Fly Trap - Tumblr Posts

Wait, she have more then three books? They translated to my language, right? THEY HAVE TO

Frances Hardinge is a criminally underrated author. If you've never heard of her, I'm not surprised. Even though I'm in several fantasy book groups on Facebook with thousands of members, I've only ever seen one or two other members post about her. And yet, since I first read one of her books in 2020, I've bought every book she's published and read most of them.

Frances Hardinge, for those who've missed out, writes fantasy young adult books. Her books are extremely well written, romance free, unfailingly unique, and somewhat dark, all of which are qualities I find to be more and more rare in today's YA fantasy market (not to hate on YA, I've read tons of it). If you need a comparison, I would say aspects of her books remind me of YA/middle grade books by T. Kingfisher or Neil Gaiman.

If I haven't convinced you yet, here's a little preview of some of her books that I've read:

A Face Like Glass (my personal favorite): A girl named Neverfell lives in a world where people have to be taught how to show emotion in their facial expressions. She has to wear a mask at all times because, mysteriously, she naturally shows facial expressions and if people found out they would freak. If that's not unique enough, this society is underground and produces magical artisinal goods, such as cheeses, wines, and perfumes that can do some wild things. If that still hasn't convinced you, the book critiques the privelege of the wealthy, as in this world only the rich can afford to hire Facesmiths to teach them expression, while the poor languish along with one or two facial expressions for their entire lives.

Fly by Night and Fly Trap (these might have different titles depending on where you are in the world): In a world where reading is illegal and seen as revolutionary activity, Mosca Mye escapes her awful life with her aunt and uncle by forcing an infamous conman (Eponymous Clent, this world has cool naming conventions) to take her under his wing. Joining them is Mosca's only friend, Saracen, the murderous goose. Yeah, you read that right. Highlights of the series include a heartwarming found family tale, an accidental revolution, a city that literally changes its population, personality, and shape when day changes to night, and, of course, an extremely violent goose. I mean, if you've read Pratchett, Saracen the goose is basically the Luggage. There's more than one scene in these books where all hope seems lost, and Mosca is like, "I guess it's up to you now Saracen," and she just straight up lobs her goose at the enemy and he utterly wrecks their shit. If I recall correctly, this happens once during a pitched river boat battle over an illegal printing press.

The Lie Tree: Faith's father, who refused to recognize her potential as a scientist, mysteriously dies. Faith discovers a tree he kept hidden that grows when you tell lies and reveals secrets in its fruit. The bigger the lie you tell the world, the bigger the secret that will be revealed. You can imagine the chaos that eventually ensues. This book critiques gender roles and discrimination, and tackles both the dangers and the necessity of telling lies.

Cuckoo Song: When Triss wakes up after apparently falling in a lake, everything seems wrong. She's missing memories, she has an insatiable hunger, dead leaves are mysteriously appearing in her room, and her sister claims she's a monster. Triss must piece together what's happening to her before it's too late. This book deals with the complexities of life with overbearing parents, siblings who've been pitted against one another, and families that have been torn apart by tragedy.

Verdigris Deep (another one that goes by different titles): A group of friends are cursed by a well witch after they take some coins from her well. She forces them to work for her by granting her wishes. Working with the witch gives them powers, but the wishes are getting increasingly complex. Does that guy really want a motorcycle or does he want to be someone else? And if he wants to be someone else, does that mean what he really wants is not to exist at all? This book deals with issues of self worth, power and control, and toxic friendships.

She has a bunch of other great books as well. So if you're looking for a unique fantasy story with adventure and no romance, definitely check some of Frances Hardinge's books out!

I may have gotten a bit fixated on drawing these little "marshmallowified" versions of the Gobots today

It started when I was doodling at work and I decided to simplify and squish Cop-tur's proportions down for fun, and then naturally the concept caught on and I wanted to squish down every one of them!

[Initial scribbles under the cut, alongside a whole 'lotta close-ups and an additional unrelated doodle]

The originals, as promised

And now for the close-ups:

These li'l fellas give me so much serotonin, it's ridiculous :]

(Oh yeah! Bonus scribble of Turbo in vehicle mode)

(I was gonna draw some other guys in, but I quickly realised I wasn't that confident with ink so I improvised a background)

Completely neglected to share this, but I've got another Gobot plush in the works! ^v^

I thought it might be a nice break to make a slightly less complicated guy for once, and then I went ahead and overcomplicated a bunch of details lol (not to mention I'm working on two guys at once currently because I got impatient)

[More details under the cut!]

I took a picture of Fly Trap's pieces before they'd been cut out to declare that I'd started this project, but this picture's a little out of date now considering the fact that the majority of the sewing's already done

Also another little fun detail! Since this guy turns into a garbage truck, I've decided it'd be both ironic and fitting if I gave him a scent chip :] (Bubblegum scented, to be precise) (You can kinda see the chip in the picture above, it's the pink shape covered by the orange and blue buttons) (And if you were wondering, Build-a-Bear sells scent chips that you can put in your plushies)

Flytrap plush progress photos! Except they're a bit out of date because I procrastinated on sharing these... this guy's actually in the final assembly stages now, lol

In any case, mainly sharing these to give y'all a better look at the back side of the face, as well as showing to some extent how I went about making the box that encases his head (I opted to leave the outer seams open so that I could ladder-stitch them shut after putting in some acrylic foam sheets)

Here we are folks, Fly Trap's complete! :D

Took me a bit longer than usual since I've been working on two projects at once, but I'm glad I finished him regardless

Now in terms of features, the main one is the bubblegum scent chip I put inside his chest! (Because it felt funny and ironic to make a garbage truck smell like something sweet) I also made his little hip-pouch things removable via buttons, mostly to give them the ability to swivel so they wouldn't get in the way of him sitting

Structurally, I put some acrylic foam sheets inside the box around his head as well as his "cap" brim so they'd keep their shape a bit more, then of course we have plastic pellets in the hands and feet as usual

(Small bonus pic under cut)

I managed to fit Fly Trap into the dresser lineup, even if it is starting to be a bit of a tight squeeze (Where exactly a plush is gonna go after I've finished making them always seems to be an afterthought, lol)