Dandelions and Dragons: Webcomic Fluff Dump

I've (Citali) been reading more webcomics lately! Here's my list + spiels.

1. Flowerpot: "A story about a boy who grows dandelions from his head because of a mysterious disease, and all the problems that entails. Ten years ago, Ben was the first person to be infected by a strange disease that causes flowers to grow from his body every spring and summer.  In a world where flowers have become frightening, Ben has come to accept that most people will want to keep their distance from his dandelions.  However, when an enthusiastic photographer arrives out of the blue and asks Ben to be a part of his project, Ben begins to discover what being a “flowerpot” really means."

Ben is Patient Zero for fleurine, a recent illness that causes flowers to grow from his hair. Flowers are feared as carriers of the infectious disease, and "flowerpots" like Ben must guard against people's prejudices. A fluffy comic with lots of friendship and flowers, not to mention some succulents, annoying relatives, and cuddly friends.

Some swearing (Eileen can get angry).

Read here: http://flowerpot-comic.tumblr.com/post/136451157935/flowerpot-title-page-extra-fleurine-pamplet

2. Always Human: "This is a story about nanobots, genetic engineering, and two girls falling in love. No matter how technology changes us, we'll always be human."

Sunati's always admired the one girl she always sees at the train station without any "mods," or genetic modifications like the ones she's always used to. Then she finds out the reason Austen isn't modding is because she can't; she has a syndrome that prevents her from living like everyone else does. Also super fluffy with friendship, representation to the nines, real-world problems (stress! failure! feeling like an impostor!). A watercolor art style that's super calming.

Some swearing in Spanish (from Austen).

Read here: http://www.webtoons.com/en/romance/always-human/1-i-guess-thats-why-i-admire-her/viewer?title_no=557&episode_no=1

3. Tea Dragon Society: "The Tea Dragon Society is about a young blacksmith apprentice, Greta, who is learning her craft but isn’t entirely sure what use it has in modern society. When she encounters a tea dragon and becomes closer to those who raise them and grow their tea, she learns about the dying art form and how it enriches the lives of those she meets—and eventually her own. With the experiences and the memories she makes, she begins to wonder if there’s a value in craft all of its own."

A soft lineless fantasy style: tea dragons are a notoriously finicky breed, treasured for their priceless tea. When Greta, a blacksmith's daughter who's more compassionate than plucky, rescues a jasmine green dragon, she learns about the wise elder Hesekiel and his old friend Erik who raise them. The fluffiest thing I've ever read—super calming, cute art, and worldbuilding to the nines!

Super family friendly, great for anyone at all who needs more cuddly dragons in their lives.

Read here: http://teadragonsociety.com/comic/chapter-1/

4. Mooncakes: "Long-lost childhood crushes Nova Huang and Tam Lang have reunited for the first time in ten years. They have a lot more to deal with this time than just being the only two Asian kids in school (who also happen to both have magical abilities). The comic focuses on their relationship as they struggle through bills, family, and weird horse demons in ways that only a witch and a werewolf can."

Super cool to find urban fantasy that's not grimdark and edgy! The worldbuilding in this one is great: the witchy bookstore that Nova's grandmothers own, Nova's own stellar fashion sense, the art style in general! It's a classic comics line style. Not to mention how diverse it is! As it's shaping up, it looks like this will be a fun fantasy adventure with a tinge of romance. Super diverse too: hard of hearing, LGBT+, and Asian American (!) characters galore!

A few swear words.

Read here: http://mooncakesomic.tumblr.com/

--

Yes, I read a lot of fluff. That's what comics are to me: they're short, so they're mostly for rereading value. I love the characters and the worlds, and I want everyone to have a happy ending! It's perfect for scrolling through on a bad day.

Happy reading!
~Citali

BILL BILL BILL BILL (No, Not That One)

Hey, guys! It's Willow here, and after 2 years, I'm jumping right back into Doctor Who.

As some of you might know, Doctor Who's 10th season starts this Saturday (April 15th).

Normally, I wouldn't make a whole entire post just to talk about a new season of a show, but this season? This season is special.

For one, it's the last season of both Peter Capaldi (the 12th Doctor) and showrunner Steven Moffat.
(I won't pretend I'm not glad to see Moffat go, but that's a story for another time.)

It's also the introduction of a new companion: BILL POTTS.

I barely know anything about Bill (played by Pearl Mackie), but I love her already.

