RWBY Marathon Musings

By Courtney and Hannah

It’s August, the days are still sunny,  but not too hot. What better way to enjoy the beautiful weather than to stay inside and have a RWBY marathon?

 

RWBY takes place in the world of Remnant, where humans have harnessed the power of Dust to fight the Creatures of Grimm.  In that world Ruby Rose goes to Beacon Academy.  She is learning how to be a Huntress.  Together with Weiss, Blake, and her sister Yang, they form team RWBY.

 

RWBY season 1: aka who the fuck is Ruby?

Aka it’s also a gun

Aka no CAPES!

Aka team RWBY?

Aka can we kick this boy

Aka talk to you friends

 

Hannah:  I love RWBY.  It is one of my favorite shows ever.  In the beginning the art is odd.  They do a 3D character in a 2D environment, which unless it’s important to the plot, they leave as a black shadow building or person.  It makes it easier to spot important characters and plot devices, but it’s very weird at the same time.  

 

Courtney: This is my first anime. I’m going to admit that the first five minutes had me wondering what I had agreed to. But after we met Ruby and Yang, my curiosity took over and I was very intrigued. By the end of season 1 I was ready to see where season 2 was going to take us. I like all the characters, they’re all well rounded.

 

Hannah:  I like all the characters too.  So for the most part it’s a question of degree that I like them.  Weiss starts out as someone I tolerate, but moves her way into fondness.  Yang dive tackled my heart and hasn’t let go.  But my favorite is Nora.  She’s king of the castle, long may she reign.

 

Courtney: Ruby is a great character too. And I like that she’s the youngest, but that she isn’t annoying. She’s not the strongest, but she tries really hard regardless of what she’s facing, be it a giant monster or a stoney faced Weiss. She is an awkward panda around people and that’s something I relate to a lot. I actually think that’s one of the reasons I like the characters.  I’ve seen myself in all of them at some point or another during the show and it makes it feel grounded even though it’s a fantasy series.

 

Hannah:  Yeah,  the fact that the characters feel real is a big plus for me too.  Another thing that told me this is a show worth watching, is that guys are not afraid of hitting girls.  That indicates, to me, that they live in a world where men are not encouraged to protect women because they are perceived as weak.  Instead women are encouraged to protect themselves and Hunters/Huntresses are encouraged to protect everybody.

 

Courtney: I liked this as well, there was no distinction between male and female fighters when they were going to battle each other, the fact that it wasn’t a big deal is kind of a big deal.

 

Season 2:aka final fantasy rip off?

Aka I will never look at turkeys the same way again

Aka nuts and bolts instead of squishy guts

Aka I still want to kick him

Aka ZWEI!

 

Hannah:  The inspiration gets more apparent and the art gets better in this season.  There are lots of shoutouts to Final Fantasy, Clockwork Orange, and Red Vs. Blue.  The shadow people/scenery are gone!  This season has my favorite fighting depictions.  I love it when multiple people fight together.  How they transition from attacker to attacker.  How they each have their own style, yet manage to work together so well.  It’s beautiful.

 

Courtney: This season was great because we got to watch them fight more as a team and interact as teenagers and normally I roll my eyes at teenagers, but I liked the sappy dance part. I like watching the way the different members of team RWBY interact with each other. The characters are growing and we get to watch them stumble and get back up.

 

Hannah:  I love that we get to watch them stumble.  A lot of shows don’t want you to see their characters in a negative light.  This show embraces both the negative and positive aspect of their characters.  They are growing up right before our eyes.  Plus this show advocates self care, which doesn’t always happen in such high stakes situations.

 

Season 3:  Aka and…Jaune

Aka a tournament

Aka everything is also a gun

Aka queen bee is in town

Aka Winter is coming

Aka now make them kiss

Aka you got hacked, sucker

Aka do you believe in destiny?

 

Hannah:  Get your tissues ready.  It all falls apart and it may never be put back together again.  This is the first time that we, the audience, experience such a soul crushing defeat.  I don’t like it.  Make it stop.

 

Courtney: The tournament was crazy and led to more crazy terribleness. The tournament did live up to the hype though and that made me happy. They’d been talking about it for two seasons and it was as cool as I wanted it to be. Which was good considering the shit it led to. One thing I really appreciate about RWBY is the balance they have with the jokes. There are a lot of jokes for a story about people fighting monsters and I really dig it.

 

Hannah:  Yeah, they pile up the comedy at the beginning of the season, keep the action going throughout, and then smack you with tragedy.  The pacing is great.  

 

Season 4: aka the sad panda season

Aka new teams

Aka growing pains

Aka family matters

Aka so that’s his semblance

Aka that’s how it ends?!

 

Hannah:  For every question that gets answered in a season, three more pop up.  It’s never more apparent than in this season.  With everyone seperate, it’s a good time to get to know them and watch them grow.  I do miss Velvet though…

 

Courtney: This was my favorite season so far. My favorite character Yang has lost her hand and mourns it. It felt like everyone was mourning something, because they were, but they were all dealing with it in different ways. I appreciated seeing how they all dealt with it because it’s a very human experience. Everyone is still in different places for the most part and now I want them all back together.

 

Hannah:  I’m very excited to see everyone back together.  I think Blake is the character who had the biggest change.  In the previous seasons, she had to learn the hard way that she could rely on her team mates and friends.  She had to learn that she wasn’t alone, and that distancing herself from her friends would not protect them.  Hopefully she is prepared for getting back together with Yang.  It will not be a happy reunion, but I hope it will just be a bump in the road of their friendship.

 

Courtney: Sometimes when I’m immersed in a world on TV or in a book, I’ll want to make the love interests kiss already, this is the first time I’ve wanted to shove a group of people together for a bear hug. I’m also ready for Blake to get rid of the chip on her shoulder. I want more, I want to watch Ruby save the world because it’s the right thing to do. Her honest chivalrous outlook could be a little cheesy, but I do love the cheese and I’m a sucker for someone doing the right thing.

 

Season five episodes start October 14th on Rooster Teeth FIRST, before rolling out on other platforms.  You can get seasons one through four on Amazon or watch it on Youtube as individual episodes.  RWBY is an amazing show with complex characters, great moves, and laugh out loud humor.

