THE ANGEL WITH TATTERED WINGS

thoughts on leo valdez? headcdanons? i

[stares at own url] ...I'll give you one for free, lol

Aro/ace Leo.... listen. He explicitly states that he plays up his false persona in aspects that he feels are lacking in his actual personality in an effort to make people like him more, and in his POVs we get a lot of him doing acknowledged-as-nonserious joke-flirting as part of his false persona. Guy who doesn't realize he's aspec trying to overcompensate for his lack of attraction by excessively hitting on people to hide that he doesn't feel attraction towards anyone? Him wondering if he's broken in a whole bunch of ways and trying to make up for it externally while having an identity crisis about that? Something something metaphor about him wondering if cause he's a Hephaestus kid he's a little too much like a machine/robot and can't feel love or The Right Emotions In General™ because of that cause he doesn't know about aspec stuff yet (or that he's autistic)? Can anyone hear me.

Related to that: Leo landing on Ogygia (island of unreciprocated love) and meeting Calypso, who (probably through love magic) actually seems to be attracted to him? And him trying to force himself to reciprocate because he figures that's just how it's supposed to go and maybe for once he's actually experiencing romantic love? And he's so desperate for someone to like him and to feel useful to someone (re: 7th wheel)? But it fizzles out almost immediately after they leave the island, because the heart-eyes wear off for Calypso, especially once she technically no longer needs him, and Leo can't keep up trying to make himself reciprocate (and can't keep up trying to put his mask back up for her, especially now that Calypso seems to actually care about it). I am literally always thinking about this.

Short king,,, I don't care what anybody says he is NOT 5'6" that is way too tall for him. My guy is 5'5" absolute maximum. I usually place him at 5'3". Tiny guy. Made of pipecleaners. Built like Bilbo Baggins...

I've mentioned it before in a couple of places (i know [here] at least) but I did not like his fake-out death in BoO. Also I'm just mad about his dropped character arc(s) in general. My ideal substitute is that instead of dying and being revived, Festus just crashes in the woods nearby and Leo has overexerted his powers too much a la Nico's shadow stuff and is nearly dead but once they get him to the infirmary he recovers and can start working on recovering from his whole depression arc too. Also maybe he loses a leg in the crash so he can match his dad just for funsies, and so that there's some amount of consequence to his sacrifice to make up for him not dying (not like in canon there were any consequences to him dying and being revived anyways...). Also something something accidental Hiccup HTTYD joke. Leo with a prosthetic is always fun. More Hephaestus kids with prosthetics.

I am very amused by the concept of Leo never having any romantic attraction to Hazel at all, possibly even negative romantic attraction once he finds out she dated his great-grandpa (especially since in canon like 90% of his thoughts about Hazel are just kind of appreciative and genuinely thinking she's really cool, if a little confusing at first), and Hazel pretty quickly gets over her side of things once she gets used to the fact that this is Definitely Not Sammy, he just Looks Like Sammy (and does not actually act like Sammy, that's just a fake persona that is eerily similar by coincidence. Real Leo is actually quite reserved and not so much of a vocal goofball most of the time). So they're just besties after their mutual weird Sammy vision and understanding the deeper sides to each other and are each other's person they're most comfortable letting their guard down around cause they've formed that level of trust. Except Frank's over in the corner seething cause he thinks this is a love triangle but he's the only one who thinks that. Leo just thinks Frank hates him for the general reasons he thinks everybody hates him (which is just an assumption he's kind of used to and expects from people, so he does not question it at all). Hazel knows Frank thinks Leo is trying to steal her from him but she's having trouble trying to keep the two of them from nearly killing each other. It's a very homestuck auspistice dynamic.

Leo and Frank eventually work out their stuff and become very good friends to meeee... let them bond over their mutual fear of fire and dead mom trauma! they have so many parallels and I want the two of them and Hazel to be a funky cute little trio!

Dragonkin Leo! That boy is a dragon!!!! I usually say his stuff is kind of spiritual origin (he doesn't really know how to explain it other than his soul is just a dragon) versus like Jason being a wolf therian with a more psychological origin (being raised by an immortal wolf pack rubbed off on him) (rip Piper being the only non-alterhuman in their trio LMAO). I imagine whatever type of dragon he is probably is very similar to Festus, which is part of why Leo clicks with Festus so quickly - he just sees himself in Festus and it's very comforting to him. He definitely makes himself some fun 'kin gear, like a nice weighted tail and wings and claws to try and help his phantom shifts feel a lil less wonky. Also him having dragon talon weapons just sounds cool. He also totally makes gear for any other alterhuman demigods.

Anorith and/or Amaura lines, pretty please?

(I'll do the Amaura line for now, as I already reviewed 1/2 of the Anorith line here.)

I really like the concept behind this line. They're based off of the amargasaurus, a sauropod thought to have a sail-like structure along its spine, something that becomes more obvious once it evolves.

Instead of just being a straightforward version of an amargasaurus however, it gives it a concept in the form of having these really pretty aurora borealis-based sails and ice-typing to reflect how it's a phenomena that mostly happens in colder areas. It's simple and very effective, and really stands out amongst the other other fossil 'mons.

Anyway, Amaura itself is one of those pre-evos that technically doesn't have to exist, but it looks distinct enough to at least feel different from its evo. Aside from having a white underbelly and a lighter blue color, its frills are over its head rather than down its entire head. It's simple, but it differentiates it enough and looks nice visually.

