(no subject)

[sideways]

• Finished Dune! Worth reading once, but I think I'll leave it there.

• After browsing around for a bit, I decided on The Expanse as my next literary challenge, on the recommendation of weirderwest. I was warned that Leviathan Wakes is probably the weakest book in the series, so I went in with comfortably low expectations that allowed me to survive the clunkiness and cliches, and ended up solidly enjoying the uniquer elements of the worldbuilding and concepts. Going to need Holden and Miller to reevaluate some life choices though.

• It took a couple of false starts, but I finally managed to get into The Umbrella Academy enough to finish the two available seasons. I wish it was a little less inclined to prioritise spectacle over substance, but it was still good fun. Fingers crossed for season 3 bringing us a team of siblings capable of working together in less than 5-6 episodes.

• I'm currently working my way through The Clone Wars animated show, courtesy of an online guide that cuts it down to the Must Watch arcs. As such, it's hard to say if the parts that rub me wrong are valid complaints or if I'm just skipping around too much (i.e. the relationships between characters seem lacking sometimes? but maybe I'm just missing all the quieter bonding moments). The highlight absolutely has to be the development given to the clones as both people and walking war crimes. I've never had serious beef with the Jedi before now, but this series is giving me some PRIME STEAK MARINADE. JUSTICE FOR CLONES.

• syntheid is running a oneshot Numenera campaign for myself, seven, and a couple of their friends, which is proving very fun! Kudos to Lane for putting up with us insisting on ransacking libraries for no reason and scaring off monsters rather than fighting them. Last session we found an isolated village of peaceful pastoralists and immediately went on nervous high alert.

• Webcomic time is webcomic time but oh my god it is such a relief to have Paranatural kick off a storyline that provides some actual fodder again. It has been so many years. Please provide some forward momentum.

Comments

[hokuton_punch]

JUSTICE FOR CLONES, ALWAYS! (... sorry, this is the only Star Wars icon I have. /o\ )

I really need to read/watch The Expanse at some point! It sounds very relevant to my interests...

[sideways]

The icon gave a chortle, so you are forgiven.

Ooh you know, it probably is? Hard to say any more than that without spoilers though! I've heard the TV show is quite faithful, but it was gone from Netflix by the time I went to look :(

[chocochipbiscuit]

The Umbrella Academy is a very shiny show and I do love the visuals, but...yeah, the emotional heart of the show is whenever we get the siblings working together and actually talking with one another (STILL PISSED OVER BEN'S MAIN ROLE BEING SILENT ASIAN OBSERVER FOR A GOOD CHUNK OF BOTH SEASONS) and it frustrates me to heck and back when it takes so long!!!! Plus Season 2 basically rebooted Vanya's character, so...no emotional continuity there either, at least not for me. :(

All that aside, I'm still curious about Season 3!

[sideways]

I didn't dislike season 2, but it definitely failed to capitalise on... pretty much all of the set-up from season 1, yeah :/ No real consequence or hard conversations with Vanya. A copy-paste of the first plot so Five's arc just turns in a neat circle. Allison's voice is healed, woohoo, guess we won't be exploring that at all. And Diego, Klaus, and Luther actually seem to REGRESS.

And Ben! Wtf. His situation never made a lot of sense - one of them is KNOWN to speak to the dead, but for some reason the rest don't believe him about Ben? And then he randomly decides to hide Ben's presence? Everyone comes out of this looking like massive douchebags and denies the audience any kind of relationship between Ben and the rest of the cast sans Klaus. What is the point of that.

...But as you say. ALL THAT ASIDE, still kinda curious XD

[syntheid]

S2 made it really obvious that the characterization is... plot convenient? Like partly because I was going into it after Eto had been asking about enneatypes so I was more focused on it, but there were a couple points where it was really clear that they were more interested in visual or storytelling punch than consistent characterization or plot and they also have no idea what to do with the characters beyond the plot arcs they've... already explored. I was also really annoyed they all reset back to for some reason not wanting to believe Five about the apocalypse after... he was right about the last one they refused to believe him about?

I'm ... tentatively still going to watch S3 when it comes out because I feel like it's got elements to shape into something I'd really like. But I'd really hoped S2 would assuage my trepidation about the weak moments in S1, and instead it kinda just. Felt weaker as a whole? (Mad about Ben being sidelined for most of this season too lulz. And looks like in S3 he'll ... sort of be there but it's really a whole new character so we're really never going to get much more explanation out of what happened with him huh?)

[sideways]

"The characterisation is plot-convenient." Yeah. That's it exactly. And since they chose to just recycle the original plot for some reason (no, seriously... why) we just got the same damn beats for half of them. Even the stuff I liked had holes; Allison's husband was great, but she barely seems to remember she has a daughter, and there's no consideration of how thoroughly they've sabotaged Raymond's life, lol? Yay for Vanya's gay self-actualisation, but that's REALLY the whole focus of her arc after everything that happened? It's just underutilising such a good cast :(

If season 3 is also about apocalypses I'll be pretty disappointed. Seems likely it'll at least be about repairing the timeline, though, which isn't a huuuge improvement but might provide SOME new wiggle room. (Or it'll be about flooding us with a whole new cast of superpowered characters so there's even less time and space for development to go around...)

