Author: Amelia Whitaker

(This blog INCLUDES MINOR SPOILERS.)

You’ve all probably heard of a game called Undertale before. It took the world by storm when it was released, arguably shaping the internet itself. Even now, eight years later, the fandom is still kicking, a testament to the effects it had (and still has) on people. 

Undertale was a big part of my life in the past. To be exact, it was a special interest of mine for years. I would listen to the phenomenal soundtrack on loop, I would watch playthroughs on T.V using YouTube, and I would eat up and create so much fan content, among other things. Every now and then I go back into a less intense version of my Undertale phase, which is what inspired me to write this blog! There’re so many incredible things about Undertale- the attention to even the smallest details, the comedy, the characters, the story, the music, the secrets, the charm- everything, really. Even now, though I’ve watched playthroughs like a billion times, I still find new things. All of these are great topics to discuss, but today I want to talk about my favorite character in the game: Papyrus. 

Papyrus is a confident, energetic, optimistic, and extremely intelligent skeleton who thinks very highly of himself. He often refers to himself as ‘The Great Papyrus’ and commonly thinks he can’t be wrong, but not in a way I found annoying. Yes, he can be a bit insensitive at times, but I don’t think he means to be, he just doesn’t realize. In fact, I’ve noticed that he struggles with recognizing tone, which I appreciate to see in a character, albeit the reason being his optimism and naïve nature. Not to say he’s unaware when something big is wrong, but he gives one of his friends the same gift every time they train because he thinks she loves it. In reality, she just says thanks and puts them in a drawer.  

Papyrus is also just so friendly and excitable, minus the attacking you to capture you and turn you over to the royal guard. Despite your soul being the key to freeing his species from their underground prison and fulfilling his dreams of joining the royal guard, Papyrus still hesitates to attack you. He stops himself in the middle of asking to be friends, telling himself he must capture you and turn you in. He’s one of the only monsters in game who doesn’t try to kill you, too. When your HP reaches zero, your soul stops taking damage and he just puts you in a big shed. He also gets really nervous when you have to face one of his legitimately deadly traps, so he turns it off before you can even do it. Papyrus also lies to Undyne, his closest friend, to ensure your safety, and that’s huge for him. He feels so bad lying, and says he just wants to be friends with everyone. IT HURTS MY SOUL. The reason he wants to join the royal guard in the first place is because he thinks it’ll get people to think he’s cool, get him more friends, and praise him. He doesn’t have many friends and desperately seeks the approval of others, WHICH MAKES MY HEART BREAK. He tries so hard to be loved, man. 

Moving on, a thing I’ve noticed within the fandom is that a lot of people gloss over how smart Papyrus is. Sure, he thinks Toriel is just a shaved clone of Asgore, but he’s built entire puzzles in Snowdin. Puzzles with pressure plates, spikes, axes, flames, and more. He even sets up an invisible electricity maze for you, and in the winter alarm clock dialogue (which is canon) he builds a labyrinth made of ice and musical ornaments in front of his house. The thing was so huge and complex that another character ended up stuck inside. Papyrus’s dedication, creativity, and intelligence is wild. He even painted a rock formation to look like a giant cliff, and it ended up so realistic that people started believing it was real! Though, that might have something to do with the fact Papyrus can break reality… 

Overall, I just really like Papyrus, man. There are so many more Papyrus facts I could share, but then this blog would probably end up clunky and jumping from topic to topic too much. I will say that I don’t agree with his whole ‘don’t be lazy’ mindset towards his brother, but Papyrus still holds a special place in my heart. He’s so goofy, but there’s also so much more to his character. There’s Papyrus iceberg investigations for a reason.

Cringe culture is something a lot of people are familiar with. Cringe culture, simply put, is an online culture of making fun of and/or harassing groups of people for their interests. Teenagers, adults, and even kids aren’t excluded. Years ago, me and my best friends were talking about hyper fixations. I told them I had one, and of course, they asked me what it was on. A wave of dread washed over me in that moment. I was hyper fixated on a character labeled as cringe, and I was afraid they would think I was cringe because of it. Thankfully, they were fine with it. They’ve never supported cringe culture. 