Why? Well.

• She's no one special. She's not Clara Oswald, the Impossible Girl, woven into the Doctor's timeline and his hearts. She's just an ordinary human being who's been given an extraordinary opportunity.
• Doctor Who, here, is returning to its roots. At its core, it is a show about (ironic though it seems) humanity, about how normal people can do incredible things if you just give them the chance.
• It hasn't exactly adhered to that standard recently, though. Ever since Moffat took over as showrunner (from the inimitable Russel T. Davies), the show has gotten ever more convoluted and its characters more ~special~. In my opinion, it's too much. I, for one, miss the simplicity, the humanity of RTD-era Who, and I know I'm not the only one who does. So of course I'm glad the show's going back to where it started.
• Bill is New Who's second POC companion-- third, if you count Mickey Smith. I can't stress enough the importance of diversity in media, and Bill is an important step forward.
• She's also openly gay, and the first companion to be so. Once again: diversity. To have one of the show's main characters be both POC and LGBT+ is an incredible milestone. (She's not the first LGBT+ character on the show*, but she's the first gay companion.) (*Jack Harkness, Madame Vastra, Jenny, River Song, Clara Oswald, etc.)

Judging from the trailer, it's going to be a somewhat more light-hearted season, one that's focused on misadventures throughout spacetime rather than destiny and ominous prophecies. I'm also excited to see the return of John Simm's the Master, and how he interacts with Capaldi's Doctor and Michelle Gomez's Missy. 

All in all, this season looks to be absolutely ~fabulous~ so far, and I can't wait to watch it!

Happy watching,

Willow

Solarpunk

Hey guys! We're back from a bit of a hiatus. We're announcing a new schedule: we'll try to send out a new post to you all every Thursday (or at least once a week), even to just check in. Hope to see you all a bit more!

Can I talk about science fiction for a bit? Not the Victorian original science fiction mixed with fantasy that is steampunk. Not the robots and distant universes that is classic sci-fi. Not the artificial intelligences and spaceships that is space opera. Not the dictatorships and near futures that is dystopia. But the science fiction that is solar panels and art and rebellion in a beautiful way and in a gritty way that is solarpunk, also known as one of the leading subgenres of optimistic fiction and science fiction. 

I've written a little about solarpunk before. But what exactly is it?

It's a subgenre of sci-fi that's mostly still in ideological stages—unlike other genres who can clearly point to a founding author, the nature of solarpunk is that its inspiration comes from lots of varied authors: Nnedi Okorafor's afrofuturism, Ernest Callenbach's environmental utopia, Alaya Dawn Johnson's Brazilian monarchy, Neal Stephenson's optimistic principle-based sci-fi. A few founding anthologies such as Wings of Renewal and Hieroglyph have been produced, but not much more than that.

Personally, I see solarpunk as an optimistic, aesthetic sci-fi—not built on flat white male characters like Jules Verne's classics, not as dark or pessimistic as The Hunger Games or Divergent, and more technologically advanced and responsible than the classic '50s sci-fi of, say, Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep or the I, Robot works of Isaac Asimov. 

The idea is that it's a futuristic world that we can begin building now: embracing the valuable, diverse current cultures and the complexities of current issues and incorporating that kind of responsibility into mainstream society in a way that's still a reachable standard today. 

What I find most interesting about solarpunk's emergence is that its two founding documents, so to speak, are 1) a series of images of solarpunk fashion and architecture, created by an artist and 2) a political philosophy drafted by a member of Arizona State University's Center for Science and the Imagination. In other words, this genre is built on ideas by people from what others might call the opposite ends of the academic spectrum. 

Members of the solarpunk community now write anthologies; cosplay solarpunk fashion; make art; write fantasy and sci-fi taking place within a solarpunk world; ponder how society today would change in a more ideal solarpunk world; share experimental science that could have futuristic applications; and figure out how we can work today to make our world a little bit more optimistic and a little bit, dare I say, prettier. 

The political side of solarpunk: social justice for everyone. The world today isn't the ideal, and there are things that we can change to make it closer to one. How would whole systems change to ensure the rights of girls, the poor, the disadvantaged, the disenfranchised? How would income work in a world where robots could do the manual labor and where the sun and the wind and possibly some photosynthetic algae could give us endless energy? What about the educational system, charity work, democracy? How could the system be changed to "make scientists heroes again"?

