#suddenly super

like, you wrote a book where mirage serves as something of a secondary protagonist and then completely ruined her. whwhwhuh?? whuh?? mkay. you do you.

did we forget that mirage is totally composed 90% of the time? aside from when she ditched syndrome and post-enduring the choke/punch wombo combo, she doesn't lose her cool. why is she getting so visibly flustered so often in this book? i mean, her acting frightened and flustered in the early chapters was kinda great, but that was her acting. as in, faking it. nevermind the fact that she was complaining to her acting teacher that the parr kids didn't buy her "babysitter" role because she chose "frightened" and "vague" as staple traits of a babysitter (why is she venting to her random acting teacher about the work she does for syndrome when a) she canonically signed an NDA and b) now her acting teacher wants to see her re-enact the scene, like???) but i digress.

and it's not all acting. her whole thing in this book is that she's an aspiring actress (why?? i mean, it's cool and i'll take it but why??) and her job in this book is to play whatever role syndrome asks her to (which is cool in theory, but...), but ever since violet threatened to leave the devor-clone house she just completely dropped her "friendly babysitter" persona and turned into... not even her canon personality. she became a "relatable" don't-talk-to-me-before-i've-had-my-coffee baby hater out of nowhere and it's really jarring. that's not my mirage.

is this supposed to be some elaborate role of "oh she's grieving the deaths of helen and bob so now she's a wreck" (oh yeah spoilers, hope you didn't care about those)??? it would be interesting if it felt like it was going in that direction (with the fake crying she did and everything) but where does her disgust with jack-jack and open disdain towards dash acting like a ten year old play into this?? it was cute when violet and mirage mutually cringed over one thing that dash did but the whole devor-clone house arc really seems to be making her out to be slightly incompetent, re: handling children and also everything else. which, i mean, apparently syndrome hired this woman from a public job listing on a bulletin board in this canon, so, i guess??

and, why does she hate children, now? like, wasn't one of the core points of her character that she has a soft spot for children and is literally the one person on that island who WILL exercise restraint toward them? who's voice broke when she confirmed the presumed deaths of at least two of them? and now she's expressing a mild hatred of them, both in her inner monologue and also openly in front of them. that's not... that's not her personality, bro.

my favourite element out of all of this is the fact that, after all these years of speculation regarding the film's implications, she and syndrome are finally confirmed to be having a "casual" fling and that she openly (and loudly) fights with him within earshot of kids. just full on yelling at her employer. "don't call me sweetheart" is a line that leaves her mouth canonically (and like, based mirage, but fuuuuck...). bear in mind at this point he hasn't even placed her life in jeopardy yet a la "show me" (as far as i know). all she's experienced thus far (that i know) is that she was hired by him a few months ago (MONTHS AGO) and she's witnessed him kill a few supers (bearing in mind she has no idea what his grand plan is in this canon and i don't think the author does either because what the fuck is a nullifier), he paid her off when she got upset, and now she's having screaming matches with him outside of his house.

like what else is that except fucking comical??? this book is on crack. don't get me started on how strangely syndrome was characterised or how dash is just Like That i guess. those two were flanderized to fuck and back but mirage is just a totally different person here. i'm gonna make an update to this when i finish the book because i'm sitting here losing my mind and i need to inform you guys.

one final note: mirage spends most of her time in this book thus far wearing baggy sweaters, cheap jeans and a shitty brown wig. it's seriously screwing with my imagination. especially given that violet is kind of suspecting that mirage isn't a True Brunette anyway. like, mirage bbg, you hate this clothing, vi is onto you, and you have an opening where you can completely shed the shit and nobody would bat an eye. TAKE IT OFF.

also mirage's real hair is not a "short bob" have you seen it from the back? shit long as hell.

This was another solid addition to the Twisted Tales series. It’s unfortunate this tale is only available out of the U.S. because Calonita does a great job on the first Pixar-based tale.

All from Violet’s POV, Calonita explores the girl’s negative feelings about her powers. Since being Super is illegal, it’s been ingrained into her to never show her powers to others. Problem is, she can’t quite control it when she turns invisible from anxiety, embarrassment or any high emotion. I mean, it’s teenage hell amplified. Add in the fact that they’re constantly moving when Mr. Parr blows their cover, chasing his glory days, Violet wishes she was never born super. She wants to be normal.

What’s more normal than getting grounded for sneaking to a party without her mom’s permission. And almost getting exposed. But that brief bout of normality is all Violet’s gonna get. When her parents don’t return from their vague conference, Violet has an inkling that her mom’s paranoid attitude the day before might have something to it. She certainly knows it when goons break into their house to kidnap them! With no one else to turn to, she accepts the help of Mirage, a woman she only knows from her dad’s mess of business cards, and her boss, Syndrome. Syndrome offers Violet a chance to rescue her parents with a special bonus. To ensure that they won’t be targeted by supervillains again, he’ll help get rid of their powers. Dun dun dun!!!

Calonita has been writing YA for decades so she does a good job in portraying Violet’s hormonal mood swings, and readers can see the clear arc of Violet’s insecurity and shyness in the beginning to her learning to master her powers and take charge herself. I particularly applaud Calonita’s portrayal of Violet’s anxiety attacks in relation to her powers and generally describing the physical toll of her powers on her body as heat and electricity. There’s a good balance of Violet’s panic-stricken reactions to a world she doesn’t really know and proactive in trying to protect her family. This alongside her conflict with her negative feelings about her powers and supers in general that it s not a curse but a gift. Her anger fueled into her control into control out of defense of her family.

There was a surprise in Mirage and Syndrome having two-three chapters to themselves. Mirage in particular gets more depth as an aspiring actress drawn into Syndrome’s promise of an equal world plus money. Primarily the money, until she realizes what an egomaniac he is. It is also quite funny how unprepared she is for when her job unexpectedly puts her in the role of babysitter. Syndrome is also drawn in-character as Calonita captures his affable cool-bro exterior with the underlying obsessive bitterness.

Calonita also gets to add her own characters into the world like the Incredibles’ big nemesis, Mastermind who reminds me of a cross of Edna Mode and Yzma as well as Frozone’s non-super niece, Lucy who provides a sounding board to Violet in the eleventh hour.

Calonita improved the story by having the infamous babysitter, Kari, be Violet’s only friend. It fits as her chattiness allows Violet to blend in at school as well as provide a bunch of comedic moments. Like when she babysits Jack-Jack. That will always be funny. Calonita adds other references fans will enjoy like Bomb Voyage, Brad Bird and so on.

The only one negative would have to be the lack of Edna Mode. Absolutely none darling and it’s a shame!