It’s The Prettiest Boy’s Day!

☠☠Humans are completely superfluous in the Wings of fire books. Humans are a weak plot device.

Everything moves towards dragon riders-like books plot with these "Omg, scavengers can speak dragon!! Let's consider them not animals!". I mean, I would (and all people from my surroundings) be pleasently surprised if the new act wouldn't end up being like that. I came to read about DRAGONS, with dragon morals, who have different from humans behaviour. Not fucking "Omg, humans and dragons are friends!!".

It's as if in damn "Warrior cats" cats suddenly started respecting humans and speaking their language. WC are also books for children. However, they act like cats (in the first books at least), and you can't just close eyes and replace a cat with a human. Tui worked as one of the authors for WC. Yet with the latest wof books, her dragons are losing their 'wild' behaviour, turning into humans 2.0. As if she is running out of ideas for WoF series. because everything feels raw and rushed, but she has to continue milking the books for the money and popularity.

I've noticed the decrease in quality on the third book of second act. The peak of plot was in the first act (I read all acts in almost one go, it's not the nastolgia). Dragons use less and less of their power and animal traits (claws, horns, tails, tribe differences are barely getting brought up). That's not dragons anymore, that's damn flying humans, some of which can breathe under water or change colours.

I haven't read other Tui's books and I can't say if animal humanisation is only WoF problem or overall - Tui's writing problem.

.

just so you know

wildclaw dirt/denim/ultramarine

(python/choir/basic)

i like wildclaws so this is pretty good esp when the colors go well together

bandwagon time. oops, you're a fr dragon now!

spin this wheel for your breed

spin this wheel 3 times for your colors (if you land on the space that says you're a double after already spinning once or twice for your colors, use the colors you already have as your x and y)

Bonus, try to scry your combo.

(I made a forum game of this post, if you want to play along there)

Here's what I got: pearlcatcher, brown/stonewash/tarnish

I know I'm late to the party but I just watched Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe and I have a LOT of thoughts.

I think this was a terrible adaptation.

I think it was a beautifully produced and well acted movie, and maybe without having read the book it would have been fine, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't separate it from its source material because some of the changes were just horrible.

I know you can't keep everything in, that's fine. You cut some things, you rearrange some stuff, you fit within your runtime. But why change some of the most crucial/beautiful moments? I have a long, long list of quotes that were either removed or just horribly altered/misplaced and it's so disappointing.

Getting rid of Mrs. Quintana grasping Ari's face and saying, "Aristotle Mendoza, I will love you forever" is so sad. Changing what Gina said, that Ari says is the "nicest thing you ever said to me" to be something totally mundane (essentially changed "you got hunkier" to "you look different") is just an odd choice. But changing the way Ari reacts to kissing Dante? That's horrible.

Ari was done horribly in this movie, I'm sorry. The actor did great and he was lovely in certain moments, but they took out what made him shine. I have a friend who said they didn't like the book because Dante deserved so much better, and I disagreed. Book Ari has moments where he's an asshole, but at his core he is a kind and loving boy who is grateful and appreciative. Film Ari is a sometimes sweet boy who is more often than not just rude.

I can understand some changes have to be made when adapting a first person POV novel, that's fair, but you can absolutely use body language and other visual cues to give insight. This is especially clear with Ari's dad, who in the book is understandably difficult for Ari to get along with. He's distant and intimidating and doesn't want to be open. But in the movie he just seems like a sad dad trying his best to talk to his teenage son, and Ari is completely rude and cold to him for no apparent reason! Film Ari does not thank or hug his parents when they give him a car. Film Ari does not say goodnight to his father or listen when his father wants to show him a painting. Idk exactly how that all plays out in the book since I forget a lot, but the important thing is that all we are shown is his father trying and Ari being rude in response. His motivation is unclear and his behavior is selfish.

Now, one of the biggest crimes is what happens in the truck after Dante and Ari kiss. First off, change of location from Dante's room to the truck ... Okay sure. But I have no idea how you can first off, totally alter this scene and omit a very important quote:

"I don’t kiss boys.” “Okay, so the first rule is: No trying to kiss Ari.”

"You have the harder rule? Buffalo shit... I, on the other hand, have to refrain from kissing the greatest guy in the universe—which is like walking barefoot on hot coals." (Pgs 256-257)

And then completely and entirely warp this scene:

So I closed my eyes.

And he kissed me. And I kissed him back.

And then he started really kissing me. And I pulled away.

"Well?" he said.

"Didn't work for me," I said.

"Nothing?"

"Nope."

"Okay. It sure worked for me."

"Yeah. I think I get that, Dante."

"So, well, that's over with then, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Are you mad at me?"

"A little."

He sat back down on his bed. He looked sad. I didn't like seeing him that way. "I'm more mad at myself," I said. "I always let you talk me into things. It's not your fault."

"Yeah," he whispered.

"Don't cry, okay?"

"Okay," he said.

"You're crying."

"I'm not."

"Okay."

"Okay." (Pgs. 263-264)

HOW do you turn that into Ari calling Dante disgusting and screaming at him to get the fuck out of his car??? That's the fucking breaking point for me, because Ari is a lot of things, but an outright aggressive homophobe is not one of them. Maybe I'm forgetting, and maybe something similar happens later and they just rearranged it. But I know for a FACT that Ari NEVER calls Dante disgusting. Never. Because the word disgusting appears once in this book and Gina says it to Ari. That's it, not a single other usage.

