#there is a specific Flavor to his Meanness i think a lot of writers really struggle to get and it's. like... he isn't Cruel y'know?

[imustbenuts]

im free from yakuza kiwami 2. fuck the writing in this one. this was a complete mess of pulling from the most popular generic east asian drama tropes at the time of 2006 and having it be handled by a super inexperienced writer at the helm.

i went from having no expectations, got somewhat surprised, only to end up downing alcohol and laughing hysterically before the credits rolled. so that should set the mood for how i feel about this one. thought vomit under the cut, a lot of info dump about culture incoming

yakuza kiwami 2 is pure heterosexual east asian romance bullshit.

im gonna just. describe as best as i can what i know and remember from the general media coming out from the 90s to the 2010s in around this part of the world before i just start explaining why i think this story is a mess.

so. 2 parts i swear is responsible for this rubbish.

1) East Asian Beauty Standard

the general consensus for a beautiful feminine woman AT THE TIME in this sphere is the following

be willowy thin (fat = lazy and ugly)

have black hair that ISNT short (dyed = too much individuality, too much WESTERN INDIVIDUALISM, gasp how dare!)

fair skinned (bc dark = she works in the fields and is from a lower class)

young. if you heard of the term "Christmas Cake" in japan context, yeah. (ie women over age of 25 are undesirable)

be educated and refined, bc that indicates class and femininity (failing this means shes vulgar and gasp like a barbarian)

be submissive to her male peers in the sense that her authority cannot override his at least in public (for the sake of his face)

dresses feminine and not like a man (trousers and jeans are man-ish. traditional clothing, skirts and dresses are preferred. the further back the stronger this sentiment is.)

incidentally, theres a lot of classism tied to this EABS due to sinocentric culture influences. it has to do with the chinese court system and how korea and japan copied it and a lot of the culture wholesale but. anyway. thats like over 1000 years of history in there thats not really worth detouring to rn.

and also, the worth of a man is sometimes (not always) upheld by how classy and feminine this wife of his is. as of 2024 though, this line of thought is still around in the more conservative pockets. also, the education might not matter as much these days as how deep her and her parents' pockets and wealth are.

moving on.

2) media tropes

so. off the top of my head.

if you wanted a popular romance drama in this time period, the popular offerings no matter where you looked tended to offer the same flavors of tropes.

the woman always has dark hair, is fair skinned, thin and younger than her male love interest. ive never seen this broken or subverted in my time absorbing via osmosis the dramas playing on local tv growing up in the early 2000s.

everything else about her can be subverted though. sometimes she can wear fancy pants or have short hair to indicate her strong individualism. BUT, her personality no matter how strong it begins, no matter how her intro begins will 99% of the time encounter an effect where catching feelings turns her into a meek loyal woman to her love interest.

bc she cant override his authority in this culture context.

at worst, she becomes highly irrational and even hysterical in the dramas when bad things happen. this includes things like love triangle, or a fallout of family business, drama, plot or whatever. she would cry and sometimes even die.

see: sawamura yumi. sayama kaoru.

meanwhile, the male love interest can be anything. ive seen middle aged guys to young good looking upcoming actors playing the lead, with looks varying from haggardly okay to young and handsome. it. really depends on the genre.

depending on what specific country it came from, the drama would have the male either grow, become manlier (by learning honor ig), become stupid in the name of love, but he rarely if ever actually dies. the woman effectively becomes yoshi for mario to lauch off on when they're crossing a chasm

the romance is forced. a lot of the BIG LOVE SPARK ie kissing happens in tense moments bc it builds drama, but in reality comes too fucking close to sexual assault (some of the old jackie chan movies does this iirc for slapstick even)

see: sayama getting kissed right after handling her biological father's ashes less than 24 hours ago and admitting to kiryu that shes scared. this scene right fucking here.

bc in general, the scriptwriters for popular dramas tended to be guys themselves and tended to write more human dudes. and the women in the stories are reflective of the ideal societal expectation at the time: being a Refined Housewife.

so her character development is often headed in the direction of marriage and being a stay at home mom.

if it sounds a little like tradwife bullshit, it is.

Refined Housewife

(i have massive negative thoughts about this which i KNOW for a fact is a thing bc a lot of these societal culture femininity was impressed on me as a kid in a world where it was already getting increasingly impossible to have 1 spouse be a SAHP. and also i hated the whole thing about giving face to the patriarch of the house when i personally saw so much ego dick measuring from my uncles. anyway understand that this is both a bias an a lived experience, so proceed with that in mind)

there is a problem with the Refined Housewife expectation: education.

in general, education has been a good metric to judge how classy or smart one is in asia's largely on-the-surface meritocracy based culture. people will look at each other's school first and then judge them from there, and pretty hard too.

so everyone regardless of gender will be expected to study super hard. and bc having good test scores and going to good schools looks good for the family's face, parents will often pile on tuition to the child to get them a leg up in life.

bc also no good degree from good school means no future.

but then... the woman is expected to be a housewife. 🙃 meaning... the education, her accomplishments, are kinda... tossed away in this context. put a pin in this.

it wont matter how much she studied or accomplished, bc the expectation is that the woman would marry and obey her husband, and give him face/honor that way. the kids will come eventually bc having kids = being filial to ones parents in this context.

also uh. no, having adopted kids is not thought of as being filial. continuing the bloodline is.

and if you've been paying attention, then yes, ive been skirting around the backbone of sayama kaoru's writing foundations this entire time.

Her story has been butchered so clumsily i cant even...

lets just. ugh.

she fits the EABS standard, her tropes are trying to subvert the expectations of a womanly woman in this context, she has IMPRESSIVE education and career achievements. she works in a male dominated field, and is keenly aware of sexism. she is strong, stronger than her male peers, at least we are told.

by 2006s standards, its still considered a fresh take with those alone in japan. sexism there is its own flavor of crap. (if you noticed ive not spoken about LGBTQ+ stuff at all, its bc how ridiculously BINARY the expectation is at that point in time. it still is today but less so)

however, the writing has this sense of trying to copy the popular tropes at the time while not fully understanding and dissecting them, and ends up butchering sayama's character before the romance even properly began.

i mean, for fucks sake even, sayama and kiryu has a whopping 14 year age gap. when im told these are supposed to be believable people living in japan, this is too big for me to just go 'oh ok!'. and remember the Christmas Cake thing? shes 25. (FUCKING--!!!! !!)

the problem here that i see is the writer trying to apply all of those while trying to play the tropes straight. trying to imitate. trying to make a statement but then finding out theres nothing within yourself to stand by what you want to say and backtracking.

we are told:

sayama is strong yet she goes down with 1 slap by random thugs and needing kiryu to come in and body them. because romance ig.

we are told shes a yakuza hunter but she doesnt scare a single one beyond her introductory scene.

she goes from defiant and bossing kiryu around to getting her actions overridden by kiryu and ryuji, both men, towards the end

her subtext is that shes not feminine and therefore conventionally undesirable, but then kiryu tells her shes actually feminine and therefore desired, as if its all that matters.

she becomes so stricken by grief and freaked out that she runs off solo to deal with ryuji in the most out of left pocket planning ive ever fucking seen.

and then yells as she takes out her police baton to take down the big yakuza dude, drawing attention and turning herself into a hostage.

i know the writing will fumble but i didnt expect it to fumble this bad.

for all the good the surface chemistry kiryu and sayama has, its being undermined by a fundamental failure to understand tropes and then using said tropes as a crutch so much that everything here has become a bloody mess.

this failure of over-relying on tropes without understanding them extends to yumi too. sawamura yumi was young and beautiful, and became the Refined Housewife to the Not-Male-MC and ends up regretting it, and gets killed for it.

her defining trait is that she is beautiful in subtext. thats. thats what the tattoo is. in a world where the tattoo makeths the person, thats what she is and all that she is.

dear lord.

ive read up a bit more on sayama and you know what. good that she chooses her career over kiryu. the romance would have caused both of their characters to explode with the trajectory this was heading in. ffs sayama could have had her own game. she has so MUCH potential.

and also GOOD that the writer is forced to think of kiryu in the position of the Stay At Home Parent for haruka and the orphanage down the line!!! subverting the fucking traditional BS expectation! yes!!!!!

all i got was sayama and kiryu making out before the bomb went off in front of my alcohol and salad while they're like 'eh, haruka will forgive us for dying :')'

and i ran out of alcohol.

sexism? maybe. incompetence? definitely.

hhgrhgrhrghrghrgrhgr wow this got long. ugh. guhhhhhh.

#yakuza #ryu ga gotoku #sayama kaoru #kiryu kazuma #yakuza kiwami 2

[spider-man-2o99]

Miguel is so mean i lobe him

aMEN. miguel is kind but he is NOT nice he is a goddamn bitch and i love that abt him so much

#talking tag #asks #spider-man 2099 #spiderman 2099 #miguel o'hara #he will do the Right Thing. but he s MEAN and abrasive and kinda annoying and doesn't want 2 be here. #there is a specific Flavor to his Meanness i think a lot of writers really struggle to get and it's. like... he isn't Cruel y'know? #like yeah there are a LOT of really good moments where he just tears people APART w/ his words but his default isnt Cruelty its COMEDY #he thinks he’s SO shocking funny and because he is often surrounded exclusively by Terrible People he's REAL comfortable just Being An Ass #his coworkers all canonically hate him because hes just a mean little bitch all the time and i think abt that a lot dksjbkjb

[mickedy]

do you have strong feelings about minnie? the way disney writes her bothers me severely, i'm trying to find out how to write her better and i'd like help!

she's always written as nothing more than a mickey genderswap, they have the exact same character strengths and flaws, i want to write her like how ortensia is written to oswald or daisy is written to donald (in. ducktales 2017 at least when they dont feel like being . so toxic.), theyre character foils and they work better together

for example daisy is more practical and sassy and headstrong?? while donald isn't very practical he is very emotional and in the moment and isnt as ambitious as her he's just a guy

but minnie doesnt compliment mickey in any way their relationship is just Same Braincell Teehee

and its like every time disney TRIES to have friction between the two its usually making minnie less interesting than mickey in the sense he's going off the walls insane and she has to fold her arms and make him stop, w donald and daisy donald has to ground daisy sometimes but minnie can usually do no wrong ever??

i want to write minnie as mickey's foil in a similar way because she's always a copy and paste mickey and she deserves so so so much more, but im also worried that making a foil for mickey would stray too far from minnie's personality range?? which is why i keep referencing donald and daisy specifically because they have similar personalities but still manage to be foils, and i ALSO dont want to make her copy and paste ortensia, WHILE ALSO NOT MAKING HER JUST LESS INTERESTING MICKEY AS THEY DO SOMETIMES by just writing her as feminine mickey without the character flaws he has, so its a really weird balancing act here

You hit the nail on the head with a lot of points here. I've always found Minnie to be the MOST sidelined out of the 5 in terms of characterization. She's almost always written as "girl mickey", very interchangeable with him, not really developed with her own personality in mind independent of her relationship with Mickey.

