Michael Vey - Tumblr Posts

I hate my brain sometimes

Why can’t I hyper fixate on, like, the MCU or HP or something with a huge fandom. No! Instead my brains like “Yano these books/movies with little to no fandom? Yea that’s the stuff.”

Hello Gregor The Overlander and Michael Vey fandoms. How are you today? And an honorable mention to the nonexistent Dull Boy (book) fandom. I wish you existed.

I mean, obviously I draw for WOF but that’s just for art, i like dragons and designing, I don’t really care much for the story. And then BMC but I wouldn’t say the fandoms small just not quite the MCU or Harry Potter.

The difference

You must me aware.

When I recommend Gregor The Overlander I do so because it was an amazing book! It was well written and thought out, with interesting characters and great pacing.

when I recommend Michael Vey I do so not because it’s well written and in terms of quality is pretty much the opposite of Gregor The Overlander. But because I miraculously still greatly enjoyed it! My hope is that you might start reading, get hooked on the first few books that are actually pretty good, and therefore be too far gone to stop and subsequently become obsessed too. And now I have a new person to obsess over this niche thing with.

Oh hey a random Michael Vey fan nice to meet ya

Things I like about MV, in no particular order: 1. Obviously the electricity superpowers aren't, yunno, realistic, but the author did put some research into how it works and looked at various bits of science to make 'em-Ian and eels, etc. 2. Hatch is both legitimately terrifying and depressingly on-point as a villain 3. Ostin and McKenna are a sweet couple, so are Jack and Abi 4. Tourette's rep that isn't swearing I have a short list of rewrites and updates I'd do if I got the chance to make an MV tv show. (Gay Wade. Hispanic Ostin. Lesbian Nichelle. More Bryan and Kylie. Tone down Jack's JROTC-y-ness. I could go on.)

I liked how there powers were handled as well

hatch was an amazing villain! Sometimes it’s refreshing just to have a villain who’s crazy and evil for no reason other than being evil. Just a terrifying dude who I can easily hate and fear.

Ostin and McKenna were the best couple in the series. I honestly didn’t care much for Michael and Taylor. They felt a bit forced.

TOURETTES REP! It’s hard to find characters with Tourette’s and even less so in fiction. And even less that’s not just swearing.

I’ve never considered gay wade but I could get behind that. Hispanic Ostin would be nice. Absolutely Lesbian Nichelle! It would be sweet for her to be grumpy with everyone except her girlfriend. Yea, I’d like to see more of jacks character than just “knows about military stuff”

One of the ideas was essentially having Quentin be the leader of an ongoing B-side story to tighten up several aspects of the later books (make it more clear that the Hatch Elgen kids are all victims, even Tara and Torstyn, foreshadow the eventual mutiny, make it more understandable why they'd jump ship to Team Electroclan).

That would actually make a lot of sense. Because when they joined the Electroclan I was kinda confused? I knew they stopped liking Hatch but I don’t think we got enough redemption for them. It just felt a bit rushed. And whenever they get brought back I have to remind myself, “oh yea, we like them now.”

please consider-

He would, I have no doubt in my mind he would.

or even…

legit torn between "make Ostin autistic because he's my favorite and I'm autistic" and "but that just reinforces 'autistic savant' stereotypes" and then I remember Jade Dragon exists and like "you know what let's rewrite her a bit too"

Yea I feel your pain. There are characters i sometimes want to headcanon something but it reinforces stereotypes and I’m like “I love you you and it would be so cool to have that representation! But then you’re gonna be stereotypical and I don’t want to perpetuate that.”

I also kind of wish Jade dragon was more involved in the story. It felt like she was treated more as an object in the story rather than a person. And I wish she was brought back later, she had a lot of potential.