My only real complaint is that I really dislike the head shape at this stage—the eye is absolutely massive, and the face is very rounded and flat. Something about those proportions make it feel very plastic-y to me, though granted, most people might not even notice.

And Aurorus is downright beautiful, gaining a darker blue color, an entire row of ice crystals down its side, and massive sails. The sails are the obvious visual focal point, while the shape of the underbelly markings is very "snowflake-esq" and works nicely with the crystals. I also have to give a shoutout to the artist for a fairly accurate depiction of sauropod claws and feet.

One thing I like about this line is how beautiful and elegant it is. Most fossils are either rough-looking, dull in color, or silly and goofy, so this is a refreshing change of pace. It also feels like it could almost be a modern-day Pokemon, at least more so than most other fossil 'mons.

I only have two nitpicks. First, the white around the eye is bothersome and creates a bit of a tension point. I think it would've worked better if the triangle was removed from under the eye and the white was changed to the light blue of the underbelly.

And secondly, the color of the sails. Amaura has these really lovely yellow and pink sails that are incredibly saturated, but for some reason Aurorus has these really dull looking ones. It's weird because they don't pop as much, and you'd really expect them to only become more beautiful and colorful as it evolves, given how stunning the aurora borealis can be:

Otherwise, I really like these guys, and they're pretty solid overall.

One final note: I think this line could desperately use something like a mega. First, while Aurorus is good as-is, there's definitely a ton of room to expand upon the design. Imagine a mega-ish design that uses a dark navy blue color with bright yellow/pink/green sails that go all the way down the tail, with the ice crystals being multi-colored to match the sails or something.

And secondly, they're extremely hard to use due to their horrific rock/ice typing—a new form could be drop the rock type due to being a more accurate reconstruction, and could be something like ice/fairy or ice/psychic. That would give these guys a much-needed boost.

But anyway, that aside, these guys are pretty great 'mons with a solid concept and theming. Probably my favorite fossil 'mons so far.

Another incoming long ask about Challengers! Really digging how this love triangle shows the nuances of all three's needs/wants/jealousies/passions.

Like Art wouldn't feel left out if he knew Patrick and Tashi talked about him while having sex or that they are deeply concerned with him quitting the sport altogether. Art doesn't acknowledge that Patrick pulled the chair closer or visited him before Tashi at Stanford. He doesn't see from our eyes how Tashi might sleep with Patrick but chooses to stay with Art and only threatens to leave Art cuz without their shared love of tennis then the relationship is truly dead (tennis is how they met after all and what made them happy). It's twisted but Patrick and Tashi do care for Art despite the cheating stuff bc Art was always supposed to be included. College Art is surprised Tashi is still dating Patrick, meanwhile Tashi and Patrick are rooting for Art because as much as all three are lovers they were admirers of each other's skills.

With Tashi she has a love/hate with both boys. She loves what they can do for her, loves watching good fucking tennis, enjoys the makeout in the room where she leads them to kiss for her entertainment (also cuz she peeped the boy bestie attraction). She also hates that their drive can't match hers even when she's out for the count while they're still in the game. Can only imagine how big of a star Tashi would've been if not for her injury or even if she was a guy therefore having more chances at playing against Patrick and Art in true competitive form. For Art, losing isn't that big of a deal cuz in the end he still married Tashi despite not winning the initial game for her. For Patrick, losing isn't that big of a deal if it's Art who is his opponent playing for keeps. For Tashi, though, losing is a big tragic deal cuz she was a game changer and now it's probably the racist bitch or others like her that she beat out standing in the spot Tashi should've been in. Tashi loves the innocence of Patrick and Art when it comes to playing tennis in its purest form but hates that they don't see the importance of making this sport as big as Michael Jordan did basketball or Serena Williams for tennis, they are supposed to raise the bar and set a new standard and instead Tashi's boys are having a pity party rather than sticking to the plan Tashi was planting seeds to harvest.

Then we have Patrick who wants to keep both Tashi and Art, but both are separate from him as they chose college and it's the same college both are attending. Patrick teases Art and never says how much he loves Art but he shows in his actions. He coaches Art and that's why he can clash with Tashi who technically replaces coaching Art, which is why they butt heads in the car about "letting Art win" and how to do it. Patrick sees himself, worst and best traits, in Tashi and Art. Tashi is the more competitive side while Art is the fun side. Tashi challenges Patrick, seducing him only for him to seduce her later down the line, again a power struggle that's more like a game for them. Art reminds Patrick of being silly, he can't be mad or frowned up at Art, even when calling out Art actively trying to breakup Tashi and Patrick. To Patrick, Tashi crossed the line of cheating Art out of a win, but Patrick never thinks Art crossed the line by - as Tashi put it - "being a bad friend". Patrick likes when Art is sneaky and playing unfair, he tolerates and gets excited about it.

And it's interesting to me that Tashi and Patrick are so headstrong but rely on Art to be there. Patrick misses playing with Art. Tashi recovered with Art by her side. They know Art can be just as manipulative as them, is not as competitive as them, yet Art is the one living their dreams of playing good tennis since Patrick is broke and Tashi is forever injured. Art never had the heart they did but somehow he is considered the best, but tennis isn't fun if he doesn't have both Tashi and Patrick watching him/playing against him cuz they're the only ones that mattered.