I guess on a lot of levels I consider Minnie and Mickey to be like... really sturdy nuts. They have these extremely tough shells surrounding them, they are two of the most private people you will ever meet. Outwardly friendly, outwardly pretty boring and unemotional, a pretty vanilla flavored couple at any way you look at them.

But, we don't really get to see what goes on under that shell. What they're like in private. My favorite stories with Mickey are the ones where they crack open the shell, even just a smidge-- and we get to look on the inside. What we see is almost always the same. Above all else, Mickey cares about his friends. Mickey cares about his friends so much that he would take a bullet for each of them. He would give up everything. Friendship means more than anything else to Mickey Mouse.

On the flipside, we don't really get that same introspection with Minnie. I can't think of a time where they let her be emotional, like that. She's sweet and patient and polite and filled to the brim with goodness and kindness, but that's just what her shell looks like. She's very, very reserved. Like Mickey, maybe even moreso.

A lot of this is definitely because the writers don't really care about Minnie on that level, because she's Woman and she's Girlboss and whatnot. When they show her being emotional, it's pretty much always played up for laughs because Women Are Emotional amiright wink wink nudge nudge 😁🔫 <- (he does not know he is playing into misogynistic tropes)

But I like to think she just has these incredibly sturdy walls around her character. You will most likely never get to see what her private self is like in the entire time that you know her. I seriously doubt Minnie's actual friends know that much about her.

Mickey cares about his friends, but what does Minnie care about...? Where Mickey is an optimist, I consider Minnie to be a pessimist. That is a very strange claim to make, I know. But I think the reason we never see her walls break down is because... there'd just be more walls. She's such an incredibly reserved individual, she'd rather stick her hand in a paper shredder than admit that she's got feelings.

She's pretty no-nonsense in that regard, too. Mickey is a compassionate guy, but Minnie is more quick to lash out and start kicking and yelling when someone pisses her off. Tying back to the whole "friendship is Mickey's emotional core" thing... friendship is definitely not Minnie's.

I'm not saying she's not friendly. She's incredibly friendly! She's such a sweet and affectionate individual. But it's all very much an outward thing. I think, if you're looking for a "foil", that's definitely where they clash in that regard. Mickey is a plain, unassuming guy who-- at his core-- is sweet and silly and compassionate, and motivated by his love for his friends. Minnie is outwardly sweet and silly and compassionate, but doesn't have that same motivating factor, the deeper you look.

In the end, this is all really my interpretation of Minnie's character. Because she is definitely a victim of misogynistic writing, which sucks 🤷‍♀️ But I do think there is a lot of potential to make her and Mickey clash a lot more often than they're shown to... because, they don't really show themselves to anybody! That sort of intimate exploration of their character is something that really only comes out with each other. Which leaves a lot of room to mold their inner personalities into something much more interesting...

[docholligay]

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

Nonspoilery: This is a super fun read that is very much in keeping with how I like my fantasy. I wish it were slightly more on the con man side, but I recognize that those are very difficult to write because one needs to actually be clever enough to come up with the insanely clever plan that unfolds, and, you know what, I'm not there either. But it absolutely is a fun crimey fantasy novel, well written that expects you can actually follow a line of description and maybe even look up a big word, that tries very hard not to bore you with needing to refer to a glossary or map.

I will say, and I'll talk about this more below: There are basically no women in this novel. it's a little disappointing. I still overall think it's worth it if you like this sort of thing though.

SPOILERS BELOW:

THIS is the kind of thing pitchless draw was made for. You could not have talked me into reading this book. Unless you possess an incredible skill--I'm not sure *I* could have talked me into reading this book, and supposedly no one knows me better.

But I did really enjoy myself. This is a flat out FUN novel, that doesn't mind being long but never feels long. I LOVED the long bits of description in this book, I BEG for flavor in some many modern novels that strip away anything that isn't an immediate moving of the ball. Actually, one of the things I would say that's not a criticism so much as a preference, is that I feel like this book, and probably this writer, remembering his short story from Rogues, is more plot-driven than character driven. I am a girl who loves a really interior novel, and this isn't that, but it did not stop me from having a GREAT time. It's a romp.

I like Locke, and his whole backstory. I wish he were a woman. Specifically, I would love to see a femme con artist, second coming of Minako Aino, Becky Sharp ass bitch. THAT would be my dream for Locke Lamora. And I know my friends who have read this book all want butch Locke and I love that for you, and I know y'all have known me long enough to know I love a butch, but I deserve a treat as well, and I LOVE con artists, and goddamnit, if I could change one thing about this novel, Locke Lamora would be a femme lesbian and I would change NOTHING else. You wouldn't even have to. One fo the great things about Lynch not being a real interior writer is literally any of the mains could be a woman and it would change nothing.

This does segue into the big problem here--there's no women in this novel. It's a 700 page book and I could condense the lines said by women into like two or three pages. I actually DO get it. I think we're reaping a little bit of what we've sown, as a community, with the requirement for perfection in our representation that leads to very boring and safe choices. Everyone is a man. We're only swarthy at best. Can't be criticized for bad identity writing if you don't write them at all! ANd this isn't me being salty, I get how that happens, I have also sometimes fallen into making any character of identity boring as fuck or not writing them at all to avoid any criticism. And no one cares about ME, I'm not a best seller. I do think, maybe, people will get better about this. Pendulums and all. I miss the awkward, good faith 90s where you had the United Colors of Benetton and one character who randomly celebrated Hanukkah. We'll see.

ANYHOW NOT RELEVANT. But I do find it irritating that because of this, we don't see women in this huge story at all. None of the gang, even though it would have been easy as fuck to make, say, Bug a girl. Even doing something like making Nazca Barsavi the actual heir apparent, and to have her marrying Locke because she knows he won't try to be Capa, and she'll let him do whatever the fuck he wants, can play the henpecked husband while being the Thorn of Camorr, could be really fun and would do more for Nazca and also play up their friendship. It could make her death mean a lot more, if they were running their own little Barsavi con.

Anyhow, the really fantastic behind the scenes worldbuilding was how I wish more fantasy novels did it. It didn't often try to explain things to me, it spoke as if I mostly understood them, or had cahracters say them in ways that made sense to the story (In this capacity, Lukas Fehrwright is fucking BRILLIANT as Someone That Must Have Camorr Explained). So I didn't feel like I was being sat down and told the history of a place I barely know, while having stupid fucking vocabulary words thrown at me. We never define any physik or magic beyond what needs be done because fuck you that's why. I love it. Thank you for not telling me what alchemical botany can or can't do. Thank you for dropping literally only what I need to kjnow about wraithstone into the plot. You have a crown in heaven.

Or I know I said I wish it would have been more con-ny and less "kill the new mob boss" at the end there, but oh my fuck, how much did I love the whole job at the counting house. I SCREAMED. It was so good, I had no clue where it was going the whole time and I would never have gotten there, but I LOVED it. What a great time.

One...weakness, for me, I guess I'll say, is that lack of interiority makes it hard to really feel the weight of some things. We don't get enough about Galdo, Calo, or Bug to feel anything for them, and I knew Bug was dead from the time he showed up. Actually, I thought we were going to kill jean Tannen, because that was the only relationship REALLY laden with emotional weight in the book. Didn't bother me enough to not recommend the book, as I'm mostly recommending it on fun, but I did notice.

ANYWAY, uh...any specific questions I'm happy to take!

Unfortunately, this means that @verbforverb nabbed me again. So, I had a great time reading the book but at what cost

#Doc reads

[thana-topsy]

Hello! I hope this isn't too much of a loaded question, but do you have any general tips for writing? I'd like to give fanfic writing a shot at some point.

Not at all! I'm always happy to talk shop about writing! As far as general tips go, there are some things that I think everyone could benefit from, so I'll try to condense my opinions and suggestions into A Numbered List. (We'll limit it to 5 suggestions for now).

Read Actively I mean this in the sense of really chewing on whatever it is you're reading. Dig into the meat of That One Paragraph and look for things you enjoy, things that tickle your brain. I'll give an example from something I read recently, which is our lovely @kookaburra1701's newest story "Aristeia" "They crested the final hillock; Mor Khazgur dominated the shallow valley below. When she had been younger, Borgakh had often imagined the longhouse was a lazy cat asleep on a bright green rug, curled up against the rocks of the Druadach Mountains. When the stronghold’s goats were pastured in the glade, they played the role of mice scurrying about under the cat’s nose." I was just ENAMORED by this passage. The whimsy, the rhythm of some the repeating consonants -- stronghold's goats, glade -- and just the imagery it drummed up, reminding me of those fanciful imaginings of my own childhood. So don't just read a lot, but read actively. Read works that inspire you, authors that impress you, and subject matter that's similar to the type of stuff you want to be writing. And think about why you like the things your like, and draw that inspiration into your own writing. Imitate your heroes until you're no longer imitating and it's just how you write.

Accept Constructive Criticism This one is always a challenge in the beginning. The Ego is a powerful little devil, and it'll try to confuse you. It'll tell you that your value is tied to the words on the page. But I'm here to tell you that YOU are NOT the words on the page. Take an objective stance on your prose and your plot. Everyone starts somewhere and (hopefully) nobody ever stops learning or improving. NOTE: Notice I said constructive criticism. This does not mean you should let people tear your work into shreds in bad faith. Listen to people who want to see you improve and also find joy in the craft of writing.

Read Your Writing Out Loud This is kind of self-explanatory. You'll get a really good feel for your own rhythm and flow VERY easily this way. And you'll catch almost any mistakes right away.