What the fuck was up with that bit about the black-ops team in HfJD thinking the kids were reincarnated thunder deities by the way? they didn't need that, and it doesn't come up again, so it's just another weird bit of racial politics in MV along with the whole 'noble savage' tribe Tessa's with in Ampere and then the Tuvalu stuff that probably hangs as the biggest Actually Uncomfortable Thing over the series

Honestly! The mildly racist undertones throughout the series just makes me feel icky! And that’s my least favorite part of the books. I think that’s honestly why many people say it just feels like a “ more conservative Percy Jackson”

No clue what was going on with the black-ops team thing that was weird! And I kept thinking it would be plot relevant and then it kept… not being plot relevant. Didn’t need to be there! Toss it out!

Don’t get me started on Tessa’s whole thing with the indigenous tribe. That was extremely inaccurate representation and honestly also didn’t need to be there.

I was also really bothered about Ostin’s weird Asian fetish thing? Like, thankfully they moved passed THAT in particular but, like, ew. And then he made that comment in book 7 about how (paraphrasing) “well statistically Asian people have the most similarities when it comes to eye and hair color- and I’m sitting here like “was that a necessary comment?” Because it was supposed to be about how Ostin doesn’t understand how to interact with women but- no one would say that. Like, NO ONE, would say that. And especially not to there ASIAN girlfriend! There’s obliviousness and then whatever you call that. It just felt kinda tone deaf and I was uncomfy!

I didn’t necessarily hate all the Tuvalu stuff because I think a lot of it was supposed to be showing how cruel Hatch was by invading a peaceful place and Hatch made blatantly racist remarks. But that was all for, like, showing how much he sucks. But there were times when I felt the Tuvaluians (I hope that’s the right way to spell that) became just a stereotype of “primitive native culture” and I wasn’t a fan. Yea it’s great to have native culture represented but i doubt much research went into accurately portraying there culture.

I don’t know I’m white so like, I don’t want to make statements on behalf of anyone so if I’m wrong let me know, but I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who noticed this.

ALSO! I don’t want to say that Richard is racist. I’m not in a place to say that and it’s quite possible that this is all just out of ignorance. But the story would have benefited from a sensitivity reader

Unrelated note: did some light TV Tropes research and apparently Richard Paul Evans based Abi and McKenna off his IRL daughters, which is interesting.

yea that is interesting. Would not have guessed that.

Which kid's powers would you actually wish you had, IRL (saying Zara is cheating).

Taylor’s would be super useful, but I think they would be kind of a burden. Especially with the weird future telling thing she’s got going on. Taras would probably be better. But I think Abi’s would be kind of cool too. So it’s between Tara or Abi.

How far into MV did you start thinking Carl Vey was still alive, and did you think The Voice was him at all (I think I started thinking he was alive and The Voice around Ampere, then the Coonradt reveal happened and I was eh, but then it turned out to be a diversion)

I honestly expected that he would be revealed to be alive from the start. It’s a very common trope in YA and middle grade fiction to reveal that a parent we thought was dead was actually alive. The question I always asked was when? And who would he be working for? I was annoyed when we had that weird fake out in Jade Dragon it felt disingenuous because I still knew he was alive and the fake out wasn’t really played into. It had the purpose of tricking Michael into telling Hatch about the resistance. But I felt like it was supposed to be a big reveal. That Carl was working with Hatch. But they didn’t really stick with it. It’s like Michael forgets that his dad (who we know isn’t his dad but he thinks he is) is working for the Elgen and that he just worked against the resistance. I feel like the scene was Forgotten. Because if I was Michael, I would have been kind of reluctant to escape the facility. He didn’t show that he distrusted his Dad and he actively worked against the resistance. It all just felt inconsistent. I thought his dad working for the Elgan would have been more interesting than “second, even more secret leader behind the leader we’ve been hyping up the entire series” I didn’t really like the idea of Carl being The Voice but I did think that was likely. Dr. Coonradit being the Voice was a cool move, but I didn’t like Carl was the “extra secret leader we know nothing about!” Undercover spy would have worked better.