Listen friend idk what else you want me to say except your brain is so big and this take is literally 10/10. You’re so right !!! This is exactly why the throuple works because they all need each other and the couples (for example, Art and Tashi’s marriage) doesn’t work if the third isn’t there. It falls flat because it’s incomplete.

Super old oc time!! Current Sage as an entity technically has no use for assassination, but these guys still exist and remain, in case the need ever returns. They're her cool secret task force, technically.

When I was a kid, I had this cringe thing where all of them except Pryomania had a crush on Jelly and were competing for her attention in a really healthy way (not even saying that ironically). But love triangles with the girl trapped in the middle are boring to me now, so now they are a cool polycule, though once again not including Pryomania. Murder polycule and Pryomania, who is also there platonically.

Individuals and info under the cut.

Jelly is an ordinary rabbit, considered especially cute by her partners and most others. She has a pair of invisible claw weapons, and she combines them with her unassuming and disarming appearance to deadly effect. Personality-wise, she is slightly mischievous, and her adorable attitude that she uses on duty is not an act, she genuinely is just happy a lot of the time.

X is the last surviving member of his species. Ink creatures were known to be particularly deadly and dangerous, and were thus targeted and nearly wiped out during the Era of War. X was born to the previous last member of the species, who died soon after. In a post-war world, his particular powerset has few outlets, so he was recruited by The Sage as protection (for him and for others both). The dark teal bulbs on his body can emit inky spores, which in addition to being toxic, grow entrapping vines that grow faster when broken.

Aestheno-Snakes come in two varieties; the wired and the non-wired. Wired Aestheno-Snakes can manipulate solids of any density as if they were clay using the wires attached to their bodies, and use them to fashion false limbs they can control with their minds. Sleon is a non-wired Aestheno-Snake, which are far, far rarer. Non-wireds are actually much more powerful; they can only control one kind of solid that is determined at birth...but they turn anything they touch into that solid, midas style (including living things, thus his role as a Moon Assassin). Sleon's solid is a putty-like substance. It can be smelted into an indestructible ceramic material, and The Sage makes extensive use of this fact. She's also put a spell on him and the other Moon Assassins that renders them immune to his material conversion. His helmet is made from the putty-ceramic, but the serrated blade on his tail is natural.

Pang is calm and chill, but was not in their childhood. Their lightbulb-like tail is not characteristic of Sky Deer, leading to Rudolf-adjacent treatment by their peers. Unfortunately, the tail gathers feelings of stress and agitation inside them and manifests them externally as powerful bolts of lightning that target the nearest living creature. If you're sensing a theme here, yes, it is incredibly deadly. Exiled from their home, they eventually were taken in by The Sage and given therapy to help control their emotions and powers. When not on duty, they wear a cap on their tail made from Sleon's ceramic, preventing any accidents.

Pryomania, being the only one here not part of the polycule, is a bit of an odd one out. Fire Lights are a subspecies of Light Creatures, a subset that is rare and dangerous. Their fiery forms are untethered, so they must confine themselves in a vessel of their choosing. He'd been living in a vase before The Sage found him. She commissioned the ball he now uses, allowing him to both roll around in it and fly, as it is very light. He is mute, as are most Fire Lights, but he has figured out how to use his body to blow-torch words onto surfaces in order to communicate with the others.

verbose anon! I have a question - could an agela expand indefinitely? like say, you have sariel, but then you have jimon being the romantic kind (forget the name), then you have clary (a shadowhunter) and simon become parabatai. and would clary be able to work with sariel? would simon be able to? are they all considered an agela, or are there different words for it? can multiple agela exist together? like, say, clary simon jace are an agela, since they'd all be connected like jocelyn valentine luke, but jace is also a part of sariel. or does jace being a part of sariel disqualify him from joining an agela with simon and clary? and could someone who formed a romantic bond with clary become an agela with her and simon, even though simon is connected to someone a part of an agela?

okay this was multiple questions but i was curious /0\

GREETINGS, VERBOSE ANON! (I am working on the character charts, btw. Not sure where to most conveniently post them yet when they're done, though.)

Copy and pasting this next bit from a 2015 answer;

Now, agela bonds come in three types; closed, open, and mixed. A closed agela is one in which every member of the agela is bonded to every other. The Sariel agela is a closed one, because Izzy is parabatai to Alec and Jace, not just one of them, and Alec and Jace are bonded to each other too. Imagine it like a triangle; every point is connected to every other point! An open agela is one in which not everyone is bound to each other. If Izzy had only become parabatai with Jace, for example, then their agela would be an open one - three links in a horizontal chain, not a closed triangle. See? A mixed agela is just that; an agela that contains closed triangles but also open bonds - imagine if, now, Izzy also became parabatai with Simon. There’s still a closed bond between Izzy, Jace and Alec, but Izzy and Simon would have an ‘open’ link. Most agela of 4 or more people end up being mixed.

I think what you're talking about, re there being Alec-Izzy-Jace and Jace-Simon-Clary, is a mixed agela - because Jace is part of both 'triangles', they all make up one agela, not two.

If Jace became parastathentes with Simon, Simon would be joining Sariel, and agela Sariel would turn from a closed agela into a mixed one. Simon wouldn't have a direct connection to either Alec or Izzy, but he would be able to sense them through his connection with Jace - it just wouldn't be as loud or as clear as if they had a direct bond.