Even now, that fear of being cringe still lurks. (Heck, even writing this I’m worried about it sounding cheesy.)  I don’t see many people outright call something cringe anymore, but the judgement and toxicity is still rampant. I won’t lie, fans can be horrendous, but that’s being horrendous. There’s fans who will send death threats to people who like a character they’re crushing on, but people who support cringe culture will be out there tormenting someone who harmlessly ships themselves with a character. It’s so stupid- if nobody is getting hurt, physically or mentally, there shouldn’t be a problem. If it makes you happy, do what you want! Make fan characters, write that lovey-dovey fanfiction, design those brightly colored anthropomorphic characters, ramble about Undertale! These things make people so happy, and that’s okay. I cannot express my absolute joy when someone is fine with me watching kids cartoons, or when they listen to me go on a tangent about a comfort ship. It feels as bright as the sun.  

Cringe culture looks at all of what I just described (and more) and seethes. It tears people down, it makes people feel like garbage, it makes people hide their hyper fixations, hobbies, art, music, and writing. Cringe culture destroys creativity and joy, and acknowledging how stupid it is incredibly freeing. My stories and characters have never been as vibrant since I’ve kicked away the cringe monster, even though it still lurks at times. Here’s some things that helped me build my confidence! I hope they help you, too. 

• Legit just throw the word cringe into the trash when thinking about yourself and other people.  
• Hold the word ‘weird’ in a positive light! Weird things are great. 
• Try and look at yourself without bias. When reflecting, use neutral wording. 
• Congratulate yourself for the small steps. A step is still a step; look at you go! 
• Fake it till you make it. Of course, don’t ignore your emotions, but telling yourself “I’m going to do great!” When you feel anxious can do wonders.  

(Do keep in mind this is not professional advice or anything. This is just stuff that’s helped me.) 

And with that, this blog comes to a close! Cringe culture isn’t dead, unfortunately, but together people can stomp it into its grave! Do what you love and have a nice day! 

Recently, my friend introduced me to a game called Identity V. It looked interesting, especially because at the time it was having a crossover with a series we both enjoyed, but I was extremely hesitant to try it. It’s a horror game, for starters, and though I love watching horror games, the moment I’m playing one I start quaking in my shoes. Secondly, it looked like there was a lot of content, and I get overwhelmed extremely easily with that type of stuff. Even with games I really enjoy, big updates- or simply a bunch of new dialogue to discover- can frighten me to the point of not picking up the game for months on end.  Even though I was fearful, I still wanted to play. Eventually, I went to the app store and downloaded it before my mind’s screams of “NO,” could stop me. The crossover event had added two big comfort characters of mine to the game, so I used that to calm myself.  

The game is actually really fun! I’ve been playing for a while, and I like it. There were a lot of things to learn about navigating the home page (Is… Is that what it’s called? Uh… Lobby?) such as where shops are, is there more of that introduction story available, how to flip through all the characters, and more, but I got the hang of it. It took me like two weeks to figure out I could just flip the pages of the character journal to see all of them instead of sorting by type.

The characters also have lore surrounding them, but I have yet to unlock any of it. It requires doing a game mode that I’m still building up the courage for.

The gameplay and aesthetic itself is nice. It’s kind of based off old time periods- I don’t know which- and the main story, though uncomplete, is in the mystery genre! I suspect the main story has something to do with why the characters look like sewn dolls, but I don’t know.  There’s a different match types you can do such as rank matches, multiple different modes like minigames, and double hunters, but I haven’t played double hunters or rank yet. The main type of matches are quick matches, which are what I play the most nowadays. Four players, called survivors, are put into different spooky maps with another player called a hunter. The survivors are all humans, whilst the hunters are either monsters or taller/bigger humans/humanoids that carry weapons. The survivors’ jobs are to decode machines placed around the map, while the hunter’s job is to knock down the survivors and put them in rocket chairs to be blasted into the sky and disqualified. Decoding is done through a series of quick time events, and the hunter must hit someone two times to knock them down. Once five machines have been decoded, the exit gates can be opened, and survivors leave through there to win! The hunter must eliminate at least three survivors to win. There’s other mechanics as well, but I don’t want to make this post too long.  

