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Excuse Me While I Fangirl: RIP Merlin

Like all fans of the AWESOME tv show, Merlin, I was super sad last night when I saw the news that this season–currently airing in the UK, but coming to SyFy here in the states in January–is going to be the last one. WAAAAAHHHH!!! So sad! This just means that I’m going to have high hopes when new episodes start here for something EPIC and MIND-BLOWING.

In honor of our fearless king and his wizard, as well as my abiding love of superheros, I found these pics of Arthur, Merlin, Morgana, and the rest of the major knights photoshopped all artsy-fartsy as The Avengers. The only blemish is that they couldn’t find an Avenger counterpart for Guinevere. Alas.

Happy trails to you, friends. Keep fighting the good fight.

Sir Percival as Thor

Sir Elyan as the Hulk

Sir Leon as Hawkeye

Sir Gwaine as Iron Man

Morgana as Black Widow

King Arthur as Captain America

Merlin as Loki

*I have no actual idea where these images came from initially, but I found them (in these sizes, unfortunately) on Tumblr.

Tags: fangirl!, Merlin

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Excuse Me While I Fangirl: More Korra Art

16 Aug

Guys, I miss Legend of Korra SO HARD. Like, on Saturday mornings, I think of how there’s no new episodes on anymore and it makes me a little sad. So to help stave off my deep need for more Korra, Mako, Beifong, and the rest, I went searching for some arty Legend of Korra goodness on a great website for prints, Society 6. I think I found some super prints, too. *SIGH* Korra…I miss you, girl!

These prints link back to the pages on Society 6, where you can order one to hang in a place of prominence. Obviously. Thanks and PROPS to the artists!

Y’all KNOW I would find the map of Avatar world. (Even though I don’t know what it’s called.)

Aang! Toph! Katara! ZUKO! The Gaang is all tribal up in here, friends. I love this one.

Seriously, super talented artist people? This print is so pretty! I love the turquoise and the orange. THESE TWO.

Guys, this print is called “Portrait of a Hero.” OF COURSE it would be a print of Beifong. Would Legend of Korra be as fantastic as it is without Beifong kicking ass all over the place, making sacrifices and being a BAMF? No. No way.

I love this picture of Tenzin because, one, it’s an illustration, and I LOVE those. Two, the colors are perfect. Three, it’s TENZIN.

Umm, hello! Of course I’d rather be pro bending! Well, only if my teammates were Mako and Bolin, and only if there was none of that “stop pro bending forever because benders are the WORST” rhetoric going around. But YES to this.

Water bending FTW! Actually, whenever I take any of those, “What element are you on Legend of Korra?” quizzes, I always end up an air bender. So maybe I should be saying, “Air bending FTW!” just to be consistent. But I do love this print, because Korra is basically a superhero.

So I love this print because I love the colors. It’s got blue for water, green for earth, red and orange for fire, and some more green/blue for air. All the elements. And I love how it looks like Korra’s got some flames coming off of her or something. Just awesome.

Dang, I love this world. I LOVE IT.

Tags: Aang, art, Avatar, beifong, korra, legend of korra, tv love

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Excuse Me While I Fangirl: Legend of Korra Art

29 May

Legend of Korra Fanart

GUYS! There was no new Korra this weekend! EPIC SAD FACE. Curses upon you, Nickelodeon, for deciding to re-air the series premiere instead! If a recap is what you are searching for, Lisa @ Lisa Is Busy Nerding did an exceptional job with it. You should check it out. But to get me through my Korra Wednesday, I decided to give in to my minor obsession with Deviantart, the BEST website maybe EVER for fanart, prints, illustrations, photography, etc. It’s a great place to buy awesome prints from artists and also a SUPER place to indulge in nerdery. OBVIOUSLY I go there to see how other fans are interpreting some of my favorite fandoms: Korra, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, comic book characters, EVERYTHING.