It might seem like fluff or utopia, but solarpunk is the punk-rock response to today's world and today's fiction. In a world where the mainstream is discouraging radical diversity and love, acknowledging problems—and more importantly, their solutions—and living hopefully is the rebellion.

Solarpunk is something that I love because I can stretch it, and because there's more than just writing advice in the community. I want to read a story about a way to build a city without coal or carbon dioxide—then be directed to a link about how people are building it now. I want to read colorful stories about dragons with solar-panel wings and helicopters running on biofuel—in the same universe. I want to see characters who look like me and with backstories like my parents', written by an author who looks like me and my parents. I want to be part of a community where the #solarpunk tag has art and cosplay and photos and exposés and research and writing, whether it's fantasy or sci-fi or could take place in my neighbor's backyard right now without me having a clue. I love solarpunk because it's being built right now, and I'm having a tiny part in that.

Happy reading,
~Citali

Star Wars Has a Women of Color Issue

Hey, everyone. Willow here! The title of this post is fairly self-explanatory, so. Yeah.

A month or so ago, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was released. Citali and I went to watch it together, and came out trembling, emotional, in awe.

What makes Rogue One so great is that not only is it gorgeously written, it's also infinitely more diverse than any Star Wars movie has ever been.

Only one of the protagonists was white. The others-- each with a fleshed-out story arc and excellent characterization-- were all men of color. 

Excellent!

But.

The white character was Jyn Erso, only female lead and arguably the main character.

Look. Every time there has been a new Star Wars story, the main female character has been white.

Padmé Amidala. Leia Organa. Rey. And now, Jyn.

Star Wars has a WOC issue. Namely: there are none.

But Willow, you say. What about Steela Gerrera? Or Depa Billaba? Or Korr Sella? Or Breha Organa? Or--

Well, my dear reader, what do all those women have in common? Oh, that's right. They're all minor characters. And they're all dead.

Fine. But what about Sana Starros? Or that one Rebel from Rogue One?

Hmmm. Tell me, if you go up to a hundred random people, how many of them do you think would recognize the name "Sana Starros"?

The galaxy of Star Wars is bigger than just the movies, yes. There are animated TV shows and books and comics galore, but here's the thing. The movies are the most important part. They're the franchise's biggest, most popular branch. 

If you want diversity in Star Wars, you need it in the movies. And I'm not saying that Finn and Poe and Chirrut and Baze and Cassian and Bodhi aren't helping, but we need our WOC too.

So give me a Calrissian daughter, or Finn's mother, or Poe's cousin. Give me WOC Jedi and WOC Sith and WOC pilots and stormtroopers and civilians and bounty hunters. Give me queer WOC characters and trans WOC characters and old WOC and young WOC and--

Well. You get my point, no?

Willow

Willow Liveblogs Voltron: Legendary Defender

Okay, so I will freely admit that I only thought of liveblogging this halfway through the first episode. Still. I've heard people talk about how good this show is, so I decided to try it out. Forty minutes in, and HELLO NEW FANDOM.

Here we go, and be careful: Spoilers for the first episode ahead.

• Purple aliens! Cool.
• There's a moon of Pluto called Kerberos. I'm guessing Kerberos is the Roman form of Cerberus, Hades's 3-headed dog? Fun fact: Cerberus, literally translated, means something like "Spot". That's right. Hades, lord of the Underworld, named his dog Spot. Nerd.
• Hunk no don't vomit-- too late.
• Pidge is so smol. So. Smol. 
• Pidge is also, apparently, really smart. Nice.
• So this is the Shiro I've heard so much about. Hmm.
• There's an immediate Lance/Keith rivalry. Interesting.
• Giant blue robot lion aww yeah.
• Giant blue robot lion vs. evil purple aliens aww yeah.
• It's a pretty wormhole!
• Princess of an ancient civilization, and she's not white. Nice.
• Shiro is such a Dad Friend oh my gosh.
• C o r a n ' s  m u s t a c h e.
• Aww, Pidge. Smol insecure genius child. I want to hug you.
• Hunk. Chill. It'll be okay. 
• "Go. Be great." my little HEART just melted.
• With a name like Zarkon, there's no way he can be anything but evil. 
• Coran, not helping.
• Pidge. Oh, Pidge. I love you.
• The whole "Allura-in-a-computer-garden" thing is giving me River Song feelings.
• Why is forming Voltron the only way to stop Zarkon? 
• Armor. Sweet!
• *snaps fingers* That's it! That's who Lance reminds me of! Sokka!
• Yesyesyes. Keith is Zuko. Lance is Sokka. Even the color schemes match.
• Shiro, honey, you okay?
• Oh. Oh. Pidge, poor baby.
• "What the quiznak?"
• Helpful mice are helpful.
• Nice going, Keith.
• So. Apparently I have a thing for one-armed butt-kickers. Anakin, Bucky, and now Shiro.
• BLACK LION IS ACTIVE. SWEET.
• Oh, quiznak. This looks bad.
• Oh, yes. 