 

Bingeable: Slayers

By Hannah

Click image to view on Amazon

April 7th, 1995, the first episode of Slayers premiered in Japan (the English version came out in 2002).  Based on the first four volumes of the light novel(YA) series of the same name, it follows the exploits of Lina Inverse, a self proclaimed sorceressing genius, and her friends.  You can find a subtitled version of the first season streaming on Hulu.   

 

The story begins with Lina doing what she does best, robbing bandits and spreading chaos.  Later that day she meets Gourry Gabriev, who Lina allows to “save” her from an ambush.  Quickly, they form a friendship.  As they travel, they are attacked for a statue that Lina grabbed from the bandits.  Turns out that the statue Lina grabbed from the bandits holds the philosopher’s stone, and some powerful men want it for themselves.  One of these men is Zelgadis Greywords.  Zelgadis has been cursed into a monster, golem, human hybrid and he wants revenge on the one who made him this way.  Rezo the Red Priest is the culprit.  He was born blind, and while he had great healing powers, he couldn’t heal his own eyes.  So he went a little crazy.

 

The second half of the season has Lina and Gourry meeting the Crowned Prince Philionel El Di Seyruun and his daughter Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun.  They fight for justice while jumping off of high buildings to make dramatic entrances.  Lina and Gourry have bounties on their head so they and Amelia head out to find out what’s going on.  The trio meet Syphiel Nels Lahda, a shrine maiden with a huge crush on Gourry.  They also meet up with Zelgadis again.  Just in time to deal with more Rezo the Red Priest shenanigans.

 

Slayers has the classic anime style.  Huge eyes, impossible eyelashes, and crazy colors that should clash but strangely work.  Lina has bright orange hair and rocks a pink unitard.  Sylphiel has a dark green cloak that pairs well with her lavender tights.  Rezo has purple hair and wears red robes.  It can’t be said that the main characters are afraid of color.

 

I love the characters of this show.  They are all individual, even when they have overlapping qualities.  Lina is a powerful genius with an appetite to match her ego.  She keeps her wits about her, talks a big game, and backs it up with her Dragon Slave.  She uses black magic.  Gourry  also has a big appetite, but he doesn’t use magic at all.  Instead he is the stereotypical good natured, dumb jock, who happens to be a master swordsman.  Zelgadis is also a swordsman and he uses shamanic magic.  He usually ends up being the straight man to the rest of the group’s antics.  Amelia is kind of an idiot because of her obsession with being a warrior of justice, but she’s a sweetheart.  She also uses a similar type of magic as Zelgadis.  Sylphiel is a sweetheart as well.  She’s a shrine maiden, so she mostly uses white magic, but she can use black magic spells as well.

 

Slayers is a classic comedy.  This means that there are lots of puns, yelling/fighting about nothing and everything, and fourth wall breaking.  The yelling can get kind of shrill, which is why I recommend watching this subbed.  I find that the early animes are horribly dubbed.  Especially when they feature loud female characters, like Lina.  Those characters almost always end up yelling all the time.  Lina is loud and yells a lot, but she has her quiet moments, which is how you know that she’s up to something brilliant.

 

Slayers is one of the first anime I ever watched, it’s in my top five favorites, and I’m happy to say that it ages well.  It’s a classic for a reason and I would recommend it for anyone who likes adventure, fantasy, laughing, kick ass female protagonists, and/or classics.  It’s wonderful.

 

4.5 out of 5 stars

 

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Bingeable: Marvel’s The Defenders Season 1

By Domoni

The Defenders finally landed on Netflix, bringing together Matt Murdock’s Daredevil, Drunk P. I. Jessica Jones, Impenetrable Luke Cage and Danny Rand the Immortal Iron Fist. If you haven’t watched all of the episodes on those series, you really should before attempting the Defenders. Much of what happens in this show has back story in the other series. Except Luke Cage, his previous series didn’t seem pertinent to the goings on of what brought these four heroes together.

The first episode catches us up with where each character is currently. Danny and Coleen are traveling the world hunting the Hand when a victim of the Hand tells him he must return to New York. So the billionaire jets them back to see whats going on at home. Jessica is drunk at a bar. She is still struggling after everything with Kilgrave and we learn through her walk with Trish that she isn’t taking any cases. For a  woman who lives in a cheap gross apartment, she must have money in the bank to afford all that alcohol on no income. Luke Cage is being released from jail and going home to Harlem. Foggy seems to have pulled some lawyerly magic to reduce his sentence and he’s off.  Claire is waiting for him to finally get that coffee, which seems to be piping table flipping hot. Matt and Foggy still appear to be on the outs. Matt is doing pro-bono law work and no longer wearing the horns. Losing Elektra left a serious mark on him.

After we catch up with our heroes, we get to meet our villain. The mastermind behind the badguys in this series is Sigourney Weaver’s Alexandra. She is perfectly polished and classy evil. I loved her from the first scene. As the leader of the Hand, she has resurrected the black sky, Elektra. She is the warrior sent to capture the Iron Fist who is the key to their plan which will destroy New York.

Our Heroes are brought together with a little bit of fate and a little bit of Nurse Claire. Danny and Luke are pursuing leads that take them to the same place. When a young man Luke is trying to protect is in Danny’s sights, they have an interesting battle before running from the police. When Luke describes it to Claire she facilitates their meeting. The relationship between Luke and Danny is one of my favorite parts of the series. Danny is cocky and full of himself, this is one of the things many people disliked about the Iron Fist. I enjoyed the series even if he could get obnoxious at times. Luke seems to put him in his place and i very much enjoyed when he basically told him to stop whining about his hard life when he had more privilege than anyone. To many viewers Danny Rand is the epitome of the privileged white savior that is too much of a common occurrence in pop culture. Having the Hero of Harlem call him on it was great.

Jessica is approached by a woman who wants to hire here to find her husband. She isn’t interested until the husband calls and tells her to leave it alone. So she starts digging. When the man shows up at her office to encourage her to back off, she gets more invested. Especially when Elektra busts in and tries to capture him. He kills himself rather than be taken and that cements Jessica’s resolve. When Misty arrests Jessica, Matt Murdock shows up to be her Lawyer. Her P.I. senses tell her theirs more to him and she ends up figuring out that he is the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen.