 There’s a ton of different abilities for different characters. Some survivors can electrocute the hunter to stun them, others can turn invisible for a few seconds, and there’s so many more. My favorite survivor characters to play are The Mind’s Eye and The Novelist, granted I mainly play The Novelist because I got the costume that turns them into one of my comfort characters from the crossover… but his ability is still fun!

The Novelist can swap controls with other survivors, if given permission, and you both get a speed boost when swapped. The Novelist can also swap controls with the hunter without permission, but neither of them get the speed boost, they can’t use abilities or interact, and The Novelist must be close to the hunter for a while before the ability activates. A lot of the time swapping with the hunter merely delays getting hit, but there’s also times where the hunter has no idea what’s going on, walking further away from their body, and thus helping you escape when you switch back. It’s also really helpful when saving survivors from rocket chairs. Some hunters camp chairs to stop survivors from rescuing each other, but with The Novelist and another survivor, you can swap controls and give the other survivor enough time to complete the rescue.

The Mind’s Eye ability ties to the cane she uses as a guide. Other items can’t be picked up due to The Mind’s Eye needing the cane, as she’s blind (yay for disability rep!) but you can hit the cane on the ground and reveal the hunter’s location to everyone, including yourself, for a few seconds. In that time frame you can see other survivors, machines, and it’s extremely helpful.

I usually use the ability when the match starts so I can see where the hunter is and stay away from them, because man am I terrible at escaping. The Mind’s Eye is also faster at decoding machines, which is not only super lit and fits my playstyle a lot, but I also enjoy how it subverts the expectation of “Oh, she’s blind, she wouldn’t be able to get it right.” Like no, she’s gonna solve these things at the speed of light and it rules. The downside is that she’s fragile and thus can’t vault over objects and knock things over as fast, but that works for me. The screen also does this really cool thing when playing as her! It gets shadowy and grayscale, which can give areas different vibes. Meanwhile, when playing as a hunter, my main character is the Soul Weaver.

Basically, the Soul Weaver a spider woman that can set up web traps to slow survivors and reveal their location. She can also put survivors in cocoons, which means you don’t have to carry survivors to rocket chairs and risk them struggling free from your grasp. I actually used to only play as a hunter (you can pick which team you’re on, thank goodness) but once I adjusted to the horror enough, I started playing as survivor. Ironically, now I usually play as a survivor! 

Moving on to the community! It’s.. Uh.. The community in the English chats are horrid, but there’s one channel where people say “flesh,” and add “flesh,” to the end of their sentences. The people there are nice, and to my surprise the flesh thing has been going on for years now. The ‘Flesh chat’ as its called also runs a lot slower than the English channels, so it’s less overwhelming. Despite the horribleness in the English channels, I’ve personally run into a ton more nice people than not! People who will do little dances with you, survivors who wait for each other at the exit gate, people who tell everyone good luck, etc. There’s even been a lot of times where everyone tries to save someone at once. If there is someone who’s being whack, they can only talk before and after the game, in which you can just exit the ‘after-match’ channel and probably not see them again. Hopefully. 

 Overall, IDV is pretty neat from what I’ve seen. The game modes are fun, the aesthetic is neat, and people can be nice! There’s a lot more I could go into further detail on, but this is just the basics. It’s playable for free and available on both PCs and phones, so if you want to check it out, you can! I’m glad I battled my fear and went for it. Fear can be valid, but it can also stop people from enjoying things, and unfortunately its difficult to tell which it is. If you think fear’s holding you back from doing something fun, try going for it!