In conclusion: AWESOME. Go watch this right now.

Pros:

• Good characters
• Humor
• Character development
• Nice animation

Cons:

• Literally only one woman
• Minor plot holes

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to watch the next episode.

Happy watching,

Willow

A Very Short Post on a Very Underappreciated Character

So I was rewatching Doctor Who, and I watched "The Christmas Invasion" (one of my all-time favorite episodes), and then I basically went on a rant on the Camp NaNoWriMo chatroom. This is a slightly edited, elongated version of that rant. Apologies for excessive analysis and run-on sentences.

Mickey Smith. Mickey, good old Mickey, faithful, reliable, steady as a rock, watches helplessly as Rose wanders farther and father away from him. She has seen things and people that he can never, will never, imagine, and each time she visits, his heart breaks a little, doesn't it? Because this Rose, the one that stands up to an army of Sycorax, the one talking back to a Dalek's "Exterminate!", the one holding the Doctor's hand and positively glowing with happiness? It's not his Rose, not the Rose he fell in love with. She is so much more, but she is not his anymore, and that breaks Mickey's heart.

Mickey watches as Rose and the Doctor fall head over heels for each other. He stands by as they gallivant across the galaxy, hand in hand, making memories and chasing trouble. He understands-- and this, this is important-- Mickey understands that what Rose Tyler needs is something that he can't give her. But the Doctor can, you see, and it's oh so obvious that the two were made for each other. So Mickey Smith steps aside and lets the Doctor and Rose tumble through their epic romance. And the best part? He's not bitter, or petty about it. Not overly so, anyway. He will still always be there for Rose and the Doctor, but as a friend. Always a friend.

Here is what I love about Mickey: he moves on. He accepts the challenges life throws in his path, and he moves on. Alternate universe? Fine, I'm staying, I have a duty to this world. Rose Tyler madly in love with a time-traveling alien? Let her be happy. Mickey moves on from what he cannot change; he goes freelance and marries Martha Jones. (By the way: that was an amazing cameo.)

So yeah. Mickey Smith, everyone.

~Willow
P.S. Ten was the best. No question.

Willow Liveblogs Watching Son of Batman

Hey everybody, it's Willow!

So I've recently gotten into DC Comics... (I know. Citali's first reaction was "You're cheating on Marvel!" No. No, I'm not. You can like both.) and since a movie called Son of Batman was on Netflix and I had nothing better to do, I watched/am watching it. Well, by the time this post is done I'll be done watching it... but I'm liveblogging it. Son of Batman, I'm guessing, is going to be a Damian Wayne origin story, because... duh. Apologies in advance for the all caps and squeeing.

(liveblog:  to post commentary about (an event) online while the event is taking place, typically in the form of frequent short blog updates)

Here we go!

W: Oh, hey, look, it's the **League of Assassins** in **Nanda Parbat**. I have to admit,  Nanda Parbat looks better here than it does in live-action, on Arrow.

W: Who's the old guy Talia calls "brother"?

W: Oh... okay then. Someone's attacking the League. Shouldn't world-class assassins be harder to take down? 

W: Oh, it's Deathstroke! Cool.

W: Daaang, Damian! This kid is, like, ten, and he just stuck a sword through a guy's eye.

W: Aaaand the League is dead. Welp. Looks like Ra's [al Ghul] is dead too.

W: They're going to Gotham! Where Batman is! I wonder why? *sarcasm*

W: Hi, Bruce! *waves* Talia just saved his black-clad butt, BTW. Nice.

W: So Talia had time to change into a fancy dress and Bruce is still in his Batman costume? Hmm.

W: Yes, Bruce, you have a son. Gasp! Also: Damian is a brat and I love it. "Don't look so surprised, father. I thought you'd be taller."

W: Damian is tiny; how does he know how to drive?