All our heroes converge on the Hands building at the same time by coincidence. Danny goes trying to use his privilege as a billionaire business man to threaten the organization. Luke is tracking the man getting Harlem youth killed. Jessica was digging on her dead architect and found he built their building. Matt showed up to keep Jessica out of trouble. When Danny has to fight his way out, they all converge on the top floor and battle the Hand together. Matt ends up fighting the black sky alone and realizes it is Elektra.

Once they have escaped the building, they father at a Chinese restaurant and discuss what they know. Danny is all for teaming up. Jessica is not and leaves. When Stick shows up and is able to fill in some blanks. The three male figures start to see how they need to work together. Especially once Alexandra shows up with the Hand and Elektra.

After leaving the group Jessica goes to talk to the dead architects family. When she finds members of the hand outside their house, she changes her mind and returns to the restaurant right at the perfect moment of battle. The Heroes are able to take the upper hand. Matt is fighting Elektra outside and is able to get thourgh to her. He is able to trigger some of her memories of their love. She protects him from being killed and then flees.

As the team is now committed to discovering what the Hand is up to and why they want Danny, they move their loved ones to the police station to protect them. Though Trish and Marshal are both there, we get very little from these two strong characters. Same with Foggy and Karen. Misty, Claire and Colleen do have a more formidable role though. This aspect of the series was a but disappointing to me. Our heroes are very much driven by the people in their lives that they care about and those people have proven to be formidable forces on their own. It felt like a slight to not include them more. As the series only had 8 episodes, I feel like it would have been easy to add them in and extend the series a little bit.

AS the group decides that since Danny is what the Hand needs to win, they end up restraining him so he can’t go off half cocked. This doesn’t turn out well as Stick makes a stupid Stick decision and tries to kill Danny. Luckily Elektra shows up at that moment and stops him. Now she has the Iron Fist and delivers him to the Hand. She killed Stick in the process which mean our heroes end up arrested. They break out and head out to rescue Danny and deal with the Hand.

We get to the final major conflict. Elektra has taken over the Hand. She takes Danny below the building to a strange wall. Only his power can open it. HE refuses, so she bates him into a fight. Because Danny is a cocky idiot, it doesn’t take long before he swings his glowing hand right at the magic wall just like they wanted. Behind it is the bones of the great dragon, which seems to be the substance that gives the Hand immortality. As they begin excavating it, the effects begin to radiate through New York. But our Heroes arrive in time. A mega fight happens, when they have almost won, Matt convinces them to leave and blow up the building while he stays behind to try and reach Elektra’s heart. He watched her die once and can’t let it happen again. He never makes it out of the building.

The Hand if finally apparently defeated and the three heroes return to their loved ones, except Matt. Karen and Foggy are of course heart broken.

The series ends with various scenes of guilt and remorse.  Misty is in the hospital with a missing arm and Colleen blames herself. Foggy is upset with himself because he gave Matt his suit and told him to finish it. Jessica is drinking it away at a bar when Luke comes in and they have a moment. She suggests getting coffee sometime and we all know what that means. Jessica seems to have gotten some healing out of the whole debacle though and returns home to reopen Alias Investigations.

We close with Matt’s badly bruised and bandaged body in a convent hospital. He awakens.

There were many things i really enjoyed about The Defenders. They have a level of human relatability that is not often seen in super heroes. Jessica Jones is a strong independent women, but she is also very damaged. I love that she just kicks ass and takes no bullshit. Though much of the season felt rushed and the side characters were not utilized, over all I liked it and hope there is a second season in the works.

4 out of 5 stars.

Marvel’s Gwenpool

By Hannah

click image to view on Amazon

Gwenpool is a force of nature in a pink leotard.  She has no superpowers, but she knows everything there is to know about the Marvel Universe, and apparently gravity is not that big of a deal to her.

 

In 2015 Marvel was on a Gwen Stacey kick.  Spider Gwen was such a big hit that creators made variant covers that asked the much needed question, “What if Gwen Stacey became (insert popular character here)?”  After trying such character combos as Dr. Strange, Groot, and Wolverine, Marvel came up with the best combination ever.  Gwen Stacey and Deadpool.  There wasn’t even a comic out and fans were cosplaying this character.  

 

Marvel decided that this needed to happen for real.  We first meet Gwenpool in The Unbelievable Gwenpool 0, where she teams up with Howard the Duck to take on Black Cat’s crew and Hydra.  Gwenpool came to the Marvel Universe through some unknown means.  She isn’t telling anyone how it happened.  She is a rabid fangirl and has an encyclopedic knowledge of all things Marvel, therefore she knows everyone’s secret identity, power, weakness, underwear preference, etc.  This also means that she’s a fourth wall breaking bad ass.

 

Have you ever read or written a self insert fanfiction?  Be honest…  I’ve read a few of them, and dreamed of writing one where I show up randomly and slap everyone who annoyed me… The problem with the self insert story, is that you are the hero and can do no wrong.  At first Gwenpool starts this way.  She loves jumping from great heights, driving motorcycles in buildings, and blowing everything up.  But as the story goes on, the consequences catch up with her.

 

She blows her chances at being friends with superheroes Spiderman and Thor, because she has a cavalier attitude about life and death.  She loses her allies because they are no longer being payed and need to find a new income source.  She even loses her best friend, because he dies and doesn’t want to just be her ghost hacker sidekick.  It’s all fun and games until your imaginary friends turn out to be real.

 

What I love about Gwenpool, is that she fully embraces the adventure of being a masked vigilante.  She got a costume, grabbed some guns, blew up anything in her path, and relished every drop of chaos that she created.  She also has her heartbreaking moments.  When she can’t be friends with the heros that she loves or when she realizes that she’s a henchman, my throat clogged up.  She’s so close to having her dream life come true.  Sadly, just because it’s fiction for you, doesn’t mean that it’s not a very real world for those around you.  I am very excited to see how Gwenpool deals with the very real consequences of living her fangirl dream.