Frogbloginning (Frog-blog-beginning) 

FROGS. The absolute peak of superiority. The most wonderful creatures in existence. The most goofy little guys who can look like they don’t have a singular braincell behind those eyes, but at the same time they look like they’re reading your very soul and they know your darkest secrets. They are SO CUTE. The way they hop around, the way they’re shaped, the way they’re EVERYTHING. They are insanely cool and adorable and I LOVE THEM. I’ve decided to share some cool frog species! Before we get into that, though, here’s something to note:  

Do NOT pick up frogs with bare hands. I know how tempting it is, but don’t! See, frogs have semi-permeable skin, which means they absorb things, like oxygen, through their skin. When you pick up a frog, the oils on your hands are absorbed. These oils can harm a frog, so if you really need to hold a frog, make sure you wear gloves! (Source) Make sure to tell other people as well; unfortunately, a lot of people don’t know this information. Now, let us expand our frog knowledge horizon! Our first little meepy to look at is… drumroll please… 

 The Titicaca Water Frog! (Telmatobius culeus) 

(Source 1) (Source 2) 

Titicaca frogs, like all frogs, are amazing. They are only native to Lake Titicaca, and unfortunately, they are critically endangered. Their faces look like the ‘:3’ emoticon, they’re one of the largest water frogs alive, and they live their entire lives underwater! Yes, they do have lungs, but said lungs are much smaller than you would expect. Titicaca water frogs instead respire through their baggy, folded skin! These frogs will even do ‘push-ups’ underwater to increase the water flowing over their skin, allowing it to absorb more oxygen. What amazing little creatures! 

The Wood Frog! (Lithobates sylvaticus) 

(Source 1) (Source 2) (Source 3) 

Oh, glorious wood frogs. Wood frogs are the only frogs that live north of the arctic circle, which basically means they live in very cold temperatures! As such, they’ve developed an amazing way to combat the cold- wood frogs freeze themselves during hibernation. You heard that right. 35% to 45% of a wood frog’s body might turn to ice when they freeze. The outsides of cells and organs freeze over, ice forms between skin and muscles, and the frog’s breathing, heartbeat, and muscle movement all cease. Once the ice thaws, though, wood frogs hop right back up on their feet, alive! This is possible because the insides of their cells and organs are protected by large amounts of glucose, making it so only the outsides of cells and organs freeze! How absolutely incredible is that?  

The Hairy Frog! (Trichobatrachus robustus) 

(Source 1) 

Hairy frogs are also known as wolverine frogs and horror frogs! Honestly, the last two names are more fitting, as the hairy frog doesn’t actually have hair. The ‘hair’ seen in the picture above are actually filaments of skin that help these frogs breathe more, and they’re only present in males during breeding season! But is a name like ‘horror frog’ really more accurate? To me, yes, and I say that positively. These guys are gruesome in an awesome way- they push their hooked bones out through their skin to make claws! These claws aren’t true claws as they’re made of bone, but that just makes it even cooler.

Frogblogending (Frog-blog-ending) 

 That is the end of this round of frogs! I hope you enjoyed and learned something new. There’s tons of cool frog species out there, so there very well might be another frog blog in the future! Remember to be nice to frogs, and goodbye! 

 (This blog will avoid major spoilers.)

Houseki no Kuni, also known as Land of the Lustrous in English, is both a manga and anime adaptation. The manga is illustrated and written by Haruko Ichikawa, and the anime adaptation was produced by animation studio Orange. Here, I’ll be talking about the first season (and only season as of now) of the anime, though the mangas are most definitely worth checking out too! Before we begin, I think it would be wise to note that in the original Japanese manga, the gem characters are seen as genderless and are referred to with pronouns leaning to ambiguity, though said pronouns can also be seen as masculine. Despite the anime subtitles I’ve seen referring to the gems using she/her or he/him, this blog will use they/them to respect the original creator’s vision. 