That's what broke it for me, even though I had a lot of issues with other parts (Ari not saying thank you about the truck, removing the shoe-throwing game, getting rid of so much important dialogue, etc.) THIS is the thing that was unacceptable because even when Ari was mad at Dante, he didn't hurt him. He didn't immediately go back on his loyalty he'd just sworn, to stay by Dante even though he's gay. He didn't scream at him or curse him.

But I also just couldn't stand how much of the beautiful writing was completely removed. I love that book because it's poetic and full of quips and oddities. Dante in the movie is cute and sweet, but the oddest thing shown about him is that he wears silly sunglasses. We're told he's weird, and get little glimpse of it, but the heart of Dante is not there. In the book he feels a little mystified and hard to fully grasp, but in the movie he's just... There. A shell, almost. He's still lovable, but he's not wholly Dante. It's like an afterimage of Dante, which is impressive because he was very personable in the movie, but that just shows how enchanting Dante is in the book. He's hard to pin down, but he's not hollow. I think a big issue was that a lot of the time, Dante seemed hurt by Ari. Genuinely disheartened, rather than laughing it off until he couldn't anymore, he was kind of just sad? I don't know. We had the bones of something beautiful with this movie, really, but they just didn't do it right.

Again, the loss of the poeticism and the changes to Ari are what hurt it the most. Movie Ari has very sweet moments where the book character shines through, but he takes himself too seriously in a way where it feels like we're supposed to as well. Ari is lame! He's an awkward teenager with a lot of angst because he's figuring things out and struggling to find his place in the universe, but movie Ari isn't that at all. He's just brooding and downright mean at times. His reactions to the things around him were so hollow and uncaring, and maybe that's how he looked from the outside, but again, this story was not told from the outside and completely loses it's effect when you can't tell what he's feeling or thinking because he just seems mad or disinterested. Not all the time, there were some incredible scenes. I loved him talking with his parents after he beat up Julian. I loved the final scene with the kiss. I think his reaction worked well when hearing about his aunt's girlfriend. But damnit that was lost to me the moment he called the most brilliant boy he'd ever met "disgusting."

Overall, I don't regret watching the movie and I loved some of the scenes and think the music and atmosphere were great. But I'm heartbroken over the fact that so much of the nuance was completely lost. Even if there was some nuance present in the movie, it was far, far less than in the book.

(Less structured bonus points because this rant was messy enough but I have more to say): Dante told him not to open the sketchbook until he was gone. In the movie Ari opened it right up and made a kind of rude comment. Next: so many important bonding moments were removed. Dante giving Ari a sponge bath and them visiting with each other every day Ari was in the hospital. The shoes were significantly played down to the point where the sentimentality of the little shoes was almost lost. Also: The letters were so entirely diminished. And: Ari's brother killed two people, not just the trans woman but also someone in jail. Bro I haven't read this book in multiple years and I'm able to recount this much, I don't even want to think about how glaringly off it all is when I've read the whole book to compare. (If any of my points were wrong, I blame this. But I'm pretty sure most of them are right.)

I loved the end of the movie tho lol I'm always a sucker for a sweet scene and Dante's actor killed it with the eye acting in that scene, the emotions were palpable.

what slugcat a slugcat

When you have played too much rain world

having fun w/ new brush

was in a drawing mood so i drew a dragon. because that is 90% of what i make ever.

average copper dragon, mostly just a concept for smthn i may or may not commit to as a story. very basic premise but i think as a genre dragon fantasy stories are missing a lot of shit where nobody has sex. like why is there more pages of smut than mentions of dragons. give me a nerd of a protagonist. give me a character who just doesn't need some random man/woman carnally.

the day that "dragon book" actually means "story with a focus on dragons" and not "this is actually a romance novel and your main character is still going to have a heavy focus on how much they want to fuck the love interest INSTEAD of devoting page time to the beautiful lizards" is the day i will ascend

if one of you mfers tells me to read fourth wing i'm exorcising you

on that note i want to see more xenofiction about dragons that's made for more mature audiences. wings of fire is still for a teenage age range... let the dragons swear y'all.

give the dragons significant problems that cannot be solved with the powers of friendship and keep them as draconic as they should be. the world will delight.

i love how tumblr is the "idgaf i'm rambling" site. absolutely made for me

a little ironic that i complain about things focusing more on sex and people than dragons in the post that was supposed to be about dragons. whoops.

copper dragons are 1 of 3 dragon species in this potential universe. they're the most common dragon species (not that this is saying much) and are fantastic all rounders. they are the one dragon species capable of breathing fire via an organ in their throat. as the name implies, these dragons are the color of copper and are primarily orange/brown with blue/grey/green/turquoise spread all along their body. they have no different underbelly color. coppers live in a variety of areas; among dragons they are the most versatile. they prefer forested areas with access to caves and mountains, and are the most territorial dragon species. fun little bastards.

less importantly, in universe these are the dragons the main character is supposed to have, and then ends up getting later on. a bit of poor luck there!

Hmmmm

PROFESSOR SYCAMORE DID YOU FUCK MY MOM