(Following up on the last one) You legit make a good point.

Now that I think about it I think my approach might end up being similar. I'd keep the "Tara makes Hatch look like Carl" scene because Tara's illusion ability is important enough to establish and use for the Quentin mutiny later but I would probably make Carl a spy-entist (ba-dum-tish) inside the Elgen under a new fake name-probably make his fake identity a reoccurring character running tests on Quentin et al. possibly even have him set up/assist the mutiny alongside that one guy Quentin rescues that I can't recall the name of. And then bump Coonradt up to the Resistance's leader.

That also touched on a brief Idea I had of playing up Hatch's twin tools of manipulation being luxury and guilt. You have Zeus and his pool memory, you have Tanner and the airplane stuff, Nichelle and the electrical fires in her foster homes, I was thinking of making it a more prevalent thing that Hatch tries to get under Michael's skin by implying that he killed Carl with his powers as a kid. Honestly was also considering something similar with Quentin's EMP power-grandparent with a pacemaker of some sort?

Yes! That would make so much sense! I didn’t even think of the fact that hatch uses a traumatic thing form the kids past as a control tactic. And hatch definitely could have utilized that with Michael.

Also, do you remember that thing where Hatch tried to trick Michael by telling him that most of the kids that died from the experiment died from cancer and that since Michael’s electricity was growing he could be at risk? Because I think about that a lot. And I honestly feel like that didn’t go anywhere. Hatch gave Michael a bunch of reasons to doubt the resistance and his friends, and it would have been interesting to see him start to doubt everyone. Become mistrusting because who should he believe. Sure, the Elgan did horrible things and the resistance is fighting against them, but they are sending them on death missions. Using them as basically child soldiers.

Broad character rewrites in MV in quick bulleted list form: -Michael, Taylor, Ostin, Hatch, Sharon (Michael's mom), Zeus, McKenna: Broadly fine as they are, but willing to play by ear for taste

-Jack: The plan was to rewrite his introduction to come from the opposite angle where instead of a bully, he has a reputation of the school 'fixer' who can get you what you want if you pay the price, he has more of a criminal-y vibe early on but it turns out he's really not bad and he waives the fee for the drive to California upon hearing it's to rescue Michael's mom. He still has a military big bro who he learned a lot from but make it less of a 'man, the Marines are so cool!' thing just because I don't like US imperialism

-Wade: Backport most of his RotE/BotA characterization of being slightly more cowardly into PoC25's events, make it clear he's got a gay crush on Jack that he keeps to himself until the blog is revealed in BotA

-Quentin: More early screen time (have him tag along with Tara when she's giving Taylor the tour? Make their relationship shockingly healthy despite the whole sitch?), ongoing subplot, maybe explain why he's the leader of the group more/earlier

-Tara: Play down her earlier sadism, make it clearer that her might-makes-right worldview is something she's adopted to make Hatch happy/like her

-Nichelle: Also downplay the sadism a hair, though don't erase it because I still want it to be there when she joins the Electroclan later for a 'well I'm glad she's on our side now' moment-possibly give her some occasional check-ins at the taco job we find her working at during HfJD? So she comes less out of nowhere. Maybe introduce RESAT tech in development during PoC25 that makes her nervous about being tossed aside so that explains why Hatch dumps her so quickly. -Tanner, Grace: They're probably mostly fine, Tanner has an interesting little arc as The One With A Conscience even if he's not used much, and Grace is Fine as a flat character, not everyone can be fleshed out.

-Bryan, Kylie: Just give them a bit more than 'the dumb one' and 'the materialistic one'. -Ian: He really needs more to do. I mean, he does a lot, a lot of spotting and info-giving, but he has the least personality of the Dungeon Trio. I'd honestly play up his role of the pessimist of the trio to balance out McKenna's optimism and Abi's hesitancy.

