#the plot still seems like a /lot/ but

[rayandgay]

two worlds - 21/03/2024 official trailer

#two worlds #two worlds the series #maxnat #max kornthas #nat natasitt #taikram #phuphakram #bledit #bl drama #bl series #thai bl #thai drama #asianlgbtqdramas #asiandramasource #asiandramaedit #asiandramanet #dailyasiandramas #boyslovesource #the plot still seems like a /lot/ but #i am so readyyy #my gifs

[jojo-schmo]

I wish I could tell the original artist that this drawing permanently changed the entire direction of my life in 2009. I want to shake their hand, look them in the eye, and admit I would not be who I am today if this drawing didn’t exist.

EDIT: Original artist is @ivynajspyder !!!!

#‘but jojo’ you ask. ‘that seems a little ridiculous’ #‘don’t you think that’s a little much?’ #no. NO. IT IS THE TRUTH. #little baby middle schooler jojo had just gotten squeak squad. the first kirby game she ever owned. #and she loved it even tho there’s a lot she didn’t understand #like who dedede was supposed to be or why copy abilities existed #I asked for the game because my roommate at swim camp had it and she told me the plot of the game when I looked over her shoulder to watch #(the plot she told me was completely made up btw she said kirby had to save the dimension from dark overlord and did not mention the squeak #and said stuff about meta knight being a bad guy idk I realize now she was just weaving a tale of her own haha) #SO I WAS NOT AWARE OF THE LORE. I had only played the one game and it’s the one people don’t like the plot of #but meta knight completely intrigued me #what was this blue sword wielding little kirby dude doing here?? #so I’d replay his boss fight over and over again just to get that glimpse at his face #and I’d sit and wonder what it all meant. who was this mysterious swordsman?? #and the boss fight was hard!!! it cost me to beat it at the time but I’d still do it to see his face #AND THEN AFTER LIKE A YEAR OF THIS it occurred to me that there was a kirby wiki online #so I found all the pictures of his face and my little fangirl-raised-by-deviantart mind ATE THIS UP. #and then I look up that one fateful google search……… the one that changed me #meta. #knight. #maskless. #and this drawing was towards the top of the results #I went feral about a fandom related topic for the very very first time #I lost my MIND. HOW can a character be so cute AND COOL??! I was a changed child. #I consumed the hoshi no kaabii anime like it was the only piece of media on earth #I drew comics about him. I made my first kirby oc ever to go on a grand adventure on him. #I filled my notebooks with kirby art to the point my mom was like ‘jossie. you REALLY need to branch out. these are just orbs.’ #and now I am the kirby artist I am today. so yes. YES. this drawing did change my life. #thanks for reading. and thanks to the original artist. I tried to find them to link but nothing. so if you know pls tell me #THE END!!! and remember! your art makes a difference in people’s lives even if they don’t say it to your face!!!!

[the-words-we-sung]

Season 3 ending

So... It's been almost a week since the last episode, almost a week trying to wrap my head around the end of the show, trying to manage my feelings about it all.

It's hard to end up feeling the complete opposite of nearly everyone on my dash but I've come to terms with the fact that I didn't love the ending. I didn't love this last episode. (I shouldn't feel ashamed or weird for saying so but you guys loved it so much that I feel a bit like an outsider right now 😓)

I haven't been a fan of the show for as long as most of you, but it means so much to me. These characters carved a place in my heart and in my head, and they've made me happy for months now. They helped me get through some stuff, made me discover some amazing artists, meet even more amazing people through this fandom. And I loved the story. Even in its darkest, saddest parts, I loved it. I was invested.

I love Wilhelm and Simon, together and separately. They mean so much to me. And I loved season 1 and 2. It made me happy, and sad, and frustrated, and exalted. But overall, I trusted the show and I was not disappointed.

Season 3 was a lot. I liked the first 5 episodes. I can't say that I loved everything about them: I was not expecting things to get so hard for Simon, with no reprieve in sight. I was not worried about Wilmon being endgame (I know it was a big stress for the fandom but honestly I never doubted that they were endgame), but I was wondering how the show would go about tying all the knots it made (I should even say all the knots it added during this last season).

