#nerdgatehobbit

[bethanyactually]

9, 13, and/or 25 for the Fandom Review asks, please?

9 answered here, and here again along with 13! But I'll answer 9 again, it's the kind of question that can have multiple answers. 9. Best new fandom discovery of the year

Having read some of Naomi Novik's (aka @astolat, aka co-founder of AO3) fic over the years, I had been meaning to read some of her original fic for literal years, but the time had never been right. Then just a couple months ago, I read Uprooted and loved it. That led to me tearing through the Scholomance trilogy, which I'm sure I will be re-reading many times in the years to come.

25. Fandom predictions for next year

Is this predictions for what fandoms I'll be into next year? I guess I can interpret it however I like, so...I expect I'll mostly keep enjoying fandoms I'm currently in? I'm terrible at predicting what I'll be into. I never saw most of my major fandoms (Stargate, Community, One Day at a Time, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, Nancy Drew) coming at all.

Thanks, NGH! <3

Fandom Year in Review Asks

[mylittleredgirl]

For the ship it or not game: Benjamin x Kasidy, please?

(ship asks)

I Ship It

1. What made you ship it?

they literally COULD NOT have written a better love interest for ben sisko, and they put them together so thoughtfully. jake sets them up -- after a build-up where we see jake turning into a young man thinking about his future and really wanting his dad to have someone. i love that she's a freighter captain, a type of person in the ds9 universe who we have never really gotten to know, and essentially a grounding element -- she's a civilian living her own life who is (at first) totally uninvolved in the a-plot. and she knows about baseball!! the sheer joy i felt watching her walk in in her second appearance in "the way of the warrior" and they're already together and falling in love...

i couldn't find a great two shot of them so look at these caps from the "don't get killed" moment in the way of the warrior........ ROMANCEEEE

2. What are your favorite things about the ship?

it's such a good relationship!!!! they're mature, open, respectful, demonstrative, sexy... every beat is so potent and it expands into episodes she's not even in. i love her, i love her for him, i love him for her, and i LOVE her relationship with jake. their love stories are both heavy and light ("it's a big step") but there's never a flippancy to their relationship ever. and hooooooly shit. for the cause. i remember my dad showing me the last scene of casablanca like "this is the end scene of all time" but have you seen the last scene of for the cause.

genuinely i think this would be THE undisputed together-on-screen-in-canon star trek relationship of all time if it weren't for the fact that kasidy is a guest star and, while she has a rich implied life and does develop and grow, we never get the full main character treatment with her like we do with riker/troi and paul/hugh (and michael/book because book is also a guest star but he's a driving force of the a-plot of a whole season).

3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

i think most people probably agree with me tbh that it's an incredible ship that's electric on-screen and underrepresented in fanworks. i don't know if people agree that the last part of their arc was the weakest part because it was rushed (that engagement scene was so sweet though!! it's your house i want it to be our house!!), and i don't really like unplanned pregnancy as a trope (planned pregnancy? yes please!). like yes, her entire presence in the series has always been to serve his emotional story, but this felt different. until that point, her life between episodes was mostly implied until it intersected with the plot, but it was important to her and believable. in the final chapter it vanished completely, and i can't remember if she ever made that an intentional choice (or, if she did, if that choice was given enough weight).

[magic-owl]

Discworld-wise, I think you’d like Jingo (admittedly partway through the Vimes books but it does take a serious look at the dangers of us vs them & looking down on other cultures) or The Wee Free Men (the first Tiffany Aching book). I personally have a soft spot for Moist’s books, which start with Going Postal. Night Watch is very good & hard-hitting as well as the source as why the fandom reactivates every May 25th, but it’s both the start of & rather late in Vimes’ storyline (time travel is involved), so it might not be the best read early on. I admittedly haven’t read all of them but those are the ones I thought of off the top of my head. Oh! Hogfather might be a fun December read, or sooner if you want more of Discworld’s Death.

oooooh thank you so much for the recs!!! I'm noting down all the ones you've mentioned to me and I'll look at the summaries next time I'm at the bookstore!

[asokatanos]

Happy birthday! \o/ I hope it’s going great for you!

Thanks friend!! It’s been pretty nice all said!! ✨🎉

[twilightofthe]

For the Blorbos: Bail Organa?

Heck yeah thanks Hobbit!!! Here’s Best Dude!!!!

[forcearama]

I bought & read Wild Space because of your reviews. Thank you for introducing me to this book. I thought I was prepared... I was not. Wild Space is a melodramatic delight.

Haha, I’m glad you liked it! Wild Space is, frankly, incredible. It’s everyone in PT-era Star Wars, cranked up to 11. I know I say this every time I talk about this book, but like...my God, just...all of it. 

Obi-Wan being almost killed on every page and ALWAYS being like “nah it’s fine I’m fine I was briefly possessed and also blown up but I can just tuck my spleen back in and throw a Band-Aid on it, no one worry about me, let’s focus on what is clearly most important: IS ANAKIN OK” while Anakin is having his 700th tantrum of the day about how no one cares about his problems enough (while every single major character proceeds to worry about Anakin and his problems in at least one chapter each) as Padme braids his hair and feeds him grapes in bed while fretting about what a Delicate Fragile Lamb Who Would Never Hurt Anyone Except For All Those People He Hurt that Anakin is. 

