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charcubed · 5 years ago

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Frank Hudson, Greta, Margaret, & Mary

(PSA: If you’ve been tagged in this post, it’s because I’m crediting you or linking to a meta you wrote! I particularly linked a lot of things at the end I think could be tangentially related. No pressure to read all of this!)

Please allow me to take you on a journey in which I present a theory:

Mary is Frank Hudson’s daughter from a relationship with another woman, and part of her motivation (as a villain, as Moriarty’s agent/possible successor) is to get revenge on Sherlock for having killed her father all those years ago and ruining the drug cartel empire.

I was calling this a crack theory, but uh, given that I’ve now written thousands of words connecting weird dots, I’m gonna say maybe this is potentially not as far-fetched as I initially thought.

Before Sherlock series 4 came out, we were given this delightful niche little “clue” in a Youtube video on the official channel:

It’s always struck me as odd that this was specifically shown in a video advertising / leading up to series 4... when it seemingly never connected to anything. Why this, of all things?

Let’s review what we know about Mr. Frank Hudson.

• He was sentenced to death in Florida; Sherlock ensured his execution. (ASiP)

• He was executed for double murder and the execution was via lethal injection. He was arrested for “blowing someone’s head off.” (TSoT)

• According to Mrs. Hudson, about their relationship: “It was just a whirlwind thing for us. I knew it wouldn’t work, but I just got sort of swept along. And then we moved to Florida. We had a fantastic time, but of course I didn’t know what he was up to” and “It was purely physical between me and Frank. We couldn’t keep our hands off each other.” What Frank was “up to” included a drug cartel and “all the other women.” (TSoT)

• Mrs. Hudson was a typist in Frank’s drug cartel (and an exotic dancer, which is in YouTube videos in-universe). This is also the scene where she’s present to hear enough to figure out that Mary shot Sherlock; in the original script, it’s made obvious that she was eavesdropping even after walking out. (HLV)

• We’re also given repeated reminders in TLD that Mrs. Hudson was/is somewhat of a badass. She tells Sherlock “you’re not my first smackhead, Sherlock Holmes,” and whether or not any of that (the revolver, the kidnapping of Sherlock, the car) is actually literally real, I take it mostly as a blatant reminder that Mrs. Hudson has a past filled with “not good” people.

A lot of this info is given in more comedic moments... but I think because it is repeatedly mentioned with consistent detail, especially largely in season 3 when Mary arrives (partially to mirror John/Mary’s doomed relationship), it shouldn’t be swept aside.

Speaking of Mary, let’s get into it.

In ACD’s The Sign of Four, Mary Morstan’s story centers heavily around the loss of her father. That’s also the story that involves the Agra treasure, and Mary notably receives 6 pearls in the mail as part of the mystery. Keep all of this in mind because it’s going to be relevant as we go.

First, let’s roll all the way back to The Abominable Bride.

(All transcripts I will be quoting are from the inimitable Ariane DeVere.)

Giles, & Morse Hudson

The abominable bride herself–who I trust we all know mirrors Mary at this point lol–stands on the balcony and aims her guns at people on the street while saying “You?” / “You, or me?” One of the people she aims at is this man, who is listed in the credits as Giles. I always found it odd that he was named, so I decided to look him up in relation to Sherlock Holmes.

“Giles” connects to Giles Conover, the criminal in the 1944 Sherlock Holmes movie The Pearl of Death. That movie is loosely based on ACD’s The Adventure of the Six Napoleans. In the movie, Giles (who is not in the ACD story) stole the Borgia Pearl and hid it in a bust of Napoleon. In case there’s any doubt, we can know for a fact that Moffat and Gatiss are familiar with this movie because they referenced it in TGG previously; the Golem assassin is a nod to The Creeper.

So I was like, why that movie specifically? What’s significant, and how would that connect to the bride?

And as I’m sure you’ve figured out by now... they later referenced that movie again in TST. The writers called back to both the ACD story and the 1944 movie, very specifically.

Referenced movie details I noticed in TST include the following: Sherlock calls Lestrade “Giles.” The Borgia Pearl (movie phrasing, as opposed to “the black pearl of the Borgias”) is mentioned multiple times; we’ll go back to that. We are also pointedly told by Ajay that one of the members of AGRA was killed via a broken back, which is how a murder happens in the 1944 movie.

As for TST’s references to the original Napoleon story by ACD... there are many, but there’s one thing they pointedly didn’t reference (unless I missed it) that I find interesting: in the ACD story, 3 of the 6 busts were at the shop of a Morse Hudson. Beppo, the criminal in the story, worked at Morse Hudson’s shop to have access to the locations of those 3 busts. Even in The Six Thatchers version on John’s blog, Beppo is the criminal but Morse Hudson was not mentioned.

So I thought... alright, Morse? What morse code have we seen in the show? Well, there’s UMQRA, from The Hounds of Baskerville.

I poked around and some genius anon on @inevitably-johnlocked‘s blog once said that if you encode UMQRA with HOUND using a vigenere cypher, you get BAKED. Mary bakes her own bread, according to Sherlock’s deductions in TEH. The abominable bride, in the above scene, shoots at/into a bakery.

Edit: @rosie_ww on Twitter aka @silverybees pointed me to this, from THoB:

SHERLOCK: You’ve been to see Mr Chatterjee again.

MRS HUDSON: Pardon?

SHERLOCK: Sandwich shop. That’s a new dress, but there’s flour on the sleeve. You wouldn’t dress like that for baking.

(Friendly reminder that shortly thereafter we find out that Mr. Chatterjee has other women)

Does this morse code / BAKED business necessarily mean anything by itself? No, and of anything in this post, it’s the biggest stretch. But it’s still kind of wild, because let’s recap so far:

• We have Morse Hudson in The Adventure of the Six Napoleons, a story which is heavily referenced in TST

• TST heavily connects to Mary / AGRA (we’ll get to how specifically)

• TST also heavily connects to The Pearl of Death, which connects to TAB

• And not only that, but The Pearl of Death connects to the exact scene in TAB where the bride shoots @ Giles and the bread shop. The bread shop could connect to the UMQRA morse code in the show... meaning “Morse” (code, and therefore Hudson) could then connect to Mary.

Morse Hudson -> The Six Napoleons -> TST -> The Pearl of Death (“Giles” etc.) -> TAB (“Giles”) -> Mary, the bride

Oh what a tangled web we weave. That’s a Hudson to Mary.

But let’s keep going. Better stuff to come.

The Black Pearl of the Borgias In TST

Let’s play the game of following the trail of the Black Pearl. Shout out to @miadifferent and @impossibleleaf, because their combo post here I came across was very helpful for showing me the best way to write this out to make it easily understandable. I will be quoting / paraphrasing them below!

The first time we hear about the Pearl, it’s from Mycroft, who connects it to Moriarty’s final activities:

MYCROFT: In the last year of his life, James Moriarty was involved with four political assassinations over 70 assorted robberies and terrorist attacks, including a chemical weapons factory in North Korea and had latterly shown some interest in tracking down the Black Pearl of the Borgias, which is still missing by the way, in case you feel like applying yourself to something practical.

We also learn that the Pearl is somehow connected to London.

HOPKINS: Interpol think, the case of the Borgia Pearl trail leads back to London, so..

So we have Moriarty -> Black Pearl -> London...

And next up, there’s Sherlock’s “fake” deduction about Greta Bengtsdotter (who has always very obviously made us all think about Mary.)