-Abi: I do like her role as the nervous one who doesn't like fighting but i feel like that sidelines her into the Shy Healer (kind of) archetype. Maybe play her up as the moral core of the group a bit, make her more able to stand up for her beliefs?

-Torstyn: Absolutely make him less of a maniac so his heel-face turn goes down smoother, give him a few mentions as being Away during PoC25 for foreshadowing purposes (Tessa and Cassie, I need to swirl around in my head a bit more. and I do have random other thoughts, this is just like, basic stuff 2 me)

I love that angle for jack! It would make me much more sympathetic to his character and make him much more interesting overall. I think he would be a nice guy but kinda fall into somewhat shady stuff out of necessity.

Wade needs more character and his death would affect me much more if he did. 

I genuinely didn’t feel like Tara had a redemption arc it was like she joined them and everyone just forgot how sadistic she acted. 

I love Nichelle and any more characterization would be awesome!

Ian desperately needs more character! I love him and there’s so much missed potential! He would tell dark jokes and be pessimistic but I imagine he would be generally pretty chill in serious situations. 

Abi would work well as a moral center I feel like that kind of character was desperately needed. The story would have been much more balanced that way.

My one idea with Cassie was instead of just randomly making her a threat to Michael and Taylor's relationship for cheap love triangle points just leaning into the slightly playful nature she has (see, her explanation of her powers in her intro where it's clear she's having a bit of fun explaining that she's got a nonlethal and lethal setting between the muscle paralysis and stopping lungs/hearts) and just make her, like, an attempted homewrecker because she thinks it's funny to flirt with people to get a rise out of them. Make her flirt with Ostin or Jack to get rises out of McKenna and Abi, too. Heck, make her bi and have her flip from flirting with Michael to Taylor when she protests just to throw them off. I thought it might be fun.

Oh my god yes! That would be so funny! She had so much potential and I hate that she was reduced to a love triangle.

Agreed on the love triangle front-that's why I like how Jack and Zeus are like "Okay, let's not fight. It's Abi's choice." And Zeus never gets mad at Abi for choosing Jack, or Jack for being the 'winner' of it.

I'll be honest while I have read 1-6 recently, I have NOT read 7 since high school because I can't find it on The Internet Archive, and I haven't read that new 8th one at all, so forgive me if I forget stuff from later on but-does Zeus rebound into Tessa? Because I remember Tessa mentions back when she was in the group she and Zeus had a brief thing.

I’m not finished with book 8 so I can’t attest to that, but they don’t get together in the books from my knowledge. I honestly didn’t even realize they had anything going on between them at all! But it’s been a long time since I’ve read the earlier books.

Idly, do you have any strong feelings about Ian's whole semi-Daredevil deal of "I'm blind but my superpowers make up for that"? Because I know some people find that trope annoying but I know other people don't mind it. I find it interesting from the in-universe science angle-I remember Ian was born blind genetically, it wasn't an accident, so it came about interestingly. I have similar thoughts on Tara and Taylor's powers being similar, but not identical, and them being identical twins. But I wanted a second opinion.

I get how people would be annoyed with the whole “yea I’m blind but actually not really” I’ve never minded. I’ve kind of enjoyed the trope at times. I think it ads to the characters “sight” related powers because it emphasizes just how differently they see the world.

I kind of like how Tara and Taylor’s powers are different. One because identical twins still aren’t completely the same and 2 it could have something to do with how they were raised/trained.

All of this makes me start to think about why each kids powers are different and what influenced the differences.

man i'm so fucking glad they didn't go with the original title for Cell 25, which would have been Michael Vey and the Electric Cheerleader. I cringe just looking at that.

I had no idea that was considered! I’m so glad that didn’t become official that is the worst book title I could possibly think of and I couldn’t have that on my shelf.

Michael Vey book 9 comes out in two days and I still haven’t finished book 8!

I find it depressing how most of the veyniacs has gone extinct or just really inactive

Please reblog if you're a veyniac!!!!