*~*~*~*

Plot + Overview

Houseki no Kuni is set in a world void of humans, the dominant species on earth being gems: crystals formed with humanoid shapes, brought to life and given sentience by the microorganisms thriving throughout their structures. For thousands of years, gems have been fighting against lunarians, beings with a Buddhist motif that descend to earth from the moon.

(Photo of lunarians)

Lunarians attack on sunny days, shattering gems with arrows and collecting their shards to turn into jewelry and weapons. The thing is, though- gems cannot die. No matter how many times a gem is shattered, their pieces can be glued back together and they’ll be good as new. The lunarians’s capturing of gems is as close to death as any gem gets, and it’s devastating, especially when they use weapons crafted from the shards of fallen comrades. Shards are collected in hopes of rebuilding those who have been lost. Phosphopyllite, also known as Phos, is the story’s protagonist. Out of the 28 gems in existence, Phos is the weakest, the youngest, and the only one without a job. Phos desperately wants to fight lunarians, going so far as to pester the gems who battle for their job, but Phos’ lack of strength, durability, and skill renders their dream impossible. The good news is that they finally get a job!

It’s filling out an encyclopedia.

Phos has no idea how to fill out an encyclopedia. They procrastinate and ask other gems what to do, but Phos finds their suggestions unhelpful. They try to fill it out, but it’s clear they’re doing the bare minimum, are absolutely lost, and don’t have any passion for it. The plot doesn’t stay on the encyclopedia for long, but it’s expansion into something much bigger feels well-done and natural. The encyclopedia leads to Phos running into an isolated gem, to which they make a promise they no idea how to uphold. The promise leads Phos to working harder, which leads to them going places and discovering things that make them question everything they know about the Lunarians. One of the things I love about this show is how it highlights the fact that all information on Lunarians is unreliable. The only thing the gems know about them is from engaging in battle, in which they very well could only be seeing what the Lunarians want them to see. Because of this, the story’s genre leads into mystery, but over all it’s wonderfully action packed and paced. The season is only twelve episodes, but watching them feels like two whole seasons or hour long episodes. I mean that in the best possible way, too- I got attached to characters, learned more about the world, and invested in the plot all in a short amount of time crafted to feel longer. I’m still in awe about how the writers managed to accomplish such a thing. 

Characters

There’s a lot of characters in HnK, and I love so many of them! Kongo/Adamant (Name changes depending on the translation), Rutile, Cinnabar… for the sake of conciseness and leaving things for you to discover should watch/read this series yourself, I’ll only be talking about a few characters who I especially loved and showcase highlights of HnK’s storytelling!

Phos is a sassy, childish, energetic, and honestly a bit of a brat. Despite these qualities, I actually really enjoyed having them as the protagonist! They’re written in such an entertaining, kind of charming way, dramatic and in-the-moment. They remind me of a younger sibling! They may be annoying, but they truly don’t have bad intentions at heart. Phos grows so much over the course of the series, and despite how drastic this change is, it doesn’t feel forced. It feels natural. Phos’ priorities change, their role models become different, and their goals shift as they forget, learn, and experience more. 

Before we get into the next characters, there’s something important to note; something I absolutely love. The gem characters all have qualities based off of their real life counter parts! The mohs scale is used to determine the strength of a gem. Real-life phosphophyllite ranks 3-3.5 on the mohs scale, so Phos’ hardness is 3.5 in Houseki no Kuni! This means they break much easier than other gems. Structure also plays a factor! If a character is a monocrystal, their body is more vulnerable to impact, as the one gem that makes up their body takes the hit. If a character is made up of multiple, tiny crystals, they can deal with impact better! One of the characters, Cinnabar, is also surrounded by mercury poison. Real-life cinnabar contains mercury! With that out of the way, we can move on.