W: Alfred Pennyworth is my jam. Sarcasm sounds the coolest in a British accent... wait a second. Wait a second. He just said "Master Dick." Does that mean... *gasp*

W: Ruh-roh, Deathstroke's back. Man-Bats, seriously? Oh noes, Talia!

W: Back to Gotham. Damian is chasing a dude named Ubu. Scratch that, beating up a dude named Ubu. Oop, he's trying to kill him...

W: YESSSSS!!! DICK GRAYSON DICK GRAYSON DICK GRAYSON YESSSSS!!!

W: *snorts* "Bruce, chill. What's he gonna do, swim there?" Yes. Yes, he is. Nightwing, I love you, but you really don't know Damian Wayne.

W: Climactic fight scene, Talia takes a bullet, yadda yadda yadda... more Man-Bats. Lovely.

W: Batman + his batarangs to the rescue! He just overloaded a bunch of overgrown Frankenbats with sonar.

W: Talia's with Bruce, and Damian's left to fight Slade.

W: DAMIAN VS DEATHSTROKE!!! This is a Very Good Fight Scene, and dang, Damian, you've got skillz! 

W: Seriously, though, kid can't be more than ten, and not only is he fending off Deathstroke, but he wins. The. Fight. Damian Wayne, everybody.

W: He won't kill Slade... why? "I am my father's son"? Damian, you literally just met the guy.

W: Talia knew Bruce would come save her? Please. This was a good movie if not for the awful characterization of Talia. She's the daughter of Ra's al Ghul? She drugged Batman once? She can handle herself.

W: End of the movie. Bad guys defeated, of course. Talia's going to rebuild the League, but Bruce wants Damian to stay with him and be Robin. Why? He's a (talented, but still) brat. And Talia just lets him take her son? *flips table*

W: Well, here we are.

The movie was pretty good.

• Damian kicked butt and was wonderfully bratty and arrogant.
• Alfred was appropriately dry and sarcastic, which I loved.
• Dick Grayson. 'Nuff said.
• That last Damian/Deathstroke fight scene was *perfect*.

However...

• Talia al Ghul should be a *villain*, not a *love interest*.
• The League was taken down too easily.
• This movie needed more Dick Grayson. I want that Dick/Damian fight scene!
• Where's Tim Drake? Or Jason Todd, for that matter? They're never mentioned.

That's the end of my liveblog. See you next time!

Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na, BATMAN!

~Willow

(Sorry, I had to.)

Steampunk Library: Library Series

Citali again with another library! This library is a steampunk vehicle-house! This, I guess, is the first installment... I might add more to the Athenaeum's story later.

Steampunk

She pulled the lever, and the Athenaeum Airship began jolting forwards on its large velocipede wheels. The open windows clattered in their frames and let in a wind that whipped her braids back along with her scarf. Steadfast, nowhere did the pilot's eyes wander until she grabbed the throttle and pulled it farther back, tipping the Airship back on its oversize wheels and setting its batlike wings flapping as the Athenaeum lifted up into the sky. Stepping out of the controls area, the pilot yanked sharply on a bellpull. A horn let out a loud, comical squawk and a boy wearing airship goggles and a mischievous expression popped his head down the skylight. The girl snatched the goggles off his head. "That's where my goggles got to?"

The boy grinned and hopped down from the skylight, bowing a bit. "Isn't that what your little-brother-librarian-sidekick is for?" Turning serious, he continued, "What's our next city? Did you see the trunk of books I managed to get at that antique shop in that last town? A steal! They're really good too; some of them actually aren't falling apart at the bindings."

The pilot-girl rolled her eyes halfheartedly. She might never let her little brother see it, but he really was a good librarian-sidekick. "Yes, we've got to sort out those books you found. Come on, the Airship can fly itself for a few hours, and we must get those books on the shelf before we get to the next town." Turning, she gripped the railing of an old iron spiral staircase and descended to a lower floor. Here, below the deck where she piloted and her brother kept watch over the wings and the steam engine, was the Athenaeum itself: the library. Leather poufs filled the space between half-full bookshelves. The girl opened the window seat between two bookcases and pulled a needle and thread, as well as a bottle of glue, from the repair kit she kept there. As her brother descended into the library with a battered trunk, she opened it to reveal even more stacks of books. "It was a good find," she admitted. "But like all good things, it can always be better if we make it so." He rolled his eyes at her waxing philosophical, but took the glue bottle she offered him and sat down on his own pouf, checking book spines and applying glue.