Simon could then become parabatai with Clary. Clary would then also be a part of agela Sariel.

Does that make sense?

(I wish I could draw this for you like a family tree, I feel like an illustration would be easier to follow than writing this with words!)

If you took two pre-existing agelae, and one person from each bonded to each other, you get one really big agela instead of two. So it's not really possible to join another agela in the way I think you mean - by joining, you merge both agelae together. If Alec (agela Sariel) bonded with Will (agela Anael) then Sariel+Anael become one agela. (And need a new name, probably.)

While this is theoretically totally possible, I suspect it's never actually happened, historically.

To answer your original question, re how big can an agela get: there is no technical limit to how many agelai you can have, but there is a practical one. Every person added to an agela makes the agela bond stronger; more intrusive, more powerful, more intimate. It’s difficult enough for Alec, Izzy and Jace to keep hold of their own personalities with an agela of three; that becomes harder and harder to do the larger the agela gets. Three to five members is the average size for an agela, not only because of this but also because it’s rare for people to have that close a relationship with so many people. How many of your friends/lovers would YOU want to soulbond with?

I hope that covers everything! If I missed a question or misunderstood something (or you have more questions) feel free to poke me!

here's some thoughts on stuff that's in Jump right now

ive been doing my weekly Jump rankings for about six months now but i don't actually talk about Jump manga all that often so i'm going to try and fix that so here's a bunch of thoughts on everything i'm reading weekly right now

Akane-banashi

young Skane seeks to become a rakugoka to make better on her dad's failure years before. this is consistently one of the best manga in the magazine. i always appreciate when stories focus on niche subjects and rakugo is certainly that. framing it through an apprentice means that the audience gets to be led into things slowly. a lot of praise needs to be given for the way its able to translate rakugo, a spoken art form, into a print medium, but it does so really well, with fantastic art and paneling. this series feels really unique, yet at the same time, wholly familiar and approachable. highly recommended!

Ayakashi Triangle

technically this one isn't even in Jump anymore but it still comes out on Sundays so i count it. Matsuri finds himself transformed into a girl through supernatural means, and wants to find a way to transform himself back, while at the same time this leads him to reconnect with a childhood friend and possibly lover. this is by the author of To Love-Ru and you can really tell. it was too horny for Jump and eventually got cut and put online, and since then it's only gone on the deep end more and more. so a warning for that. but at the same time, the stories it tells and its characters are genuinely fantastic and the entire thing is entirely queer. over time, Matsuri feels more and more like a trans character, and Suzu, his childhood friend, has to come to terms with her own sexuality as it relates to her possible boyfriend-turned-girlfriend. it also has a lot of fun action, as well as a great side case for the slice of life moments. the series has a lot of different moods and genres it traverses and all of them are incredibly fun and good. highly recommended, but do know what it is before going in (that is, an incredibly horny manga)

Blue Box

80+ chapters of pining and angst. also there's sometimes basketball and badminton. two teenagers end up living together for a time when one's parents leave internationally. this leads both to realizing that they have a crush on the other, with no way to know how the other feels. also, they both play sports. Blue Box really excels with both its writing and its art. while the characters can sometimes feel like they're trying to get a good grade in therapy, their characterization and angst is incredibly compelling, and the dynamic between the main two is incredibly effective. Miura is a fantastic artist and in particular i love the way she draws motion. even for people who don't like sports manga (i usually don't) this is great. highly recommended

Cipher Academy

set in a cryptography school, Cipher Academy follows Iroha as the token boy in the school as he gets caught up in a plot involving trillions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency. this series only has three chapters out so far, so it's a little hard to say where it's going, but its writing, by NISIOISIN, is certainly fun. the focus on buzzles gives the protagonist a lot of odd stuff to work through, so there's a lot of potential here for atraditional battles with clever solutions. i also love the art and designs, although they're less notable compared to the writing. highly recommended

Elusive Samurai

from the same mangaka as Assassination Classroom (a manga i haven't read), a feudal era war story focusing on Tokiyuki Hojo as he seeks to redeem his family and bring them back to power. this has a lot of interesting fights which are complimented well by the art. however, characterization is lacking and a lot of the humor can be scattershot. when this series is good, it's really good, but there are also a lot of times when it feels a bit more lacking. still a recommendation, but with less enthusiasm than the manga before

Fabricant 100

the newest story in the magazine, Fabricant 100 is a story about a boy from a family of rich, long-lived people who all got killed by an artificial person. now he wants to kill all of those artificial people. since this is only in its first week, i can only say so much about it. the art is fine, and while there's a lot of exposition in the first chapter, it's conveyed well, but i'm not sure the story has a lot of legs in the future. there's a clear goal (kill the other 82 fabricans) but it sort of runs past a lot of the concepts in its premise which i imagine might be explored later. if this sounds interesting, check it out, it's only one chapter so far, so it's not a huge time investment

Ginka & Glüna

a young girl living out in the mountains comes to know a walking snowman who claims to be a great wizard. after training her for several years, they set out to reconstruct his body. i love love love this series. its art is great, its character designs are all very strong, and there's a lot of creativity present in the world. the story itself has been rather simple so far, with the two titular characters traveling around, meeting friends, and getting up to adventures. simple, but good. another high recommendation

