Some things that remind me of other things
Jan. 1st, 2019 06:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhysianaBecause I was recently watching Tiger & Bunny again, was reminded of how well it conceptually pairs with Seanan McGuire's Velveteen vs. series. Sadly, those stories were only put into book form as limited editions, and I missed out on snagging copies *again* just a few weeks ago, but all of them are still available for free on McGuire's old LJ.
Anyway, if you enjoy worlds where superheroes have corporate sponsors (and digging into the nitty gritty of why that's bad and what it can do to both the heroes and the world), plus canonically queer characters of several stripes, I highly recommend it. Not as overtly humorous as T&B gets, since the series opens with Velveteen in her post-hero life and in fairly depressing circumstances, but the action picks up pretty much right away. (I'm actually not sure I ever finished reading the most recent stories; I should go check.)
Also, because I have several people I follow on Tumblr who are super into Detroit: Become Human (the fic and art, at least, not so much the game, which seems like the right choice, as by all reports the game is fairly garbage and I can under no circumstances let M play it because he will flip tf out over all the Detroit inaccuracies--but I digress), I keep thinking about how unfair it is that the Karl Urban show Almost Human only got a single 13-episode season (because Fox is the worst, as usual), and also what a crime it is that said show isn't 1) on streaming services everywhere now that it's been several years anyway 2) in the correct order. I bought the digital version of it for myself because I got tired of checking to see if it was on Netflix or Prime yet and rewatched it once, but have yet to go back and do a rewatch with the episodes all in their intended airing order.
(The order Fox aired them in, I shit you not: 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 3, 10, 2, 9, 4, 11, 12, 13. I will never stop being mad about this. Of course it didn't have the ratings you wanted! You messed up all the plotlines in a high-concept futuristic sci-fi show, including the interpersonal character arcs that the audience was supposed to latch onto to get them through the worldbuilding! The show had Karl fuckin' Urban in it! This was not a hard sell, you guys.)
*takes a moment to compose myself*
As I was saying, this show was great, and so underrated, and did such a good job setting up a robot/human interaction arc that we never got to see come to fruition. The robot's line was decommissioned for having so much empathy it appeared to drive them insane? And now they brought one back to partner with a detective who hates robotic police partners on principle and has a wealth of issues surrounding the fact he now has a robotic prosthetic? And then the detective finds himself liking the robot more than most of the humans he has to interact with despite himself? Look at this angst! Look at this enemies to lovers potential! They go from the detective threatening to throw the robot out of the car to getting mad at him for risking himself to save the detective when he's kidnapped and the robot drains the last of his charge to get to him. (I need the show to be readily available on streaming services because it is tailor-made for the kind of fandom we have now.) Add in the fact the overly empathetic robot is played by a Black (well, biracial) man, which adds such an interesting layer to everything. I actually bought myself a book of academic essays on "Representations of the post/human" because I was having so many thoughts about this show (...which I have not delved into yet, but still! I have it!)
If you have watched it and need your soul soothed about its abrupt ending, I went through the AO3 tag and came out with some recs, the most important of which is One of the Crazy Ones, an utterly perfect two-part series that picks up where canon stopped.
Uh... I think I had at least one other thing where two unrelated works paired themselves in my mind, but I can't remember it now, so I'll leave it here.
Anyway, if you enjoy worlds where superheroes have corporate sponsors (and digging into the nitty gritty of why that's bad and what it can do to both the heroes and the world), plus canonically queer characters of several stripes, I highly recommend it. Not as overtly humorous as T&B gets, since the series opens with Velveteen in her post-hero life and in fairly depressing circumstances, but the action picks up pretty much right away. (I'm actually not sure I ever finished reading the most recent stories; I should go check.)
Also, because I have several people I follow on Tumblr who are super into Detroit: Become Human (the fic and art, at least, not so much the game, which seems like the right choice, as by all reports the game is fairly garbage and I can under no circumstances let M play it because he will flip tf out over all the Detroit inaccuracies--but I digress), I keep thinking about how unfair it is that the Karl Urban show Almost Human only got a single 13-episode season (because Fox is the worst, as usual), and also what a crime it is that said show isn't 1) on streaming services everywhere now that it's been several years anyway 2) in the correct order. I bought the digital version of it for myself because I got tired of checking to see if it was on Netflix or Prime yet and rewatched it once, but have yet to go back and do a rewatch with the episodes all in their intended airing order.
(The order Fox aired them in, I shit you not: 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 3, 10, 2, 9, 4, 11, 12, 13. I will never stop being mad about this. Of course it didn't have the ratings you wanted! You messed up all the plotlines in a high-concept futuristic sci-fi show, including the interpersonal character arcs that the audience was supposed to latch onto to get them through the worldbuilding! The show had Karl fuckin' Urban in it! This was not a hard sell, you guys.)
*takes a moment to compose myself*
As I was saying, this show was great, and so underrated, and did such a good job setting up a robot/human interaction arc that we never got to see come to fruition. The robot's line was decommissioned for having so much empathy it appeared to drive them insane? And now they brought one back to partner with a detective who hates robotic police partners on principle and has a wealth of issues surrounding the fact he now has a robotic prosthetic? And then the detective finds himself liking the robot more than most of the humans he has to interact with despite himself? Look at this angst! Look at this enemies to lovers potential! They go from the detective threatening to throw the robot out of the car to getting mad at him for risking himself to save the detective when he's kidnapped and the robot drains the last of his charge to get to him. (I need the show to be readily available on streaming services because it is tailor-made for the kind of fandom we have now.) Add in the fact the overly empathetic robot is played by a Black (well, biracial) man, which adds such an interesting layer to everything. I actually bought myself a book of academic essays on "Representations of the post/human" because I was having so many thoughts about this show (...which I have not delved into yet, but still! I have it!)
If you have watched it and need your soul soothed about its abrupt ending, I went through the AO3 tag and came out with some recs, the most important of which is One of the Crazy Ones, an utterly perfect two-part series that picks up where canon stopped.
Uh... I think I had at least one other thing where two unrelated works paired themselves in my mind, but I can't remember it now, so I'll leave it here.