So without further ado, here are some of my favorite Deviantart images for Legend of Korra. Just a few. As always when I post images like this, click on the picture to enbiggen and check the source link in the caption. HOLLA and props to the artists, who are all amazing. Especially to a girl who’s stick figures are only vaguely humanoid.

Love the illustration of Korra, Mako, and Bolin each drawn in their nation’s color. First time I saw this it reminded me of the Olympic rings.

The Legend © Top-Cap

Umm, what? Legend of Korra stained glass artwork WITH Amon and mother effing AANG?! I’m a little bothered by how HUGE Amon is, but whatever. I’m a sucker for stained glass. So pretty!

Korra, going all avatar on our asses. Which hasn’t actually happened yet. I don’t think. I’m pretty sure I’d remember if Korra all of a sudden had eyes that glowed like that. But can you guys NOT EVEN WAIT ANYMORE to see Korra put a smackdown like this on Amon!? Me neither.

*Fans self* Mako, even though you are a cartoon, you are FINE. I would never, EVER ask you to stop wearing your dad’s scarf, or make you wear a bathing suit that covered your insanely sculpted chest. I MIGHT ask you to wear that pageboy cap again, though. *fans self*

I had a hard time finding a picture where Bolin actually looked like a badass, but I like this one. He’s fistpumping that Earth! Guys, I LOVE Bolin. I don’t ship him and Korra, but I love him. His girl better be ACE.

THIS is my ship…

…and THIS is why. THE GAZING. One of my favorite ways to cuddle. I love that his scarf is draped over her mouth, like they’re connected by it, and the way his hand is almost playing with her hair, which I LOVE x infinity. SIGH. LOVE.

I love a good black and white picture, friends, whether illustration or photo. This is so pretty. Just Korra and her polar bear dog together. Also, I WANT A NAGA so badly. Please and thank you.

GAH!! PABU!! So stinking adorable. And I love how he’s rolling around in Bolin’s noodle bowl. How could you not love this face?

The two avatars. LOVE IT.

Tags: fangirl!, legend of korra

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My Bookish Loves: Part the First

14 May

My Bookish Loves

So a little while back I saw a post by Asheley from Into the Hall of Books–a SUPER blogger whom I adore–about some of her favorite bookish things and when I read it, I was like, “YES! I LOVE ALL THE THINGS! I am inspired!” Because I have lots of little things about books that just…make me giddy. They aren’t always big things, or immediately noticeable things, but every time I set eyes on one of these little quirks, it makes me happier to have discovered both it and the book that brought it to me.

So here we go! Just a few of my favorite book nerdy things. Trust me, though: There’s more where this came from. You’ll probably see it soon, too.

Turquoise

One of my favorite colors. One of my favorite stones to wear as jewelry. When I see turquoise on a book, it immediately catches my eye and my fancy. Not blue. TURQUOISE.

The Iron King (Iron Fey #3) by Julie Kagawa

The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus #1) by Rick Riordan

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

The Penderwicks on Gardam Street (The Penderwicks #2) by Jeanne Birdsall

Weird trim sizes

So typically, the trim sizes on most of the books we read are somewhere between 6 x 9 or 7 x 10. That’s all perfectly fine. So when I notice a book that is obviously more square, or much smaller, or much larger (without being a picture book, mind you), it immediately makes my book nerd INSANELY happy. Like, CRAZY happy.

Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols

Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel, Volume 1 by George R.R. Martin, Daniel Abraham (writer), and Tommy Patterson (illustrator)

Savvy (Savvy #1) by Ingrid Law

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Maps

I love maps so much that I had to include them here, even though I’m trying to keep this list superficial (only things on the outside of books rather than inside). I even posted about some of my favorites because I love them so much, and think they are so important, especially in fantasies.