SHERLOCK: Your wife is a spy. That’s right. Her real name is Greta Bengtsdotter. Swedish by birth and probably the most dangerous spy in the world. She’s been operating deep undercover for the past four years now as your wife for one reason only: to get near the American embassy which is across the road from your flat. Tomorrow the U.S. president will be at the embassy as part of an official state visit. As the president greets members of staff, Greta Bengtsdotter, disguised as a twenty-two stone cleaner, will inject the president in the back of the neck with a dangerous new drug hidden inside a secret compartment insider her padded armpit. This drug will then render the president entirely susceptible to the will of their new master, none other than James Moriarty. Moriarty will then use the president as a pawn to destabilize the United Nations General Assembly which is due to vote on a nuclear non-proliferation treaty tipping the balance in favour of a first strike policy against Russia. This chain of events will then prove unstoppable thus precipitating World War 3.

The name “Greta” is derived from the name Margareta, which comes from the Greek word margarites. It means pearl. Further versions of this name are Margarita / Margaret / Maggie.

Thus, we add her in: Moriarty -> Greta -> Black Pearl -> London

So when Sherlock finds the AGRA stick in the busts of Margaret Thatcher, he says to Mary...

SHERLOCK: I was so convinced it was Moriarty, I couldn’t see what was right under my nose. I expected a pearl.

Sherlock expected to find a pearl (Greta / a spy), but instead he found AGRA/Mary’s identity. He actually found what he was looking for, but he just didn’t recognize it.

And it actually still makes sense:

Margaret Thatcher’s bust -> Black Pearl -> Greta (“pearl”, spy) -> Mary (spy) -> AGRA memory stick

That’s how it went in the plot. It’s a subconscious connection.

So what’s ACD have to say about all that then?

This is the point where I remind you...

So all of this does have connections back to ACD canon; who is surprised?

But what do we know about Mary’s past from the show’s canon in His Last Vow? Let’s look at some other reminders.

SHERLOCK: By your skill set, you are – or were – an intelligence agent. Your accent is currently English but I suspect you are not. You’re on the run from something; you’ve used your skills to disappear; Magnussen knows your secret, which is why you were going to kill him; and I assume you befriended Janine in order to get close to him.

MAGNUSSEN: All those wet jobs for the CIA. Ooh! She’s gone a bit... freelance now. Bad girl.

Mary’s not English; she could be Swedish, she could be American, but regardless–Sherlock deduced she’s a linguist in TEH. And either way, she’s worked for America.

Americans crop up a weird amount in BBC Sherlock (and ACD canon too really), and usually in negative contexts. I just want to highlight one American connection from The Abominable Bride, about Emilia Ricoletti:

SHERLOCK: So she decided to make her death count. She was already familiar with the secret societies of America and was able to draw on their methods of fear and intimidation to publicly – very publicly – confront Sir Eustace Carmichael with the sins of his past.

HOOPER: He knew her out in the States. Promised her everything... marriage, position – and then he had his way with her and threw her over, left her abandoned and penniless.

Also, where was it that Mr. Hudson had his drug cartel? Oh yeah. Florida.

We’ll go back to that.

More Margarets In BBC Sherlock

So we’ve officially got one connection where Margaret relates to Mary. TST makes that pretty clear.

Now, where else have we encountered the name Margaret in the show?

Three places (at least, that I’ve caught):

1. A Study In Pink.

The first victim of Jeff Hope the serial killer is Sir Jeffrey Patterson. He was having an affair with his personal assistant Helen, despite being married to his wife Margaret Patterson.

It’s a well-known fact in this fandom that the victims in ASiP are considered mirrors for John Watson, highlighting things that would lead to his own unhappiness/death–possibly even by suicide. (TJLCE video) So, let’s say Jeffrey Patterson is a mirror for John.

Helen the personal assistant (who says “I love you”) is, perhaps, a mirror for Sherlock. She’s wearing a deep purple shirt.

Does that connect Margaret Patterson, who insists her husband was happy, to Mary?

MARGARET PATTERSON: My husband was a happy man who lived life to the full. He loved his family and his work – and that he should have taken his own life in this way is a mystery and a shock to all who knew him.

[looks at John’s unhappiness in HLV after a month of marriage, looks at series 4 theories about John faking his suicide / trying to commit suicide, laughs nervously]

Well. Moving on.

2. The Hounds of Baskerville.

Project HOUND was a CIA Classified / American project that Major Barrymore was involved in. The Major is apparently a fan of Margaret Thatcher, and the password to his laptop is Maggie. Sherlock types “Margare” then hesitantly backtracks and writes Maggie and it works. It’s worth noting that in the script it was drafted to just be Margaret.

3. The Sign of Three.

MRS. HUDSON: My best friend, Margaret – she was my chief bridesmaid. We were going to be best friends forever, we always said that; but I hardly saw her after that. [...] She cried the whole day, saying, “Ooh, it’s the end of an era.” She was probably right, really. I remember she left early. I mean, who leaves a wedding early?

So in BBC Sherlock, the name Margaret is connected to...

• The Margaret Thatcher busts in The Six Thatchers, which connects to Mary/AGRA/pearls/Greta the Swedish spy

• Margaret Patterson, the wife of a mirror for John who was the victim of murder that masqueraded as suicide. This Margaret insists that the John mirror was happy in their marriage, but the John mirror was having an affair with a Sherlock mirror

• Project HOUND, of the CIA. I find this exceedingly interesting because the name "Margaret” has connections to Moriarty/Mary, and this could mean it’s safe to guess that this case is/was connected to the wider Moriarty web. We see Sherlock hallucinate Moriarty when drugged by the fog, sure, but otherwise Moriarty’s handiwork supposedly isn’t involved in this case... but maybe it was indirectly, by Mary in the CIA. Just ruminating.

• Margaret was Mrs. Hudson’s best friend, who left the wedding early when Mrs. Hudson and Frank got married

Re: that last bullet point, here is what I am suggesting as a possibility: Margaret was one of Mr. Hudson’s “other women.” Margaret left the wedding early because she was sad about the marriage, obviously, but maybe she wasn’t in love with Mrs. H like we would naturally assume (per Sherlock leaving the wedding early because he loves John). Maybe Margaret was in love with Mr. Hudson.

Maybe Mary is the daughter of Margaret and Mr. Hudson, and (as previously stated) she’s motivated to get revenge on Sherlock for killing her father and ruining the drug cartel empire. Who knows what would’ve happened to her mother Margaret, in that case, too.

This is speculation, of course, yes. Yet [waves to all the ridiculous web of connections I’ve delved deeply into, and the Frank Hudson hangman] can you blame me?

But, maybe you’re wondering... why would I think she’s the daughter of a Hudson specifically, even aside from all this Margaret stuff?

Well.

Hudsons In ACD Canon

Where is the name “Hudson” used in ACD canon, other than for Mrs. Hudson?

Three places (that I’ve caught; my ACD canon knowledge is limited):

• Morse Hudson in The Adventure of the Six Napoleons, as discussed above; not mentioned in BBC Sherlock canon for some reason, yet strongly tied to the story that inspired TST.

• A name drop of “Hudson” in The Adventure of the Five Orange Pips.

Quick run-down of some aspects of this case: the client, John Openshaw, asks Holmes for help because a series of mysterious letters seems to be connected with the recent suspicious deaths of his uncle Elias and his father Joseph. The letters included 5 orange pips, and KKK on the envelope. When his uncle received his letter, he burnt a bunch of secret personal papers. One paper survived; it’s on that paper that we see Hudson’s name, associated with the KKK, and otherwise oddly unrelated to the case.

Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from a book. It was headed, “March, 1869,” and beneath were the following enigmatical notices:

“4th. Hudson came. Same old platform.

“7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and John Swain of St. Augustine.

“9th. McCauley cleared.

“10th. John Swain cleared.

“12th. Visited Paramore. All well.”

Here are other ~features of interest~ in this case to me: Openshaw’s uncle Elias was a planter in Florida for many years. Florida is mentioned by Holmes as a “notable” state where the KKK formed a branch; the others are Tennessee, Louisiana, the Carolinas, and Georgia (hello to Tbilisi, Georgia being in TST seemingly at random). It is also mentioned that the fear of someone or something is what drove Elias from America to England. There’s also a very random name drop of “Mary” in this story that doesn’t relate to the case, told as part of Openshaw’s story, in which I can only assume Mary was a maid?

OPENSHAW, QUOTING UNCLE ELIAS: “They may do what they like, but I’ll checkmate them still,’ said he with an oath. ‘Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.’

The fact that the name Mary manages to be in this cracks me up.

The orange pips / secret societies in America / etc. all heavily tie into The Abominable Bride, and the women’s hoods were visually reminiscent of the KKK. Sir Eustace’s line in TAB of “Death” (when he receives the pips) is a direct quote from Elias in this story when he receives his pips–and a quote that Mary echoes in TST when she completes Vivian Norbury’s sentence in the aquarium.

VIVIAN NORBURY: I’m just like the merchant in the story. I thought I could outrun the inevitable. I’ve always been looking over my shoulder; always expecting to see the grim figure of...

MARY: Death.

So, in summary we have: a name drop of Hudson in a story that factors in Florida, Georgia, pips, secret societies, the KKK, and even a name drop of Mary.

• Hudson is the criminal in The Adventure of the Gloria Scott.

This case is the one Holmes credits as his first case, and it inspired his future profession. He’s telling Watson the story. It happened in his university days and centers on his friend Victor Trevor (TFP says hi, lmao). More specifically, it centers on Victor Trevor’s father. I won’t go into all the details, and the plot summary on Wikipedia is good if you’re curious, but–

A quick run-down of some ~features of interest~ in this case: Mr. Trevor the elder is being blackmailed by the criminal Hudson because of their old criminal past together with others. Hudson is threatening him with exposure / public shame, and Mr. Trevor is forced to employ him. Victor gets pissed about it and eventually upsets Hudson enough that Hudson leaves in a very “this isn’t over” kind of way. Later, Mr. Trevor dies from a stroke after receiving a letter that threatened him via a skip code. It is a skip code of specifically every third word, beginning with the first.

Full skip code message: "The supply of game for London is going steadily up. Head-keeper Hudson, we believe, has been now told to receive all orders for fly-paper and for preservation of your hen pheasant's life."

Decoded message: "The game is up. Hudson has told all. Fly for your life."

(It’s not a game anymore...)

Who do we have in show canon who recognizes a skip code on sight of specifically every third word, beginning with the first?

All together now: Mary.

(Bonus points for “Save John Watson” being the phrase Mary says in her creepy posthumous DVDs. Bonus points x2 for the fact that this text was sent by Magnussen, the “Napoleon of blackmail,” to Mary when he was supposedly trying to find Sherlock’s pressure point. But anyway!)

Another feature of interest about the Gloria Scott case: Holmes deduces that Mr. Trevor was once connected to someone with the initials J.A. whom he wanted to forget, guessing it was an old lover. Mr. Trevor momentarily faints in shock. Holmes guessed this based on an old arm tattoo that Mr. Trevor had tried to get rid of, where the initials are blurry. This later turns out to be wrong, because Mr. Trevor’s previous name was James Armitage–J.A.–when he was a criminal, and that is the reason behind the tattoo. (JA? AJ / Ajay? Much to think about)

The J.A. tattoo deduction was referenced in The Six Thatchers, when Sherlock deduces that the client had a Japanese girlfriend he is now indifferent about.

SHERLOCK: You’ve got a Japanese tattoo in the crook of your elbow in the name ‘Akako.’ It’s obvious you’ve tried to have it removed.

KINGSLEY: But surely that means I wanna forget her, not that I’m indifferent.

SHERLOCK: If she’d really hurt your feelings, you would have had the word obliterated, but the first attempt wasn’t successful and you haven’t tried again, so it seems you can live with the slightly blurred memory of Akako, hence the indifference.

I’m bothering to highlight this in TST because after Sherlock explains it, the client remarks upon it being “simple”... and that’s when Sherlock immediately launches into his ~fake~ long-winded deduction about his wife being Greta the spy, as I already talked about above. Wild.

One last fascinating thing about the Gloria Scott: this case is referenced in 2 other ACD stories–The Sussex Vampire (John texting in TST), and The Musgrave Ritual (TFP). Gotta love that.

So, uh, what if Mrs. Hudson’s “case” (getting her husband executed) was one of Sherlock’s “firsts” that inspires him to become a consultive detective full-time? We’re told in ASiP that he ensured Frank Hudson’s execution “a few years back.” The inexactness of that year amount drives me bonkers, but I think it’s potentially plausible.

Short Coda: Ghost Stories...

In Mr. Trevor’s reply to Holmes’ (incorrect) J.A. tattoo deduction, he includes the following line:

“Of all ghosts, the ghosts of our old loves are the worst.”

Mark Gatiss talked a lot about ghost stories. In the Sherlock Chronicles book (which I own) teasing series 4, he said, “I can certainly give you one word. Ghosts...” and in this interview he said “There’s a conspiracy theory about everything and they’re almost the modern equivalent of ghost stories. And the great thing is, you can have all the tropes of a ghost story. . . There are lots of people in happy marriages who turn out to have terrible secrets or to have done some awful deed in the past that must be paid for in the present. In Doyle’s stories, those are the ghosts you need to worry about.”

And here are the lines we get from Holmes in The Abominable Bride about ghosts (that aren’t literal):

You may, however, rest assured there are no ghosts in this world... Save those we make for ourselves.

We all have a past, Watson. Ghosts – they are the shadows that define our every sunny day. Sir Eustace knows he’s a marked man.

The avenging ghost – a legend to strike terror into the heart of any man with malicious intent; a spectre to stalk those unpunished brutes whose reckoning is long overdue.

While typing, I’ve now galaxy-brained my way to the realization that Mrs. H was canonically an “abominable bride” to Frank Hudson and literally murdered him (with Sherlock’s help), just like the women in the special. She’s also shown as one of the women ignored/disparaged in the special (”I’m your landlady, not a plot device”) but just isn’t shown in the crypt/society. So that’s, uh... interesting.

In (Semi-)Conclusion: A Summary

We have the following significant points at minimum:

• A Frank Hudson clue in a series 4 video

• One reference where Mary is undeniably connected to a Hudson who was a criminal in ACD canon (skip code)

• One ACD Hudson who was heavily connected to The Six Napoleons story, aka The Six Thatchers

• One ACD Hudson name-dropped in a story that heavily connects to The Abominable Bride, and Florida

• A bizarre pile of evidence that all Margaret mentions in the show could relate back to Mary the ex-CIA spy, in some way or another

• A Margaret connected to Mrs. Hudson who could’ve been in love with Frank Hudson (in Florida)

• The overall theme of s4 being ghosts from past deeds and un(happy) marriages coming to haunt people. And lest we forget, “ghost” Mary literally haunts Sherlock and John after her “death.”