Ichigoki's Under Control

this series is awful. i do not recommend it

Ichinose Family's Deadly Sins

from the author of Takopi's Original Sin comes a manga about an entire family who wake up with total amnesia. as they try to adjust to their new lives, they realize something may be up with their history. unpleasantness ensues. i find it hard to talk about this because it's clearly a mystery that's still setting itself up, and at the moment it's a lot of unpleasantness as the characters find themselves in a world which is cruel to them for reasons they don't know. the art is good, but it's a tough read so far, and without knowing what the payoff is, it's hard to recommend. i love Takopi's Original Sin and i think this has a lot of potential as well but only time can say

Mashle

the worse manga in Jump at the moment. it had an incredibly promising start as a One Punch Man-esque series about a kid without magic in a world of magic, who uses his sheer strength to make do and achieve magical feats. however, the last six or eight months have been nothing but one long fight scene. i'm not sure why anyone is fighting. the main character has been missing for most of it. it's meaningless. it feels like a parody of other shounen action manga that will have long extended fight scenes, except that if this is a joke, it's an incredibly unfunny one. it doesn't even have good action, as the focus on magic gives it a poor sense of continuity. i'm hate reading this. there's no way i recommend it

PPPPPP

PPPPPP is frankly a bit of a mess. the art is unique and striking, but it often distracts from the story, which isn't a problem because the story its telling is rather minimal. i think that's to its strength tho, and it comes together well sometimes. it's certainly an enjoyable read, but mostly for the art and i don't think it's as good as its contemporaries. recommended, but lightly

Tokyo Demon Bride Story

a guy reunites with his childhood friend, who turns out to be a demon, and now he has to marry her. over time, he comes to meet other supernatural friends of hers. this is a mix of romance, action, and slice of life akin to Ayakashi Triangle and while i don't think it's as good as that, it's still highly enjoyable in its own right, especially for the interesting designs and also great characterization. it has its ups and downs, but i usually have a lot of fun with it. recommended

Witch Watch

Witch Watch is... inconsistent. it's about a witch and her bodyguard, and theoretically, it's a romcom focusing on their relationship, except the series has a massive side cast each with their own supernatural gimmick and powers. what this means is that chapter to chapter, the series can vary wildly depending on the characters involved and what's being done with them. when this series is good, it's really good, and when it's bad, it's really bad. hard to recommend this, even if i do enjoy it

While I'm catching up with the podcast, here's a question: how would You go about writing a trollfic/badfic/jokefic, or rather, what concepts/tropes would've made a ~good~ trollfic in your opinion? You've mentioned the obvious My Immortal inspiration in many a trollfic over the years, and as someone who's been fascinated by bad fanfiction as an art form since, well, early 2010s, I've been wondering. I just think there's more to it than bad grammar and gratuitous ikea erotica.

Siobhan's thoughts on this, which I agree with, are that a quote unquote Good badfic/trollfic is one where you're able to tell the author is having fun and it doesn't feel mean-spirited. I really like this question though and I spent a while thinking about it, so here's some additional thoughts:

I think you're absolutely right that there is more to it than bad grammar and IKEA erotica. A lot of trollfics, in particular, aren't very good specifically because the authors think all you need to do to write an entertaining trollfic is write badly and include gratuitous sex (&/or violence, or anything else "shocking"). The trollfics/badfics we think are Good are ones that are honestly very creative — My Immortal has all sorts of crazy plot twists and a fun central premise (mall goth vampire wizards time traveling to seduce an evil wizard, also there's a bisexual love triangle), and Forbiden Fruit parodies similar Twilight fics about an original character breaking up Bella and Edward's relationship before going totally nuts in the last two chapters in a way no one could have seen coming. (I don't want to get ahead of myself talking about Blood Raining Night when we've only just started it, but it's also definitely a creative one. It has its own fanime!)

Regarding writing style specifically, there's definitely more to it than just making a lot of spelling/grammatical errors. To again use the two fics we've already covered on the show as examples, My Immortal and Forbiden Fruit are both very "badly written" in a technical sense, but they each have a distinct writing style that goes beyond just typos. Those two fics have very different writing styles, too! I think we may have said this on the show but they're kind of at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to badfic writing. In the case of Forbiden Fruit, it's also very apparent that the author knows how to write and is writing in purple prose, constructing nonsense metaphors, etc. on purpose.

The other thing (Siobhan mentioned this too but I wanted to expand upon it) is that a good badfic/trollfic can be read as satire or meta commentary (on the work the fic is for, on that work's fandom, on fanfiction in general, etc.). Of course many trollfics are mimicking/referencing My Immortal and thus are making some sort of commentary on My Immortal, which may or may not be interesting/insightful/entertaining. I think Forbiden Fruit is particularly good because it serves as commentary on Twilight fandom (of course lots of people have written fics about their OC getting with Edward, and from what little I've seen I think the "gothic new girl arrives in Forks" premise was pretty common). Twila The Girl Who Waz In Luv With a Vampyre isn't as strong by comparison because it focuses too heavily on trying to be similar to My Immortal and doesn't really develop its own style. I think it's fun that so many people enjoyed My Immortal and want to reference it in their own stories, I just feel like the story should have more to say than "I thought My Immortal was really funny," you know?

