pointlessadventures

[pointlessadventures]

HEIST FILMS + dancing 💃🕺

Happy birthday, Robin! (@madeline-kahn)

[pointlessadventures]

i love playing bernadette banner videos while embroidery or doing any other sewing project. her voice is fun, and since so often she is also hand sewing it feels like i have company :)

[pointlessadventures]

candlelight lectures, faded manuscripts, a touch of melancholy in every poem 🕯️📔🔖

[pointlessadventures]

[pointlessadventures]

I feel the urge to put these boys in the prettiest outfits of their respective decades so be prepared for some cool 80s and Edwardian clothes.

Also let's keep on praying for a season renewal 🙏🏻

[pointlessadventures]

Sort of bums me out that so many people didn't seem to Get the Cat King so here are my thoughts:

So let's start with Edwin's crime. He uses something the cat desires (a sardine) to lure the cat to him and then uses an enchanted string to trap the cat with magic. He demands the answer to a question in exchange for its release. Edwin knows it is dangerous to use magic on a cat, that it violates Rules but he does it anyway.

Binding a creature and agreeing to set them free under a certain condition is very Classic Fairytale. its also a favourite trope of Neil Gaiman's (he did not write this show but his influence is there). In both the Sandman and his novel Stardust (and the film adaptation) trapping a creature with magic and demanding a task/favour in exchange for their freedom is an extremely important plot point. Edwin binding a cat and demanding an answer in exchange is exactly in line with this Fairytale trope

And so is the Cat Kings response. The Cat King is a trickster. What he does to Edwin is exactly what Edwin did to one of his subjects. He entices Edwin, he binds him with magic and when Edwin demands to be free he turns his own words against him "why all the fuss for one little spell?" Edwin did something wrong. He imposed his will/magic on another creature and the Cat King is punishing him for it in a way that is poetic. Its fairytale. its trickster. its classic.

I've also seen people complain that the task Edwin was given 'count all the cats' is 'impossible'...except its fucking not. Edwin does it. He does it so well he actually BEATS the Cat King ("you didn't count yourself" Are.You.Kidding.Me. Classic!Fairytale!Vibes!)

The Cat Kings choice to bind Edwin to Port Townsend is good on so many levels. From a storytelling perspective it forces characters who can travel anywhere in the world to stay in one place, and increases the stakes for these characters who are supposed to be on the run. From a genre perspective...its an excellent use of fairytale tropes using both Rules of magic, a protagonist who is unkind to a seemingly weak creature who is punished by a more powerful law, a binding, a task to complete, etc

Which just leaves the character perspective which it ALSO does really fucking well and introduces the final aspect to the Cat Kings character. He's seductive. He is responsible for Edwin, 100 years old ghost boy, finally unpacking his internalized homophpbia. he is the catalyst (cat pun not intended)

He pushes Edwin, challenges him, at times literally forces the truth out of Edwin, but he really never does violate his consent. Significantly Edwin is attracted to him, like its an important part of his character that he is. He may not like the Cat King but he is attracted to him!

The Cat King is such a great example of a trickster, a morally grey character who imposes a sense of justice on Edwin after he crosses a line, but also has his own selfish interests and meddles. Hes so important to the plot of the show, to Edwin's character arc, to the genre.

And he's just fun. Unapologetically queer, powerful, complicated. Silly little outfits. Petty cat behavior. Deep heart.

Some of you just didn't get it. And I'm sorry for you. because the Cat King is Excellent actually.

[pointlessadventures]

Loved when Edwin was like "There's nothing we can do, every time I try to run it chases and kills me again" and then Charles goes "Well yeah but now you have me and this BOMB" and promptly chucks a lit molotov at the spider demon

[pointlessadventures]

gotta hand it to charles for being so insane that edwin didn't even think that he could possibly be a hallucination or another hell trick, he was immediately like "of course, charles would come to hell for me. he's such an idiot. this is entirely in character."

[pointlessadventures]

DEAD BOY DETECTIVES S1 + TUMBLR REACTIONS

[pointlessadventures]

the fact that Edwin lived in the early 1900s is a fantastic source of comedic potential. he's just constantly saying things that he doesn't realise are completely batshit insane, and the others are just left utterly floored.

like they're all talking and Crystal mentions she's tried cocaine once on a wild night out, and Edwin, who used to get that shit medically prescribed at the drop of a hat is like ??? okay?? hope you felt better, it always used to help me when I had a cold too :) Charles why are you laughing?

[pointlessadventures]

Every time a streaming service puts out a new show with deliberate focus on diverse casting and featuring queer characters, refuses to devote any marketing budget to the show at all, and then cancels it for not getting enough hype, we should be allowed to ritually sacrifice an entertainment executive.