The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy

A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire #1) by George R.R. Martin

Title fonts that grow organically out of things on the cover

I LOVE THIS. I’m not talking about pretty fonts. Or cool-looking fonts. I’m talking about words that grow out of trees or serve as a component of the cover art itself. Seriously, this is one of my most nerdy bookish loves. It tells me that the people who designed the cover know what the book is about, and they take COHESION between the cover and the text inside seriously. WORD!

Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

Supergirl Mixtapes by Megan Brothers

The Sinister Sweetness of Splendid Academy by Nikki Loftin

Embossing/stamps/foil on the hard covers

Take those case covers off once and awhile, friends, and you might discover some perfect little details underneath. It’s like the cover has these awesome little secrets.

A Dance With Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire #5) by George R.R. Martin

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary (Fablehaven #4) by Brandon Mull

The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games #1) by Suzanne Collins

Savvy (Savvy #1) by Ingrid Law

Spine titles that are written horizontally not vertically

Easier to read, friends. And not so common, either.

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle #1) by Patrick Rothfuss

Lowercase fonts/two different fonts in the same title

LOVE the lowercase titles, and ESPECIALLY love the two different fonts in the same title. Just like the way they look, guys.

If I Stay (If I Stay #1) by Gayle Forman

Linger (The Wolves of Mercy Falls #2) by Maggie Stiefvater

The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

The Summer I Turned Pretty (Summer #1) by Jenny Han

Playing Hurt by Holly Schindler

Tags: books, fangirl!

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Categories Fangirl

Fantasy Map Love

21 Mar

Not All Who Wander Are Lost

(Or, why I could easily navigate the way to Rabbit’s House/Monsea/the Gryffindor Common Room etc.)

So, maybe by now you guys know that I love fantasy. If you didn’t, well, I love fantasy. ADORE IT. When I read a high fantasy book that has a map, it instantly is one of my favorite things about that book. And when I read a high fantasy book that DOESN’T have a map? I feel like a big part of that book is missing. I want to be able to know the world, to see it, to understand how the author imagined the world as they were writing. Maps are, in my opinion, pivotal for context. Also, they’re pretty and often look old or antique, and this just tickles my history-loving fancy.

Because of this love, I wanted to show you some great fantasy maps. Some of these are from the books themselves, some of them are not. It’s certainly not an exhaustive list, but you can click on each to enbiggen. There were great maps that I couldn’t find images of online. I tried to keep it YA/MG, so it’s possible that I’ll highlight some adult high fantasies in future map nerdings.

But what do you guys think? Do you love maps like I do? What one map is a particular awesome favorite of yours? What fantasy that you’ve read most NEEDED a map (my personal vote for this is THE LOST CONSPIRACY)?

100 Acre Wood, by A.A. Milne

So, my map love probably started with this one: The 100 Acre Wood. I remember watching this cartoon in the mornings and loving how each episode started with a look at the map. SIGH. Winnie the Pooh 4 LIFE!!!

The Seven Kingdoms from Graceling, by Jeffery C. Mathison

The Dells from Fire, by Jefferey C. Mathison

Both of these maps appear in the published books of GRACELING and FIRE, so if you’ve read those books, you’ve seen these maps. But I still think they’re awesome and cool to look at and I LOVE Kristin Cashore, so Seven Kingdoms map love!

Ravka from Shadow and Bone, by Keith Thompson

You guys, I was already geeking out with excitement for SHADOW AND BONE by Leigh Bardugo when she posted this map of Ravka on her website a couple of months ago. If you haven’t seen it already, it’s totally worth an enbiggening. Plus, the illustrator, Keith Thompson, is the mad genius behind the interior illustrations in Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan series.

Kingdom of Tortall, by Haley

Tamora Pierce writes SERIOUSLY amazing girl-power high fantasy and I LOVE it. There are so many great maps of Tortall, in the books and elsewhere, but I like this one. One of my favorite things about Tamora Pierce’s books is that they all take place in the same world, so each book we read only furthers our familiarity with the places. SWEET!