 

(This page uses affiliate links to help support the cost of maintaining the blog. Purchasing a product through a provided link may provide us with a small fee to help us keep doing what we do. Thanks for your support)

Game Of Thrones S. 7 EP. 7: The Dragon And The Wolf

By Domoni

The season finale arrived last night, much too soon for many of us. This short season flew by faster than a raven on a mission. As we digest everything that happen in last nights extended episode, we face the reality we may not know what happens next for almost 2 years. With only 6 episodes predicted in the final season, why are all signs still pointing to a premiere date of 2019. Because Game of Thrones is cruel, that’s why. So let’s recap the finale and then share our feelings in the comments.

 

The scene opens with Grey Worm and the unsullied in formation outside King’s Landing. Good to know he is alive, but how the hell did they get there seemingly unscathed. Last we saw the unsullied army, they were in Casterly Rock and all their ships were destroyed. Meaning they would have to walk and fight their way across Westeros. They look pretty fresh and rested though.

Bron and Jaime are preparing the men at the walls, putting on a brave face. Perhaps they can win outlast them. Then the horde of Dothraki Screamers thunders over the hill and files through the neat lines of unsullied to howl menacingly at the walls. Jaime seems to fully grasp how fucked they are if those armies attack.

The boats carrying Jon, Tyrion and the royal entourages come into sight of The Red Keep. Jon shows just how Northern he is by looking awwed. He asks the population and questions why anyone would choose to live that way, crammed into a city. Tyrion answers in a very Tyrion way. There are more jobs and better brothels.

The group marches to the meeting point. Bronn and the Lannister army meet them on the way, escorting Brienne and Podrick. We get a nice bit of fan service with the start of some more reunions. Pod, Tyrion and Bronn walking the road together again, and jokes about Podrick’s magic member. Brienne and the Hound discuss Arya and she tells him the young Stark has returned to Winterfell. He asks who is protecting her and Brienne lets him know the girl is no longer in need of protection. Which gives us a rare warm smile from the younger Clegane.

The groups file into the meeting place. Three seating areas ready for the three warring factions. Cersei arrives with more of the Lannister guards  and of course The Mountain. Which brings us one step closer to the epic showdown between the Cleganes. The Hound confronts The Mountain, remarks on how awful he looks and lets him know he is still going to kill him before stalking off.

Daenerys flies in on Drogon with Rhaegal menacing nearby. She dismounts in epic fashion and calmly walks to her seat as we all see Cersei fume that she didn’t make her own epic fashionably late entrance.

Euron tells Theon he has Yara and he will kill her if he doesn’t submit. Everyone rolls their eyes as obviously this meeting isn’t about him. Tyrion takes point on the talking. He begins to break down why there’s no time for squabbling because bad things are coming, but Euron has to wave his dick around a little more and makes dumb remarks about dwarves before everyone tires of his shit and tell’s him to sit down and shut up. Tyrion goes back to the important conversation. Cersei looks nonplussed so they bring out their proof.

The Hound carries in the wooden crate and opens it. Nothing happens, so he sucks up his courage and kicks the box over. The wight shrieks out and beelines for the Lannisters who look incredibly terrified. It almost makes it to Cersei before a chain reaches its end and the dead man is yanked back. The hound cuts it in half and it keeps fighting, he chops off its arm which keeps moving. Qyburn, the monster maker,  is intrigued and picks up the arm to examine it. Jon comes in with a little bit of the hot professor vibe and takes the arm from him. He has his torch lit and sets it afire. He lectures the crowd on the only ways to kill a walker, fire and dragonglass, which he then stabs into the torso of the wight making it finally still.

The group gets back to the talking. Euron asks if the dead can swim, when the answer is no he takes his boats and goes home. Cersei accepts the truce if Jon promises not to take sides, Jon does the loyal puppy thing and declares how he has already chosen Queen Dany and Cersei walks out on negotiations. Leaving everyone to ask Jon why he couldn’t just fib a little and for him to give a noble Stark speech.

Jaime leaves with Cersei but Brienne follows and tries to reason with him, getting some serious stink eye from his sister lover. He tells Brienne that he has to be loyal to his queen and she tells him this is the wrong time to be all the things I told you you could be.

Khaleesi thanks Jon for choosing her and then tells him he probably ruined everything and if he did her dragon baby died for nothing and she won’t be a happy Queen. He gives her the puppy eyes and says I know I’m an idiot but I’m an honest idiot and someone in the world has to not be a liar and all is forgiven.

Tyrion decides to go talk to his sister and try and appeal to her senses and get her to rejoin the fight. Everyone expects her to kill him. Of course she doesn’t because Cersei loves her family in the end, right? She does her I love my family speech and again uses her pregnancy to make it seem like she could be reasonable. They return to the negotiations. Cersei pledges her armies to fight the dead in the North and promises to not fight with Daenerys till it’s over.

In Winterfell, Sansa and Littlefinger are talking. He is encouraging her to not trust Arya. Laying out all the ways Arya could be dangerous to her and want her dead. Sansa seems to be falling for it. She talks about all the ways it appears she has betrayed her family and why Arya could be upset by that.

At Dragonstone, they discuss travel plans. Dany is going to go on the Boat with Jon of course. Theon stops Jon to ask his advice. He talks about his inner Greyjoy vs. Stark drama and Jon tells him he shouldn’t make them compete, just be both. Then he forgives him and tells him to go save his sister.

Theon heads to the beach where the last of the Greyjoy men are preparing to leave. He tells them they are going to save Yara and the men laugh. Then the mainass spits on Theon and they start duking it out. Theon is losing, he isn’t a great fighter as we already know. But when the big dude gets winded he starts going for the cheap shots. You can’t nut punch a man who no longer has the nuts, so Theon takes the advantage. And like the tides they sail on the men are now loyal to him again and they set of to rescue Yara.

At Winterfell, Sansa holds court. The guards escort Arya in. Sansa raises her voice and states a list of crimes, treason and murder. She asks how do you reply and turns to Baylish taking the whore monger by surprise. Finally, we see Littlefinger in his rightful place, facing the horrible things he did to the Stark family. He pulls out the tired I loved your mother card, then the I love you card and then Arya slits his throat with a smile.