Does that cover it? I feel like that covers it.

Of course, I absolutely could be reading into a ton of things that are unrelated, but... Who is to say ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Random Related Stuff

Not required reading, but while poking around, I’ve found other things that could or could not connect to the above theory. I’m just gonna... info dump it right here. It could all be meaningless, it could all connect, it could be unrelated! You decide! Lots of meta links involved below, so credit where credit is due.

• I knew I wasn’t the first to come up with this concept/possibility of Mary being a Hudson. While building this post, I ran a search and came across this old one by @the-7-percent-solution, who posited there’s a letter game at play of AEIOU involving Mary’s monstrous regiment of various characters and connects Amo/Love to Mary. I love this concept, and while I do think there are other elements/aspects in play for the plot besides just this, that post still has pieces that can work nicely; doesn’t matter that it was written before TFP aired.

• Frequently thinking about how Sherlock said “Mrs. Hudson? Leave Baker Street? England would fall,” because what does Mrs. Hudson do in TLD? She leaves Baker Street.

• All of the above cursed elements haunt me. (Arwel’s Instagram post was April of this year.) Note: there’s another tweet Arwel jokingly posted of this photo years ago, but that tweet’s caption was connected to Brexit based on dates / my memory (i.e. “England has fallen”), so I’m not including it lol.

• In TFP, when Mrs. Hudson is vacuuming, she’s listening to Iron Maiden’s “The Number of the Beast.” The lyrics we get are “666, the Number of the Beast. Hell and fire was spawned to be released.” The other time 666 is mentioned was by Mary in TST, in reference to Rosie.

• Mrs. Hudson is in the center of the 221B promo pic for series 4, as noticed by @sherlocks-salty-blog.

• This cursed pic of Mary’s "ring from her past” on top of a series 4, episode 3 script (??) that Amanda took has haunted me since she tweeted it. Mary wears this ring on-screen in TEH, and you can see it when Sherlock deduces her.

• The Gabrielle Ashdown passport (in TST) is from America.

• Janine (who many of us notice is likely involved with Mary / Moriarty of course) often wears pearls, as @sherlockmeta noticed. Mary also wears pearl earrings in series 4 promo shots but never in s4 episodes (that I can find/remember). I also always think that Mary and Mrs. Hudson are dressed very similarly in s4 promo images (see all promos here).

• @raggedyblue discussed how Sherlock’s window deduction in TLD sounds a lot like Mrs. Hudson’s kitchen in 221A, and how a sheet of paper being pinned/folded is an opposite element in ACD’s The Sign of Four. The re-folded paper was a map leading to the AGRA treasure, and Mary found it in her father’s desk. Brilliant catch. Of course, in the show, the paper says Miss Me which is also heavily connected to Mary.

• The mystery of the little girls with blond and braided hair, as compiled by @ebaeschnbliah, is also going to haunt me. I suggest reading the post, but minor summary: during s4 setlock, there was filming with Ben and Mark at Ogmore Castle with a little girl "wearing a skirt or dress, and her hair was blonde and in pigtails,” and she was running circles around Sherlock. There are two separate reports from people who saw this and mentioned it had to do with Mary; at first glance it bears similarities to Eurus scenes we got in TFP, but seems different in description. This also brings to mind the little girl with blonde braided hair in TEH at the bonfire, who notably wears a bright red jacket just like Mary. And there’s also a doll with blond braided pigtails in Magnussen’s mind palace.

• @gosherlocked has posts about “The Children of Sherlock” (part 1)(part 2) that highlight how children are frequently victims in this show. Metaphorically, I find this interesting if Mary plays a role of a “wronged child” avenging her father, regardless of age.

• Let’s talk music in TLD–or at least, one piece of it. When Mrs. Hudson drops the teacup, Mozart’s “Andante From Piano Concerto #21” plays. That specific second movement was used in the 1967 Swedish film Elvira Madigan. Sweden, of course, immediately reminded me of Greta the spy (aka Mary) being Swedish. After I realized this info, I ran a search to see if anyone else had mentioned this movie and I found this post, where @tjlcisthenewsexy and @possiblyimbiassed discussed how it’s a story of 2 doomed lovers who die via suicide-by-revolver. This is significant because Sherlock drops a revolver to catch the tea; death replaced by (gay) love?

• Speaking of Sweden: in The Game Is Now, Sherlock is abroad in Sweden. This is mentioned more than once: first, in this audio message between Sherlock and Mycroft (“Sweden sends its regards.” “It does?” “No, not really.”). This audio message also includes “This is not an international game of sardines.” Fish reference? Aquarium?

The second Sweden mention is visually, in this video. See below. (Also, in both, the characters say “real people,” which I can’t help but feel is a fourth wall break of them being fictional?)

I hate this Sweden stuff specifically. Thank you.

This post is so much longer than I expected it would be, thank you for reading all of this if you did, Johnlock is real, Mary is a villain, etc.

Come yell at me on Twitter @CharCubed!

Also, I made a secret sideblog @frankhudson to just reblog meta or info I might want to be able to find later lmao. Feel free to poke around if you want.

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cobalt-penguin · 5 years ago

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y’know what i’m still feeling annoyed and petty, plus i’m stuck inside and it’s storming out so why not type out a checklist of what everyone in TOW did to me.

since i am mean and manipulative, petty and pathetic, and so much more? why not bring up some old beef and give ya’ll something to eat.

Gansey: tried repeatedly to instigate drama -- if not actively break up -- my OC ships by encouraging -- through IC shenanigans -- cheating and lying. One of these happened while I was on vacation with my family and i still remember crying about it in a hotel bathroom because i thought one of my few ships in the RP was over and I hadn’t even been asked about it. This also included trying to get his OC Tomas to make IC/OOC (hey you can feign innocence when it’s in that dubiously OOC space, until its receptive in which case you can say it was IC the whole time!) at one of my ship partner’s OCs. Made repeated fat jokes at one of my fat characters (the same one they were clearly trying to get away from their partner...hmm...). Claimed I was always running to vague on my personal. Fair enough, I did, but they did the same thing. In poem form. Never answered my message about leaving the RP group because they felt ‘disrespected” by it. Repeatedly including untagged dubcon/noncon elements on the dashboard and triggering me. Lying to Ivy and me about having a full Overwatch party then trying to say “oh it just emptied you can join now”. hid this “FAR” idea from the rest of the RP community and then played coy when they got found out and asked about it by another anon (not me). Made fun of other RP groups in Tumblr tags then, when I asked them and their friends not to, was told “we’re a step above them.” Saying I was excluding them from things when I asked to play OW with them AND invited them to my horror RP group AND, only months beforehand, were inviting them to my Marvel RP??Trying to emotionally manipulate me through threatening to kill characters they had obviously grown tired of playing (probably because their major connections were to me and not their other friends) -- “haha i’m probably going to kill (my oc) idk but doesn’t that make you upset?? what will (your character) even do??” Engaging in nasty “”IC”” interactions with my character, basically telling me, through them, off, and being supported by the entire community in doing so. All of this really hurt me because I considered Gansey a friend and a major inspiration at one point in my life. Someone I non-jokingly looked up to and trusted. I feel like Gansey left TAR, our first RP group, because of how controlling, self-interested, petty, and mean-spirited the admins there were. That they were limiting other people’s creativity while building up their own narrative -- everyone else just there to be their audience. But you and Roman literally became Usa and Jen. Congrats. You lived long enough to become everything you’d rebelled against. And yes Gansey -- I saw all of your messages to everyone. Emotionally manipulating others -- telling them how terrible you are you don’t deserve their friendship, but would like to -- isn’t an apology. Its a tactic. Do better in the future. And despite me “blocking” you? There were a hundred ways to still reach out to me if that was what you really wanted. But let’s be real. It wasn’t. That was part of your gambit to. Goodbye.