<(Dia)

                       (Bort/Bortz)>

Dia and Bort have to be my favorite character dynamic in anime. Both of them are diamonds, ranking 10 on the hardness scale and battling lunaraians for their jobs. They’re assigned partners in their job for the sake of efficiency and protection, and though both are forces to be reckoned with, Dia is much more soft spoken and kind whilst Bort is harsh and menacing. Bort tends to shout orders whilst Dia only listens. They think of each other as siblings, though Bort would deny it if asked, but their relationship is… wonderfully complicated. Bort is amazing at fighting, able to take down lunarians before Dia can even lift a finger. Though they’re both a hardness of 10, Dia is a monocrystal and Bort isn’t. When first looking at Dia you would think they’re someone who’s perfect, or someone who at least thinks they’re perfect, but Dia isn’t. They hate their weakness, and they hate how Bort does everything now. Dia is older, but Bort has surpassed them. Dia loves Bort so much, but- sometimes they think along the lines of “If only Bort wasn’t here…” Thinking such things makes Dia think they’re terrible, but they still dislike Bort. Since Bort takes the lead of all the fighting, Bort has come to think of Dia as a liability. Their dynamic is so complicated yet wonderfully done, and it feels so real- like this is a love-hate relationship I would see in reality. There’s one scene with these two that will never leave my mind; they’re so amazing.

Art

The art in HnK is absolutely beautiful. It’s entirely animated in 3-D, something that a lot of anime fans instinctually side-eye. It’s hard to get an entirely 3-D anime to look right, expressive, and pleasing, and the immediate examples of 3-D in anime are of times when 3-D models stick out like a sore thumb against 2-D aspects. Houseki no Kuni, though- it grabbed 3-D animation and ran with it. Orange uses the 3-D medium to its fullest, most notably with the texturing and lighting of characters. Their hair shines and gleams like an actual gemstone, glimmering with light that flickers across their shoulders. Gold and mercury in their liquid form truly looks like shining liquid as well, beautiful yet fitting in with the surroundings. Dynamic shots are used in battles, too, but 3-D is commonly used for that. HnK gets full marks on expressiveness as well- the characters move with so much fluidity and life, and their expressions are well-crafted. They don’t look out of place and draw from aspects of 2-D animation, but incorporated amazingly into another medium. Below are some art examples, but there’s so many amazing shots- these are just images I could get online without giving major spoilers. 

The music in this series is absolutely lovely too. The lunarian’s theme sounds so elegant yet imposing, and the themes over all sound so distinct. The soundtrack is definitely worth checking out.

End

Over all, I really love Houseki no Kuni! I 100% recommend the anime and the manga! Both have their own strengths, and the anime is pretty accurate to the manga with what they have so far. Unfortunately I’m unsure if there will be a season two of the anime, but the manga is still ongoing! Have a nice day!

Zykoria pokes her straw around her slush, the obnoxious sound of scraping plastic mixing with the whirring of the drink machines behind her. The slushie, lime flavored, tastes just as horrible as she expected from a gas station like this. Her green eyes dart back and forth, scanning the grime covered windows, sticky tile floors, and the broken shelves with missing screws. There are even suspicious bloody spots by the entrance, and the two strangers present in the store don’t put her at ease. A cashier, busy reading a newspaper about who-knows-what, and an older man browsing the sunglasses display. Aren’t old people supposed to be asleep right now? It’s twelve in the morning, why is he here? Zykoria doesn’t think he’s a trucker or anything; her and Ripley’s simple van is the biggest vehicle in the parking lot. Thinking of Ripley, Zykoria shoots the old man a glare before looking across the store. She can see the top of Ripley’s afro peeking out from behind a shelf.

The same shelf they’ve visited five times.

Zykoria sighs in annoyance. She’s already gathered four plastic bags, all filled to the brim with essentials, “Ripley, what in the world is taking you so darn long?” She thinks with a frown, “The longer we’re here-“

Suddent movement in Zykoria’s peripherals shoves her out of her thoughts. She instinctively flinches, shoulders bunching up as she quickly pulls her gray baseball cap further down her face. The old man is walking closer, frowning to himself- or Zykoria? 