[syntheid]

Yeah I think Allison's S2 arc was the most interesting, but also the most frustrating because she had grown up, moved beyond clinging to Luther as a safety net, built a life for herself doing important work, learned to live without relying on her power, and then she had to leave it all behind again. (Also yeah I forgot she had a kid until she mentions getting to see Claire in one of the last episodes ahah.)

I didn't really mind Vanya's arc, though it is kinda like she got a nice gay relationship instead of an abusive straight one with basically the same followthrough except with more amnesia and less self-hatred and violins Ellen Page can't actually play.

Honestly when they pulled out the new set of kids at the end I was really bummed because I think that is going to be the focus of S3 ahah. Kinda curious if this is a plotline from the comics or not, but it doesn't seem that interesting to me to just have more superpowered kids added to the mix when they haven't dealt that well with the first set. At least the Handler might actually be gone for good this time?

[chocochipbiscuit]

Yeah, agreed. I'm not really sure how the show is going to follow up on the relationships and character development (at least, what little they got that didn't get redacted due to amnesia and/or plot necessity) while adding a WHOLE NEW BATCH OF CHARACTERS, but I also fully admit that I'm just here for the shiny visuals at this point. I figure if I keep my expectations low, it'll be difficult for them to disappoint me. :P

[sideways]

My understanding is the "Sparrows" are characters from the comics, but the comics haven't progressed past their first appearance either. There are some cool powers in the mix, I just... don't really want to spend a lot of time on them as a thin substitute for new ideas, lol. Low expectations is almost definitely the way to go. At least there will be spectacle, probably!

The violins are a fun motif if you just don't look at her fingers at all? >>

If the Handler isn't dead I will riot.

[muladhara]

OMG YOU READ PARANATURAL?! I haven't read it in a couple of years (stopped reading when my mum was ill, haven't picked it up again yet), but I felt very much like that during the Sportsball arc (I know that's not what Zack calls it, but like I said, it's been a while). Hopefully, whatever's been happening lately will not feel as tedious in a binge?

[sideways]

I do indeed! :D It's a blast at its best, right? The sportsball arc was definitely a bit of a downturn for the series, though; there were important moments and interactions, but with the comic gradually dropping back to just one update a week (and, tbh, the art style shifting to something I don't find quite as engaging)... yeah, it mostly put the comic on the 'occasional check-in' shelf for me too.

It was then followed by an entire chapter focused on everyone but the main characters so hat's in the air on whether you'll find that less tedious, lol. But now we are here! In an arc devoted to Spender flashbacks! Which PROVIDE SOME KEY BACKSTORY ON MAIN CHARACTERS AND ALSO FINALLY ANSWER SOME QUESTIONS. YES. GOOD. THANK YOU.

[muladhara]

It is absolutely a blast when it's good - I binged it and then reread it again straight after when I first started reading because I liked it that much at the time.

Yeah, if it's only updating once a week, it's easier to let a few updates accumulate and then go back to it.

OOOOOH questions being answered?? It's about time! (I think I need to spend a day or two bingeing again to catch myself up).

[sideways]

Well. SOME questions are being SORT OF answered... >> There was some juicy stuff about Boss Leader that thrilled me, at least.

You should! And then you should come tell me all your conspiracy theories so I don't just have to sit here in a pile of my own!

[muladhara]

Ooooh!

Yes, it would be good to have someone to discuss things with!

[cloudwrack]

JUSTICE FOR CLONES.

YESSSS, YOU'RE SPEAKING MY LANGUAGE. I do feel like the show sometimes suffers from not giving characters/relationships enough room to breathe (even after having seen all the episodes), but the level of focus and development the clones get has to be its biggest strength. Honestly, I'd have been happy if the entire show were made up of clone-centric episodes.

I've only read the first two Expanse books, but did think Caliban's War was a lot stronger than Leviathan Wakes. (It introduces my two favourite characters, though, so I might be biased.)

Part of me wants to reread Dune to see if I love it as much now as I did when I was a teenager, but I might just let that bit of nostalgia sit for the moment...

[sideways]

Clone Wars has been a little disappointing in that I've had previous fond feelings for Obi-Wan and Anakin based on the fact I was really into the Jedi Apprentice books as a kid... and then I watch a show focused on the peak of their adult friendship and I'm begging for just a CRUMB of affection between them!! Unbelievable! I recognise this is fully in line with their relationship in the prequels, but since when did we regard those as the height of good character writing! All they do is smug at each other! Ugh.

On the other hand...

Honestly, I'd have been happy if the entire show were made up of clone-centric episodes.

Y E A H. I made it past the Umbaran arc last week and that was hands-down some of the best material in the show so far. I was on the edge of my seat by the end, and when they got to the part with Waxer... ;A; Baker is a miracle-worker.

[brigdh]

I love the Expanse series! Though I 100% agree that the first book has some notable weaknesses that are thankfully corrected later on.

[sideways]

Hehe, yeah; it felt like the slight clumsiness of early ventures into novels at the worst, which I can live with. I'm already liking more of the character groundwork being laid in book 2.

Are you a fan of the TV series as well?