A steam horn squawked. "Come on, we're almost to the next city." Her brother tumbled the unfinished books into the window seat's storage and scrambled up the spiral stairs behind her. As he climbed to the rooftops to sight the town through the clouds, she pulled down her goggles. Before her, clouds scudded past as she lowered the Airship down into a field. Before she could stop her brother, he'd given an ear-piercing whistle and sounded the squawky horn of the Airship again. Children and adults spilled out of the town buildings towards the airship taking up the town common, holding baskets full of books.

Children tugged at their mothers' skirts as they waited their turn in the "magical house" of the Athenaeum. The girl had thrown open the windows, and shouts of the children running around the commons followed her down the stairs to the Athenaeum floor. As her brother set the last books on the shelves in order, she threw open the doors. "Come one, come all! Visit the Athenaeum Airship, home of books you need! We fly from city to city to bring you from your world to a world far away!"

And as her brother, swarmed by little boys, went over to find some serial novels for his flock (though closely watched by slightly disapproving parents' eyes), the pilot-girl took a basket of books and wandered out onto the common.

"Come one, come all. I'm here, the Athenaeum girl, with books for those who don't want to venture from your world; books that are here, right now."

Happy reading!
~Citali

After

I sense a disturbance in the Force: Spoilers!

Luke gives him a Jedi's funeral, for which he is impossibly grateful. (You don't deserve it, says a voice in his head. It sounds like Palpatine's. He pushes the thought aside.)

No, the important thing right now is: where is he? He's fairly certain he's dead. Wait. If he's dead, how is he thinking? He lets out a huff, then another thought occurs to him. His breathing is... silent. For the first time in twenty-six years, he can exhale without the accompanying whoosh of his suit. Slowly, not daring to believe it, he looks down.

Hands, both flesh. Feet intact. He reaches up, trembling, to touch his head, and feels-- hair? Yes, hair, the roguish curls he last remembers having during the Clone Wars.

Nope. Impossible. He's hallucinating. (You can't hallucinate if you're dead, Ani. This voice sounds like Padme, and it's equally soothing and heartbreaking.)

How is this happening? He was a Sith for close to thirty years; shouldn't he be burning in some Force-forsaken netherworld?

"Always so dramatic, Skywalker."

The voice is not his; he has not heard it in decades. (There is a lump in his throat. It was not there before.) He looks up and there they are, alive and well-- well, not alive, but standing there in front of his eyes is the Council: Mace Windu, the one who spoke to him. Plo Koon. Ki-Adi-Mundi. Depa Billaba. Kit Fisto. Even Piell. Adi Gallia. Saesee Tiin. And standing in the front, green-gold eyes filled with liquid wisdom, Master Yoda.

He does not hesitate before dropping to his knees and prostrating himself in a full kowtow. "My masters," he manages to choke out, "I am so, so sorry." It is an incredibly inadequate apology, he knows. "I... failed you. I failed the Order, I surrendered to the Dark. I have done such horrible, horrible things, and I am so sorry."  Words cannot express his guilt. He hopes they understand that. Even so, he does not dare to raise his eyes from the ground. Cowardly to the end, Skywalker.

"Anakin." This voice (one more familiar to him than any other in the galaxy) is rich with warmth, with kindness. "Anakin, get up."

And oh, if anyone could ever break him, it was Obi-Wan. The sound of his voice shatters Anakin's resolve; suddenly there are hot tears rolling down his face, and Obi-Wan is helping him off the ground and embracing him. (He is sobbing like a youngling now, because this is Obi-Wan, and Force, he has not seen him for so long...)

After a minute or so, Obi-Wan holds him at arm's length and examines him."No, Anakin. You did not fail me."

"Master, I killed you."

At this there is a ripple of amusement in the Force. "Only because I let you, my young friend. Only because I let you."

Anakin smiles through his tears. Typical Obi-Wan. "Where am I, Master?" he asks.

Obi-Wan raises an eyebrow in an all-too-familiar expression. "I would have thought that was obvious, Anakin. You're dead."

"I know that, Master. But where am I?"

It is Master Windu who replies. "You are one with the Force, young Skywalker."

"Or," supplies Obi-Wan helpfully, "rather colloquially, you are a ghost. A Force ghost, to be precise."

"That doesn't make sense, Master. I was Dark. How am I one with the Force?"