(Under a read more because it's a bit long and I don't want to bother those who don't wanna read more of my frustrated thoughts ^^')

And unfortunately the last episode was a huge let down for me. Yes, it's partly because nothing I was hoping for actually happened, but mostly, it's because the choices they made did not feel very satisfying to me: ⁕ Simon was barely there. We went from him being bullied online/offline non stop for 5 episodes to almost nothing. It makes 0 sense to me. ⁕ Kristina suddenly feeling better: she was having break down upon break down for an entire season, could barely look at her son or even just talk normally and all of a sudden she's back, smiling and agreeing to everything Wilhelm says? I'm sorry but I don't buy it? Where did this Kristina hid during the entire show? ⁕ Wilhelm deciding to not be king, talking for 3min to his parents about it, them agreeing and him running into the sunset with Simon. I'm sorry, what?? I love that they end up together of course, but it makes very little sense to me? It won't change any of the issues they had this season? They're still gonna be famous? And bullied online/offline? (Probably even more so now?). I'm not obviously saying that Wilhelm staying in line to become king was the only or the best solution, but I wanted more from this storyline. I wanted to believe it. And right now, what we got? It feels a bit cheap (and I feel bad for saying that because the ending was cute and romantic and all, but it felt too disconnected from the rest of the show for me ><)

And apart from these few points, the big issue I had with this episode was: The Angst. So that might be a me-problem, but it was too much for my poor little heart (I haven't rewatched the episode yet, and I'm not sure I'll be able to anytime soon ><). I spent like 40min of the episode with a huge knot in the stomach because the heartbreak between Simon and Wilhelm was too much to handle for me. I can see how it was beautifully made, that having lots of throwbacks to the previous seasons, the Wille song, all of that was great cinematography. But it was just too much for me. I got in the season spoiler-free but for this episode? During the lake scene I had to take a break and check online if they were actually endgame because it was starting to actually give me a stomachache. So yeah, this part might be me being too sensitive but I did not like that they made me see them fight for each other for 2 seasons and 5 episodes, but then just giving up for 40min before finally running back to each other during the last 10min. It was just too much sadness for me ><

So yeah, maybe my expectations were too high? But I feel sad, and kinda cheated. Too many things are left wide opened. Too many things make zero sense to me. And of course I'm happy we got our Wilmon endgame, but I'm less happy about how it happened.

It's a bit hard being on Tumblr right now and seeing everyone who thought it was the perfect episode >< And I don't want to "yuck anyone's yum" (as the saying goes), but I still wanna be able to share my thoughts! I probably won't write super angry/unhappy/complaining posts about the season/the finale, but I still wanna be able to chat about it. I did see some posts on my dash from people not being entirely satisfied with this ending so it's a bit comforting. And I hope we can share some nice headcanons, or just discussions about different plot points.

But yeah, I guess that's why I haven't really been active this week! Trying to get over the double heartbreak of the end of the show + being disappointed with the ending! I'm gonna come back though! I miss hanging out here, I just need to strengthen my heart a little bit more :p Gonna get back to writing about my thoughts episode by episode for this season (I can't promise I can rewatch the last one though 😖 It might take me a bit of time to get there). And I want to continue my song analysis of the show!! I'm not even done with season 2 yet, I have some work to do there ^^

So see you back here very soon 😘

#young royals #wilmon #prince wilhelm #simon eriksson #yr season 3 #young royals ending #it's hard to feel negative about something everyone seemed to love >< #I still have a lot to say #to try to express #I have a hundred emotions about this finale episode #all mixing and fighting in my poor brain #and it's hard to put them into words #but I'm gonna try #because I think it'll help me feel better about this whole experience #and I did like some things!! #not everything was bad!! #lots of plot points were actually great!! #(Sara for example!!) #but yeah #a lot to process #(and I'm super up to chat about it all if anyone else feels a bit or a lot disappointed too ^^) #(and thank you Lisa for being there to lament with me 💜) #(also yeah me watching gåsmamman this week was clearly a way to not think too much about young royals ^^') #but on another note #I got my Omar concert tee shirt and it made me super happy #and I still love the cast #to the moon and back #and I'm excited for their next projects #and and and #that's too many tags

[donttouchtheneednoggle]

this just in: uplifting people just by virtue of their assigned gender at birth in the name of feminism found to be transphobic so now we're just gonna shit on those who CHOOSE to be male presenting bc it's a CHOICE right so we can tell them they're inherently inferior right guys??!!

bioessentialism found to be transphobic so we're jumping straight into gender essentialism which is totally cool as long as it's pretending to be feminism!!!!