Installing Speed Humps Or Speed Bumps: Which Is Better

The humble speed bump and its more aggressive cousin, the speed hump, are both designed to slow down fast-moving traffic. But they're also different in crucial ways. For example, one may be better suited for a particular spot than another.

The only way to find out is by deciding which design best fits your needs—whether it's aesthetics or functionality—and then choosing the right materials and installation process.

How are they different?

Speed bumps and speed humps are different in both height and materials. Speed bumps are typically lower than speed humps, which can be anywhere from 1/2 inch to 3 inches tall. Speed humps usually come in one of two forms: concrete or asphalt.

They also come in a variety of shapes that include rectangles, triangles, and even circles!

Speed bumps are a great way to slow down cars and encourage safer driving habits. The speed bump is not only a physical barrier, but also an effective visual deterrent that can help keep drivers aware of their speed!

Design differences.

Speed humps and speed bumps are both effective at slowing down cars, but they have some important differences. The first is that speed humps are generally shorter and steeper than speed bumps.

This means that cars will reach a slower maximum speed when driving over a speed hump compared to a bump of the same height. In addition, while it might be possible to make your bump higher than your hump if necessary—which would make it more effective at slowing down traffic—it’s technically illegal in many places.

So if you plan on installing either type of device as part of an official traffic calming project, keep in mind that there may be restrictions on how high you can go with your installation before it becomes illegal!

The next difference between speed humps and safety rails is that the latter tend to be much larger than their hump counterparts. Speed bumps are usually about 1 foot wide and 2 feet long, while speed humps can be anywhere from 2-4 feet wide.

Speed.

When it comes to slowing down cars, speed bumps are more effective than speed humps. Because of the way they’re designed, speed bumps have more of an impact on cars and trucks than they do on cyclists and pedestrians, who can easily hop over them.

safety bollards are more effective at slowing down vehicles in residential areas. These ridges can be installed along sidewalks or driveways to prevent cars from speeding through neighborhoods—without disrupting them as much as traditional speed bumps would.

Installation process.

Speed humps. These are actually more expensive to install than speed bumps, and they're not as easy to maintain.

Speed bumps. Although they're less expensive and easier to install than speed humps, their soft construction means they can't take heavy vehicles like trucks or buses and will require frequent repairs if driven over too often by such vehicles.

Conclusion

After reading this article, you should have a better understanding of how to choose the best speed humps for your home. We hope that you found this information helpful and can apply it to your situation!

When I was at a training water ramp session, my mother took this photo of me performing a trick. This photo was taken last summer on September 3rd. The subject matter on this image is the summer training of a mogul skier. The person jumping in the air, aka me, is the element that is mostly represented or that is getting portrayed. This work doesn’t really have any specific style, it’s a photo that was not taken by a professional photographer. It was only taken for fun and not for art.

I‘ve noticed while analyzing this image that there’s a lot of variety that we can notice. While looking around the image ,we can analyze that there's a lot of different lines. For examples, the lines that the railing of the stairs and the ramp make and also from the plastic carpet. There's many shapes. Such as rectangle, triangle, square and many more. It is mostly appearing in the lower, left part of the image under the smaller jump. Forms are really present in this image. The jump I was over is one of the many. It is a sort of box that has a triangular shape. Not only, there's not one box but also 2 boxes. There's also not a lot of space in between the different objects. It is really noticeable because of the trees that are all around the structure. There's no void, It's always filled with something. But, there is a little emplacement that is not too busy and that is on the water portion of the photo. I'm talking about the pond. Needless to say, patterns are really relevant in this image. The stairs are a really good example. The repetitive line really makes the pattern effect take place. Not only the stairs, but also the railing on the trampoline on the top, left corner. The bars are side to side and they repeat each other. The carpet is the most present one. The circles really pop out and stand out of each other. It's kinda the same idea as a brick wall, but they're circle and not rectangles. Moreover, the two jumps next to each other repeat themselves in their box shape. In this picture, the infrastructures are not the only thing there. The fauna and the trees really stand themselves out. The repetitive leaves pattern is really there. Specially on the right and left part of the ramp

After a good view on the photo and a formal analysis, I can conclude that this image represents the art of this sport and the complexity of the composition that the image reflects, but also of the idea of hard work and the technicals requirements it takes to do such incredible things in this sport. How many hours of work it takes for an athlete to do such dangerous things with ease. Also, looking back at it, my understanding changed. I could determine that the photo is incredible. It's not just a training photo. But piece of art.

A RETROSPECTIVE ON YOUNG JUSTICE: or me trying to fix what aint broke.

First of all, I want to preface this by saying I know this is a "Marvel Comics" account, its literally in my name, and young justice is neither marvel or a comic. but it is the only DC property I really care about and if I posted this to my main it wouldn't be seen by anyone so forgive me

I also originally wrote this in long text message form to a friend (sorry @flashgame) who has only seen up to half way through season 2, so I haven't included anything about large plot points in seasons 2 and 3. Thats not really what this is about tho so I think my points still stand. These are also just my garbage opinions, I love this show I am just venting and you may disagree, you will probably disagree but I sometimes just have to get stuff like this out my system and thats what's this blog is for. I will go back to making memes about decades old X-men comics after this I promise.