Cut All Unnecessary Words This is getting into the technical side of things, but why not? One of the first books I read on the craft of writing (whose title unfortunately escapes my mind at the moment) contained this advice, and it is STILL something I struggle with. Obviously, when you have a character with a specific voice, sometimes they get flowery in their internal speech and observations. I'll use Aiden as an example: "The fort loomed over them, massive and severe. Aiden attempted to judge the architecture and found he wasn’t quite sure what race or nation could have possibly built it. Or when it was built, for that matter. Second era, perhaps? The design seemed more Breton than Nord: austere, angular, and formal. But so close to the Velothi mountains, it could have been Imperial."  I bolded words that don't actually add anything of value to the descriptions here. We lose nothing by cutting them out. But they're how Aiden thinks about the world around him. So I keep them to give shape to his internal processing. I'd say to try to write without these kinds of flavor words first, then start adding them in. Learn the rules before you break them, or break the habit before it becomes the ONLY way you write.

Write Every Day This one is tough in the beginning, but it's so crucial to becoming a better writer. WRITE. EVERY. DAY. Even if it's just 200 words, do it. Make it your little morning ritual or evening wind-down. Pick a time that's just for you and your words. Close all your tabs, put your phone on silent, and just write. Be alone with the world that you are trying to create. And soon enough, you'll find that you can't go a day without writing something. And what a joy that is.

That's my list! I hope you found these tips useful! I also recommend reading books on the craft of writing, too.

Best of luck on your journey! You have infinite possibilities before you.

#topsy's asks #writing meta #writing advice #on writing #fanfiction #fanfic meta

[studentinpursuitofclouds]

Hiya, Mousy! 👋🏻✨ I'm just gonna ask here... I'm tempted to know all but I'll stick to a few. Hopefully, it's not too much! But if it's too much, feel free to answer the ones you have already cooked! ^^ Here's my question.

How do you think would the villagers of SVE such as Gunther, Marlon, Gil, Andy, and Susan (along with the bachelor/ettes from both SVE & SDV as well) react to...

... 'durians'? 👀

(A very smelly fruit. But it can be sweet inside like any other fruit!)

Gunther, Marlon and Gil may not be from SVE, but they became social NPC in Expanded, so yes. I hope that's okay! 😅 I have another ask coming, by the way...

Heyyyyyyyyyy! 👋❤️ It's good to see you in my askbox :D

I was thinking about writing..... about everyone you asked (so it's going to be a long post, fair warning Jesus Christ it's huge!). I liked the idea and got a little carried away with the inspiration. Well, I'm off to write an answer to your second question then ���( ᐛ )ᕗ

Thanks for your ask 😊 Enjoy!

PS: I have never smelled or tasted a durian in my life, so I apologize if any details of the description of the fruit may not match reality.

SDV and SVE bachelors/ettes and townies react to the Durian fruit:

✨Bachelors✨

Shane:

...What the fuck did Farmer bring? What is thi- Oh, fuck, yuck! Are they fucking crazy?! No, don't even think about bringing that shit to the ranch. Get the fuck outta here! Seriously, what's the matter with Farmer, they're gonna use that thing to set up a gas chamber in his aunt and or something? A gift!? A fucking gift, thank you very much!... Okay, Shane thinks the pulp is really tasty, and Jas straight up loved this weird thing. But please, for fuck's sake, don't bring them fresh fruit, okay? And, uh... thanks.

Sebastian:

Sebastian was so confident in his victory in another billiard competition that he did not even immediately realize how the Farmer, victoriously expressed their wish, which now the loser must fulfill? To smell and eat durian? Isn't that the fruit that- oh, yuck, yep, that's the fruit he's thinking about. The smell is easy to describe: like dirty old socks and the smell of sewage. But the taste is cool, words can't describe what the flavor is exactly, but it's cool.

Sam:

Yo! Yooooo! Man, that stinks! Sam had seen a lot of videos on the internet of people eating the weirdest foods, and he was interested in fresh durian too. And then the Farmer brings them a whole fruit to taste. The tasting takes place outside, though, because Jodi won't let them in. Sam's mother can't stand the stench, even if the exotic fruit is like the food of the gods. It tastes okay, Sam thoughts, like vanilla.

Elliott:

Elliott is a little confused, not knowing whether to thank Farmer sincerely or try to politely decline. When the conversation turns to the fact that the Farmer wants to give the writer a durian..... Elliott had encountered this infamous fruit in his youth, and as you can guess - the surprise was not a pleasant one. What was pleasant, however, was the fact that the Farmer brought him a fried fruit, without the repulsive odor. Ah, what a rich flavor! Thank you very much, Farmer. Such a palette of flavor immediately inspired Elliott to write a short story about the beauty and richness of the tropics!

Harvey:

Harvey had heard a lot about the properties of durian. This fruit is considered both very useful and very dangerous, and by "dangerous" he means not only the unbearable odor. It is contraindicated for people with high blood pressure. At the same time, durian has a strong bactericidal effect due to the substance indole contained in it, helps to eliminate toxins from the body. Although, the taste of durian, the pulp of which was kindly brought by the farmer, is quite specific, as if banana-onion puree. Not bad, just specific.

Alex:

The athlete's first reaction to durian was a great desire to kick this fruit. For a very long distance. Like a gridball, to the other side of town (or better yet, to the end of the world). What a stench! Alex definitely couldn't stand such a smell, although he had to smell different odors in the locker room of the bathhouse not of his own free will. But this was the worst of all. He doesn't even want to taste the pulp, firmly convinced that it tastes as bad as it smells. Nope, thanks.

Lance:

Ah, Lance has had time to taste many exotic fruits in his life, and the ever-famous durian was no exception. He remembers this fruit from his childhood, as durian pulp was a frequent treat and an ingredient in his family's dishes. He also remembers his father jokingly threatening to put little Lance in a room with the foul-smelling fruit for a full one minute if he misbehaved. They would never do such a thing, of course, but little Lance didn't want to test fate then. Fortunately, a few magic tricks in his arsenal allow him to enjoy the taste of childhood to this day, avoiding the foul odor.

Victor:

Yoba, have pity on poor Victor... Did the Farmer become a lover of strange (and sometimes dubious) delicacies, just like Victor's dear mother? Olivia used to give him durian pulp for dessert when he was a child, and Victor, not wanting to contradict his mother, ate it with no small pleasure. He finds the fruit's flavor strange: cheesy, nutty notes with onions. Some people like it, but he doesn't. Fortunately, Victor is old enough to cook his own food, and he certainly doesn't want to remember the "taste" of his childhood, so sorry Farmer, but he'll have to pass. Especially with that smell, good Lord!

Magnus:

You wouldn't believe it, Farmer, but when he was young, Magnus and his peers at the Castle Village Academy of Magic had put a foul-smelling fruit in one of the professors' classrooms to play a prank. Alas, they didn't know that it was dangerous to keep the fruit indoors. No one was hurt, fortunately, but spirits, how they were scolded afterwards! The pulp itself tasted okay (not that Magnus was obsessed with durian), but he would gladly accept a treat from the Farmer. The wizard will make tea for the two of them, and he'll tell the Farmer more stories from his youth.

✨Bachelorettes✨

Maru:

Durio zibethinus, the most common tree species in the genus Durio that are known as durian. A unique flora, Maru read books and articles about it with interest. She and her dad had to explore many interesting fruits, but they never brought the durian fruit to the laboratory. If there is a desire or opportunity, then the Farmer can donate one fruit for science! Um, and please let Maru know in advance if they want to bring durians, at least they'll have time to grab respirators.

Haley:

Ewwwww! And the Farmer was able to grow that stinky stuff on their farm? They are either the bravest or the stupidest. You want me to try it? Are you out of your mind? Like, tasty fruit? Hmm, only if the Farmer removes the odor and puts the pulp on a plate. Hee-hee, this fruit is quite tasty - something between a persimmon and a papaya. Can you get more? Haley would love to order more fruit (just no peels, please).

Emily:

Emily accurately described the fruit, calling it an "ugly duckling": the outside of the durian, which attracts flies and repels people with its odor, inside holds the food that many sweet fruit lovers dream of. Plus, the fruit is rich in B vitamins, potassium and magnesium, so it's still very healthy! The smell doesn't scare her, but it's better to handle a fresh durian outside (or Haley will never let the two of them in the house).

Abigail:

Oh! Oh! Abigail heard about durian, that it stinks so unbearably it's been banned in some regions. Heck yeah, she's already thought of a great prank she wants to give her dad >:D Oh, you only brought fruit pulp? Bummer... Okay, well, let's see what you got. Hey, it's actually really good, it's kind of like banana pudding.

Penny:

No no no no no... Please don't bring that to Penny. She knows exactly what durian is. No, she hasn't tasted the fruit, but the description from the book in the library was enough for her not to mess with the fruit. No, please, Penny can't.... Huh? Oh, the Farmer gave her... candied fruit? Durian candied fruit. Oh, she was afraid it was a whole fresh durian, so.... Thank you very much, Farmer. She's sure gonna want to make something for them, too, as a thank you.

Leah:

It wasn't often that Leah could taste the kind of fruit that came from faraway lands. Her preferences were usually forest berries and apples, and Leah didn't suffer at all from not trying some obscure strange fruit. And to be honest, after the durian the Farmer had kindly given her, Leah would rather keep eating forest fruits. Don't get her wrong, she doesn't want to seem ungrateful, and the fruit is quite sweet and tasty. But at least they warned her for the smell, all the flies flew to her house!

Sophia:

Oh, Sophia loves durian mochi, it's one of her favorite sweets! After the comic-con in Zuzu City, she and Scarlet always go to the dessert store, and Sopha always gets a mochi with this fruit. The idea of making mochi with the Farmer from real fresh durian he, in Stardew Valley, really appealed to her. Unpleasant odor? She's kind of heard it, but Sophia thinks it's not that ba- Ah! Ewww! *gagging* Now the pink-haired girl understands why sweet rice cakes made from this fruit are so expensive - few people would want to work with such a stinker in the kitchen! But for mochi she's willing to do anything.

Olivia:

Batter-fried durian, durian mooncakes, durian soup, durian soufflé.... Olivia's taste is quite refined, and her table was often filled with a variety of exotic delicacies and expensive foodstuffs. Durian was no exception. But for all that, she never bought durian in fresh form, as she perfectly understood that the stench from this fruit with a notorious peculiarity in a huge house will stand for a week. So she would not accept unprocessed fruit from the Farmer. No offense, dear. She is touched by their generosity, but better safe than sorry.

