the Warriors to die. Their lives have been hell. I want to think that someday, all of the Eldian kiddos get to breathe free air without being a tool of war. If they die, it’s just another footnote to a sad story.

Then we have Galliard, who.

..Yeah.

(btw

Does Titan inheritance run on some kind of lottery system, and does that matter?)

I thought Eren would be done horrifying me after the civilian slaughter. I mean, where else can we go from there? Dead children hit one of the highest tiers of tragedy. Maybe more of them will fall out of the cracks, and surely the psychological trauma of individuals like Reiner will continue to be bad, but we’re done with any of it being shocking.

...

.....

Eren’s a fucking tryhard.

Okay! Okay. Uh.

Points for... pragmatism?

“Aha, I have cracked the case, if not the crystal! Hark, I shall have Jaws crack the crystal, and I shall drink up this woman’s juices as they drip from his teeth while he silently screams at me to stop!”

Eren with the Jaw Titan in the Conservatory.

I mean. If you think about it.

I have been calling the Warriors tools for ages.

Eren using Galliard as his own personal nutcracker is really only the natural evolution of that.

Yike.

I’m surprised Reiner’s already up and about. It makes sense that it’s to protect Galliard (Porco is going to have so very many issues when he wakes up), because protecting people is the one thing the world hasn’t broken inside of him. Even after all he’s been through, he still wants to be the good guy, keeping his comrades safe.

But the dude’s dead inside. He has the strength to stand, but not much else, and I don’t know how the story can lead him into anything dynamic when he’s so screwed up.

Also of curiosity is... Eren’s perfectly willing to nom Galliard. Reiner shows up, gets punched maybe a building length away, is very obviously in no state to win any kind of fight, and Mikasa and Eren walk away.

All of the other Titans are removed during the festival by strategy. Pieck and Porco get dumped down a hole. Zeke is probably working with Eren, and he’s still escorted out.

Reiner gets a conversation.

Reiner’s participation in Eren versus War Hammer would have turned the tables. The only reason he isn’t part of it is because his conversation with Eren robs him of his final will to live.

So uh. ...Eren? Not to be rude or question your moral character or basic sanity... but... I don’t know... how, uh, on purpose is Reiner’s current emotional state?

...On a related note, is that your way of keeping him alive? ...Am I. Am I going to have to start shipping you two seriously?

This has the feel of something else I’m going to find easier to discuss in later chapters, but looking at the last few pages... Eren has the chance to kill Reiner and Galliard. He definitely has no problem nomming Galliard. What changes? Reiner caring about Galliard?

Eren easily could have taken out two of Marley’s Titans, and he chooses not to. It’s a decision Mikasa is either fine with or encourages. I don’t quite know what to make of her very excellent stoic face after Eren punches Reiner. She goes from that to zooming over all “Eren!” and... does that mean killing Reiner has been judged the wrong decision all around? What’s with the interruption, you two? Is that closeup of Eren’s eyes on the opposite page just there to look pretty, or is something going on?

Look, you’ve killed everyone else in the general vicinity, I’m allowed to wonder what makes this special. What, Eren can see his sparkling eyes when his face isn’t armored up and can’t handle the dokis?

Geez, this was a chapter.

Next month we get to see how great the great escape is--only guarantee is that there is no escape from the monsters in their heads.

...I’m with Mikasa. Can we go home now?

#Shingeki no Kyojin #SnK 104 #shingeki no spoilers #SnK spoilers #spoilers #tl;dr #chapter post

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