Jaime is giving orders to the bannermen, preparing them for the travels North. Cersei comes in and tells him they will not be fighting the dead. She is a liar and she is going to try and take back all of Westeros while Dany and Jon are busy. Jaime reminds her they have no chance of winning and Cersei informs him that Euron took his fleet to pick up her hired army which will help with that. She also points out the missing dragon. Jaime is pissed and says he promised he would fight the dead and he is going to do it whether she likes it or not. Cersei threatens his life and we finally see Jaime break free from his sisters evil vagina. As he leaves King’s Landing, snow begins to fall in the capital.

Sam rolls his cart into Winterfell. He visits Bran and they chat about knowing secrets. Bran tells Sam who Jons parents are and that he should be a Sand and not a Snow. Sam tells him the truth about the wedding and that Jon isn’t a bastard at all. Bran does his Three Eyed Raven trick and goes back to watch the wedding of the Dragon and the Wolf.

Jon knocks on Daenerys’ bedroom door and she lets him in.

Bran watches Jon’s birth again. He begins to tell Sam all the things Jon needs to know. That his parents were in love. That Roberts war was unfounded. That Jon’s name is actually Aegon Targaryen. And as we seen the naked Dragon and Wolf roll around on the bed Bran tells us all that Jon/Aegon is the rightful heir to the Iron Throne.

At Eastwatch, Tormund and Berick Dondarion are on the wall when the army of the dead finally reaches it. Which is scary enough on it’s own. When the Knight King flies up on dead Viserion, things finally have reached the endgame. The turned dragon breathes bright blue fire, is it fire?, and the wall begins to fall. Tormund tells everyone to run and then things collapse. The dead are walking through the busted wall.

This season was much too short. There was so much that could have been included to fill gaps in the story and give us more of the show we all follow. How did the Unsullied get across Westeros? That could have at least had one episode, considering how they implied they would be met with fights the whole way. Where is Yara? Why doesn’t Bran use his Raven powers to find out the important crap before someone tells it to him?

We are also left with so many questions that will drive us all mad over the break. So what are you wishing you had seen in season 7 and what are your hopes or predictions for season 8? Let us know in the comments.

Game of Thrones airs Sunday nights on HBO or you can stream it on Amazon with an HBO subscription, get 7 free days now and catch up.

 

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Geekerella: A Fangirl Fairy Tale by Ashley Poston

By Domoni

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Elle is a total geeky fangirl. Her mother died when she was very young and her father remarried. When he tragically passes away, Elle is left to live with her stepmother and two spoiled stepsisters. To help get over her pain Elle throws herself into the fandom she was raised to love with her parents, Starfield. She runs a blog and breaks down her feelings over each episode and fan theory. When a long rumored reboot becomes reality and the movie lead is cast, Elle’s angry post about the pampered untalented hotshot goes viral. The casting almost feels like a violation to something that she holds sacred, her connection with her father.

Darien is so excited to be cast as Prince Carmindor in the movie reboot of his favorite scifi series. The Starfield fandom doesn’t believe in him though. His biggest gig was as a teen heartthrob in a soap style high school drama, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t passionate. Before he became famous, he loved Starfield and going to cons with his best friend, until that friend sold him out with picture to the media. When his manager dad sets him up to appear at Excelsicon, he freaks out. Darien tries to get out of it, he looks up information about the people who run the convention and texts the founder to say the Prince can’t appear.

Elle doesn’t have much, her step mom makes her use her dads ancient cellphone. So when she gets a random text from someone about Prince Carmnidor not being able to attend Excelsicon, she doesn’t think much about it. Her father founded that convention after all and she is sure the text is just from some random cosplayer. But as sometimes happens, a wrong number text can turn into a conversation and suddenly Elle and the Prince are growing close over their shared love of Starfield. Things at home are just getting worse though. Elle’s step mother is going to sell her house. She just wants to get away, so when Elle finds her parents cosplays in the attic, she decides to go to Excelsicon and enter the cosplay contest. The winning prize is a ticket to LA for the movie premier. If Elle wins, she will leave this town and never look back.  Maybe she will be lucky enough to meet her mystery prince.

I found this book at the library and it looked fun so I picked it up. I started it when I got home and was so immersed in the book I forgot to make dinner. I read it in one sitting and wished there was more. I truly loved this book. Yes it’s a basic Cinderella story with a geeky twist and perhaps I’m a little old for the high school aged books, but it was a fun read I couldn’t put down. What geek girl wouldn’t connect with Elle? The magical night at the comic con masquerade ball was beautiful.

The story alternates from Elle to Darien’s perspective with each chapter, so you can be invested in both sides of the story. Neither of them have a great family life and it is easy to see why they connected. The author crafted a lovely world around them and the characters made sense. I would happily read more from this author.

5 out of 5 stars

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Game of Thrones S. 7 Ep. 6: Beyond The Wall

By DomoniDomoniDomoni

The episode starts north of the wall as our brave group sets out in search of a living dead man to bring back to prove to the queens that the true threat is in the frozen lands.  There’s some lighthearted chatting as the older men tease Gendry about the cold. He’s never seen snow before. Tormund makes some raunchy joke about the best ways to stay warm and then we move on to one of the smartest things Tormund tells Jon. Mance refused to bend the knee too, how many of his people died because of that? Cut to Gendry who is cranky at the Brotherhood about that whole selling him thing. He tells them about the leeches and the Hound is all, but did you die?

Jon has a moment with Jorah, he tries to give him his sword. They talk about Jeor Mormont and how much Jon respected him. Jorah admits his shame in disappointing his father and refuses to accept it, which is good because Jon needs his wight killing sword.

At Winterfell, Arya is being the creepy skulky girl we have grown to fear/love. She tells Sansa a story about when she snuck in some archery practice and her dad watched. How she knew it was against the rules for a girl, but her father allowed it because he understood who she was. Then she blames Sansa for killing him. Sansa is taken aback before Arya pulls out the scroll she found last week and reads it to Sansa. She tries to explain she was a child and she was forced to write it, but all Arya can do is say I saw you stand there as he died, you should have died before writing that. They bicker in the way they do but Sansa pops back with something smart, Cersei would love to know they were fighting over it.

Back in the North, Tormund is trying to buddy up with The Hound. He tells him he has sad eyes, then talks about getting back to his woman. Tells the Hound how he wants to make giant babies with her and Gregor realizes he is talking about Brienne. Beric and Jon talk about being brought back by the Lord of Light and then the Hound sees the mountain from his fire vision. They should find the horde soon.