Claire

The poor cashier's whole life flew before her eyes when she overheard the conversation of Morris, her boss, in senior management. The topic was about expanding the range of Joja products, and the focus was on vegetables and fruits, and the mention of the word "durian" made her shudder. Luckily, Joja's superiors didn't want to add this fruit to the market... Not yet. Most likely, if Joja agrees to sell this fruit, it will only be in canned form. But Claire doesn't want to push her luck....

✨Townspeople✨

Gunter:

"Well, this will definitely break any runny nose," Gunther thought to himself as the Farmer decided to show him the freshly grown durian. Luckily, the farmer had thought to show the fruit outside instead of in the library lobby where Penny and the kids are always sitting. He definitely had a book about different exotic fruits and berries.... The butter and vanilla flavored pulp that the fruit gives off is quite tasty. But the smell, oh my goodness....

Andy:

What the hell kind of filth did they bring to his farm?! Get it off his property and don't come here until you've thrown it away, burned your clothes and washed themselves with soap! Andy had seen all sorts of unusual fruits and vegetables, but this he would not tolerate. It smells so bad it makes him want to drown himself in the nearest pond. No, he doesn't want to taste the pulp, so don't get upset like a little child. Take that farmer's nightmare back where you find it, Farmer.

Susan:

Oh, my goodness. Durian for Susan? Thank you so much, Farmer, you're such a sweetheart. But, just to be clear, Susan still wanted to know if Farmer was bringing her fresh durian, as the smell could be unbearable, to say the least. Oh, is that durian jam? Thank you, sweetie. Be sure to come to her house tomorrow for durian jam pie, she'll be happy to chat with them and give them some tasty baked goods with exotic fruit!

Marlon:

Considering that one of Marlon's specialties is frog legs or rice with poisonous (though the poison is removed during cooking) mushrooms, he will hardly be surprised by such a strange fruit as durian. The odor is unbearable, that's true, you can even drive monsters out of mines (and suffocate yourself). But the durian roast turned out quite tolerable, it goes very well with meat. Hmm, he doesn't look surprised? Trust him, he's seen stranger things in his life.

Gil:

Gil, for some reason, is beginning to feel like he has a generic curse on him. Almost his entire life as an adventurer he's been a victim of his best one-eyed friend and comrade's cooking, and now their new Guild member has brought some crap that announces to the neighborhood with all its odor that it's inedible. He even woke up from the stench (nothing could wake him up, but the durian did impossible). He didn't want to taste the "divine" fruit either when he learned from the Farmer that it was strictly forbidden to consume it with alcohol. A shame, maybe it would have been a good appetizer for his brandy...

#sdv #stardew valley #sve #stardew valley expanded #sdv headcanons #sve headcanons #sdv alex #sdv shane #sdv sebastian #sdv harvey #sdv sam #sdv elliott #sve victor #sve lance #sdv wizard #sdv penny #sdv abigail #sdv haley #sdv leah #sdv emily #sdv maru #sdv marlon #sdv gil #sve susan #sve andy #sdv gunther #sve magnus #sve sophia #sve olivia #sve claire

[memurfevur-archive]

A question for the mun; May I ask what are your favorite trolls in the ftc as a whole?

Oh geez, I feel like this is always changing for me because I keep getting to know amazing new people and amazing new characters. I think I'll just name a few blogs and list my favorites from there, as I don't think I can pick out of the entire community when it's full of people I also don't know or haven't interacted with (yet!).

Quite a few of them belong to my partner @mageofspacemultiverse as I've known those the longest and have quite a few ships between us. A few of my favorite characters from him are Zomson, Hidelord, Devaron, and Pixcel. Each character of his is unique and has interesting backstories and personality, and yet every one of them is so on-brand for his blog.

From @thestarlightbrigade I have always adored Deltra and MY LIL MAN HIBUKI. Special shout out to Iiboye too. Lots of edgy angsty characters but each one is a specific flavor that never gets tiring. Avery's vibe is I'm shaking him by the shoulders and biting him affectionately. That is to say, he's a fun guy and silly to talk to. Prepare to get cat-gif'd.

@stuckstucktrolls I thirsted after Viktor since day 1 bruh. He's the Troll I am most familiar with besides Teagan. Creative characters and also very pretty, the lot of them. Cool cat boy cryptid gets the seal of approval from royal moth cryptid.

@goddesstrolls Kairos and Kairne. Ik Kairne isn't on the blog anymore but I thought he was pretty damn neat tbh. One of the first characters I knew Bast by. Also um... my (ex)wife Akidis, I love her to bits and pieces, and my male-wife Darvai. Buff women and bastard men run this blog, and all the world build and narratives Bast has come up with over the years are SO -chefs kiss- .

@miks-fantrolls Antemh <3 Sticking him under a microscope fr. I don't know a lot about anyone else, but maybe that'll change sometime. I don't know a lot about Mik but I personally think he's cool af. Mik if you're reading this I'm staring at you with wet pathetic eyes and offering you an egg in these trying times.

@roetrolls Veylin <3 She makes my heart happy. Also Franky, I would give him the world. Mallum is up there, too. Roe makes a lot of characters that are compelling, friend-shaped, and possesses you with the Funny Horrors (aka I can't stop laughing every time I see 'Dominion' on a street sign or pub. Like, it's the kind of joy that's like 'I know that guy! That guy belongs to this really cool person that I look up to! How silly that he has a bar named after him!' )

@sasster ...................... Redivi.................. Look, one could argue and say it's because he's a vampire and I'm absolutely a vampire simp 100%. But. But he's *terrifying* and that's a big reason why he's a favorite Chase Troll of mine. Compelling, scary, but recognizable as people we may know in our every day lives. An ever so loved face and name, but there's always something behind the scenes that we can't see. There's a performance for the world, while on back stage the true colors show. Mind you, I am extremely behind in the lore of the blog, but that guy? Man. That guy.

@windy-trickster -slaps the top of this guy's blog- This blog can fit so many funky lil dudes filled with unique lore and fantastic personalities and oh my god the angst. My favorites among them are Doleos, Rastho, and Althor. Windy is a creative writer and puts SO much love into his characters. Like for real, it's always a pleasure listening to him talk about them. It's clear he puts in a lot of love and effort into his guys, and I think y'all should go and see that for yourself.

@askthehiddencaste Shuska and Ashoal. I feel like Shuska is the face of the blog (i mean, the entire theme is a library, so), and she's such a charming character. Warm, friendly, but she's STRONG in spirit. Ashoal and Shuska are the two I'm most familiar with aside from Heliel (I want that goopy man carnally). Kanny has a lot of fascinating characters that all feel like a natural family to me. I could hang out with their characters and feel right at home.

@experimental-failures The only one I'm familiar with is Nix, so I guess he's my favorite by proxy-- BUT! I've always thought Nix was very neat. He feels like a guy I can run into out on the street irl. He feels so real to me, and it's always a pleasure.

@the-rainbow-overflow Elnric and Viroxa. Two very interesting characters for vastly different reasons, lol! I love the alternate timeline stuff Elnric has going on, and I feel soft for this guy mostly because it's the first Troll I knew Dusk by. Viroxa is... oh boy, god damn, a bastard? Such a manipulative and cunning guy where the ends justify the means, and I am OBSESSED. Bonus points that he's a scientist guy, ya know? We all love unhinged scientists. Kissing him on the cheek even if he may take my lips as donation and sew it onto someone else. Special mention to Makona as well, I am unwell about HISStory of Violence <3

@trollbreak Um, Bladed, teehee -twirls hair- Jonah has SOOO many lil guys. Silly lil guys! Some of these silly lil guys commit murder and treason! Some of them will give you plushies and Autism Creature stare at you as a means of friendship. Heehoo is my ultimate favorite, and Bladed is close second, but I adore Jonah and all of their characters.

@clown-fuckers-r-us Montague!!!! MONTAGUE!!!! MY BELOVED!!! CRYING WEEPING AAAAAAAA-- ahem. So um Montague is my favorite, he's so cool? I'm so invested in his story and not just because I have a ship going with that guy but his concept is so intresting??? A Purple with anger issues, rich and privileged but kind and loving-- now ruined by a broken mind and psyche, his one scrap of salvation that keeps him from fully losing himself being the memory of a lover that he hasn't seen since before the war on Limebloods... You should definitely go share some love with Bun, the mun of the blog; she's an AMAZING person, truly a wonderful friend, and one of the most nicest people I know.

@moonlit-trolls Tythus by far. It's been SO neat seeing Tythus grow and develop as a character. Moona and I made Ptillo and Tythus together, and while Tythus had some shaky beginnings as Moona was figuring him out, it definitely solidified and paid off in the end. Tythus is a compelling villain imo with complex goals and ambitions. Not to mention what a SILVER FOX HE IS GOD DAMN. You go girl, make that man hot and pathetic <3

I'm running out of steam for this post; if you're not listed on here it doesn't mean I don't have favorites or that I don't like you. There's A LOT of trolls to keep track of in the community and a lot of members too. Everyone has such amazing characters that I cannot possibly list them all off. Keep doing what you're doing, and remember that even if it feels a little pointless at times or that nobody cares, there ARE people who enjoy the content you put out-- whether its art, writing, silly little tidbits, or whatever else! There's people out there who will think about you over the smallest of things and smile, people who will think about you and your characters and feel inspired, people who may be too shy to interact but love and appreciate you and what you do. Whether you're a big or small blog or something in between, thank you for being part of the FTC.