#IM SORRY im sorry #i genuinely really enjoyed the trans rep in the first half 9/10 #then they just HAD to tue rose being trans into the plot and then do some weird steven moffat ass feminism thing #no he would not have got it if he was still a woman!! #he's the same fucking person she's standing right in front of youuu i want to scream #doctor who spoilers #rtd trued and i massively appreciate him trying and not shying away from rose's identity #but he overshot like massively #and ngl it was really bloody hurtful #mine #sorry this is probably too much im not mad they're uplifting women and very definitively including trans women in that #but they can do it without shitting on other people #negativity #vent tw #doctor who #also is rose meant to be a trans woman or nonbinary transfem? #i mean she can totally be both go girl but there seemed kinda mixed messaging #a lot of girl and woman and then at the end randomly throwing in nonbinary and neither #but again she can totally be both just seemed a bold choice for first trans character to not definitely be one or the other #but go off rose #hnngh im sorry but this just feels like the david not wesring jodies costume thing x1000 #one slap in the face after another

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Lord of the Empty Isles

sci-fi/fantasy

set on a supposedly utopian planet recovering from a climate crisis, where bonds between people are able to be seen and manipulated (by some people)

follows a young man whose brother was cursed and killed by an infamous outlaw 5 years ago, and he’s finally able to curse him back - but it rebounds, as he’s somehow fatebound to the outlaw

to find a cure and save them both they have to team up, and he quickly finds out that the resources the outlaw is stealing go to the thousands of people neglected on prison planets, and he has to go against what he thought was right to help them

no romance, aroace MC, focus on platonic relationships

arc from netgalley, out june 6

#Lord of the Empty Isles #aroaessidhe 2024 reads #I enjoyed this quite a bit! But I think it could have gone a bit further in places. #It has some interesting concepts and a great cast of characters and yay no romance #I do have a lot of thoughts and little critiques... #it's p obvious where the plot is going and what's going to happen #There’s clearly a lot gone into developing this bond system but to be honest I still don’t entirely get it? #It seems to emphasise that the bonds just reflect connections between people rather than predetermine anything; but also the plot kind of #hinges on Remy and Idrian having a predetermined bond? There are a lot of explanations of intricacies but a lot of it didn’t sink in idk #It’s promoted as QP but to me it reads as a general platonic relationship. I generally expect a depiction of a QPR to have like.. #some form of acknowledgement/depiction of the form of their relationship being a particular (undefinable?) kind #with some specific level of commitment? I’m being picky maybe they mean queerplatonic themes/vibes rather than saying it’s a qpr #specifically. the centred platonic relationship is good! it doesn't seem like a qpr to me; at most what could one day be that #also things are solved quite quickly and easily in the end - both the curse and the downfall of the bad guy. #I feared it would go down the route of blaming things on the person in charge rather than emphasising systemic issues which it kinda does…. #It’s impossible to ignore right now just how deeply people are willing to believe dehumanising propaganda - and how 'telling the truth' #and exposing the person in power as bad doesn’t actually do anything so that happening here made me go…… oh okay. well. #there is room for a sequel that maybe will explore this tho. idk #complaints aside - I do recommend this! It was fun and pretty unique. #aroace books #no romance

[seventeendeer]

adventure time, baby, I'm going to keep it real with you: you had the perfect meta setup (a spinoff of a children's cartoon made for adults who grew up with said cartoon) for a story about two characters desperate to return to simpler times (fionna longing for the subconscious memory of a fantasy land where nothing is complex and she won't have to face the trials of young adulthood in her now-mundane world, simon longing to lose his mind again so he won't have to remember his grief) coming to realize that the "simpler times" they remember were never as straightforward as their idealized memories (fionna realizing that her black-and-white worldview was actually just deeply biased and ultimately harmful, simon realizing that ice king was just as miserable as simon himself and simply lacked the tools to parse his own emotions), the idealized past they want to return to was never real, and in order to move forward, they have to face the painful realities they've been trying to avoid, mature as people, and learn to see beauty and value in their own respective lives, even if they're not the lives they'd hoped for

and then that didn't happen. there was a perfect metaphor for the false allure of nostalgia using THE "whimsical at first glance/shockingly grim under the surface" children's cartoon RIGHT THERE. How Did You Fuck That Up