At Dragonstone, Tyrion and Daenerys have a fireside chat. She sorta insults him, he’s not a hero, which is what she likes about him. Tyrion points out the heroes who fall in love with her and she replies Jon’s not her type because he is too short…..

The guys in the North are attacked by a dead polar bear. Thoros takes it on with his flaming sword, which makes the Hound shy away, because fire. And even though it is only one bear and there are many dudes, noone helps him for quite awhile and Thoros gets chomped pretty well. Beric finally saves Thoros and says they need to take him back to Eastwatch, The priest says nah, gimme some wine and do the fire sword trick. So he is all cauterized and back on the hunt for the dead army.

At Winterfell, Sansa is freaking out. She is talking with Littlefinger and stressing out that Arya might show the scroll to someone. She fears the fickle lords of the North won’t support her if they see it. Baylish suggests getting Brienne involved with the sisterly squabble.

In the North, the group finds a small party of the dead. They lay a tempting trap and attack. Jon takes out the White Walker with Long Claw and all but one of the wights crumble to real death, interesting… SO they start tying up the last remaining dead guy to take back as proof when suddenly the thunder rolls. Wait no, that’s the sound of thousands of dead guys on the move. Jon tells Gendry to run back to Eastwatch to send a raven to the Khaleesi. He wants to fight, but Jon says you’re the fastest, get moving.  THe rest of the crew finishes typing up the wight and then the walkers are almost upon them. Luckily they find some thin ice with some rocks in the middle. They make their way to the stones as the horde crashes through the ice leaving the men in the center of some trouble, once the water refreezes. Gendry Runs until he can see the gate then he falls and stays down, that’s ok Davos runs out the gate and gets the message.

Night passes in the middle of the circle of death, Thoros does not awaken. The Hound tries to make use of the leftover wine but Jon pours it on the dead priests body, Beric says a prayer and lights up his sword again to burn the body. The circle of death watches silently. Jon hopes for Dany, Beric says we could always kill the Night King.

Cersei has invited Lady Stark to King’s Landing. She is sending Brienne of Tarth in her place. Brienne does not like that plan. Who will protect you from Littlefinger?  Sansa thinks she’s a badass and got him under control…

At Dragonstone Dany is marching to Drogon as Tyrion tries to convince her not to go. They knew the risk, she shouldn’t risk herself and her dragons as well. She is all nah, I’m out. He can’t bend the knee if he’s dead. The Mother of Dragons rides off with her children.

In the frozen wastes, The Hound gets bored and tries to skip rocks. Dumb, Cunt! Rolling rocks mean the water is walkable again and the dead approach this unlikely fellowship. The Wildling redshirts are easily outmanned, but then so is Tormund. Our favorite ginger cries out for help as he is tackled and being dragged to the edge of the ice. Just as I am ready to throw all the tables, he is saved and stands to fight again. But our men are vastly outnumbered and Jon yells to fall back. How do you fall back in a circle Jon? There is no chance for them…. Dracarys!

Dany and her babies start firing things up. Drogon lands and she reaches for Jon, but he has to get his men on the dragons back first. He steps back out to fight. The Knight King has had enough. He pulls out a giant ice spear and launches it. We all shriek in horror as Viserion falls from the skies. Jon rages and takes out more dead, the white walker reaches for a second spear and Jon turns to run to Drogon, he is too far away and he yells at Dany to go. She hesitates but then chooses her dragon and  they flee. The Knight King launches the spear, which Drogon dodges. Jorah almost falls but his old man ass is caught and he lives to pine another day. Jon is overwhelmed by wights and falls under the ice.

Longclaw is on the edge of the ice and suddenly Jon breaches the water. He struggles to pull himself from the frozen depths. As he tries to walk away, the retreating horde notices him. He stands to fight, we all know he won’t make it. Long lost Uncle Benjen to the rescue. He puts Jon on the horse, insists it won’t carry two and sends Jon south while he swings his tiny burning ball before quickly being overtaken.

At Eastwatch, Daenerys and Jorah keep watch on the wall. Jorah tells her it’s time to go. The Queen doesn’t want to give up. She finally turns her back on the North when the horn blows. Jon has made it to the wall.

Davos gets Jon onto the boat to go south, they start taking his frozen stiff clothes off to try and revive him. Daenerys sees his scars on his chest. What was that Davos was saying about a knife to the heart?

In Winterfell, Sansa is searching through Arya’s room. She finds a satchel under her bed and opens it up to find old dude faces. Arya walks in all chill as Sansa is freaking out. Why do you have faces? Arya would make Jaqen proud with her creep factor in this scene as she talks about her training. How she can be anyone, even Sansa, all she needs is her face. Sansa looks rightfully freaked out as Arya draws her blade, then just hands it to her and walks away.

Jon wakes up to the queen at his bedside. His first though is to comfort her. He apologizes and wishes they had never made the trip north. She consoles him saying it;s ok because now she knows. She vows to fight with him and he metaphorically bends the knee amid a lot of hand holding and googly eyes. She leaves him to rest.

Up in the north, the wights pull Viserion from the frozen waters. The Knight King slowly walks forward and places his hand on the giants head. Viserion awakens with ice blue eyes.

This episode was all anxiety. I was sick to my stomach with stress. I was sure they were going to kill Tormund. They made us think Jon was dead. Viserion though was just tragic. So how will this play out going forward? This puts an interesting spin on the prophecy of the three dragon riders. Does a dead frozen dragon spit fire? What can they do to us in the season finale next week? Tell me what you though in the comments.

Game of Thrones airs Sunday nights on HBO or you can stream it on Amazon with an HBO subscription, get 7 free days now and catch up.

 

 

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Bingeable: Marvel’s Jessica Jones S. 1

By DomoniDomoni

August we are focusing on Heroines and with The Defenders coming out on the 18th, I figured I should rewatch some of the previous installments to the Marvel Netflix series. So I am breaking down season 1 of Jessica Jones.

Jessica Jones is a PI with power. She is also a closed off cranky drunk. I still kind of want to be her though. Having lost her whole family to a car accident when she was young, she was adopted by a woman whose only goal was to create good PR for her daughters acting career. As she recovers from the accident, Jessica realizes she has powers. She is incredibly strong. As she witnesses the abuse her adopted sister Trish faces, she uses her strength to protect her and they forge a close bond.