#mun asks #tag train lets go! #mageofspacemultiverse #thestarlightbrigade #stuckstucktrolls #goddesstrolls #miks-fantrolls #roetrolls #sasster #windy-trickster #askthehiddencaste #experimental-failures #the-rainbow-overflow #trollbreak #clown-fuckers-r-us #moonlit-trolls

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

Do you think there's a connection between the 80s and 90s comics mostly only mentioning him offhand without actual appearances and modern comics like Twojar or One Bad Day making him more violent and increasingly taking away his gimmick ? Because I feel like it's two different approaches to the same idea of wanting to have a villain whose thing is being 'smart' on hold in case they want a story where Batman shows off his mental capabilities but not wanting to deal with everything else that comes with the character like the goofyness or having to come up with riddles that don't suck

oh man okay this is such an interesting question and I'm so excited to be able to revisit it when my reread gets into the 2000s and have more perspective to offer

for the time being I do think that it's fair to say that making the Riddler a central antagonist in a story is challenging because he has, like, a relatively narrow gimmick compared to a lot of other rogues and having to actually come up with riddles is a tall order that a lot of writers simply don't want to fuck with.

personally I think the best way to embrace this is to just acknowledge that the riddles are going to be balls to the wall stupid and let the audience understand that Batman is equally unhinged for being able to solve them at all. Batman '66 is frankly great at this, best exemplified in this scene from the movie that no other Batman adaptation has topped yet:

what are any of you talking about! you sound crazy! they are right though, and that's what living in Gotham does to a motherfucker.

for the record I think Batman Forever also actually does this really well without being quite as unhinged. the riddles are actually pretty solid and straightforward; Bruce solves them easily but the real challenge is in putting them together at the end to figure out who's actually behind everything. (it's Jim Carrey, serving cunt.) it's maybe the only part of the movie that actually shows any restraint at all, and I respect that.

the thing is that this approach kind of falls apart if you want to do a more grounded take on Batman that presents the Riddler as the legitimate threat despite being a man who on purpose calls himself the Riddler. I dog on Batman 2022 a lot but at least there you can (charitably) read Paul Dano's shitty little puzzles as being intentionally messy owing to the fact that his Riddler is, you know, a sopping wet miserable catholic redditor who's really just trying to kiss Batman. I do genuinely like that his master plan is incoherent enough that Bruce doesn't crack all of it and misses vital pieces, it's a nice spin on an inexperienced Batman + the complexity addiction that Riddler schemes are so known for.

and like, to be clear, I do still think that Riddler sucks, but other attempts to make him a serious antagonist are so much worse. you mentioned War of Jokes and Riddles and One Bad Day, the latter of which I do think is just. appallingly misguided on literally every imaginable front and betrays an embarrassing lack of understanding of what people actually like and find entertaining about the character in favor of scrubbing him down to a bog standard Hannibal Lecter-flavored evil genius serial killer manipulator.

which is a fine stock character, where would comic books be without easily recognizable bad guy archetypes, etc, but god, not the Riddler. where the fuck is the fun in that? he's just a silly little guy in a leotard. please, stop trying to make this guy scary.

for god's sake. he's just a baby.

anyway I get why it happens though and it's Marketing, and I think specifically the very online and instantaneous nature of fandom in the 21st century. detective comics comics needs people reading their comics and, maybe even more importantly, talking about their comics, and that means leaning really heavily on well-established characters the people give a shit about. most readers are going to be more interested, even passively, in the Riddler than Random Smart Guy Murderer #623, because he's been around for a long time and he's a very ingrained part of the lore.

but everything has to be a fucking event with high stakes now, again because attention is currency, so it can never just be, like, "oh no, the Riddler has Batman trapped in a giant hamster maze," it's the Riddler and the Joker beefing and also the Riddler murdering Kite-Man's son for ??? reasons ??? idk man look how fucked up he is! this guy's serious! he has a question mark scar on his chest! please take him seriously!

and also, back to the first point, it's frankly just easier to write a generic egomaniac smart guy than it is to come up with riddles that are even a little bit good or interesting enough to carry an entire plot. I bet Tom King really thought he was doing something when he settled down to write One Bad Day and decided that the riddles were actually just a fucking power inhibitor the Riddler was putting in place to stop his massive brainmeat from killing everybody he came in contact with, but I think it's actually the sign of Tom King being a lil punk bitch, actually. just admit you don't have the sauce to come up with a riddle and pass the gig onto someone else!

anyway this is why most of my favorite Riddler appearances have him in a supporting role rather than serving as a primary antagonist (think Batman: Unburied, King Tut's Tomb, the Long Halloween/Dark Victory/When In Rome triptych), and his best antagonist appearances have him working with WAY lower stakes that's mostly just trying to get Bruce to pay attention to him (Vol. 2 of the Batman Adventures and Strange Love Adventures 2022).

tl;dr stop trying to make me take this man seriously

#edward riddlehands

[quetzalpapalotl]

reverse hot take meme: tell me why I should care about Prowl?

I assume you’re talking about IDW1 Prowl. Truly I love him. I love how everyone is so passionate about him whether they love him or hate him. Mmm this was a fun ask and it got long, so under a cut it goes!

He seems like a good character to me, because I can always see where he’s coming from, even if he’s what we call an awful person. I think Prowl is the Phase 2 character with the most cohesion across his different writers. I know that may sound strange, Barber, Roche, and Roberts write him with a different flavor, yes, but I think they all have the same core understanding and just focus on different things according to their respective genres.

For example, JRo’s Prowl feels way pettier and more emotional than Barber’s, which fits with how Mtmte puts a lot of focus on interpersonal flaws. However, I’d argue Barber’s Prowl is just as petty, I mean *point to the whole ordeal with Spike on Earth* or like, he’s willing to let Caminus die so that Starscream doesn’t try to rule all the galaxy which while Starscream did wanted to control the Colonies, he would not start a war against the cosmos again, he knows better than that. Prowl’s motivations are influenced by the fact that he hates the Decepticons and he can’t let Starscream win, but he’s able to rationalize his actions so he can keep telling himself he’s entirely reasonable.

But you asked me to give you specifically reasons to care about him, so I will argue he’s a lot like Megatron (and oh, Prowl would flip a table if he heard me, that’s so fun):

Both Prowl and Megatron are people extremely Machiavellian and willing to do anything for their specific vision of the Greater Good and both are lacking in self awareness and won’t admit to their actual motivations or that their methods are antithetical to their supposed goals. There are both convinced they are the only one that can do what needs to be done. To Prowl’s credit, he’s far less vainglorious, while Prowl does want credit, he doesn’t need a whole cult to worship him. Prowl wants influence rather than power and unlike Megatron he doesn’t actually like violence. He’s actually quite disgusted by it, which is part of the reason he needs other people do it for him.

But both run on paranoia, spite and a need to be war. They both need the war to give them meaning. Again, to be fair to Prowl, I think he actually does genuinely want the vision he claims to want, but anything else will mean he was wrong and all the things he did was maybe not as justified so he has dug himself into a hole of keeping the war running until he gets his desired ending or his whole idea of himself falls apart. While Megatron will use this unrealistic vision to have an excuse to keep on fighting because fighting is what gives him meaning.

Okay yeah, they’re not exactly the same, but they do have neat parallels and you like Megatron, right?

Prowl feels deeply tragic to me, because while he was always kind of a prick, his pre-war self really did seem to operate on a belief that rules and order are good. He had a lot of ideas of the old Cybertron internalizes, yes, but he does attempt to make things better for everyone. He prevents Sentinel from eradicating the Decepticons, he tries to stand against corruption, tries to keep Orion in check. Yet everything still goes to hell, so he sort of goes “fine, if everyone is going to make compromises I will too, except I will do the right ones because I can tell what they are” and now he’s trapped in a cage of his own doing and he’s aware of it but too deep in his own head to change even when he wants to. There’s some delicious irony because more than anything Prowl wants to be understood, but he won’t value anyone’s input over his own.

He's interesting, there's a lot to chew about him. He's a good character. This is fiction so I think that more important than anything else you can say about him. Thinking about Prowl is endlessly entertaining, he's so full of pathos and irony.

Also fun fact: he's Barber's favorite character dasfhgjsa, I believe that, Barber has such fun playing with him. I think JRo also mentioned him being a favorite at some point(?)

#be grateful i skipped the comparison between eugenesis and idw1 prowl #quetzal rambles tf

[benbamboozled]

Where are the best comic representations of Jason in your opinion? I’ve read some of the Red Hood and the Outlaws stuff and that’s okay (I really like Roy and Jason interacting) and the Nightwing 2021 annual was great, but I want to read more. I just don’t want to read the versions where writers distill Jason down to “angry, violent, no empathy, doesn’t care about anything or anyone” which I feel like happens a lot.

Whew…okay, this is going to be long. Just a head’s up.

SO…this is kind of a complicated question when it comes to comic characterization, at least for me. Honestly…I don’t really judge things based on “best” with comics but more “my favorite,” because comics characterization is so all over the place and inconsistent that (IMO) “best” just…doesn’t really mean much.

Because of that, this list is going to be some of my Jason Todd faves, with a focus on Red Hood, that I think all or most of your specifications!

(Also note that I am NOT the person to give pre-A Death in the Family Robin!Jay recs. Hopefully someone in the replies or reblogs can help out! I’ve only read the Garzonas arc and part of A Death in the Family.)

(ALSO ALSO NOTE: I have SIGNIFICANT GAPS IN MY CANON KNOWLEDGE because I dropped out of DC comics for like…many years because ALL OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS WERE DEAD. I am FAR from a Jason Todd Exploit Expert. Why was Jason “Wingman”? What was that whole thing with Donna Troy and Kyle Rayner? I DO NOT KNOW. I am WORKING ON FILLING THOSE GAPS but I am also FREQUENTLY TIRED.)

ANYWAY, on with the show!

Let’s start with the classics!

Under the Hood+Batman Annual #25!

Don’t call it a comeback…he’s been here for years!(Technically, via retcon.)

Okay so I’m putting this one first because this is the Jason Todd I fell in love with. FURTHERMORE, I mean, this pretty much sets the stage for all of Jason’s Red Hood appearances.

WHY do I like it?

—Jason is COMPETENT. He GETS SHIT DONE.

—Jason is FUNNY. Like, legitimately funny. Other characters are also funny! Black Mask and Slade are funny! The Joker is funny! It is frequently a funny story!

—Jason is SO SAD. With every part of this arc, I very much get the feeling that Jason is just…desperately trying to live for something and this is the only thing he has. And I, for one, eat that up with a spoon, it gives me LIFE.

Red Hood: Lost Days

A mini by our buddy Judd Winick, filling in the details of Jason’s backstory originally seen in Batman Annual #25.

WHY do I like it?

—We get to see Jason killing baddies! Unapologetically! Like…real bad baddies! Wooo killin baddies!

—More of Competent!Jason! He learns a lot of very useful killin skills and he learns them quick! And he uses them very well.

—Once again, Jason Todd is VERY SAD. Here, we get to see WHY he is so sad in Under the Hood. Have you ever wanted to see every element of a character’s stability in life get slowly but surely worn away by circumstances completely outside of their control? Well, here you go!

Red Hood and the Outlaws: Rebirth+Red Hood: Outlaw

Ah, the Lobdell Years. (Original flavor RHatO not included)

WHY do I like it?