#deerchatter #adventure time spoilers #i liked this series a lot but i was SO hoping the plot was a setup for a message along the lines of like #hey we know growing up is hard and you may well be tuning back into adventure time to escape the horrors of now being an adult #but this show was never the digestible silly good time you remember and neither was your childhood #don't you remember the pain? you were sad back then too except it was worse because you had no emotional tools to help yourself through it #did things seem simpler? they weren't. you hurt people and made poor choices without realizing it. you were young and didn't know any better #but you know better now. you have a responsibility to grow and learn and make better choices. this is a GOOD thing. #like do you see my vision!!!! the meta layers!!!! the potential for a painful but necessary message about choosing to grow+change+LIVE #taking a kind-but-critical eye to our childhood dreams and learning from them and applying nuance and learning to value complexity #fionna stagnating emotionally in early adulthood because of fear of the future+simon stagnating in his twilight years due to regret #aghhh i wish they'd gone for this SO BADLY it would have been the show of ALL TIME OHH #i did still like the ending a lot but. i was soooo hoping for this

[empty-blog-for-lurking]

Me: I don't know what to do with Veronica's character in post s8 au, I don't want her to be Just Lance's sister and Kuron's friend with Pidge's storyline slapped on her, but also I'm not really sure about her character. Sure there's the whole lying to her family thing but I don't think that's enough?

Brain: ok so what if Veronica started out as trying to look for what was Lance upto but she ends up being so obsessed with finding the truth that not only she repeatedly puts herself in harms way but also the original goal falls on wayside.

This could be her way of dealing with trauma which is getting engrossed in the Mission and a problem to fix while suppressing her grief and refusing to actually acknowledge her problems and her own emotions a foil to Kuron's arc that is him being literally driven by emotions. She's angry at Lance for leaving without a word and angry at her family for their clinginess, however she keeps it to herself and just avoid them pretending everything is fine and normal

Also a foil to Lance who started as trying to figure out what was going on but as soon as he realized that 1) Allura and Kuron are still sorta alive 2) he can bring them back, he got obsessed with it consequences by damned.

Plus through her we can actually explore how quintessence actually effects and changes humans rather than become aware of the end result

Also there's something a character who is obsessed with truth but is also such a frequent liar

#There's a lot more but it involves changing a lot of elements of this au and explaining half assed elements and scenes in my head #post s8 au #post s8 posting #Just realizing she's having a jon sims arc. Good for her! Atleast she won't accidentally cause an apocalypse #It is still very draft and beta and I keep changing things in it as soon as I think of something cool #I kinda want Lance to be like at first seeing him living a 'normal' life but also there's something clearly Wrong #Veronica seems to be always busy and gone and never there. Shadows and crows being weird #and a voice asking him 'Did you make right choice?' And 'Remember' and 'wake up' #only to reveal that he has been living in a fake reality and a lot of his family is dead #yk that one scene in dunmeshi where Laois digs up and stares at Falin's skull. Lance digging up a grave and be like 'Mom?' #it's representational in his own head. And Lance created this fake reality as a form of denialism #Veronica at first being standoffish not being completely honest with Kuron #Lying to Kuron and her superiors about where she had been making her sus #Kuron not knowing that Lance was the one who brought him back until much later #only that *Someone*was reaching out to him in Shiro's mind and made his body #The family is dead and Lance was living in fake reality reveal happens just as Veronica starts being honest with Kuron #Few of the family members are killed due to retaliation from an extremist galra group #A hot topic in coalition meetings which is a way for connecting Hunk!!!! To the plot!!!!! #I love you my brain!!! #Sorry this is so fucking incoherent

[selamat-linting]

guy who has only read homestuck, watching the straightedge society angle : omg this is just like when The Psiioniic and The Disciple joins The Sufferer's religion / rebel group

#homestuck #cm punk #ses #im sorry but punk is not a vriska. he is just a kankri. the narrative did treat him with a semblance of respect like a vriska though #wait no thats just karkat #CANON karkat. not the fanonized version of him where his rough edges are sanded down and his only relation to the plot is that #he's sad and is in love w/ dave #no no. canon karkat who is an asshole and yells a lot and tells tavros to stop playing games for girls when he got pushed on top of a cliff #karkat who cannot seem to make up his mind with terezi and ultimately ruining his chances #karkat who spent the entire 6 sweeps of his life literally hunted like an animal yet still thinks he has a place in the empire if he can #just prove he's above the rest. that karkat. prickly and a douche but means well and is a good person deep down

[alwaysoc]