Rosie: asked literally EVERYONE about what had happened with the ““TOW explosion”” except me. never even asked my side of the story. Rosie I don’t even get because the other admins treated her like shit -- making her do all the coding and technical components for the entire RP -- but she was still defending them to the end. Okay. And then to treat Shelly like utter SHIT even though Reyne was running her passive-aggressive mouth off about people who couldn't even defend themselves? Amazing. Yeah, she’s the bully. Your perspective was so twitested by your biases that you were ready to victim blame Shelly just because Reyne had to run at the sight of someone actually throwing their bulltshit back at them.

Reyne: Like Gansey, frequently indulged in cheating/cucking scnearios for fun -- again, including my own characters without asking or telling me. Don’t think Reyne ever apologized for this, IC or OOC. Dropped ships with me repeatedly -- leaving the group even -- without a word. Passive-aggressive to the max. Made a ship with Gansey just to play out her Teen Wolf OTP -- something that will never not be funny to me, when she called Gansey’s “character” Stiles. Smooth.

Frankii: Repeatedly dropped me and my characters from plots. Gave me one of the most hurtful comments of my RP community by essentially being like “maybe if your plots and characters weren’t so confusing than more people would want to RP with you.” Invited to join my horror RP group and never made a character. also told me this after Gansey wrote that enormous callout about me, that Roman piggybacked on while the getting was good: “also I'm not here to advocate on behalf of my friend but I really don't think Gansey was trying to be rude last night, they can come off a certain way when they're stressed.” COOL. The rest of Frankii’s message I really appreciated, at the time, but, surprise surprise, then despite us being “cool” they never spoke to me again.

Laura: I actually really liked Laura tbh but I guess she didn’t feel the same. Some of our interactions back in TAR were actually some of my favorites. I invited her to join my horror RP group and she never made a character. When I asked about this -- and if she needed any help making someone or wanted to leave -- she said she was working on it. Basically stonewalled me over time. Honestly though? Not a lot to say I actually think Laura is a good writer and pretty cool. Its just obvious who her friends were and I, stupidly, thought I was included in that.

Anna: Actually I really liked Anna too tbh but I guess I vastly overestimated our friendship? It happens. Dropped me from one of her plots -- after talking to me about including me in one of hers because she felt “obligated” basically, from being featured in my own -- without mentioning why or talking to me about it. Invited to join new RP -- refused (not mad about this, just making note of it). Refused to follow my new account when I lost my old one because “lol they’re such a furry”.

Roman: lmao where to even start. Roman was condescending and elitist literally from the beginning of TAR. barely acknowledged my existence until he had to.I started a plot with an open invitation to the entire RP group, with a deadline so I could start writing. Roman waits until its over and complains that they were left out. I include him anyway. Roman mocks the fact that I ask to tag or outright remove aphrodisiac dust -- because I don’t like seeing untagged dubcon/noncon on my dashboard, it upsets me a lot -- and then goes on a whole thread about it after I go to bed and can’t even defend myself. Apparently told his friends not to invite me to things because he doesn’t like me??? And then he has the nerve to be like communication is key and you can come talk anytime??? While having me on their public “friends” list with a description about me on his blog??? omfg...I literally can’t. To this day. Actually let this image speak for itself.

Everything Else: The repeated, childish treatment of strippers as immoral (””your character is stripping?? my character is so upset and is going to protect them!!”). The implication that characters who were stripping were also automatically sex workers. The continued references to my character, who owned this establishment, as being sleazy and manipulative. Also, honestly, what was with ya’ll adopting some random teenager into your OW groups? That was weird af. And then bringing some random person into TOW without asking anyone and trying to pull rank like “we’re the admin team and we can do whatever we want”. and shit-talking Meg and me in your “open forum” when all we wanted to do was get on with out lives. Like? Who cares? Ya’ll didn’t want me, at least, there anyway, clearly. You don’t get to exclude me then talk about how disrespectful and “wrong” the way I left was..........

Me: I didn’t do everything perfectly either. I know I could be passive-aggressive. I could be self-interested. I could make bitter comments. I dealt with feeling angry and upset by making memes -- which, I’m gonna be honest, I get why ya’ll were upset but I don’t regret either. I had spent so long in TAR/TOW with nobody interested in my characters and plots -- originally because I didn’t vid and played furries but, later, well.........see above -- that I did focus on my own narrative. I wasn’t invited to plots. I didn’t have sexy vampires and boy band werewolves. I played weird characters that didn’t fit the common niche of the cast of an angst and hookup filled supernatural YA novel. Maybe my plots were confusing but, honestly? It was because they were always going to be in the background. I wasn’t disinterested in anyone’s stories. I had just been left out of them for so long -- having to beg to even be a mention in a single mention -- that I had to make my own. I wasn’t there to just be an audience member to be aghast by Roman’s newest quirky boy or Gansey’s newest possessed twink. I was a writer. A member of the community. And, at the time? I thought a friend. Someone who deserved appreciation and respect.

I know who my true friends are now. We did, ironically, exactly what you did -- we have out own group, our own setting, our own community.

And I still live with the mean and manipulative things YALL said everyday. Even as an adult -- even with everything I’ve accomplished and am so proud of -- I’m still traumatized by being treated so poorly -- for years -- and not even realizing it. Something I’m still working on -- one of the many reasons I still have trust issues to this day. Congrats. That’s your legacy on me. aNYWAY

byeeeeeee

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toothpaste-dragon · 5 years ago

Note

I know for questions, you're probably talking about Far From Home, but what about William, the fish guy? What was he like in the early days of character development? How has he changed since you first thought of him? And I guess, same question for the FFH folks. Thanks in advance.

I was honestly so excited to receive this question because I LOVE my boy William! Plus it’s fun to talk about character origin stories.

Buckle up. This is gonna be a long answer.

Up until 2014 my art largely consisted of fanart or fan characters, so I had never produced content that was truly original. During spring of that year, I stumbled upon and quickly become enamored with some original characters on deviantart, many of which were ‘monsters’ (vampires, mermaids, werewolves, etc.). Seeing these characters inspired me to create my own story with characters that catered to my own interests.

William is the first original character I ever created, so he has a special place in my heart. This is my very fist sketch of him! (Sorry for the low quality.)

My initial idea for his story was disorganized and had a lot of missing pieces. In the early days of character development, William was nothing more than a character I liked for his design and personality. I had very little experience with character creation, so I put a lot of myself into him. He was shy and timid and anxious at times, but he also had low self-esteem and didn’t feel like he fit in anywhere. And for good reason — his backstory was one of confusion and grief. Originally, he was an orphan that had been kidnapped by scientists and genetically modified to resemble a fish, all while retaining his previous characteristics and a humanoid shape. The scientists raised him and were training him for some unknown task, of which I never decided before changing the direction of the story entirely.

William and his story turned six during March of this year, and both have changed A LOT since then! He’s no longer a chemist, nor does he have any experience in the sciences. I also gave him some glasses and a nice argyle sweater (which now serves as his classic look, haha), and I’ve decided he’s of Asian descent for reasons explained in a few paragraphs. Not only have I refined his story to be more practical and understandable, but I’ve also given William a purpose, something to pursue. He’s still anxious and feels like he doesn’t belong, but he doesn’t stay that way forever.