—So, RHATO:Rebirth!Jason Todd is not quite my Jason Todd. He’s more subdued, more of a Stoic Woobie than my preferred Jerkass Woobie version of Jason. HOWEVER, Lobdell’s version really exudes a sort of sense of…doom?…crushing sense of existential hopelessness?…quiet despair?…that hooks my heart. Good old Jason “not everyone wants to be alive” Todd!

Whereas Winick’s version of Jason plays with the fourth wall in a kind of pointed way, RHATO:Rebirth Jason (IMO) feels very…trapped in the narrative. He knows that everything is going to fall to pieces for him—because he can’t have nice things, because he’s Jason Todd, and Jason Todd will never be allowed to keep anything nice—but he’s still going to help his friends, goddamn it.

—It’s nice to see Jason have friends that are his own. I love the “Dark Trinity” of Jay, Artemis, and Bizarro. You really get why they cleave together, and they’re just…cute. I love them.

Okay, now…here are some recs with caveats!

Cheer from Batman Urban Legends #1-6

There’s a new drug called Cheer on the streets of Gotham! Flashbacks and problems abound!

SO.

Cheer.

My caveats are:

1. Jason is annoyingly incompetent.

2. Part of the setup of the story involves Jason acting in a way that I consider OOC (he kills a guy and it’s made out to be a very big personal deal for reasons that I have ranted about previously).

3. Jason gives up guns. Ugh. Boo.

—Okay now OUTSIDE OF THOSE THINGS…

WHY do I like it?

1. We get flashbacks to little kid Jay, Robin!Jay, and Bruce in UtH that I consider to be very meaningful to Jay and Bruce.

2. The plot hook involves a drug called Cheer that makes people hallucinate their happy place, and Jason and Bruce’s hallucinations kind of break my heart into pieces. (I’ve talked, uh, A LOT about them, I have no chill.)

3. I really love the art for the flashbacks, and bb!Jay is REALLY CUTE.

So, yeah, thems my feelings! Jason definitely isn’t portrayed as “angry, violent, no empathy, doesn’t care about anything or anyone” so I’m gonna go ahead and rec it.

Robins mini

The Robins get together on their own and decide whether recruiting child soldiers to fight a never ending war on crime might be…you know…a bad thing.

Okay my caveat is that…some people don’t like it for reasons that I haven’t really explored because I REALLY like it. In the beginning of the story there is some talk of Jason being a ne’er-do-well…buuut it comes from him, so I very easily take it with a grain of salt.

WHY do I like it?

—First of all, I just really love the Robins all getting to hang out together and then work a case together. They should get to do that more often/all the time.

—Jason gets MANY Big Damn Hero moments. And they’re not just Big Damn Hero moments but like…BIG BROTHER Hero Moments, and I love every one. Multiple times he’s watching out for the other Robins and I just…I love it.

—Stephanie Brown is also a Big Damn Hero.

—Bruce Wayne is kind of a woobie and I can’t help but get feelings when he gets feelings about his kids.

Battle for the Cowl

Batman is dead! (For now.) His cowl is like…right there. People may or may not battle for it.

WHEW…okay so…THIS ONE IS VERY CONTROVERSIAL. A lot of people hate it. FOR VERY GOOD REASONS.

It is NOT good. In fact, it is very BAD. It is bad on MULTIPLE LEVELS.

—Characterization for multiple characters is BAD!

—The story is DUMB! It’s not even a BATTLE! Only one person WANTS to be Batman!

Also, Jason is a villain in the story, just straight up.

So…

WHY do I like it? (And WHY would I rec it?)

WELLLLL…two main reasons.

The first is that, in his attempt to make Jason “irredeemable,” Tony S. Daniels (the writer) ended up making him AWESOME.

Do you like watching Jason run around Gotham beating up his whole family? Do you like seeing Jason get to be a proper villain? Do you like Jason being perhaps the only competent person in the whole fucking city? (Okay Tim Drake is also competent but he gets jobbed by my boy.) Do you like seeing Jason go off the rails with absolutely no hinges to be seen? Do you like seeing Jason play dress up with the Bat costume?

I DO! I do like all of those things! And if you, like me, answered YES to most or all of the above, Battle for the Cowl may be relevant to your interests!

Okay so reason number 2 is…

Jason is going through a mental fucking breakdown through the whole story brought on directly by Bruce fucking Wayne. And there’s nothing I love more than hating Bruce Wayne! And, gosh, he is just SO HATEABLE in this story! He’s not even in it, but I guarantee by the end you’ll be like, JFC, JASON is supposed to be the irredeemable one?!

ANYWAY! As a diehard Jason Todd fan, Battle for the Cowl is my filthy guilty pleasure. DO NOT pay money for it! Get the TPB from the library or get it through sneaky means. It is NOT worth paying for but it IS a rollicking good time if you are a person of specific tastes.

Okay, whew! That’s it! Well probably. That’s at least the ones that I can think of right now! Hopefully people will throw more recs your way!

(Sequel list here with all of my faves I didn’t put on this list! :D)

#ask answered #Jason Todd #Red Hood #rec list…although my faves would also include Titans Tower and Brothers in Blood. #but those pretty squarely fall into ‘Angry Jason Who Is Bad.’ #i love ‘em though. #gimme Jason jobbing characters any day of the week. #I never get sick of that! #probably add Task Force Z to the rec list. #i haven’t strictly speaking read it. #but I like a lot of what I’ve seen of it AND I appreciate that Rosenberg is committed to the anti-‘Jason was a bad seed’ agenda. #also A Great Day For Everyone gets a rec but only Jason’s side of the story. #i don’t like when Bruce gets victim-blamey. #it took me probably too long to make a very predictable list.

[floralcrematorium]

1, 3, 16 with Arthur

Thanks for the ask!!

1. Do you relate to your favorite character?

Mmm I've got three of those so I will apply it to each of them

France: I'm a bit picky with food, but definitely not for the same reasons as Francis. I do value flavor over everything else, but if the Texture Is Bad (I have texture sensory issues I think??), I cannot eat it. I'm an artist (regrettably) and tend to be a perfectionist in regards to my craft. I can be a little obsessive towards literally anything, but I think that's the uhhhhh hyperfocus (I once played Minecraft for 27 hours straight, do not ask How it happened, I don't know). That's where the similarities end, though. I am ✧*̥˚ Ace and While Not Aro, I Do Not Know What Flirting Looks Like *̥˚✧

China: I've never written for Yao the way I have for Francis or Lukas so I don't have the best pin on Who He Is, but I hold a lot of admiration for him and he's the only one who's maintained their status as Favorite Character for me pre and post fandom hiatus. I wouldn't say I handle change the best, but I find ways to adapt to situations I'm thrown into. Being able to adapt and be flexible is how this man's been alive for 4,000 years, so we share that. Similarly as with Francis, we share cooking and art in common.

Norway: I refer to him as Lukas because unfortunately that's just. What's etched into my brain and it's what I'm attached to. Nor can seem a bit spacey due to how quiet he can be, and I'm spacey, but definitely not for the same reasons. When I write for Lukas, he's dramatic but in very subtle ways (sighing, inner thoughts), and it's been brought to my attention on more than one circumstance how much I sigh or that I'm just a Little Freak™. I mean this in the most affectionate way I possibly can, I want to throw him down the stairs.

3. Who are your favorite Hetalia writers?

At the current moment, I do not know!!! I feel like I haven't read enough to really pick favorites (I am really bad at starting new things and I have a laundry list of fics I've been meaning to start but. Haven't. INCLUDING YOURS!!!! I am looking at your A03 voraciously and waiting for the stars to align enough for me to have some darn focus.) I will say that I am absolutely obsessed with Take a Chance on Me by Hetart on A03. I gotta catch up on that. My favorite fic from pre-hiatus was Log of the End of the World on ff.net, but I haven't gone back to it since 2015 so I remember literally nothing other than I liked it at age 14 enough to still remember its name.

16. Assign Arthur a chillin outfit.

I know I said I'd draw, but in the most respectful way I am NOT drawing him specifically right now. His hair... oh I so very don't want to figure out how his hair works. Take this as an IOU specifically for you for me to draw Arthur One Day and accept this screenshot of a pinterest board I made specifically for this ask

I cannot see this man wearing anything other than sweaters, sweater vests, brown trousers specifically, and the loafers. Are those loafers? Beats me. Anyway. Man is forever banished to be color coded with green and brown for me. Realizing now I could've just opened the Sims 4 and screenshot how he looks in my game but alas, I am eepy

I think this man is the kind of person to hate loungewear/pajamas. He prefers to always be dressed because it helps him feel productive and look presentable. He's just like Francis in that he can't be casual, but in a crunchy old man sorta way.

He's wearing green plaid flannel pants to bed with any clean t-shirt he can find.

I would throw something punk together, but that's not my area of expertise in regards to alt fashion

Hetalia Asks

#floralcrematorium ask box

[greenvillainredemption]

@lunamadrigal ‘s fun encanto question game! :D

1. If you lived in Encanto, what job would you have? 

I’d like to be a teacher if they had a school there, that’d be really fun.

2. What ice cream flavors do you think would exist in Encanto if ice cream were plausible?

Lots of fruits probably, I don’t know what kind of fruit is native to Colombia but if you do then yeah those ones. Chocolate probably too.

3. For writers: Something you wish readers knew?

Hm nothing really big I can think of except I am just some person pls be nice to me.

4. For readers: Something you wish writers knew?

If you have an idea that you think is tropey or overdone, just do it. I am slurping them all up.

5. Any Encanto pet peeves? Can be canon or fic related.

It is a little annoying that the ending of the movie is rushed, but I get it yknow it’d be hard to fit in a lot of realistic development in the end there. That’s what fanfic is for babeyyyy!

As for fic related, I gotta say I’m not a huge fan of the Bruno kidnapping Mirabel trope. I do kinda get the appeal, especially back when it was a new idea, but mainly I just think those Brunos are too angry and/or confident for my taste. I actually kinda want to tackle the idea myself just to see what I’d do with it.

6. Who's your favorite OC and who do they belong to?

Hands down Reme from Candlelight by @clichejoe ! I think it is the only fic I’ve read that centers on an OC, but she is just everything. I’d die for her.

7. And your favorite OC design?

I’m in love with @hot-tortilla-fish ‘s Bruno gf OC. I can’t remember her name oof I’m so sorry, but her design is just so beautiful and she looks so good with Bruno. We love weird rat man x weird bug lady. So cute.