#YES! GIVE ME THAT FANFIC ANGST! #IT'LL MAKE ME CRY BUT IT'S WORTH IT! #it's just so rare to see Katarina so self-depricating in the first place #but now she has good reason to be #if I was her I would be too! #Hamefura #honestly On The Verge of Doom is SO much better than I thought it would be! #like new plot #new struggles #Katarina's done a lot of horrid things but she's desperately trying to make up for them #hustle hustle hustle! #my poor baby doesn't have a big harem that she personally helped to rely on #like Alan and Keith (Keith especially) are such DIFFERENT people! #Alan Nicol and Sophia hardly appear #and only Geordo (and maybe Mary and Maria) seem to actually be lovestruck and that isn't until towards the end #this means that lots of the characters also act differently with each other! #Keith and Geordo don't have a rivalry and it's more of like a “Keep her safe will you?” #we get more insight into Maria being all insecure and don't see her mother at all #because even if Katarina still wanted to see how real fields looked #she wouldn't have any reason to go to Maria's hometown if she feels like she's made Maria suffer so heavily! #which makes sense #I adore that there's more focus on sword fighting too! #also Sienna is the sweetest baby ever! it's a shame that she doesn't appear at all in canon but it makes sense #anyway! yes! Verge of Doom is good! #I finished it all in one four-hour take! #I wouldn't mind getting maybe an anime spin-off based on Verge of Doom #goooosh! I love it! I'm going to go read some fluffy fanfic stuff now!

[multeasers]

Since coming back to life, someway somehow, a little over a year ago, Wen Ruohan has lived with only three things in mind: Avoiding anything dangerous, avoiding putting himself in danger, and avoiding anyone and everyone he can.

He admits that, perhaps, this can be thought of as selfish; he, of all people, now lives a life that is safe and relatively peaceful? The dead he alone slaughtered surely turn in their graves, and the dead he indirectly slew are sure to, as well, over the irony, as even before he wasn’t at peace. Few Sect Leaders ever were, after all, and he’d made it a point to not let peace into many lives. There are nights where it keeps him awake, days where it has him sitting in front of a blade...but, so far, he has lived as quiet a life as could possibly be had. He is as grateful for it as he allows himself to be.

The only problem was that, right now, there was something—someone—who went against each of Ruohan’s current ways of living.

He’s not able to bring himself to continue adhering to those ways, however, upon seeing him on the ground and injured.

“Sect Leader Nie. Sect Leader Nie. Can you hear me?”

While he has avoided contact with other people as much as he can, he hasn’t always been able to do so; in fact, shortly after he had first found himself alive again, he had stumbled into a village purely on accident. He’d managed to make his way out before his identity was realized—while he knows he died in Wen robes, he’d awoken in simple black ones lacking any identifying insignia or detail—but in this village he’d made some very important discoveries: The current list of standing Sects, their Leaders, and the date and time. It’s why he already knows that, despite the fact that Nie Mingjue had been the standing Nie Sect Leader in his time, his younger brother Nie Huaisang has now taken that position. It is part of why Ruohan cannot adhere to the principles he has set for himself.

The other part, of course, is that because neither of them would ever forget the actions of his first life (among the deaths hed caused, Huaisang and Mingjue’s father had been one, with Mingjue himself nearly being another), Ruohan knows that Nie Huaisang likely doesn’t even want his help, but it’s because of this that he can’t help but give it in turn. He doesn’t want to leave him here, hurt (though he isn’t sure how yet) and on his own; it’s really the least he could do.

“Sect Leader Nie...”

And yet, no matter how many times he says his name, Ruohan has so far received no acknowledgement from the other; not unexpected at all, but wholly unhelpful. Huaisang is neither moving nor speaking even as he shakes his shoulder, which is something he does expect a reaction for. For Ruohan to so much as touch him is surely enraging to his core, and yet...

He sighs, and against his better judgement decides to drop the title for now. He will try anything, in this moment, really; “Nie Huaisang, I understand I am not the one you want help from, but I am the one who is here. Tell me what’s happened; I’ll have to carry you from here otherwise...”

Another thing to, hopefully, entice a reaction from him, though unfortunately it’s also something one could call a warning; Ruohan now has his fingers to Huaisang’s pulse, felt upon his wrist, and is searching him with his cultivation. He finds that, somehow, the Sect Leader has been paralyzed; which, of course, explains his lack of movement, but the paralysis seems limited to only that which is below his neck. Surely he should be able to speak, if this is the case?