“What does he want?” Zykoria’s mind races, “Did he recognize me? Does he want to talk? He looks pissed. What does he want?” She tears her eyes away from the man, not wanting him to see her face despite how losing sight of him throws her emotions into a panic. With each approaching footstep, Zykoria’s heart jumps and kicks like a cornered animal, thoughts screeching about danger and demise, hands shaking in terror, the tension wrapping around her throat like burning barbed wire. She has to look up, but he might recognize her. She has to look up- he’s getting closer. Zykoria’s snaps up to stare the man in the eyes. 

The man isn’t even looking her way- he’s staring at a bag of chips with concern. 

“Was he looking at me earlier?” Zykoria bites the inside of her lip, anxieties unwavering, “Why is he staring at the chips? What’s with his expression?” 

The man slowly places his hand on the shelf in front of him, his breathing noticeably more labored. Suspicion bubbling, Zykoria narrows her eyes and takes a few steps back. She watches as the man’s face contorts in pain, eyebrows furrowing, teeth grinding, and then all of it falls as his legs collapse beneath him, body hitting the dirty floor with a loud thump. 

Zykoria stares, slushie still in hand, the dingy lightbulbs above flickering.

“Good lord; AGAIN?! What is this, the third?! I was just STANDING HERE this time!” Fear and annoyance plagues Zykoria as she hurriedly backs up from the soon to be, if not already, corpse. With a frantic glance upwards she can see the cashier looking up, eyebrow raised in confusion. He doesn’t know yet, but he might realize the old man’s gone at any moment. Deductions and plans write themselves in Zykoria’s thoughts, blueprints formulating in seconds. She and Ripley were going to steal anyways; they could use the body as a distraction and book it, or maybe they could-

“I CALL HIS FINGERS!”

To Zykoria’s mortification, Ripley, decked out in an eye-catching orange crop top and shorts, covered in hundreds of distinct scars, completely unconcerned with drawing attention, lifts up the corpse’s hand and whips out a red knife.

The cashier shrieks; Zykoria wants to kick everyone in this room in the shins, “RIPLEY! WE DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THAT!”

Ripley looks over to the cashier with a crazed grin, the horrific, detailed clown makeup they wear making them look borderline inhuman, “I can make time!”

The cashier scrambles out of their chair, hurriedly dialing 911.

Zykoria grabs Ripley by the arm the moment they take a step forward. With Ripley’s weight and her own lack of muscle, Zykoria knows they could just shove her aside and continue their advance, but they don’t, “They’re already on the darn phone- we need to leave now! You can take somebody else’s fingers later or some crap!”

“That’s not as much fun, thouuuuggh,” Ripley whines quietly, but when they rip their arm from Zykoria’s grasp, they dash over to the entrance, throwing open the door with a dramatic kick. They loll their head backwards to face the cashier, “LOCK YOUR DOORS, CASHIER GUY! I’LL FIND YOUR HOUSE AND EAT YOUR TEETH!”

Zykoria smacks Ripley’s forehead with her hand as she runs out, hearing them cackle behind her. The parking lot blurs into lights and darkness, the only thing with relevance being getting out of here. She crushes a beer can under her foot as she runs, startling her so much she nearly trips as she fishes her keys out of her hoodie pocket. The bags she’s carrying get in the way, one nearly falling to the floor. The van unlocks, Zykoria clambers into the driver’s seat, Ripley gets into the passenger’s, and they both throw whatever they gathered from the station into the back. In her haste to close the door Zykoria accidentally shuts it on her left leg prothesis, wasting precious seconds. She curses, opening the door to free her foot and slip it back inside.

“OOOO!” Ripley’s eyes shine. They open their door and stick their foot outside, preparing to crush it. 

“RIPLEY!” Zykoria snaps, “Stop that and put on your seatbelt!”

