11 reviews

[farla]

Lady Sings the Blues (Snowman, DD)

She's never knocked on any door, anywhere, at any point in her life, because Midnight City belongs to her. It's a black pearl in her favorite necklace, a sliver of onyx in a ring she never takes off, a tourmaline bracelet worn for an electric violin recital.

I like this bit a lot, and also how you write her and Droog's relationship.

She pauses, says more quietly: "I'd talk to Stitch but he don't like keeping his hands to himself."
"Don't he?" Droog says. "News to me."
"He's a goddamned gadabout."
"Ain't you just clocked him one yet? Tell me you smacked him right across his ugly face or somethin'."
"You shitting me? Doc'd have me out on my ear."

This, less so. Aside from the fact in the scheme of things I'm pretty sure Snowman ranks well above Stitch, he's also the one instigating things here and smacking him would be a pretty mild response.

Karkat Vantas and The Gangster of Secrets (Karkat (Slick))

We Jammin' (HB (SS, CD, DD))

This feels like an incomplete thought. It's not a bad idea but it doesn't go anywhere.

The Handmaid's Debt (Hussie, Handmaid (Doc Scratch))

This feels like it has far too much time spent on setup for such a basic joke. (Also, if you repeatedly state it's got a twist ending that isn't want people will expect, it's actually pretty obvious what it's going to be.)

Bottle (WV (SS, PM))

This setting is depressing in so many interesting and terrible angles. Poor WV. I'd say he'd be better off if he could actually be in a real relationship with someone who isn't a horrible person, but Slick would probably just kill them.

Of gods and games. (Doc Scratch (GPI))

"The host" and "the guest" thing is honestly more tedious than stylish, and the whole fic feels too drawn out and repetitive.

Cold Hands (DD (Aradia, Slick, Boxcars))

a thing we like to do (Jack (Crossover character))

 The first time you dig your knife into his side, he stares at the blood like he can't believe that it's actually coming out of him. Then he attaches himself to your free arm, which conveniently lets you stab him again without problem. You do not give hugs, or even half hugs.

Strangely adorable.

I love how terribly slowly Jack realizes there's something just a bit wrong about the guy.

Midnight Crew Shorts

Droog could explain how it’s better that Slick pick his fights with him than Deuce, who can’t fight back, or Boxcars, who will, but he senses that Deuce is already getting overloaded. “It’s just how it is.”

Poor Droog. Slick is a terribly high maintenance moirail. I rather like his smugness, though.

Chapter 2

I’ll squint if I want
, says that look. 

Something weird with your formatting there.

The gift is brilliant and Droog's reaction perfect.

Chapter 4 (DD, CD, HB, SS)

The image of Droog standing there contemplating the merits of individual oranges is a great one. Rare to see Slick with something like a point.

(Secretly) (PS (SS))

It occurs to me that perhaps some of the weirdness of the crossoververse is that for all PS is getting the weaker side of the relationship, he's often somehow on top. Just part of the general wobbly characterization and the sense everything going on has more to do with various kinks than anything.

Nepeta: Explain Shipping Wall to Dad in great detail (PI (Nepeta))

"It's really prrrrrretty simple, Dad," she says. "Mister Sleuth and Karkitty's dad have all the quadrants."

God I hate this verse.

Midnight Hustle (DD, CD, HB, SS)

Very, very clever. I'm ashamed to say I fell for it as well, even though hopeless derp CD isn't even a characterization I particularly like.

Coffee (Itchy, Crowbar (Clover, Fin))

Yeah, this is pretty tired. Itchy liking coffee is a joke beaten into the ground, and there's no plot here at all - he gets up, he discovers they're out of coffee, he gets upset, he's told to just go buy it. I'm sure you could do something interesting there, but you have to do something more than just referencing coffee.

Snowman, DD
Karkat (Slick)
Hussie, Handmaid (Doc Scratch)
WV (SS, PM)
Doc Scratch (GPI)
DD (Aradia, Slick, Boxcars)
Jack (Crossover character)
DD, CD, HB, SS
PS (SS)
PI (Nepeta)
DD, CD, HB, SS
Itchy, Crowbar (Clover, Fin)

Two of thirteen.

Comments

[conceptofzero.livejournal.com]

I think part of the Sleuth weirdness is that he becomes more and more like a Marty Stu as the universe progresses. It's not just enough for him to be an enemy that Slick likes; he has to be the very centre of Slick's universe, the man who fills all of Slick's quadrants and knows exactly what he needs at all times. And it's not just enough for Sleuth to be a detective that Slick finds interesting; he has to be the very best detective, also the most attractive, also he plays guitar, also he knows exactly what Slick needs even when Slick doesn't etcetc.

[farla.livejournal.com]

...oh god. Yes.

also he plays guitar

And sings beautifully and Slick is overcome by jealousy because he's so awesome.

And also he's able to beat Slick in a fight.

Mobsterflip is kind of the inevitable final stage, then. PS is now in possession of a weird cross between both their powers and completely dominant in the relationship, while SS is the younger helpless completely powerless woobie who also had a terrible home life and needs PS to protect him from himself. I think he's also shorter now.