Unless, of course, he’s—

“Sect Leader Nie, please don’t ignore me.” Ruohan would have sounded annoyed and exasperated, were he still the man from before, upon realizing this could be what’s going on, but now, he just sounds imploring. Perhaps even a bit desperate, though even that, surely, can spark a reaction? Even if it’s only one of surprise?

“I am only trying to help you.”

@cuckoo-among-beasts

#lots of words here but listen... there's things he has to say #even though he knows full well that him saying any of this is going to seem like a lie but #he is still like huaisang answer me PLEASE . like that one photo #of the stick figure with the mcdonalds caramel frappe that's like caramel frappe PLEASE #i hope you've seen that post anyway LOL #plotted starter : ☀ #coloured text #c : nie huaisang #b : cuckoo-among-beasts #☀ ( ic ) #suicidal thoughts #they have a small and only implied mention but i'll put the tag anyway jic #but wow . wet sock wrh himself....

[weirdthoughtsandideas]

I've seen around people who assumes every student besides Violetta is 20+, and personally... that just makes everything unnecessarily hard. I get a lot of it has to do with "the studio feels more like a college" and "no one seems to take normal classes like Violetta", but besides studio stuff? I don't see any reason why they would be older than her.

There is just SO MUCH in the show indicating that everyone is, in fact, the same age as Violetta. Everyone ACTS like teenagers. They have problems that teenagers have. Not to mention students as young as 14 can audition. It would just make so much unnecessary complications to me to assume that everyone is like 5 years older than Violetta, and no one addresses it ever.

No, personally, with the ages I just assume everyone is the same age, because that's what I have picked up and assumed for the past 10 years and that just makes stuff way easier for me. The Studio is a weirdass school that does not work like any real life performing arts school would and I can only assume it's some sort of alternative for talented kids, that if they got enough talent they can drop out of their regular education and learn to be professional musicians instead.

#violetta #the show has a lot of plot holes but I don't feel like adding ones just by assuming people are way older than vilu #when I never feel like that was the case #also they all still live at home. and sure you can live at home at 20+ I mean I still live at home #but their parents still seem to have an authority over them in some regards #like not only vilu but also ludmila with her mom and fran's dad too

[dearlystars]

i do think it's interesting to think about how a lot of the time when people analyze queer couples in fandom that even when talking about like. f/f couples and the way that fandoms treat them but then kind of just... don't look at a lot of very popular f/f ships just because they're not in super mainstream (or even just like. popular with the tumblr/twitter/tiktok crowds) media. like when analyzing fan reaction and gathering around f/f why have i never once seen people discuss things like madohomu or rarijack or utenanthy or [INSERT BASICALLY ANY SHIP FROM AN ANIMUSIC FANDOM HERE.] there are substantial fanbases built around these ships and they're practically unavoidable if you interface with these properties and while i do think there's a lot to analyze in the fact that nearly all of them come from specifically media where a majority if not just the entirety of the cast are women there's also just like? so much going on wrt the fan culture that these ships have that it's just like crazy to me to see these like never getting mentioned in video essays

#property of ruf #i do think a big part of it is how there's a lot of video essayists that seem to kind of just ignore animation when like... #that's where a LOT of sapphic ships thrive for many reasons #even outside of the fact that there's just generally more canon and plot important f/f ships in animation than m/m ones #(especially in popular animation) #i get that it's not super relevant to like fandom at large due to how niche a lot of these fandoms are (in the west at least) but like #idk i still think it's still valuable to look at in these wider discussions surrounding fan reception #need a video essayist to get their hands on shoujo kageki revue starlight so fucking bad this shit goes crazy #anyway if you read all these tags watch shoujo kageki revue starlight

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray

fun YA adventure

follows a girl who’s seen as cursed because of her recently hanged notorious pirate queen mother, and runs away to the navy where nobody will recognise her

and her half-sister who’s desperate to find her before she’s arrested for using a fake name, to bring her home to their dying father & save the family business

both get on the bad side of some pirates and have to brave storms to find each other