Anakin and Padme are the BEST WORST COUPLE EVER in this book and I am forever living for it. Like, they would feed each other at the dinner table while calling each other pet names. The only times Anakin is not 1000% Consumed By Blinding Love and Deep Romantic Yearning For Padme are moments like the time where he thinks Obi-Wan’s been killed, at which point he basically stops mid-makeout to damn near leap off Padme’s balcony to go find him, and Padme’s entire reaction is, essentially, “that’s fair.” 

Yoda taking the time to meddle with 19-year-old dumbass Anakin’s love life like 20 minutes after they find out that the Republic got a clone army made for Mysterious Reasons, his old apprentice chopped Anakin’s arm off, AND A FUCKING WAR STARTED. Obi-Wan and Padme arguing about which one of them loves Anakin best. Bail Organa gazing at Obi-Wan while he does Hot Shirtless Yoga. THAT TIME THE BOOK BASICALLY SAYS WITHOUT EXPLICITLY SAYING SO THAT OBI-WAN WAS WALKING AROUND THE SHIP NUDE WHILE HE WAS DOING HIS LAUNDRY. ANAKIN DAYDREAMING ABOUT HOW HE AND PADME SHOULD “SHOW OBI-WAN THE POWER OF LOVE”. 

One time Anakin comes to the Jedi Council with Insane Shocking Information, and when Depa Billaba has the audacity to ask him if he’s sure about the veracity of this information (by basically just saying “really? are you sure?” which seems like a fair reaction to Shocking Information), he goes off about how NONE OF YOU BELIEVE ME OR OBI-WAN EVEN THOUGH HE’S AMAZING AND ALMOST DIED FOR YOU PEOPLE GOD I HATE THIS FAMILY. At one point he thinks to himself, essentially, that because none of the Council has ever Known the Touch of a Woman like he has, they don’t understand anything. (As an aside, this is 12,000% funnier to me if we assume that this book plays in the same universe as canon, where the Jedi are not required to be celibate. Because you know Anakin would just ASSUME no one else but him in the entire Order has ever had The Sex like he has.) (Sorry, MADE LOVE.) Like fifteen minutes after this outburst, Yoda’s like “let’s give that kid his own battle group” while Mace Windu tries to understandably will himself into another dimension. 

Obi-Wan wakes up screaming Anakin’s name at least once in the book. Ahsoka spends pretty much all of her time in a constant state of “...so this is my legal guardian, huh?” as Anakin either yells at someone or is practically unable to function because he’s so full of Wistful Feelings about Obi-Wan, Padme, OR ARTOO. Sheev is somehow EVEN MORE of a huge asshole and spends the entire book rubbing his hands together while daydreaming about how great it’s gonna be when he kills all these people. Also we find out he used to race space hot rods. 

All this, AND that time that the WHOLE ASS JEDI TEMPLE shows up to watch Obi-Wan and Anakin have a ridiculous, homoerotic sparring match that involves Anakin getting his ass slapped, AND culminates with Anakin almost going supernova from happiness because Obi-Wan touched his face and told him he was good, while Ahsoka is so touched by this scene that she almost cries on Anakin’s behalf. 

That book is a MASTERPIECE, OK. TCW should have animated the entire thing. 

[legobiwan]

Unpopular Opinion: Bail and Obi-Wan’s friendship was underused in TCW.

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

Even if we ignore the EU and everything that transpired on Zigoola, Bail put his ass on the line for the Jedi, and particularly Obi-wan and Yoda, in RotS. There’s no way Bail would have done so if he had not had an intimate relationship with someone on the Jedi Council, and it sure as hell wasn’t Yoda. 

Bail is at Obi-wan’s “funeral” in the Rako Hardeen arc. (along with Padmé, Mon Mothma, Jar Jar, and Satine, in terms of non-Jedi). 

(Also, for a brief moment, can we please talk about how *batshit insane* that arc was? What the hell, Obi-wan?)

We get bits and snippets of Bail and Obi-wan’s friendship, hints that Obi-wan has good connections within the Senate, but let’s be honest - Obi-wan wouldn’t have gotten as far as he had without having some close friends. And not all those close friends were named Padmé Amidala. 

And this isn’t even getting into the fact Bail adopted the daughter of Obi-wan’s fallen Padawan. I mean, Come. On. 

So yes, I would have loved to have seen more of Obi-wan’s friends outside the Jedi Order (and we know he had them, from Dex to Hondo and back again). 

[gffa]

Intimidating Scale: normally a 1, but if somebody insults the Jedi that number goes up to an 8.

LOL, GOD, I mean FAIR ENOUGH, even though I genuinely do try not to bite anyone’s head off and I really am willing to agree to disagree so long as we respect each other, but also just.