[conceptofzero.livejournal.com]

And don't forget that Snowman is now no longer relevant to Slick's life at all. She's not an ally or an antagonist, and she doesn't even any any agency. Snowman is now the powerless chief of police, or the lazy superheroine who can't solve crimes on her own, so she just steals all of Slick's hard work. And the major things she does to Slick - taking his eye and arm - are now things Team Sleuth does. It's really quick impressive how they wiped her out of their AU entirely so they didn't have to deal with her and Slick's shared history anymore.

I followed a few of the main Mobsterswitch people when Slick made his final transformation into a total powerless injured woobie. I couldn't take it anymore. It was one thing to have Sleuth be an awful dime-store version of the Joker, and PI as a grimdark Riddler. It was another thing to utterly destroy Slick's character in order to make Sleuth the dominate, dangerous one.

[farla.livejournal.com]

And it's not even like there's a reason for the police to be useless. In terms of plot, which okay is terms no one's thinking of, if the detective MC is teaming up with the mobster PS crew, then the only remaining antagonist would be the police force. If they're useless, there's no point in them even being in the story.

or the lazy superheroine who can't solve crimes on her own, so she just steals all of Slick's hard work.

I was kind of surprised when I saw that, since it seemed so out of left field, and then I realized that this is pretty much people's view of how things went down in canon. Also, it serves the vital purpose of making Slick's dislike for her completely valid and justified, and having everyone else agree with him. (The weirdest thing? Pretty sure woobieing is because they like him so much.)

I think my hate meter maxed out when I saw character tumblrs doing PS/SS shipteases when the response they give to Snowman is like it's some bizarre crackship the freaks thought up and THEY'RE NOT TROLLS STUPID and anyway she just sucks.

[ember-reignited.livejournal.com]

"I was kind of surprised when I saw that, since it seemed so out of left field, and then I realized that this is pretty much people's view of how things went down in canon."

...oh.

Well, fuck. And the fact that they're using it in AUs like this and it needs no explaining seems to indicate that they really think that's what's in the text.

I think my hate meter maxed out when I saw character tumblrs doing PS/SS shipteases when the response they give to Snowman is like it's some bizarre crackship the freaks thought up and THEY'RE NOT TROLLS STUPID and anyway she just sucks.

What.

[farla.livejournal.com]

Or in the case of the previous review set, they know it's not in the text (though I wonder if that's just because it was a response to a comment with a paragraph listing every way it wasn't in the text) but it's "headcanon" and is just getting thrown in anyway because they prefer that. Either way, it's what everyone really wants to believe, so everything seems to end there.

(Do you know what I think I've never seen? A story that assumes Jack is incompetent. Even when they think his programming is fucked up, he's still smart.)

What.

http://stabby-slick.tumblr.com/post/11725287074/hardboiledcandycorn-hate-to-chop-all-of-your

"i am so fucking seductive

soon hell be all fucking over me

and i can go through him and control all the shitty ass police after me all the fucking time

not like i actually feel anything for this idiot though"

[ember-reignited.livejournal.com]

You were first off named JACK NOIR before the Sgrub game started and were forced to work for the black queen. You tried to get away or rebel as much as you could without being beaten up. This is how you got your sarcasm and grumpiness.

Cart. Horse. You are doing it wrong.

[farla.livejournal.com]

I just checked tumblr tags to see if misanthropy was making me overestimate the popularity of one verses another (Spades Slick tag? PS/SS. Snowman tag? FUCKING PS/SS.) and someone was saying that they know Snowman's abusive but uh didn't Jack kind of exile her? What do you guys think? And someone replied saying poor baby Jack had no choice.

He just wanted to stop her evil D:

[ember-reignited.livejournal.com]

...are you fucking serious?

Yeah, she was probably a tyrant to some degree, but at least she was the kind of tyrant who understands that if you murder everyone you won't have anything left to rule!

[farla.livejournal.com]

I think it was just that Slick had no choice because she was so mean to him or something? I don't know. Either it was saying she was sheer evil and taking her out was just necessary, or it's saying that petty bullshit is enough for Slick to be blameless. Both options make me hate people.

[ember-reignited.livejournal.com]

You have me looking at the Spades Slick tag on tumblr now. Fuck you.

[farla.livejournal.com]

It's fandom. Everyone has to purr.

(...it makes no biological sense for the spots to be in random location! WHY)

[ember-reignited.livejournal.com]

Sounds like the first item on a Rules of Xeno list. All fictional sapient species purr. Any salient characteristic that is not a normal part of human anatomy is an erogenous zone.

P.S.

[ember-reignited.livejournal.com]

When in doubt: tentacles.

Re: P.S.

[farla.livejournal.com]

And when not in doubt, also tentacles. And possibly heat and/or mating seasons.

[(Anonymous)]

why no more pkmn reviews?

[farla.livejournal.com]

Pokemon reviews are for January! And Halloween night, too.