I always liked stories about monsters, in the sense that something not-quite-human longs for a place among normal people. Society views these ‘monsters’ as unnatural or potentially dangerous, and yet the monster displays more humanity than the humans themselves. I really want to lean into that idea as I tell William’s story. He may not be your typical monster, but he certainly feels like one. Different, unnatural, out of place. Yet he has a kind heart and a childlike fascination with the world. The road is difficult, but with a bit of help he eventually finds his niche.

Here’s my most recent sketch for comparison, and a lovely depiction of William by my pal HareSoup!

Besides the few changes mentioned above, Will hasn’t changed much design-wise. He has fins in place of ears, gills on his neck, scales scattered across his face/trunk/limbs, and a bit of webbing between his fingers/toes. He can breathe underwater and on land, but his scales and gills have to receive moisture every 1-2 hours or he’ll develop health issues/fall ill.

I don’t remember when I decided I wanted to write a full-length book telling Will’s story, but it’s still a goal of mine! To give you a brief synopsis of the current story, now titled “Fish Out of Water”, it takes place some years after the signing of the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty, which officially brought the Arms Race to an end. During the Arms Race, nuclear weapons were tested without concern for radiation and the effects it had on nearby civilians. In one particular scenario, Asian civilians were evacuated from a small town-turned nuclear test site, but they were not properly protected. The offspring of these civilians developed unnatural deformities/features, such as extra limbs or feathers, as a result of exposure to unhealthy levels of radiation. Worried that this development would mortify the public, the government hid the children in a science facility stationed in a secluded part of the ocean, and they remained within its walls for years. After 28 years, William escapes the facility with the help of his guilt-ridden caretaker and is found unconscious on the shore of a coastal city by marine biologist Martha Collins. The story follows Will as he attempts to shake his government pursuers, but it’s really a story about friendship, self-worth, and discovering what it truly means to be human.

Though unfinished, William’s story is very special to me, and I’m looking forward to sharing it with the world someday :>

As for the Far From Home folks, they came from simple beginnings. It all started with a sketch — this one to be exact!

Back in the spring of 2017, I was stressed and tired and frustrated with school, so I thought it’d be fun to create some new characters. Specifically, comfort characters that fit my favorite tropes. I took a lot of inspiration from the movies “Ernest & Celestine” and “You Are Umasou” when it came to personalities and character dynamics. I loved the idea of a tough, grumpy man who is completely unqualified to be a father stumbling upon and eventually adopting a small, bright-eyed child. There’s just so much you can do with that concept!

I specifically remember sitting in the library at school and just…drawing. I had no initial designs in mind besides something big and sharp, and something small and soft. Two opposites that would become a makeshift family.

I liked the designs enough to digitalize them, reworking aspects of their designs in the process. This was the first ‘accurate’ drawing of Baz and Toko. (I don’t like it too much anymore, but it’s a good color reference!)

I never like leaving a character without a story, so I eventually came up with a couple ideas that adequately described their relationship. In fact, my first idea presented Toko as some sort of child princess and Baz as her assigned bodyguard! That one obviously didn’t stick, but it did allow me to gain a better understanding of what I wanted.

Over time, I did a bit of world building and expanded upon the FFH universe, which opened and closed doors for potential storylines. I realized I wanted to add more characters too, leading to the creation of Gerdie and some other important figures. Gerdie looked quite a bit different than he does now — in fact, he was originally supposed to be an android! I played around with that idea for a while before eventually discarding it.

Here’s my most recent size chart featuring all three main characters!

I honestly never expected Far From Home to expand beyond a simple idea, and yet here I am, thinking I can turn the story into a trilogy someday. There’s still a lot of work to do if I want to reach that goal, but I genuinely enjoy these characters and their dynamic is really fun! They’ve grown very dear to me over the past three years. So I think that’s reason enough to try, anyway.

To give a bit of background on the story itself, it’s set in a fictional version of outer space where humans don’t exist. Intelligent, technologically-advanced aliens from neighboring planets/galaxies have established contact with one another, leading to the gradual formation of an intergalactic government and melting pot mega-society. Due to the unforeseen complexity of this endeavor, strict rules were put in place to regulate the selling/purchasing of certain goods and services, transportation between galaxies, and other related activities. This system is not without complications.

Baz and Gerdie work as intergalactic merchants, but that’s just a cover for their job as smugglers. Together, they travel to different galaxies and exchange goods for the designated currency, as well as deliver illegal substances to specific planets. Baz is the captain and pilots the ship while Gerdie is an engineer and works as the mechanic. They’ve known each other for quite some time when the story first begins. Baz has quite the interesting history, much of which ties into important aspects of the story.

Toko is a young alien who gets separated from her family and wakes up in the storage unit of Baz’s ship, with no memory of how she got there. Baz finds her and suspects she’s a thief, but she quickly explains her predicament and asks that he help reunite her with her family. Baz is reluctant at first and denies her request, only to discover there’s more to her story than he originally thought. Unintentionally dragging Baz into a frightening adventure full of old friends and all-too-familiar foes, Toko eventually inspires a change of heart in the smuggler. The story explores themes like forgiveness, what it really means to be good/bad, and the idea that family isn’t defined by blood.

I know that was a lot, but I hope it was at least somewhat interesting! Thanks for asking about my characters and sticking with me through this <3

#ask #ihavebeencalled #Far From Home #Baz #Toko #Baz and Toko #Gerdie #Fish Out of Water #William

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theperksofbeingbarbie · 6 years ago

Text

Rain Check

Summary: Requested by an Anon: Diego x Reader where he sees their self harm scars and the reader talks about wanting to relapse and it’s super fluffy and cute.

WARNINGS: Depression; Self-harm; language

Word Count: 1.5k

Paring: Diego x Gender Neutral!Reader

A/N: I really hope you like this, Nonnie! I kinda pulled from my own experience with depression so I hope it’s not too... Niche, you know?

(/^.^(^.^*)>

Sorry, can’t come tonight. Another rain check? ☂️☂️

It was the third time you’ve cancelled on Diego in the last week, but you couldn’t bring yourself to get out of bed. Standing felt like a chore, doing anything to get ready for a date was an impossible task the gods would give to the heroes and you would think they were about to die before they finally pulled themselves together and defeated the beast. But you weren’t a hero. This wasn’t some mythical beast. This was you, sitting on your bed, wishing to feel something, anything. This was you, sitting on your bed, hating yourself for not being able to be normal for one day. This was you, sitting on your bed, considering going back to your only release.

You decided to lay back down, sighing as you pulled the blanket back over your body. You started to get lost in your thoughts, the little creature in your brain picking ‘you’ll never be good enough’ for this evening’s broken record. You held onto the stuffed cat Diego won for you at the fair, smiling softly as you remembered when you finally learned that the reason he was so good at ring toss was because of his power. You’ll never be good enough. You pushed the cat away, rolling over so you wouldn’t have to look at it. You finally got a reprieve from your thoughts when there was a knock on the door. Who the hell would be here? You pulled the blanket higher over you, hoping that if you just ignored them, they would just go away.

Of course you weren’t lucky enough for that. You pushed yourself from your bed, growling loudly as the other person knocked incessantly. “Mrs. Nezwek, I don’t have any sugar for you to borrow!” you said forcefully as you opened the door, eyes going wide when you saw that it was Diego. “De, I said I couldn’t hang out today...”