Now adults, Trish is an icon and has her own radio show and Jessica is a damaged isolated person. When she gets hired to find a missing woman, her investigation leads her to the man who held her captive. Kilgrave is also gifted with powers. He can make anyone do anything with his voice. When he met Jessica he became obsessed  with her and wanted to make her love him. He forced her to kill a woman which somehow broke his control over Jessica. She has been trying to get over it ever since.

Somehow, Jessica began following Luke Cage, the husband of the woman she killed. When she finally meets him, there is a chemistry between them. They become lovers until and eventually they realize they both have powers. Luke is bullet proof and strong.

As the hunt for Kilgrave continues, Luke finally learns Jessica had a part in killing his wife. Kilgrave convinces Jessica to live with him to protect the people she cares about. He has returned her childhood home to the exact state it was in when her family died. Jessica spends a few days there and tries to get Kilgrave to use his abilities to help people. She eventually realizes he will never be a good person and devises a way to trap him.

They are able to catch him and put him in the Kilgrave proof cage. Jessica finds his parents to try and get a reaction out of him. The plan goes very wrong and he is able to escape. He is able to track down dear old dad to make his powers even stronger to try and control Jessica again. Though his powers do increase, they still don’t affect her.

Kilgrave is able to control Luke and get him to attack Jessica. She has to shoot him in the head with a shotgun. He gets knocked unconscious and the hospital can’t help him. Marvel’s favorite nurse Claire is there to save the day though. She helps get Luke back to Jessica’s office apartment. Jessica has a moment laying with Luke where she tells his unconscious form how she could have had a future with him and all her regrets. The she leaves him with Claire to go take on Kilgrave again.

This time when she finally confronts him, he has a large group of people controlled around him. As he tries to escape, he orders them to kill each other. Jessica and Trish try and stop the fighting as she makes her way through the crowd to him. He sees her and yells at them to stop. Jessica stops too. Kilgrave notices Trish and orders her to join him. He tells Jessica, who he thinks is faking being enthralled, that he will keep Trish forever and if he sees her again he will kill her. As Jessica doesn’t react to this, he realizes she is finally under his control again. His obsession with her takes over in his excitement and he tells her how he knows eventually she will really love him. He finally moves close enough for Jessica to grab him, and break his neck. He never did become stronger than her.

Jessica Jones dives into some seriously dark content. Rape and consent are one of the major underlying themes. Looking past the superhero picture, this is a powerful series. The cast was amazing and truly evoked their characters flaws and strengths. I can’t wait for The Defenders and Jessica Jones season 2.

 

 

Wizards Soul By Aki Eda

By Hannah

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Wizard’s Soul was started in 2015.  In Japan there are 22 chapters (about four volumes) and it’s considered complete.  In America thirteen chapters have been translated by fans, into English.  There is no talk of an anime.

 

“Wizard’s Soul” is the name of a trading card game that is famous the world over.  This world actually revolves around the game.  Your ability in the game can affect your GPA, your career prospectives, and your social standing.

 

Meet high schooler Manaka Ichinose, who hates the game, but works in a card shop.  She is a quiet girl, who loses every game she plays.  When her father, a weak player, falls for a scam and loses more money than the family could ever afford, Manaka challenges Eita Sakurai, a very strong player, to a best of 5 game.  At stake, either all of his Dueling Points or she will do whatever he wants.  Manaka wins and Sakurai takes it poorly.  Now Manaka must deal with personal rivals, unpleasant memories, and finding love in a world controlled by a card game.

 

Wizard’s Soul should be an action packed manga, with lots of screaming, crazy hair, and gasping in shock when trap cards come into play.  You know, like Yugi-Oh.  Instead it is a calm story about dealing with death, the fact that your crush is a human being too, and the motivations of the different tournament players.

 

I like Manaka.  She sees what she has to do and she does it.  She tries not to hurt anyone any more than she has to, but she doesn’t back away from it either.  She went into this knowing that she would lose a lot.  The friendship she had with other weak players, her crush, and her peace of mind, but she doesn’t quit.  I also like Sakurai.  Watching him deal with his loss, and rooting for Manaka is very satisfying.  He spends half of the story kicking himself for yelling at Manaka, and the other half of the story learning how to be a better player, because the girl he likes is so good.  They are super cute and I am rooting for this couple.

 

The artwork is very detailed and delicate.  Each character looks like a real person in comic form.  No crazy outfits or hairstyles.  The mood is conveyed elegantly and feelings are worn on the character’s sleeves.  The playing cards look fantastical.  I kind of want to have these cards, not to play, but because they make beautiful art.  I would be one of the weak players in this world.  

 

Wizard’s Soul is only categorized as shoujo. A shoujo story is a story marketed towards young teenage girls.  It’s pretty clear why it’s categorized this way.  It deals with emotions and the stress of being a teeager.  I do feel that it should be part of more categories.  School life, for example, because it does depict the high school experience.  Or possibly slice of life, because she is living a fairly normal life most of the time.  Heck, let’s throw it into the shounen category too.  A shounen story is a story marketed towards young men.  It deals with the high stakes of professional card games.  Just because it deals with emotions and has a female lead means it’s a girl comic?

 

I was surprised at how much I like this story.  Card game mangas are not new, neither are love stories, but together, they make a charming story.  Throw in other interesting  players, a high stakes tournament, and a tragic backstory and you have yourself a fun, sometimes heart wrenching read.

 

4 out of 5 stars.

 

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Game of Thrones S. 7 Ep. 5 : Eastwatch

By Domoni

This episode starts right at the end of last week. Bron pulls Jaime from the water. As they scramble up the bank the flaming field is off in the distance where most of the Lannister army is dead. Bron berates Jaime for being an idiot and charging a queen standing beside her loyal dragon. Mostly because he wants what he was promised and so can;t let Jaime die before he delivers.

Back across that river, Queen Daenerys addresses the remaining soldiers. Bend the knee or die. This obviously does not sit well with Tyrion, but Khaleesi doesn’t care. Many of the men kneel, but Jerkface Tarly and his son Dickon refuse to submit. Tyrion points out that they didn’t have a problem changing sides before, then suggests they take the black. neither of those sways them and Drogon destroys them. All the other hesitant soldiers quickly bow to their new queen.