8. Smut in fics or keeping it Gen?

Gen hands down. I don’t mind some smut if it comes up (Candlelight again is an excellent example of top tier smut), But I don’t go out specifically looking for it if that makes sense. I’m mostly just here for the wholesome platonic family vibes. And drama and angst and pain of course.

9. Do you have a favorite underrated Encanto fic writer?

Not sure exactly what counts as underrated, but a sort of newer encanto writer I love is @icarusinthesand !

10. Pretend you’re Bruno for a second and you just stubbed your toe GO!

*screams* *fucking dies* *super dramatic about it* *getting many giggles and eye-rolls from the kids*

11. A song that would be on Camilo’s playlist?

So the fandom is in big agreement that he’s a theater kid, so definitely some musicals. I can see him absolutely getting in the Villain Song mood, I mean he was having the absolute time of his life playing spooky Bruno.

12. You’ve gotta kick one canon character out of Encanto. Sorry.

Aw man I’d never want to do that even if some of the villagers are a little rude. But I gotta go with donkey guy. Leave Luisa alone sir. He can take the donkeys with him he’ll be fine.

13. Tag an Encanto artist that is fueling the fandom cause they deserve a hug.

@glitternightingale @mebssann @dazeddoodles @sketchnwhatevr 💕

#encanto #my words #man I have so many fic ideas when will I get to them all....

[krys-loves-otome]

8, 10, 12, 36, 41!

Questions for Fic Writers!

8) What song would make a great fic (to either write or read)?

Like, as in inspo or in like a songfic kinda form? Because I've done and can do both.

Songfics wise, I've done a fic inspired by the Beatles' song 'Yesterday' where a relationship was falling apart (between a brother and sister having a falling out before she gets kidnapped and her bro goes to rescue her. And, yes, it is a YuGiOh fic, Arc V to be specific.). I probably would write with that song again for my more up to date fandoms, if I get the bug in me to write something angst-flavored.

As for inspo style (like how @lorei-writes did it with one of the songs I submitted a while back,' For the First Time' by the Script) I'll go with 'Sound the Bugle' by Bryan Adams. A song about pulling yourself out your darkest hour and to keep moving forward.  With the specific mentions to being soldiers, it can refer to the ikesen boys trying to establish peace within their warring state, but also makes me think of Ikevamp Jean and Napoleon (though him and Viva la Vida by Cold Play? Hi, can we make amvs a thing again without copyright claims taking all the fun away?)

-------

10) How do you decide what to write?

It's super random and inspo can happen at any moment of the day. Sometimes an idea will sit with me the entire day until I can get a chance to write it down or at least expand on the idea. This is how Reunion and Second Glance came about initially.

And I do mean it when it can happen at any moment of the day. I have OneNote on my phone and have woken up in the middle of the night and jotted down ideas when I couldn't go back to sleep. That's how Family and The Red Shawl happened.

---------

12) Are there any tropes that you used to dislike but have grown on you?

Maybe not tropes specifically, but I have grown a lot softer when it comes to including smut in my stories, it becoming more lighthearted or fun than how I used to write it. Pre my Haikyuu days, I usually didn't depict sexy times in.. a positive light, to put it gently. In my baby days of writing, it was usually depicted as something the bad guys did to have power over my heroines and heroes and it was never a good time. But as I have gotten older and have more writing experience (and as an RPer on Livejournal and Dreamwidth), I started depicting sexy times in more positive ways, sometimes explorative, something to show love and affection, heightened emotions, hints of something more that happens off screen, and just in general got more comfortable depicting sexy times as something positive rather than the negative blanket that I used to use it for.

---------

36) Do you visualize what you read/write?

For writing, I try to. It's also one of the reasons I don't do smut very often because I keep forgetting where I put which limb, particularly hands. Not uncommon for me in the middle of writing to go 'wait, where are his hands again?' then scroll back up to find where I had placed that person's hands.

----------

41) Link a fic that made you think "wow, I wanna write like that."

Yesha's To Honor and Protect fic. Or really pretty much anything of Yesha's, I wanna write like that. He doesn't do as much for IkeSen/Cybird properties anymore, but they have a special place in my heart.

Ythmir is also another fic writer I look up to. Their Comte fic still gives me chills, even after all these years. I wanna write like them too

#meme thingys #krys's adventures in fanfiction #looking for songs made me realize all my favorite songs all have some sort of sad flavor #whoops #fun fact #used to be an amv maker back in the 2010s #so sound the bugle was one of the songs I used #for ygo of course #fragileshipping specifically (Atem and Ryou) #so it has a special place for me #the song does at least #tho don't go looking for it as it's privated now #plus copyright claimed #and not so proud of the fact that it used uncredited art #other songs I would use as fic writing inspo #(even tho most of my favs are sad as previously established) #down once more from Phantom if I could have a love triangle between Shakes Vincent and MC/an oc maybe #empty chairs at empty tables for Comte because tears damn it #still have not seen hamilton but did get an animatic in my playlist for 'First Burn' and #can see Nokto and Clara vibes #maybe Arthur too #another from my youtube playlist was White Wolf from the Witcher series and it very much screams Licht #probably more I'm not thinking of #eh

[scoundrels-in-love]

1, 20, 37 >:3

Hii, thank you for asking!

Describe your comfort zone—a typical you-fic.

Not a whole lot happens, plot and event wise, but quite a few feelings are had. May contain: yearning (not necessarily for another person), crying, hugs or otherwise giving comfort, a confession of sorts (not necessarily of feelings), excessive descriptions of nature, learning how to let yourself be happy and at peace for the specific character(s). Also a few innuendos.

20. Describe your perfect writing conditions.

I am sitting at a desk that isn't cluttered in a neat space, sunlight is shining in through the window but not onto the monitor. There's a snack and flavored drink nearby. Nothing hurts. There's music playing. My executives are functioning, I do not get distracted or despair. The words come easy.

Alternatively, sitting on a bench with a lovely breeze, sunlight not too bright, and the rest basically as described. Sometimes laying in bed might work too.

37. Talk about your current wips.

Which of my WIPs because I have 19 ideas jotted down. |D

Okay, okay, I won't be a mean tease. From the 19 ideas, only a couple I've genuinely started, in an attempt to wrangle myself into sticking with my projects and finishing them.

One of them is chapter 2 of Where there is love, there is life (Love lives, and I will defend her) which is by far the oldest WIP as in document age here and also one of my oldest ideas for the fandom in general. It's from Vash's POV and I made a mess of it by sprinting and jumping all over the place so now I have had a hard time stitching it together, but I think my brain has calmed down enough to give it a go sometime soon. I really really want to finish this project.

Another WIP is what can be summarized by 3 times Vash pins Meryl unintentionally + 1 the one time he does it on purpose & 3 times Wolfwood pins Meryl unintentionally + 1 the one time she pins him. And a smutty, smutty second chapter which is half finished already.

Then there is post Trimax Vashmeryl fic that is solely Vash's POV and deals with him trying to figure out what comes after and also his demisexual ass struggling to deal with his abundant attraction to Meryl. (And the fact he has had very unpleasant experience in the past for not being quite human in some regards.)

I will gladly babble about the ideas that aren't actually started yet either, just shoot me a number between 1 and 19, haha.

Send me a fic writer ask?<3

#ask games answered #lovely people #sent on a cloud

[thebibliosphere]

So I'm currently unemployed because I got fired for taking too much sick leave (it was legally sketchy blah blah blah but in the end I just can't work and take care of myself and investigate my mystery health problems at the same time). So I've been spending more time writing!

I really admire your writing and loved Hunger Pangs. I'm looking forward to the poly elements developing and I'm wondering if you have any advice for writing about poly. I've made one of my projects a snarky take on "write what you know" ... Apparently what I know is southern gothic meets Pacific northwest gothic, chronic illness pandemic surrealism, and falling back-asswards into threesomes.

I know this is a very open-ended question and I don't expect an answer, I'm just curious about it if you have the energy. As a writer, trying to write honestly / realistically about polyamory/enm, I'm curious if you have any thoughts on what's different about portraying monogamy or nonmonogamy in books, romance or erotica or otherwise.

I'm trying to read examples but it's hard to find examples that fit the niche I'm looking at. Excuse me if this question is nonsense, it's the cluster headaches.

I'm sorry to hear you've been dealing with all that and solidarity on the cluster headaches. But I'm glad you're finding an outlet through writing! And I hope you're happy with an open-ended ramble in response because oh boy, there's a lot I could talk about and I could probably do a better job of answering this sort of thing with more specific questions, but let's see where we end up.

There's definitely a big difference between writing polyamory/ENM (ethical non-monogamy) and what people often expect from monogamous love stories.

Just even from a purely sales and marketing standpoint, the moment you write anything polyamorous (or even just straight up LGBTQIA+ without the ENM) you're going to get considered closer to being erotica/obscene than hetero romances. It's an unfair bias, but it's one that exists in our society. But also the Amazon algorithm and their shitty, shitty human censors. Especially the ones that work the weekends. (Talking to you, Carlos 🖕.)

So not only do you start out hyper-aware that you're writing something that is highly stigmatized or fetishized (at least I'm hyper-aware) but that you are also writing for a niche market that is starving for positive content because the content that exists is either limited, not what they want, or is problematic in some fashion i.e. highly stigmatized or fetishy. And even then, the wants, desires, and expectations of the community you're writing for are complex and wildly varied and hard to fit into an easy formula.

When writing monogamous love stories, there is a set expectation that’s really hard to fuck up once you know it. X person meets Y. Attraction happens, followed by some sort of minor conflict/resolution. Other plot may happen. A greater catalyst involving personal growth for both parties (hopefully) happens. Follow the equation to its ultimate resolution and achieve Happily Ever After. 

But writing ENM is... a lot more difficult, if only because of the pure scope of possibilities. You could try to follow the same equation and shove three (or more) people into it, but it rarely works well. Usually because if you’re doing it right, you won’t have enough room in a single character arc to allow for enough growth, and if ENM requires anything in abundance, it’s room to grow.

And this post is huge so I’m going to put the rest under a cut :)

There's also a common refrain in certain online polyam/ENM circles that triads and throuples are overrepresented in media and they may be right to some extent. Personally, I believe the issue isn't that triads and throuples are overrepresented, but that there is such minuscule positive rep of ethical non-monogamy in general, that the few tiny instances we have of triads in media make it seem like it's "everywhere" when in actuality, it's still quite rare and the media we do have often veers into Unicorn Hunter fetish porn. Which is its own problematic thing. And just to be clear, I’m not including this part to dissuade you from writing "falling back-asswards into threesomes." If anything, I need more of it and would hook it directly into my brain if I could. I'm just throwing it out there into the void in the hope that someone will take the thought and run with it, lol.