With that out of the way here's my rant :)

For me, young justice’s biggest asset, the ensemble cast is also its biggest flaw. don't get me wrong, incorporating many characters (including obscure ones) into the team gave the show great character dynamics, the freedom to do what they wanted with less popular characters and great fan service for everyone. Buuuut it’s also completely inconsistent with who gets the spotlight and it’s plagued with the problems of just having too many characters. Some characters get huge storylines, massive amounts of screen time, often more than they ever got in the comics and that’s great! it seriously is, young justice is the best adaptation of characters like Kalder, M’gann and Artemis etc it’s literally the most time in the spotlight they ever get. but it’s like the writers just can’t help themselves when adding extra characters! it starts out in season 1 and gets exponentially worse by season two.

What you may notice by season 2 is that, with the new characters introduced, some have been given more air time than others. it definitely starts in season 1. Season 1 is a damn perfect study into how to introduce and build characters, having them each have storylines and later, relationships with each other. the show begins by showing us it’s not sticking to the normal way of doing an ensemble kids show, with the main team meeting in the first ep or two and then remaining the same until maybe one other character is added or a whole lot in a second season as a “new class” (Think X-men evolution adding the new mutants in season 2). Instead M'gann isn’t added till like ep 3 and artemis isn added till like ep 5/6?? i can’t remember trust me it’s quite late for a main team character to be introduced in a first season. that’s probably the first warning sign, even the original team takes a while to form but things are still ok, even the inclusion of Zatanna works kinda because she has the storyline with her dad. but Rocket? yeah...rockets a weird inclusion

she’s added in the last two episodes of the first season and then by season 2? she’s left again and is in the justice league. she gets two episodes!!! two! to be in The Team! like that’s weird and telling of what happens next. the show sticks to a varely normal schedule of adding new members, similarly to X-Men evolution, and like evo those new characters aren’t focused on that much. but evo handelled it better. when it comes to new characters it’s obvious that some are getting much more screen time than others, and some are just more compelling too. the time jump really screws stuff up, adding new characters in (and removing others like Rocket) in the five years off screen means they have to do a good job making us like them because we’re not introduced to them in an organic way.

take Mal and Bumblebee, technically we see them in season 1 but they’re basically cameo/easter egg roles. by season 2 they’ve joined the team and they don’t really get a lot to do after that either. it’s weird and because of the time skip we don’t see them joining, we don’t see bumblebee getting her suit (yeah we can infer it’s from The Atom but really they skip a lot) you might argue that this is necessary for a lot of characters, people like bumblebee, batgirl or even wonder girl have these backstory that don’t really fit in so they're just skipped over to make room for the easily included story’s like blue beetles and impulses

but we still feel like we’re missing something. talking of some of the characters let’s actually look at who got added right? In season 2 its starts to become obvious characters are coming to the front and other are in the background. beast boy is well set up in season 1, he’s well incorporated into the story of a main team character and even tho he’s not integral to the plot of season 2 he works great. same goes for blue beetle and impulse, they’re both great new characters with interesting personalities, backstorys and they do plot relevant things. lagoon boy is also an inclusion that seams necessary, he’s obviously there to be part of the love triangle thing but he’s also useful to randomly get captured and be an annoying character to piss of other members of the team. everyone else tho? it’s really hard justifying them being there. Batgirl, Tim, Wondergirl, Bumblebee and Mal just...don’t do anything. yeah they get thrown a bone once or twice but really it feels like the roles they fill could be filled by other already established people? or they could have been side characters outside of the team. they feel shoe horned in and they don’t get any time to grow. instead storylines focus on the original team, (which is kind of inevitable) and season 1 side characters like Red Arrow, and, of course the previously mentioned new characters that actually work with the story.

i can definitely see why some of these characters were added, Mal and Karen were set up in season 1 so i assume the writers always planned for them to be in season 2. the time skip (let’s be honest) is pretty much entirely there to facilitate Dick becoming nightwing and so of course both Jason, and then Tim (probably because jason comes with too much baggage) had to be included. Batgirl also seasons like a solid choice because she’s from that era of batman and it might seam strange not to include her. and wonder girl continues the “The Teams is made of sidekicks” thing. but come onnnn. Tim and Barbara could have been side characters who we see in one episode (maybe one with Dick dealing with being replaced as Robin or something) and the same can be said about Mal and Bumblebee (wonder girl can be cut tbh)

you can also argue that yeah, maybe the plan was to flesh these characters out in season 3 but it got cancelled. but the season 3 we got adds even more useless characters and actually pushes the good characters from this season into the background. even if changes were made in between the cancellation of the original season 3 and the one we got, i stiiilll think they’d have added the useless characters (this is a bit harsh but season 3 does add a lot of new characters) and not focused on the ones they already had because we saw it in season 1 with Zatanna and Rocket. it’s like the writers get bored easily with characters or something? like they just can’t stop themselves adding new toys to play with. I love this show so much, but after a now third rewatch i still believe the same thing i thought the first time i watched this, I love all the characters, i love all the references but god there are so many characters and so many references

VLD Analysis: Keith in The Feud

I know this scene has been analysed to death, but I just wanted to write a summary of my thoughts on it.

As well as talking about Keith in S7E4, I'm also going to analyse his character in general in season 7 (in relation to klance). And if you're wondering, yes I do think klance is endgame.

