LITERALLY. *snaps Aggressively In Agreement*

I’ve been in burn out since the beginning of march, but it doesn’t matter because I have to finish the semester, so I’m crashing out in small increments 🫠🫠🫠

These books are my ride or die ❤️‍🔥

You might think I'm normal but I actually have an unhealthy obsession with the never ending saga of unnecessarily attractive queer demon-slayers who solve generational trauma with swords, sarcasm, tragic love triangles and making-out-in-the-middle-of-war. Or best seller YA series "The Shadowhunter Chronicles" by former fanfic writer Cassandra Clare as some might call it.

I lied. It's not just obsession. It's actually the sole reason I'm still alive.

THISSS!! Ugh bro that is perfect analysis and I am OBSESSED with it!!! you took the words right out of my mouth :))

You know what my actual favourite Andrew Minyard line in the whole series is? It's not his sentimental lines like, "...from now until May you are still Neil Josten...". It's not even the best love confession in all of literature line, "Doesn't mean I wouldn't blow you." It's when he says "I'm not as smart as I thought I was."

That one line tells you so much about Andrew's character. That's the line that spells out for the reader that Andrew is smarter than he chooses to let on. That's the line that shows you just highly Andrew thinks of his own intelligence and how much he's been relying on it to survive and to keep his promises.

Consider that up until that point Andrew has presented himself with nothing less than the domineering kind of toughness you'd expect to see in a prison scene in a movie. He openly talks about breaking Neil, threatens multiple people with knives and makes everyone work around him. His "tough guy around town" persona and his ability to inflict violence is clearly something he prizes. AND YET. The first time he admits to any kind of dissatisfaction with himself, it's about his intelligence.

That is the point where the reader realizes that Andrew, in his own mind, is an intellectual. He doesn't actually pride himself on being the toughest guy in the room. He's aware that he's all of 5-feet-nothing and he knows at any given moment there's likely to be someone bigger and stronger than he is. What he's counting on in any given situation is being the smartest guy in the room. Fix any issues before they worsen, anticipate and eliminate any threats before they surface, think his way out of any problem that comes up. His intelligence is what he relies on to keep his promises.

That's the moment Andrew realizes that he's been letting his feelings get the better of his logic. He clocks Neil as dangerous from day one. But he's been telling himself that he's letting Neil stay for Kevin's sake or at least just until he can definitively prove Neil is dangerous. But the real reason he let Neil stay and get away with all his sketchy behaviour is because he let the fact that he likes Neil as a person, overcome his logic.

It makes you think, OH, THAT'S WHY Andrew was so interested in Neil in the first place. For someone who prides himself on his intelligence and KNOWS that no one else can match his smarts, Neil figuring out his twin switcheroo trick is the same as Neil throwing down the gauntlet and challenging him to a battle of wits. Andrew keeps trying to trip Neil up and Neil keeps batting his attempts aside and Andrew ends up helplessly charmed by Neil. Because Andrew LIKES that Neil is able to outsmart him sometimes, that Neil is his intellectual equal. And somewhere along the way, he's let himself forget that he "knows better" than to get emotionally attached, than to let someone else best him at his best quality- than to act like every other idiot in love that he's ever met.

You then realize that Andrew hasn't once thought of himself as brawny jock. That off-putting delinquent/school-shooter vibe and "psycho" reputation is a carefully calculated form of self-defense. It's self-defense in the literal sense of scaring off people who might want to fuck with him, but perhaps also in the sense of protecting himself from being seen. It makes sense, right? If people were to actually try to get to know him with an open mind, they'd soon discover that he IS difficult to get along with in ways they thought they could handle, but can't. Better to act the volatile asshole than suffer the disappointment of people changing how they treat him. And in the unlikely case that people find out that he isn't as tough as he presents himself, they might pity him. And that would be even worse. Much better to be as un-fuck-with-able as possible.

First time reading the book, I was taken in by Andrew's jock-ish façade. But the moment he admitted maybe he ought to be disappointed in himself for not being as smart as he thought he was, I had to set the book down and rethink every assumption I had made about Andrew as a character. The timing of that revelation is so perfect, because it happens just before the Thanksgiving mess. And so as the reader, you're suddenly coming to terms with the fact that Andrew is so much more vulnerable than he's ever portrayed himself to be at the same time that Andrew is being hit with probably one of the worst moments in his life. Like, that absolutely TOOK ME OUT. Which is why, that's one of the best lines in the whole series to me.

If you have about two mins please read this:

I just want to go ahead and throw this out there: as a fandom, we all are here because at one point or another we picked up AFTG for the first time and could never put it back down again.

We all love Nora. We all respect her. We all are very excited about many things for a multitude of reasons. As we should be because holy shit did we get some news today!

And yet some of us are already bickering over contradicting opinions. Please listen to me:

If you’re not excited for the two books focusing on Kevin, that’s ok. Say your piece and move on. Or! Discuss it with someone. Don’t just sit and argue. We’re years away and you don’t have to commit to those books in the slightest.

Or if you’re in one ship tag and another ship is tagged there that you don’t like— ok. Just scroll or tap away. It is a little frustrating when it isn’t what you’re looking for but no one is making you read it. Especially if you disagree with it.

We got some fantastic news from Nora barely 12 hours ago and I already see posts bashing the people that still like/want kerejean or the people who still think jerejean will get married in the next book, this and that and etc.

People. It takes significantly less effort to just swipe away than it does to call someone else out on what they believe/want. I’m not trying to add to the negativity with this; I’m saying let us all say what we want to say.

We do not have to agree with each other. No fandom does. I don’t have to agree with you and vice versa— neither of us has to agree with person C playing the banjo in the corner, or with the random cat smoking a pipe on the subway. Do you see what I’m trying to say?

We can disagree. And we no doubt will because the next book is probably going to be released in 2026. We have six and a half months until we roll into the next release year. There’s going to be banter and discussions but the point I’m trying to make is we don’t need to argue.

The entire core focus of All For The Game is what? Found family. It’s in the Foxes. And the Trojans. Even the Ravens if you squint hard enough at their shared trauma.

At the end of the day we’re all still fans of the same thing for one reason or another, plus the angsty trauma Nora has inflicted on us over the years. We are our own little found family. On here, and on TikTok, Twitter, Reddit— etc.

Let’s try to spend the next yearish talking and discussing and brainstorming without telling each other that the other person is wrong, or what they say doesn’t make sense— or worst of all that what they’re saying doesn’t matter.

Not saying not to contradict each other. But do it in a way where we’re all still respected. Sing the Barney “I love you” song. Play the ABC game. Whatever it takes to keep us separate as individuals in how we think and what we hope for, but still pulled together as a community.

We have an incredible one and a long time left with each other. And I love you all.

he is the moment 😩

artists: @cassandrajean, @parcai and @aliceduke

I’M OBSESSED WITH THIS

My Kink Is Karma - AFTG ANIMATIC

That’s all I want in life, to see them reunited and speaking again

*throws like a hot potato and hides*

They really do…just two traumatized guys struggling through life and unintentionally falling into found families.

Also I love that my newest hyperfixation series and my longest obsession series are COLLIDING!!

Kit Herondale and Neil Josten have the same energy and you can't convince me otherwise

actually so upset we didn't get to see andrew's reaction to neil going "oh he's gay? so i guess him and kevin..." like andrew who has been ruthlessly attracted to neil the whole time and trying to ignore it only to find out neil immediately thought he was with kevin...the crash out would've been memorable...

I still get excited when my friends refer to me as their friend

"My friend said" "this is my friend" "they're my friend"

Im freaking out inside every time