“I know, I was just worried about you and I was in the neighborhood...”

You quickly ran over the map of New York in your mind. He never had anything on this side of the city.

“You just gonna make me stand out here like a vacuum salesman?” Diego teased, smiling a bit.

“Oh, uh...” You stepped aside, gesturing with your arm that he was welcome. “I promise I’m fine,” you assured, closing the door behind him.

“There’s something going on,” Diego insisted, turning around to look at you. He suddenly realized he had never seen you in just a t-shirt. You always wore a jacket, a sweater, long sleeves. The normal part of his brain knew arms shouldn’t be this exciting, but he still found himself a little happy. It was like another step in your relationship.

You quickly realized what he was staring at, holding your arms to your body to hide them. “I just have been off lately. I promise I’ll be okay.” You forced a smile, moving past him to start cleaning up the living room.

“[Y/N].” Diego watched you clean for a bit, letting out a short breath when you just ignored him. “[Y/N],” he repeated. Finally Diego made his way over to you, grabbing your hand as you reached for a discarded plate on the side table. “Talk to me.”

You tried to get your hand from Diego’s grasp but he kept a decent hold on it. “I’ve just been off lately,” you restated, looking down at your arm to avoid his eyes.

Diego followed your eyes, finally seeing what you always worked so hard to keep covered. He turned your hand over to see the scars fully, sighing softly. When he looked back up he saw tears in your eyes. “C’mere,” he whispered, gently tugging you toward him to wrap his arms around you.

You wrapped your arms back around him, completely breaking down. You hid in his shoulder for what felt like ages, Diego never once moving or making you feel like he was tired of this. He just held you, rubbed your back a bit, whispered ‘It’s okay’. You pulled away, letting go of him to wipe your eyes.

Diego smoothly replaced your hands with his own, using his sleeve to wipe your tears. “Talk to me.” He said it so sweetly, so sincerely, you started to cry again. “No, no, no, come on.” Diego chuckled lightly, pulling you onto the sofa. He wrapped his arm around our shoulders, kissing your temple. “Relax.”

“I’ve just been feeling really shitty lately,” you finally admitted after a few silent moments. “And it just feels... Crushing. It’s fucking exhausting.” You let out a shaky breath, trying not to cry again. “I don’t feel like I’m good enough for you, or anyone for that matter. I feel like I do everything wrong, I’m just... A waste of space. But part of me knows that thinking like that is... Stupid so then I get upset that I can’t be normal.” You shook your head, looking up at the ceiling. “I just... I need some kind of release. I need to get it out.”

Diego listened, never taking his eyes off you as he spoke. “Look at me,” he requested, running his fingertips over your cheekbone. He smiled fondly when you did, resting his forehead against yours. “You are good enough, for me or anyone else. Hell, I think you’re too good sometimes. Like when you made me win that giant teddy bear for that kid at the carnival.” He grinned when that made you laugh a bit. “You harassed me! I thought you were going to try to beat me up!”

“You could use your powers for good,” you defended, letting out another watery laugh.

“See? You’re good.” Diego took your hand, kissing the back of it. He looked up at you as he turned your hand over, kissing the scars up your arm. “Look, I get it. With everyone in my family, I’ve seen my fair share of this stuff,” he said softly, running his thumb over the back of your hand. “My brother, Ben, used to...” Diego gave your hand a gentle squeeze as a way to reference your arm. “I caught him with one of my knives. After that, we started to try different ways to... Fulfill the need? We didn’t get much time to experiment before he died but I can still try that stuff with you,” he offered.

Your eyes started watering again when Diego kissed up your arm, but you were absolutely sobbing at his suggestion.

“I feel like I’m just making this worse.”

You shook your head, pulling your boyfriend in for a loving kiss. “It just means a lot.”

---------------------

While that night felt good, you didn’t fully expect Diego to follow through. He was there, and that was nice, but no one followed through. You definitely didn’t expect him to show up at your place with a giant bag full of art supplies and even makeup.

“Ben was kinda artsy and I read something about drawing on yourself instead,” Diego explained as he started to unpack everything. “So I went to the Academy to see if there was any supplies, ran into Klaus, he gave me these... Eyeliners? I don’t know, they’re colored.” He shrugged a bit as he pulled the case of makeup out. “I thought it might be cool to draw on each other.”

You watched him unpack everything, looking up to see how serious he looked. He wanted to do this. He wanted to make you feel at least a little bit better. You finally nodded, standing to get towels and some water. When you returned, Diego was all set up, shedding his sweater so he was only in a tank top.

“You first,” Diego decided, pulling your chair closer to him when you sat beside him at your little kitchen table. “Now, I suck at art, so I’m sorry if I just make things worse.” He smiled when you laughed, taking one of your hands in his own.

You smiled as you watched him paint on your arm, noticing how focused he was. It was nice to have someone that cared so much, to have someone that tried this hard. “Thank you, Diego,” you said softly, resting your cheek on your other hand.

Diego glanced up when you broke his trance, nodding a bit. “Don’t mention it.” He sat back when he was done, nodding in satisfaction. “There!”

You grinned as you looked at your flower covered arm, liking how much nicer it looked than the scars. “I love it,” you said sincerely, looking back up at Diego with a bright smile. You pulled him by the front of his shirt for a sweet kiss, chuckling lightly against his lips. “Your turn!”

You shifted in your seat so you could rest your now painted arm and not ruin Diego’s art work as you started on his arm. You decided to go for the eyeliners and markers, drawing a kraken holding knives and some pizza. It wasn’t perfect, but you looked up to see Diego grinning like a mad man.

“That’s perfect, babe,” he complimented, pulling you back in for another kiss. “Just like you.”

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thomasmarleyblog · 4 years ago

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To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market. To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyse their growth strategies. Buy This Research Study Report for Quick Access @ https://www.datalabforecast.com/buy-now/?id=18572-card-printing-ribbon-market&license_type=su About Us Transforming Information into Insights We pride ourselves in being a niche market intelligence and strategic consulting and reporting firm driven towards resulting in a powerful impact on businesses across the globe. Our accuracy estimation and forecasting models have earned recognition across majority of the business forum. We source online reports from some of the best publishers and keep updating our collection to offer you direct online access to the world’s most comprehensive and recent database with skilled perceptions on global industries, products, establishments and trends. We at ‘Data Lab Forecast’, wish to assist our clients to strategize and formulate business policies, and achieve formidable growth in their respective market domain. Data Lab Forecast is a one-stop solution provider right from data collection, outsourcing of data, to investment advice, business modelling, and strategic planning. The company reinforces client’s insight on factors such as strategies, future estimations, growth or fall forecasting, opportunity analysis, and consumer surveys, among others. 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sandralmuller · 5 years ago

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Is your website committing these web crimes?

A recent project for a higher education client led me to research their competitors to see what they were doing well and not doing so well. My research led to writing a framework for best-practice content design and copywriting in the higher education space.

As I compiled the report, it struck me that many of the things higher education providers were not doing well apply beyond the higher ed space. They might equally apply to your site or your client’s.

Here’s my list of 10 things to check to make sure a website is not committing a web crime and driving users away.

1. Targeting no one and everyone

This is usually a symptom of a bigger branding issue. It’s not a quick 5-minute fix-it job.

But if you have a client with a website that is taking the spray and hope it sticks approach, it would be worth having a chat about their bigger branding woes and doing the work to nail their target audience.