 

In King’s Landing, Jaime returns to his sister. SHe asks how many of her soldiers were lost, then dismisses it in the usual manner. She has gold and the support of the iron bank, she can buy mercenaries. Jaime informs her that after watching the dothraki fight, it won’t matter. She rants about Tyrion, then Jaime delivers the Olenna killed Joffrey news. She spits more vile, I should have tortured her vitriol, as Cersei is want to do, then drops the we must fight for our baby bomb. Jaime is back in the game.

Back on Dragonstone, The Mother of Dragons returns astride Drogon, who lands in front of Jon Snow and does that creepy threatening dragon crawl towards him. Jon just takes off his glove and reaches out to pet the snarly beast. Drogon lets him, and then practically purrs, while a slightly concerned looking queen looks on.  They chat about how killing is an unfortunate part of war that will make life better and then Jorah shows up to return to his pervy lusting after Dany.

In Winterfell, Bran is warging. His ravens find the white walkers and the King sees him. Send ravens to warn everyone.

At the citadel, Sam is stocking books while a bunch of Maesters discuss the raven from Winterfell’s Maester. Sam has to pipe up that he knew Bran and that cripple boy survived north of the wall longer than anyone and they should believe him, because he himself have seen the army. Sam tells him they have more knowledge in their library then the rest of the world and they should study it to find how to fight the dead. He also reminds them that people listen to them and if they tell all the lords to send their men to the wall to protect it, they will. The archmaester says he will ask for clarification of the note.

Tyrion has a few cups with Varys and is still affected by how willing to cook people the queen has been. Brans message in hand, they meet with the council. SOmehow a plan is made to go get a deadguy to prove that the deadguys are not staying down and get Cersei to agree to stop fighting long enough to kill the dead. So John and Jorah are gonna go north. Tyrion is gonna go see his family.

Davos smuggles Tyrion into King’s Landing and then heads to flew bottom. Bron brings Jaime down to the room of dragon skulls to train. No wait, it’s to see his brother. Jaime looks pissed, you killed daddy. Tyrion looks all victimized, he was trying to have me killed. Moving right along, tell Cersei we have to kill the dead.

Davos walks into a blacksmiths forge, And Gendry is back in the game. THough the writers missed the opportunity to use a stupid line like how about a bowl of brown or other such nonsense, I was so excited for this moment. Then Gendry is raring to go, he wants to stop making swords for the men who killed his father and fight for someone else. Davos says he will take him to Winterfell and my heart did a little skip. I want so badly to see the Gendry Arya reunion. I just keep seeing Gendry tell Arya “You would be MY lady” **Sigh** How this became my favorite GOT ship, idk. Moving on…. Gendry and Davos head down to the boat, some soldiers come to question them and Davos pays them off, but when they go to leave, Tyrion comes down and they remember the Queen’s bounty on the dwarf with a scar. Gendry takes them out with his awesome war hammer and the trio depart King’s Landing.

In Winterfell, Sansa is holding court. The Lords are griping that the King left them and they should have had a Queen in the North. Arya watches in the corner as Sansa lamely says he is our king and we will wait faithfully, though noone really believed her. Arya confronts her sister for allowing them to talk trash about John and scheming. She points out how Sansa is now sleeping in their parents fancy room and ow she always liked nice things to make her feel better than everyone else.

Davos takes Gendry to meet Jon Snow. He tells him to hide who he really is and names him Clovis. When he introduces him to the King in the North, Gendry comes out and says I’m Gendry Bastard son of Robert Baratheon. They have a little I knew your dad back and forth then Gendry again defies Davos and says I don’t want to just be a blacksmith, I want to go with you and be a fighter. Now they are getting on a boat to leave Dragonstone. Jorah gets a big hug from Khaleesi and the creepy vibe is back. But then she tells John she was getting used to having him around and there’s one of those moments that makes Jorah a jealous boy.

Back at the citadel, Sam is still pissed noone will listen to him because he is smart and knows thigns. He is copying scrolls as Gilly reads from a book and spouts random facts. Then asks whats an annulment because Prince Ragger had one and got secretly married, but Sam can’t pay attention to this bombshell news because he is being angry Sam and had enough of being ignored when he has bombshell information…… So Sam Steals a bunch of books, loads a wagon with Gilly and little Sam and leaves the citadel.

In Winterfell, Arya follows Littlefinger around. He has a raven scroll brought to him and hides it in his room. Arya breaks in and finds it, its the note Sansa was forced to write to Rob after Joffrey chopped of daddys head. As Arya leaves, thinking she knows something, Baylish spies on her with his smirky face on.

Jon and his entourage arrive at the wall. They have come to Eastwatch by the Sea to talk with Tormund. they tell him the plan to find a dead guy to take home with them. He asks if they brought an army, or the big woman. Then he informs them they are not the only ones who want to go north of the wall. The group heads down to a cell where the Hound, Berric Dondarrion and Thoros of Myr are locked up. They all decide to buddy up and go hunt white walkers.

This season is flying by, And though it is shorter than previous seasons, it feels like so much more is happening. Every episode I have to watch multiple times because I want to make sure I am not missing anything. The epic scenes are even more epic. This season is my favorite so far and I cannot wait to see whats next, each weeks wait is torture. Watching the promo for next week has a pit in my stomach. If Gendry doesn’t make it to Winterfell to see Arya, I am gonna be pissed. If Tormund is killed and doesn’t get back to his big woman, I am going to cry. If Jorah makes it back to Dragonstone to make pathetic faces at Dany, I’m going to be annoyed.  Sometimes I wonder why I watch this show weekly, it is so stressful, maybe it would be easier to wait till the season ends and watch it in one day.

How did you feel about this weeks episode? Tell us in the comments.

Game of Thrones airs Sunday nights on HBO or you can stream it on Amazon with an HBO subscription, get 7 free days now and catch up.

 

 

(This page uses affiliate links to help support the cost of maintaining the blog. Purchasing a product through a provided link may provide us with a small fee to help us keep doing what we do. Thanks for your support)