[pointlessadventures]

I am tickled by the idea that Charles has known he’s bi since like 1986 and known Edwin was gay since they met and assumed Edwin also knew both of those things because, like, it’s obvious? And that Edwin was just being Edwardian about it

Which he was fine with, because he’s not gonna overstep Edwin’s boundaries and also he was feeling rather AIDS-crisis about it too, to be entirely honest

Like, he considered this pretty much confirmed as what they were gonna do before he even died, when he asked Edwin about kissing to feel him out, as you do, and Edwin did the most blatantly closeted “mm-mm” the world has ever seen. Charles knows what a Discreet man looks like when he sees one, okay, he’s not blind

Edwin’s clearly got some issues with his own sexuality because he’s never dated anyone in 35 years but it’s not like he’s actually hiding from Charles - anyone with eyes can tell he’s gayer than a treeful of monkeys on nitrous oxide - so Charles figures they’re solid and politely matches Edwin’s silence on the topic

So when he eventually realized that Edwin genuinely did not know he was gay before Port Townsend he was flabbergasted. Like… desperately trying not to say out loud “No offense, mate, but have you seen yourself?”

And then Edwin says later on “it is alright, Charles, I know your tastes do not incline towards men, you do not have to try to change yourself for me, I would never ask such a thing” and Charles is like wait hang on. You… you thought I had to Figure Things Out because I was under the impression I was straight??? Have you seen me?!?! I’ve dated like four guys since we met!

(Edwin, blinking in bewilderment: I thought you were just very good friends. Charles, even more bewildered: I kissed Derek right in front of you! And you got all upset about it so I broke up with him! Edwin: Yes, a friend kiss. Because you were better friends with him than me. Charles: NO!)

[pointlessadventures]

I think Obi-Wan should have been Ahsoka’s master, and Anakin is totally normal about it.

[pointlessadventures]

I think the most hilarious place to put Post-Canon Sokka would have been the university at Ba Sing Se. I think he would have made a great unhinged professor. Also, in true Sokka fashion, he should have completely dodged fame. Momo is more famous than he is.

He wants to demonstrate to the class how this thing called electricity works, so he's going to be bringing in a Firebender, so everybody be cool, we're all friends here... and in walks Princess Azula of the Fire Nation. One-time conqueror of the city. One of the students is currently writing an essay on how her brief rule of the city affected fruit trade. She says she considers the class to still be her subjects as she doesn't acknowledge any pretenders to any of her thrones, but for now you're exempted from bowing and "Your Highness" will do. It's a really interesting lecture.

"Okay, guys - hey, listen up, everyone - I won't be here next week, me and Aang are going to-" yeah right, sure, Professor Sokka knows the Avatar. Except, of course, the Avatar walks in sheepishly and says that Appa might have gotten into Sokka's hybrid crops, and then you all have to sit there and watch your professor chase the Avatar around with a sword.

One postgrad student is specializing in Water Tribe Cultures. She's currently studying the massive cultural shift that happened in the Northern Water Tribe at the end of the war - oh, and Professor, I absolutely know that you're from the Southern Water Tribe, but it's just that the shift started with Master Katara, and of course I don't think that every person from the South knows one another haha it's just that I need to ask her some questions and I thought maybe you could help me write a letter or write a letter of introduction or...

Sokka looks at her blankly and goes "yeah, she's my sister. KATARA!" which is followed by a faint answering "fuck you!" from Somewhere and to the horror/elation of our postgrad, Master Katara bursts in and is promptly beaned in the head with a rock by Professor Sokka. Her brother. her hero and her professor are siblings and currently brawling on the floor.

Sokka does not teach or study history, but he does sometimes sit in on lectures about recent history. Whenever he does, several doctoral students flock in to sit near him (even if it's an intro course) so that they can eavesdrop on his grumbling. (No matter how they try, an "overheard utterance" is not a valid source according to their professors. No, we have no sources on the Avatar's bison taking part in combat - sky bison are not war animals and...)

He gets regular deliveries with the Beifong family crest on them, and he goes "sweet, Toph must have found some new minerals" and at this point nobody needs to ask which Toph. He seems to have friends everywhere, literally everywhere. Wang was headed out to this massive swamp to study if it's one big organism, and Sokka told him to find some guy named Hue and "don't mind the loincloth." One time the university gets shut down because the Earth King wants to visit. Oh, visit the University? What an honor- Of fucking course not, he wants to visit Professor Sokka, who yells at him and his royal guards for interrupting his day. The Earth King and his many, many royal guards then sheepishly say sorry and file out.

The last straw is when - not a week after he yelled at the Earth King - the assistant head of the Political Science dept walks in to the faculty lounge to find Sokka having tea with a nice normal man dressed in Earth greens for once, and can't resist a little joke. "Let me guess, you're having tea with the Fire Lord." And then she can instantly tell that she fucked up, because both of them go stock still.

So when the two men awkwardly stand up and proceed to introduce the Fire Lord whose portrait she has in her office because she is the assistant head of Political Science as Li, a server at the Jasmine Dragon, she just says "hello Li" and leaves to find a bottle of something strong.

[pointlessadventures]

x-men: first class, mutant training

[pointlessadventures]

x-men: first class, mutant road-trip

[pointlessadventures]

top gun silliness