Master Yoda steps forward, and Anakin kneels to face him. "The Chosen One, you were. Jedi you were; Sith you became."

"I know, Master. I am so sorry." He is a rather tongue-tied ghost, it seems, only able to repeat one phrase of apology.

Yoda waves his gimer stick."Know this I do! Interrupt me not!"

Anakin bows his head in acquiescence.

The diminutive master harrumphs, then continues. "In the end, bring balance to the Force, you did. Die a Jedi, you did." He chuckles. "Only thirty years too late were you!"

Anakin winces. "Yes, Master."

"A joke it was, Skywalker. Bear no ill will, do we."

"I am responsible for so much death and destruction, Master. How can you just forgive me?"

"Jedi we are. Hate we do not, young one. At peace be. Your fall, the will of the Force it was."

He rises from his kneeling position and addresses the whole Council. "Thank you, my masters. I do not deserve this... but thank you."

"There is nothing to thank us for, Anakin," replies Obi-Wan. "Now come. Qui-Gon's been waiting for you a very long time. And Anakin?"

"Yeah?"

Obi-Wan smiles. "Welcome home."

FINIS

Hope you enjoyed! *hands you a tissue box*

~Willow

All Rise For the General (Episode I)

It's Willow here, with the first of my series of Star Wars posts. Enjoy!

Let's talk about Leia Organa. Princess, senator, rebel. Mother. Force-sensitive who chooses a different path. Who, despite having lost nearly everything, never even considers the dark side. (Skywalker boys, take notes. This is how it's done.)

We meet her first in A New Hope as she's captured by Vader and his stormtroopers. Leia never so much as flinches, going so far as to sass the man who captures her. ("I recognized your foul stench when I was brought on board.") Remember, this is a girl barely out of her teens. She's twenty. She's incredibly tight-lipped about the rebels' whereabouts, resisting interrogation by a menacing torture droid. Tarkin threatens to blow up her home planet, yet she remains silent. Tarkin actually does blow up her home planet-- and she lies, says Dantooine.

Think about this for a second. This twenty-year-old just witnessed a planet exploding. Millions of deaths. The destruction of everything she's ever known and loved. The massacre of her family. Yet Leia Organa maintains the presence of mind to lie to Grand Moff Tarkin about the rebel base. She allows herself no time to grieve. When Luke and company rescue her, she focuses on the task at hand. She snaps at Han, fires at stormtroopers, and comforts Luke when Obi-Wan is killed.

She allows herself no time to grieve. Even after the Death Star is destroyed, after Luke and Han are rewarded for bravery, she remains stoic. She has a duty to the Rebel Alliance, and she will bring down the Empire if it's the last thing she does. Do you think she never second-guesses herself? Do you think she doesn't blame herself for her parents' deaths? Leia pushes down her pain and carries on, something her biological father never learned to do.

To Be Continued

I hope you guys enjoyed this! This... Leianalysis will be continued in future posts. Please, don't hesitate to send me feedback. After all, as befits a Jedi, "I come to serve".

~Willow

These Are Not the Spoilers You're Looking For (These Are, In Fact, the Spoilers You're Looking For)

Hi, it's Willow here with the start of a new Archives series!
As many of you can probably guess from the title, it's going to be a very Star Wars-centric selection of posts.

It will include:

• Spoilers for Episodes I-VII
• Spoilers for all six seasons of Star Wars: The Clone Wars
• Spoilers for season 1 of Star Wars Rebels
• Spoilers for many of the new canon books and comics

It will NOT, however, include:

• The Expanded Universe (new canon calls it "Legends")
• Star Wars Rebels season 2 (I haven't gotten the chance to watch it yet)

This series will be a collection of posts critiquing, analyzing, and discussing multiple aspects of this wonderful galaxy far, far away. I'll write about character analyses, plot discussions, book reviews, parallels to the real world, and more.

May the Force be with you always,

Willow

Solarpunk Library: Libraries Series

Hello, it's Citali here, with my first post in the libraries series: a solarpunk library.