aroace MC, sister relationships

arc from netgalley, out april 9

#The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray #aroaessidhe 2024 reads #This is ok! I enjoyed it on the surface level but think it could have had a bit more depth and structure #I do always like to see an aroace MC who mentions it casually throughout the story and the central sister relationship #The writing is a little young for me… I think it has this silly/satirical element of the plot and caricature-villains but the prose wasn’t #quite funny enough to make it work....so parts just felt a bit random and undeveloped to me? #I genuinely love a lot of MG and younger YA but this is on the side of writing style #that felt too noticably young for me to enjoy fully (for me - obviously it's for teens! so that's okay!) #It’s quite slow to start (it doesn’t get into it until half way?) and the two storylines felt a bit disconnected. #All the different things happening felt all over the place & I felt the ending was a bit unsatisfying #Betsy’s love interest seemed like a nice interesting boy but it was such instalove I felt like there was no development between them lol #I think it has some fun parts and some good characters! I would still recommend to teens looking for queer piratey stories #(tho as a note - THEY aren't really ever pirates. maybe briefly.) (I think maybe ofmd comps might do it a disservice if you're not clear #it's just 'piratey and also there's queer people) #there's some good side lesbians (def side tho)

[termagax]

i dont knowwwwwwwwwww i just. my thing is that i think the changelings could have an interesting place in the narrative given jims whole conflict is about trying to navigate his place in two worlds neither of which he completely fits in but both of which he needs to be his complete and authentic self. but they shoot themselves in the foot by making strickler the main one and they get sooooo close to doing this with nomura before getting bored and doing it again but worse with strickler. so in my mind i think this is why i was so set on addy being a changeling because i want her to fill that narrative role of someone who's ACTUALLY chill about this dichotomy and who really loves this part of herself without the baggage inherent to nomnoms situation (not acknowledging strickler he did most of that to himself). i just think he needs someone who can show him that its actually genuinely very possible to have both halves of his heart especially post-potion. but man. you cant really get there without dancing around the janus order stuff. and i know if she was real it would just be a cheap lampshade like "welllll shes a polymorph so. no familiar no problem" but that opens up a can of worms that i feel responsible for. and just in general the entire thing has so much baggage. i wish this show was GOOD.

#like i like the concept that the changelings were troll babies tortured with dark magic i think for me it justifies arrghs fondness for her #because hes in an extremely similar situation and i think him watching it happen under his command would be enough for him to say hm. i can #do this anymore goodbye. and i like those kinds of dynamics a lot #so i feel like you can just take that aspect and run with it #instead of the familiars give them some sort or mild innate mental magic? so they can write their identities into peoples lives #so you can still get that sense of like. an invader where its not supposed to be #without having to touch goblin baby kidnapping #'but that ruins the whole plot with claire' idgaf figure it out. i would do somwthing wlse with that anyways #they retroactively imply claires magic is innate later on in wizards anyways #so if youre gonna do that just make her brother also have it in some way which would make him a valuable asset if noticed by someone like #strickler. make it smt with the bridge or some other thing where they neeeeeeeed a magic user and itd be too risky to like. kidnap a studen #so they cant take claire. or nobodys noticed she has powers yet #make it so the baby goes missing and nobody seems to remember him at all EXCEPT claire #bcz strickler mind powers. which tangent but u can also use later for his thing w jims mom #and makes the whole 'we have to erase her memories of him' less convoluted bullshit #anyways back on track. just have the baby at the bridge ceremony for magic power reasons and in the conflict smth grabs him and takes him #thru the portal in the hopes of opening the bridge frm the other side #anyways.tthey had options is all im saying and they chose to do it in the worst way possible #just scrap the janus order im not touching that #it was so fucking pointless anyways. they didnt DO anything not one single thing

[vote2]

there's a point in a story w an unreliable narrator where they are withholding info abt what happened from the audience and it slowly gets revealed over the book when it becomes more annoying than interesting and that point is when the narrator explains it to another character but the audience is still left in the dark

#mid book ill finish it still. #wait im only a third in i thought this was like the halfway point. whats there left to happen the plot has just kicked off ig. #seems like a lot. ill finish it by tmr just augh

[skywalkervahnya]

Seeing how people continue to gloss over male cmb character’s SA is insane. I’ve seen people defending Knockout and Tana, people making Tarantula jokes and jokes about Tim almost being assaulted in RR, and of course DC also doesn’t take it very seriously, but it doesn’t make it any less gross

#the Tana stuff in particular really bothers me because at the very least knockout and tarantula are seen pretty universally as bad guys #but Tana really isn’t a lot of people still seem to count her as kon’s first love when she was an adult dating a teenager #trigger warning sa #and then we have shows like hq and Titans that continue these awful plot lines #you know it’s detective comics comics content when dick is made fun of for being upset after being assaulted #and kon is dating a woman who is way too old for him and taking advantage of him relative naivety #conner kent #tim drake #dick grayson