Ripley huffs dramatically and throws their feet up on the dashboard, closing the door, “So not fun. Imagine what it’d feel like!”

“It’d feel like getting your foot slammed shut in a door,” Zykoria grimaces, clicking her seatbelt into place, “Do you wanna find out what flying through the window feels like, too? Put on your seatbelt.”

“That sounds really fun, actually! Let’s do it!”

“I question how we’re related,” Zykoria frowns, slams her foot down on the gas, and speeds out of the parking lot. Ripley’s laughter mixes with the beeping seatbelt warning.

Like many other kids, I had a dragon phase when I was younger. I still enjoy dragons to be clear, but dragon phases… they are DRAGON PHASES. All I ever drew around the time was dragons, and people even recognized me as that one girl who could draw dragons. 

The books that kicked off this love of dragons was the “Wings of Fire” series by Tui T. Sutherland. (Major and most minor spoilers will be avoided in this post.) I was looking through my middle school English teacher’s bookshelf when I found the winglets book “Assassin.” Winglets are side stories centered around side characters from the main series.

The cover was composed of beautiful green shades and curious spires, completed with a purple title with a dragon emblem underneath. Curiosity piqued, I picked up the book and flipped it over, read the description, then began the first pages. Yes, this was the second Winglets book. My younger self would read things out of order if a book was missing.

I loved the book. I don’t remember much of it now, but it got me hooked enough for me to ask for the rest of the series during Christmas. Little me didn’t realize that winglets were only side stories, though, and I didn’t specify that I wanted the winglets specifically. I face palm at this memory, but it turned out great. Christmas came around and I opened up the entire first series of the main wings of fire series. I read the first and fell and love. This series holds a special place in my heart, but as I grew older I remembered less and less of it. Recently, I decided to reread the whole first two arcs, courtesy of my collection. I was able to appreciate the writing more now, and though I knew major plot points I still had fun. The perspective switching between books is done well, in my opinion. The main character of each book has a plotline surrounding them, but the other characters are still included and the story stays on track to the ultimate goal.  Though both arcs have their ups and downs, the second arc has to be my favorite. The main antagonist is such a cool idea, and I especially liked all of the characters, their struggles, how the characters dealt with said struggles, and the setting. Sutherland also brought back side characters from the first arc and expanded upon them in the second, namely with Peril, Anemone, and Kinkajou. Peril had some great potential in the first arc, so I was especially happy to see her get her own book. While I do love the first arc main characters, the main characters of the second arc were more fun for me to read. I don’t even think I can pick a favorite from the second arc. I will say that I liked the dynamic of the first arc group- there was clearly ‘favorite friends’ and frustrations between the characters, which I felt highlighted how relationships would be strained under their circumstances, having been trapped under a mountain for years with only each other. Despite their arguments, the first group still loved each other, even if their desires conflicted. I also found the plot twists included in both arcs to be satisfying. 

There’s one thing I forgot about, though- these books are extremely violent. The first arc takes place during a war, but there’s no sugarcoating any of the violence and gore. Eggs get crushed, dragons die horribly, and more. There’s plenty of examples I remember, but I don’t think they’d be allowed to be mentioned on this blog. I don’t know how these books get into middle schools, but I don’t remember younger me minding the violence, and current me loved it. I wonder if I reading these played any part in the darker aspects of my stories… There’s also a lot of side-romances in these books. They didn’t impact my experience harshly, and I did like some, but for me side romances aren’t always my thing. I remember one that was discussed, but it wasn’t ever expanded upon, nor did the mentioned characters interact “on-screen.” At least give me some tasty material if you’re gonna propose a ship. However, surprisingly, I didn’t mind the main love triangle included in the second arc. Said love triangle did fall into my category of ‘would have been better as a poly-pair’, though.

At the end of the day, I still do love these books. If dragons are your thing and you don’t mind reading something of a lower age level, I’d recommend them. Yay for dragons!