Solarpunk

The library had been the first thing the city rebuilt after the apocalypse, by unanimous vote of all the citizens. Standing outside, he always took a moment to look up at the building. Seemingly squeezed onto a street corner, the former apartment building now had its balconies, fire escapes, and even its roof glassed in. Through the colorful stained-glass-like mosaics created by the solar glass, he could see the library already humming with life, even at this time in the morning. Quickly, he locked his bike into one of the colorfully painted racks and entered the library. Inside, he immediately started hunting down his favorite reading nook. Passing an end table with a whimsical sign saying Leave your favorite book, take someone else's as your own, he took a look at a dark blue hardcover with a graceful, cherry-red high heel. With a grin, he took the book, taking one out of his backpack to leave, a silver-and-blue book probably about two inches thick and yet one of the greatest stories he'd ever read. Next to the end table lay a pile of colorful beanbags with a lanternlike stained glass lamp hanging above, casting a warm glow. Letting himself fall onto the beanbags, he put his feet up and opened the new book. A few minutes later, a boy in walked by with an overstuffed backpack and a tiny kitten following at his heels. Pausing at the end table, he thoughtfully flipped open the cover of the book he'd left and scanned a page or two. Deciding to take it, he pulled a thin yellow paperback out of his backpack with difficulty and left it on the table. The boy would have walked on, probably to find an armchair for himself and his comical kitten, but something about the other boy made him pause. "Nice book," he said. The kitten padded up to the beanbag boy and patted his shoe.

Happy reading!

~Citali

"My Mind is Blown, I Bet Yours is Too, Well, I Guess This is Doctor Who"

Okay, so you guys probably know that I'm (Willow here, hi!) the Archives' resident Whovian. I've been itching to watch Series 9 (more Twelve! more Clara! I  have a MIGHTY NEED!), but, unfortunately, I don't have cable. This is a S9 spoilers-free post, so don't worry about that.

Anyhoo, I recently discovered the wonder that is Chameleon Circuit. It's a band that writes primarily Doctor Who-themed songs, and they are all FANTASTIC! (Thanks, Nine.) While the band is on hiatus right now, it's got two albums out already: Chameleon Circuit and Still Got Legs. Their songs are all wonderful, and they give me all the FEELINGS. My personal favorites are "The Big Bang Two", "The Doctor is Dying", and "Exterminate Regenerate."

A lot of you guys probably know all this already, but for those of you who don't, here's a little fandom news for you.

Chameleon Circuit's music is on YouTube, so go check it out if you haven't already!

~Willow
P.S. DOOOOOOOO WEEEEEEEEE OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO :-)

Books for Sci-Fi Fans: Recommendations Week

Happy holidays from Citali!

Though we've mainly focused on fantasy and fandoms here on The Fangirl Archives, I, for one, consider myself a fan of sci-fi too! So begins my first Recommendations Week post, a list of five great books for sci-fi fans! Some are classics in the genre, some aren't, and they're in no particular order. I know I'm stealing Willow's specialty of booklists a bit, so I'll keep to my own specialty of offering small tidbits of summary or blurb.

1. The Neptune Project by Polly Holyoke. I don't think I'd ever heard the name of this book before I plucked it off the library shelf, but I think it should definitely be better known! Nere, the main character, has always felt like an outcast with bad vision and breathing. But then her mother tells her she's part of a group of teens who have been genetically engineered... to be able to survive underwater, to escape.
2. Foundation by Isaac Asimov. This is probably one of the best-known cornerstones of the sci-fi world, but it is definitely a good book! It follows a man and his followers, Hari Seldon and the Foundationers, as they use math, science, and maybe a bit of realpolitik to bring their galaxy out of the falling age of the Galactic Empire and into a newer and brighter dawn.
3. Across a Star-Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund. While also not well-known, this takes place after a eugenics war in which the nobility genetically engineered their children and the poor weren't able to. However, after this "genengineering" led to Reduction, a disease, the formerly poor took revenge on the Reduced nobility and set off a chain of events leading to this sci-fi retelling of Baroness Orczy's classic The Scarlet Pimpernel. 
4. Cinder by Marissa Meyer. I've sung this book's praises forever and can't recommend it enough -- come on, it's Citali, you knew this would be on the list. Cinderella retelling meets crazy queen from the moon, New Beijing, cyborg, bioelectricity-manipulating Lunars, and a sweet, real romance.
5. Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer. When all on Earth came out to watch the beautiful astronomical event of an asteroid impacting with the moon, they didn't know it would lead to dystopian disaster. Nudged closer to the Earth, the moon throws off weather, sunlight, communications, and agriculture, sending the formerly tame, suburban life of Miranda into a struggle to survive through resourcefulness, isolation, and closeness with her family.

Happy holidays as you rocket off to the future!

~Citali