Penelope teaching Spelldon how to fight so he stops getting his butt handed to him sparring with Kieran “dozen-time-war-veteran” Valentine
obsessed w the fact that jackson’s parents are both monsters and yet he calls himself a normie and everyone is for some reason shocked when holt shows up
How do you feel about the pride comic so far? :D
I actually hadn't sat down to read it until I got this ask, but the snippets I'd seen were ADORABLE. I'm writing this as I read it for the first time:
pg. 1: "Hypnosis was so much easier" HE WOULD! And him rehearsing with Whisp is so sweet. I love that they tied her and their friendship into the story more; I kind of thought she was done for good. Valentine hitting his face on the locker is SUCH a diary thing, too. I don't know if it was meant to be a callback or anything, but that's what it reminded me of. And Whisp saying "good luck!" while Kier is half-dead on the floor is PRICELESS. I love that he's still trying to make amends with Drac though.
pg. 2: Him blurting everything at once and then stopping to be all ✨composed✨ is perfect. UGH but the accent. Kieran, dear, she knows you're Romanian. I like the call back, though, and if you really look into it, it's a reflex because he's embarrassed and panicked. I LOVE the cut between him saying "it's fine" and him absolutely panicking, all zoned-out. It's such a simple thing that's meant to be comedic but it really shows us how he thinks and how vulnerable he is in a world without his prestige.
pg. 3 BIG SPELLDON REVEAL DUN DUN DUUUUUN!!! I love the small details of his character design that bring him to life, like the rings on his fingers and the mole on his lip. and the necklaces <3. Valentine IMMEDIATELY crumpling the paper in his big dramatic moment is so silly. And spelldon ignoring it and just taking a rose. It's such an easy, domestic kind of moment. And they're both so pretty ugh the close ups. "Like my soul" ok princess val 🙄 and spelldon worried, "You still love draculaura?" I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE SPELLDON CAULDRONELLO
pg. 4: the moment of realization is priceless. Kieran is just in awe of this man. and Spelldon is just so enthusiastic about it (I love how he's just like 'this is dumb' but goes along with it anyway. Okay mr. malicious compliance). The height difference is also perfect to me. It makes sense that Spelldon is way taller because he's part (like 70% ish if I remember right from that time I did a pedigree) god. Casta's tall too isn't she? Valentine lost in his own little world ❤️ my little yapper.
pg. 5: Valentine trying to be over prepared, he's so me. And it's a nice (probably unintentional) callback to his diary where he says "better have it and not need it than need it and not have it." Spelldon's blunt humor is one of my favorite things ever. And him flattering Kieran about biteology >>> ugh they're so sweet. Val's facial expressions are so funny too he's so dramatic. Him trying to be humble and change the subject when Spelldon compliments him is so cute. AAAA they're so sweet.
pg. 6: Spelldon being all nonchalant while Val is literally falling over is so them. That is such a fun dynamic for them to have and I love it so much. I don't even know how to describe or "analyze" it because it just feels so naturally them that there's nothing to point out as "unusual." AAA Spelldon catching Val is such a sweet moment in the comic. Poor Val has his eyes closed, he can't even see Spell's face when it happens. And his hand is HOVERING over Val's back; he's not even touching him and he's blushing like that. I don't even think I need to mention the smirks (they're so precious)(Spells had an eyebrow slit this whole time and I just didn't see it??😭)
pg. 7: EEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAA Val you're going to give poor Spelldon a heart attack leave him alone. He's so dramatic clasping his hands like that. The mausoleum is really cute though, I approve. If I were a vengeful ghost, this would be my haunt (get it?). Spelldon having this whole plan thought out to get the ingredients when he's the one who thought it was a useless plan to start with 🤨 okay Spelldon we all see what you're doing. Especially since the whole plan is to get Val clinging to him. Scarah to the rescue!!! Not the return of the accent val STOP PLEASE. I'm glad they're talking about it, though. And he doesn't do it to spelldon 👀 because he's being himself with spelldon and doesn't feel the outside pressures to be someone else. He subconsciously knows that spelldon will accept who he is. Spelldon's face when Val admits that is priceless. BUT SPELLDON NOOOOOO WATCH OUT!