I’d love to see more polyfidelitous rep in fiction, just as much as I’d like to see more relationship anarchy too. More diversity in fiction is always good.

Another thing that differs in writing ENM romance vs conventional monogamy is the feeling like you need to justify yourself. There's a lot of pressure to be as healthy and non-problematic as possible because you are being held to a higher standard of criticism. Both from people from without the ENM communities, and from the people within. Granted, some people don't give a shit and just want to read some fantastic porn (valid) but there are those who will cheerfully read Fifty Shades of Bullshit and call it "spicy" and "romantic," then turn around and call the most tooth-rottingly-sweet-fluff about a queer platonic polycule heresy. That's just the way the world works.

(Pro-tip for author life in general: never read your own reviews; that way madness lies. I glimpsed one the other day that tagged Hunger Pangs as “ethical cheating” and just about had an aneurism.)

And while that feeling of needing to justify yourself comes from a valid place of being excluded from the table of socially accepted norms, it can also be to the detriment of both the story and the subject matter at hand. I've seen some authors bend so far over backward to avoid being problematic in their portrayal of ENM, they end up being problematic for entirely different reasons. Usually because they give such a skewed, rose-tinted perspective of how things work, it ends up coming off as well... a bit culty and obnoxious tbh.

“Look how enlightened we are, freed from the trappings of monogamy and jealousy! We’re all so honest and perfect and happy!”

Yeah, uhu, sure Jan. Except here’s the thing, not all jealousy is bad. How you act on it can be, but jealousy itself is an important tool in the junk drawer that is the range of human emotion. It can clue us in to when we’re feeling sad or neglected, which in turn means we should figure out why we’re feeling those things. Sometimes it’s because brains are just like that and anxiety is a thing. Other times it’s because our needs are actually being neglected and we are in an unhealthy situation we need to remedy. You gotta put the work in to figure it out. Which is the same as any style of relationship, whether it’s mono, polyam or whatever flavor of ENM you subscribe to* And sometimes you just gotta be messy, because that’s how humans are. Being afraid to show that mess makes it a dishonest portrayal, and it also robs you of some great cannon fodder for character development.

Which brings me in a roundabout way to my current pet peeve in how certain writers take monogamous ideals and apply them to ENM, sometimes without even realizing it. The “Find the Right Person and Settle Down” trope.

Often, in this case, ENM or polyamory is treated as a phase. Something you mature out of with age or until you meet “The One(tm).” This is, of course, an attempt to follow the mono style formula expected in most romances. And while it might appeal to many readers, it’s uh, actually quite insulting. 

To give an example, I am currently seeing this a lot in the Witcher fandom. 

Fanon Netflix!Jaskier is everyone's favorite ethical slut until he meets Geralt then woops, wouldn’t you know, he just needed to find The One(tm). Suddenly, all his other sexual and romantic exploits or attractions mean nothing to him. Let's watch as he throws away a core aspect of his personality in favor of a man. 

Yeah... that sure showed those societal norms... 

If I were being generous, I’d say it’s a poor attempt at showing New Relationship Euphoria and how wrapped up people can become in new relationships. But honestly, it’s monogamous bias eking its way in to validate how special and unique the relationship is. Because sometimes people really can’t think of any other way to show how important and valid a relationship is without defining it in terms of exclusivity. Which is a fundamental misunderstanding of how ENM works for a lot of people and invalidates a lot of loving, serious and long-term relationships.

This is not to say that some polyam/poly-leaning people can't be happy in monogamous relationships! I am! (I consider myself ambiamorous. I'm happy with either monogamy or polyamory, it really just depends on the relationship(s) I’m in.) But I also don't regard my relationship with a mono partner as "settling down" or "growing up." It's just a choice I made to be with a person I love, and it's a valid one. Just like choosing to never close yourself off to multiple relationships is valid. And I wish more people realized that, or rather, I wish the people writing these things knew that :P

Anyway, I think I’ve rambled enough. I hope this collection of incoherent thoughts actually makes some sense and might be useful. 

----

*A good resource book that doesn't pull any punches in this regard is Polysecure by Jessica Fern. It's a wonderfully insightful read that explores the messier side of consensual non-monogamy, especially with how it can be affected by trauma or inter-relationship conflicts. But it also shows how to take better steps toward healthy, ethical non-monogamy (a far better job than More Than Two**) and conflict resolution, making it a valuable resource both for someone who is a part of this relationship style***, but also for writers on the outside looking in who might have a very simple or misguided idea of what conflict within polyam/ENM relationships might look like, vs traditional monogamous ones.

** The author of More Than Two has been accused of multiple accounts of abuse within the polyamorous community, with many of his coauthors having spoken out about the gaslighting and emotional and psychological damage they experienced while in a relationship with him. A lot of their stories are documented here: https://www.itrippedonthepolystair.com/ (warning: it is not light material and deals with issues of abuse, gaslighting, and a whole other plethora of Yikes.) While some people still find More Than Two helpful reading, there are now, thankfully, much, much better resources out there.

*** Some people consider polyam/ENM to be part of their identity or orientation, while others view it as a relationship style.It largely depends on the individual. 

#long post #writing #ethical non-monogamy #relationship styles #relationship models in fiction #also that kindle link is an affiliate link #because fuck giving amazon free recs

[mermaidsirennikita]

So You Liked (Or Didn't Like) Bridgerton

So you've read the Bridgerton series and loved it--or, for whatever reason, you tried to read them, they didn't work for you, but you're interested in reading historical romcoms nonetheless.

Historical romance is a subgenre of romance, but in itself there are further subgenres. There are the gambling hell romances--think Dreaming of You, or the Rules of Scoundrels series; there are Scottish romances, along the lines of The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie; there are lighter romances, darker romances, and so on and so forth.

Bridgerton falls into the "family saga" subgenre. It's also a lot lighter than many historical series, and additionally does not dedicate much time to historical accuracy (which is fine! I personally don't care much for accuracy in my historical series). It could be categorized as a "wallpaper historical" but.... That term is understandably controversial as it can be considered a bit demeaning. A lot of what I read is wallpaper (the idea of historical accuracy being more important than the reality) and I tend to prefer more emphasis on the relationships than the accuracy.

Certainly, Bridgerton is more of a ballroom series--the characters are largely upper class, the stakes are relatively low, and we do indeed spend a fuckton of time with the ton.

If you're looking for something romcom-y, if you're looking for ballroom, it can be hard to sort through the genres. That's why I'm building a list of series to look for if you're seeking that Bridgerton vibe without it being Bridgerton.

Love by Numbers by Sarah MacLean. This trilogy does indeed focus on a family--specifically three siblings, including the Marquess of Ralston, his twin brother, and their half-sister. But where I feel this gives that Bridgerton feeling is the humor that MacLean tends to flavor her books with, as well as the frothy ballroom-y setting of the first and third book in particular. Fans of Penelope Featherington might like Callie, the heroine of the first book, Nine Rules to Break When Romancing A Rake--a plus size heroine who goes after what she wants (though in my humble opinion, her hero fuuuuuuuuuuuuucks a lot harder than Colin Bridgerton). While book two gives us something of a cozier romance, book genderflips typical class divides a bit--giving us a rakish, illegitimate heroine and the uptight duke who's obsessed with her (despite himself).

The Wallflowers by Lisa Kleypas. It doesn't get much more ballroom--or seemingly ballroom--than four wallflowers agreeing to help each other land eligible husbands. The marriage mart is on overdrive in this classic series. You get a little bit of everything here--self-made heroes, upper class peers, American heiresses seeking lords, marriages of convenience. The girls aren't family (well, two of them are related, actually) but they feel like four sisters. Keep in mind, though, as a general rule: Kleypas heroes tend to run a bit grittier and a bit more threatening than Quinn heroes. Featuring one of the most influential historical romances of the past couple of decades, Devil in Winter--but take it from me and read these in order.

Girl Meets Duke by Tessa Dare. If you love the humor in the Bridgerton books, you have to read Tessa Dare. Her books are undoubtedly the funniest historical romances I've read. This ongoing series in particular focuses on women who, yes, run into dukes. Whether it's a duke who needs an heir, or a guy named Duke--one way or the other, they are duke-adjacent. Dare's sex scenes tend to get a lot more graphic than Quinn's, but these books are nevertheless perfect for quick, light reading.

The Rogue Files by Sophie Jordan. Sophie Jordan has everything: romcom retellings (While The Duke Was Sleeping), rogues galore, SEX POTIONS??? There's a bit of wackiness to her books, and I can't help but appreciate her willingness to go for it all. Her Debutante Files duology is a good companion series, and while the books don't necessarily follow a single family to the letter, there is a stepsibling romance in that series. So.... points?

The Hathaways by Lisa Kleypas. While Kleypas does write another family series, The Ravenels, I find The Hathaways to be far superior. Following five siblings after they stumble into the upper class by means of an unexpected inheritance, this series blends humor and high drama for the sake of romance. You get a little bit of everything--rake romances, childhood friend romance, bad boy romance, epistolary romance. The sense of family is really strong in this series, and while not every hero is a conventional lord (Kleypas loves a self-made man) the sense of wish fulfillment in this one is strong.

The Bedwyn Saga by Mary Balogh. If you like your romances to focus on family while being a bit lighter on steam and a bit heavier on classic froth, the Bedwyn Saga is for you. While these books can be a bit too heavy on high society for me at times, I would call them one of the closest cousins to the Bridgerton books. I'd be a bit shocked if Balogh and Quinn didn't influence each other on some level.

Fairy Tales by Eloisa James. An Offer from a Gentleman is literally a straightforward Cinderella retelling, so why not pick one of these up? Although they aren't related to each other in plot or characters, these books are all fairy tale retellings by way of historical romance. Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, The Princess and the Pea, The Ugly Duckling, and Rapunzel all get retold in this series. James is another one who I find really funny, while being something of a classic historical romance writer.

I plan on reading more and adding to this list as time goes on--but in general, I think these series kind of fall into some of the same general categories as Bridgerton. Happy reading!

#bridgerton #sarah maclean #lisa kleypas #eloisa james #mary balogh #sophie jordan #tessa dare #romance novel blogging #books #book recs