Lance's reason for choosing Keith was very obviously sweet and romantic, so there's no need to do any analysing there. In fact, Lance's character is generally easy to read. Keith, however, is always more tricky to understand due to the fact that he communicates through actions and struggles with social cues. We even saw this in his scene with Hunk; although he ended up delivering an excellent pep talk, at the beginning of the scene he folded his arms, had a grumpy expression and said he's not good with talking to people.

So about this scene in The Feud (the scene where he chooses Lance to escape)- a key thing which I haven't seen anyone mention is that he's looking at Bob when he delivers his answer.

Every other character, when explaining their choice, looks directly ahead, looks at the person they chose, or a combination of both. Keith is the only character to look Bob in the eyes when giving his answers.

This is important because if Keith was looking at LANCE with that irritated/grumpy expression, it would come off as mean, as if he was annoyed at Lance. But because he looks at Bob, it makes me think he was more annoyed that he was being forced to justify his choice- part of his annoyance, if not all of it, is directed at Bob. This is supported by his line at the end of episode about Bob- 'the guy was kind of a jerk though, right?'. Makes sense he'd look like this at a guy he thinks is a jerk.

Another reason why Keith looking at Bob is important is that it shows he felt embarrassed and uncomfortable enough to avoid eye contact with Lance. This ties in with another way his body language differs from everyone else's; every other character stands with their arms by their sides, showing they're relaxed (Lance slumps over the podium, but his body language is still relaxed and open). Keith stands upright with his arms folded across his chest, creating a barrier, and not looking at the person he's talking about. This SCREAMS insecurity, embarrassment and discomfort, not anger or annoyance.

I do think Keith was annoyed by how Lance got so many answers wrong, which explains the grumpy expression (old married couple, anyone?). But his reason for picking Lance was a lie, not because he was annoyed. It's canon that Keith finds Lance endearing. Just look at his face here:

He made this face when Lance said 'I'm not a goofball, I'm like the cool, ninja sharpshooter' to which Keith responded with 'are you joking?'. This whole exchange including the facial expression shows that Keith DOES think Lance is a goofball, but he's fond of him for it.

I won't lie, I do think part of the reason they had Keith answer that way in The Feud was because if he said something nice about Lance, it would be far too obvious klance is endgame. So instead, they played into Keith's character flaws and insecurities. They're dragging out this miscommunciation and angst in their relationship for as long as possible.

Now let's talk about Keith in season 7 as a whole. I find the klance dynamic in this season very interesting.

First of all, Keith is still pining. A lot of people think pining Keith is gone, but he isn't. Season 7 was just action packed, and Keith is able to put his feelings aside to concentrate on the mission- similar to how Lance and Keith used to put their rivalry aside when they had to work together.

Keith is pining because he chose Lance and lied about his answer, formed the wings of Voltron with Lance, didn't snap at Lance when when he went space mad and yelled for Lance twice when Red didn't respond to him.

The reason their relationship felt tense is because Keith is trying to reject Lance before Lance can reject him.

We've all agreed that Keith got a crush on Lance after the bonding moment and fell deeper for him around season 3, although it's hard to tell when those feelings became love.

Keith is fully aware of Lance's feelings for Allura. A lot of people forget that in the bedroom scene, Lance literally told Keith he doesn't want to take Blue away from her- that would definitely have assured Keith that Lance has feelings for her, strong feelings. Also, Keith saw Lance and Allura standing together when he called the castle in season 6 (it's possible he also saw their hug, or at least saw them pulling apart). It's been suggested that the animators had Keith interrupt the hug to foreshadow Lance moving on to him, but in hindsight I think it was so Keith would see that they were in the middle of an intimate moment and become jealous.

Also, Keith is more insecure than people give him credit for. It's evident in his scene with Hunk that he doesn't think he's good at talking with people, and he IS socially awkward. Now think about Lance. Lance is outgoing, sociable and great at connecting with people. If you were in Keith's shoes, you wouldn't think you have a chance with Lance. Not in a million years.

Keith has technically been rejected by Lance twice. First, when Lance pretended to forget the bonding moment, making Keith think the moment wasn't important to Lance. Second, when Keith said 'must really be bothering you if you're coming to talk to me', to which Lance replied 'you're the leader now, right?'. This one is more subtle, but Lance essentially just told Keith 'no, we don't have a connection. I'm just coming to you because you're the leader and it's your job'.

Again, miscommunication.

Basically, in season 7 it's clear that Keith is trying to distance himself from Lance emotionally. He has his walls up. Ultimately, in season 8, it won't work and he'll be forced to confess or something because he loves Lance too much. (Pride and Prejudice, anyone?)

In S1-S3, Keith was very open (well, as open as Keith gets) about his affection for Lance whereas Lance hid his affection for Keith because he didn't understand it. In S6-S7, Lance is being open about his affection because after the S5/S6 love triangle and being seperated from Keith, he has a better understanding of what it is to like someone. Keith is now hiding his affection to protect himself from hurt.

As things stand in season 7, it's hard to imagine Keith and Lance as a canon couple. But that's the whole point. For an endgame couple to be successful, there has to have been rough patches in their relationship, there has to have been miscommunication and arguments.

If (hopefully when) Keith and Lance get together in the finale, it will be incredibly satisfying. Why? Because we've seen them argue with each other, hurt each other's feelings, be seperated from each other, see each other at their worst points and have near death experiences. And after all that, if they choose to be together, it will be powerful and will really assure the viewer that their relationship is strong and will last forever.