pg. 8: Val regretting the potion because he's in loooooove is so cute to see. "A couple thousand years" you want to spend a couple thousand years with your feelings for Spelldon awww. And he doesn't even act like he needs them to be reciprocated. Like, duh we all know what he's doing, but he never spells (pun unintentional but fully embraced) it out. The bracelet too from the Val's rose is a sweet little detail. Especially since they chose to give us THAT angle for that panel. They wanted us to see that in this moment. Valentine voicing his development is perfect. He really has grown and learned so much. SPELLDON WHAT?????? NOOOOO! and Val immediately regretting this whole thing because oh nooo Spelldon won't love him (🤨)
pg. 9: Okay Spelldon you trickster. "You really think i'd let you excise your emotions like that" (okay mom) "Yes? I asked you to!" Bro. That's super sweet though, he's been looking out for him this whole time, but couldn't just tell him no. Awww he wanted to spend time with him. AWWW VAL. I'm surprised Val didn't feel the love but maybe i've been reading his powers wrong. And then we have The Moment™ of course. Aww
pg. 10: Aw he and Drac made up. I'm glad they got closure from everything (the Pit Incident... and everything beforehand). WOAH val is so pretty, that turning panel??? Spelldon watching silently from the sidelines all proud. We have to remember that he met Spelldon BEFORE Whisp (and long before the two of them had their makeshift therapy sessions), and the day of the dance (where he failed his attempt to fix everything) from the original comics. He was still a mess then. He has been here since then, and got to see him grow. KIERAN VALENTINE FULL NAME RAHHHH COME OUT YE BLACK AND TANS COME OUT AND FIGHT ME LIKE A MAN🇮🇪💪i'm glad they're pushing that because so many people think Valentine is his full name, it's actually crazy. Whisp wanting to meet Spelldon 👀 I need to see that now too! And Val ignoring her to hold Spelldon's hands, he's so clingy. I guess he has been this entire time with his yapping. And they walk into the sunset!!!
THE END!!!
I don't know if I wrote WAYYY too much, but I wanted to make sure I gave my full reaction (because lets face it, we've been starved for a while. thats why I got into fanfic like three-ish years ago). The notes got progressively longer as I went 😭
All in all I absolutely adore the comic. It's such a sweet glimpse into Valentine's growth and development, and I'm so glad to finally have a real Spelldon. The entire thing is such a good slice-of-life story that just feels calm and domestic and unforced, like there is no antagonist or unneeded tension to force things along. It's just Spell and Val.
Seeing people call Lady Lesso “mommy” or “mother” is my favorite thing having read the book
Valentine making dinner at the stove and Spelldon coming up behind him and hugging him and putting his head on his shoulder
They give each other little cheek kisses <3
Can we please merge the monster high fandom categories on AO3 PLEASE why are there 5 of them???
Please we just need one for each gen we don’t need one for the toys who is writing fan fiction about the toys
Valentine would be such a baker
He would take it so seriously, like kneeling-on-the-ground-for-measurements and meticulously-decorating (he would love the decorating part) and extravagant-recipes seriously. He gets so into it and plans forever and it’ll all be amazing
In theory, at least. Don’t let that man near an oven
Spelltine marriage proposal but it's Spelldon tossing Valentine an apple bc he asked for one and all the rly old greek gods who (totally weren't spying cuz they're bored) saw went 'HOLY SHIT SPELLDON PROPOSED AND HE SAID YESSSSSS WOOHOOOOO HERMES WHERE'S HERMES SPREAD THE NEWS OUR BOY SPELLDON IS GETTING MARRIED TO VALENTINEEEE'
And when the news gets to Circe, she was just told 'your son proposed to Valentine!' without the 'he tossed an apple and Valentine caught it' part so she rolls up to Casta + Spelldon's apartment like 'YOU DIDN'T TELL ME YOU WERE PROPOSING??'
Cue hours of confusion before they remember that giving an apple is basically proposing and they (casta, circe, spelldon) all sigh in unison bc the older gods apparently didn't know that people propose with rings nowadays instead of apples.
Spelldon quickly texted Valentine asking to go on a date tmr (yes all that happened over the course of one day) so he could tell Val that they accidentally got engaged. But when they arrived to their date spot, Valentine gave Spelldon a silver necklace and rings in a pretty little box bc he saw it and thought 'ah yes Spelldon would like these'. The gods (who TOTALLY weren't spying on them again) saw the gift and went wild bc they thought the gift was the dowry And of course, the children of those gods get told, which they tell to their friends, and one day when Valentine was hanging out with Whisp, Deuce and Cupid come up to him and start congratulating him on getting engaged. Whisp, who wasn't told, immediately starts getting excited but Val is just looking at all of them secretly very confused but smiles instead and thanks them. So there's even more chaos and when Spelldon finally gets the chance to tell Valentine, it's alr been 2 weeks. It took some more time for the gods to realise that the apple didn't mean proposal, which they told their kids, and their kids told their friends. I think they're college age (Spelldon 23, Valentine is I don't fucking know bro :,0) when this happened and have been dating for abt 3.5 years now
“Killing must feel good to God too. He does it all the time. Did God feel good about that? He felt powerful.” — Hannibal
Is such a Kieran Valentine quote ugggh
Like yeah, he didn’t enjoy hurting people and never did even though he did it for over 1000 years. But it felt good to be as powerful as he was, and he mourned the loss of that power when he was stripped of it
THE BOYS AAAAAA
official art from this year's pride comics!!
toradeen cover by betsey cola
spellentine cover by céli godfried
(Sigh-v)novelist and fanfic authorYes this is like entirely Kieran Valentine
260 posts