Some higher ed providers were using the same space to sell an MBA in leadership as a childcare qualification.

Being able to communicate to a specific audience makes copy so much more engaging and relevant. It also helps from an SEO perspective—being the squeaky wheel that gets the Google grease.

Some businesses are afraid that defining an audience will then exclude everyone else and that this means lost sales. But in reality, ‘everyone else’ represents the non-buyers, anyway. Instead, a business is possibly failing to convert those in their target market by not directly speaking to them.

Or perhaps your client started with one vision but after launching, they’ve modified their offering and figured out who their audience actually is. But they’ve not yet reflected this change in their copy.

I’m putting my hand up as guilty of this web crime. This website needs a copy overhaul, key message tailoring and a restructure to better communicate my services to my target audience. I’ll get onto that during my next project lull. Pinky swear!

Pin it to read later

2. Being generic

When competitors all offer the same benefits, how do you get a site to stand out?

Being generic is also usually another symptom of failing to define a clear target audience.

With the higher ed sites, some of them offered the same benefits—like being able to study online and not have to sit exams. And these are important benefits. But if that’s all you’ve got, how do you separate yourself from 100s of other providers?

To engage an audience, you need to show them what’s different and what value you bring that others don’t.

For copywriters, we all write words. But what makes us different? Is it who we write for? Is it our style? The types of copywriting we niche in?

For a higher ed provider, it could be unique student support, graduate placement opportunities, or the chance to work on projects with their highly coveted industry partners.

Whatever that point of difference is, shout it loud or the website will sound like everyone else’s.

3. Failing to provide key information upfront

This one is easy to fix… if you know your target audience well.

When working on the research part of a project, I love trawling through call centre data or talking to call centre staff. They know what key information people want or are not finding — that’s why people contact the call centre).

For my higher ed client, it was a matter of taking the buried information about tuition fees, course duration and study modes and putting that information at the top of the page. It seems like a no-brainer, but so many of their competitors weren’t doing this and those that did, structured their information well.

Is there key information you need to put front and centre on a certain page? Looking through your audience lens, you’ll have a different perspective of what information needs to be most prominent. And it’s almost never what the client thinks needs to be most prominent.

4. Show vs tell

If you’ve ever taken a creative writing class, you’ll no doubt be familiar with this concept. We need to convey information and emotion by showing our reader what our characters are thinking and feeling, not telling the user what they’re thinking, feeling and experiencing.

For example:

Sandra felt nervous before she forcefully opened the door to a room full of howling zombies.

Sandra’s hand hovered over the door handle. She took a deep breath and grabbed the handle, pulling it towards her with such force the windows rattled and zombies howled.

I got my zombie reference in! 🧟‍♀️ Yay!

The same concept applies to sales copy.

Don’t tell users how wonderful your product or service is, show them. You can do this by:

framing the benefits for the user rather than focusing on the features

including testimonials from real customers who used and enjoy the product or service

switching adjectives for action-oriented verbs that describe the outcome

5. Adding a strong call to action

This is easy to fix. If your client’s page doesn’t offer a strong call to action (CTA), they’re missing a chance to guide a customer to do what you want them to do.

CTAs come in many forms and could be to subscribe to a newsletter, download a thing, read a related page, buy something or even share something.

I was surprised by how many higher ed providers didn’t offer a clear CTA on their course pages. You’d think they’d want people to either apply or contact the university about the course.

Look at your client’s key pages and make sure they have a strong and obvious CTA.

6. Hiding core information in a PDF download

I’m not talking about freebie opt-ins here—the PDFs you package and swap for an email address. Some of you might have ended up on my mailing list by downloading my epic ‘Better blogging template’.

I’m talking about hiding the core information a user needs to decide whether to buy a product or service.

So many of the higher education providers hid course details behind a sign-up form, like what subjects you’d study and what your learning outcomes would be.

I get why they do it—they want to talk directly to people, as that typically has a higher conversion rate. But how many people returning to Google to find the course they want with all those details provided?

7. Using unfamiliar Jargon

Do you know what CRICOS means? Or OLS? Probably not.

But higher ed providers don’t seem to realise that. They insert that jargon without saying something like:

This is a CRICOS course, so we can enrol eligible international students.

Our Online Learning System (OLS) …

Check that your client isn’t using jargon or acronyms their target audience doesn’t know.

8. Fluffing text with marketing waffle

This one ties in closely with show vs tell. Sites that fluff out their copy with waffle turn off users. People scan web pages. Slabs of text that don’t actually say very much but are full of colourful platitudes.

Is there a better way to communicate what you want to say?

Would a short bullet list work better over slabs of text?

Will icons and other visual elements support the design and communicate what you want to say?

Will a CTA button work better than just a link?

These are all things we can test and refine.

9. Burying key content in video only

It’s great that sites are incorporating more and more video into their site as this is a popular way for users to consume content. But I was surprised to watch several videos on different higher ed provider websites where the key benefits and other bits of critical information were in the video but not covered elsewhere on the site—particularly home pages.

I would never assume that users watch the video and certainly not all the way through.

So, I advised my higher ed client to ensure their videos do not hoard the key messages that should be strong and clear throughout their content.

People don’t consume content in a linear way. And they don’t consume every piece and type of content on a page.

Check your client’s videos to make sure they’ve not buried the gold that would sell the course in the video only.

10. Lacking social proof

One of the best ways to sell a product or service is via word of mouth. Get others to sell it for you.

When it comes to selling via a website, testimonials go a long way to convincing others that this will be the right purchase for them. Good testimonials can counter common objections and provide social proof that this is a good product or service.

I was surprised to see many of the higher ed providers I visited didn’t include testimonials. Or they included generic testimonials that you could have written about any course. Specificity is important. Website visitors don’t care to read a testimonial about a student studying childcare when they’re on an MBA course page.

If your client isn’t already gathering testimonials, encourage them to build this into their process so they can build social proof.

Over to you—can you think of other common web crimes people regularly make? Let me know in the comments below.

Is your website committing these web crimes? was originally published on Sandra Muller

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reallylonglies · 7 years ago

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Antoni

It was just a blog post. My usual content: acid wit blended with pop culture references, capturing and bottling the anxieties of a generation. Posted quickly, without consideration.

9 Times I Questioned Antoni Porowski’s Cooking Ability.

It was one of several articles I’d written that day, each in the traditional list format. Gif-laden, headed for the facebook feeds of a thousand millennials. The emojis would gush like a waterfall. The likes would overflow.

My work completed for the day, I left for brunch. If I had known the consequences that my words would have, I would never have left the house. Crossing that threshold into the outside world took me from safety into a place of great peril.

The sun warmed my skin. The gentle tingle of flesh touching air, a simple sensation, is now fossilised forever in my memory, as with every experience of that first day. The last day of freedom. Before.

I sat in a cafe, waiting for the WiFi to connect. I summoned a bagel from a nose-ring wearing a decorative man. I scrolled through my notifications. From somewhere out beyond the blistering blue sky, thunder rolled.

One can grow complacent; I know I had. The internet was my playground. I tapped into the rich, syrupy desires of my audience and drank their time away. My power, like my audience, was limited but strong. By the time my bagel arrived, the niche had stirred, thrusting their thumbs and laughing faces. Good, I thought, they understand. The readers were hungry, and I had tossed them a reality star to chew upon.

I had bitten into my bagel before I saw it. My mind tried to pass it off as nothing, a mistake in the kitchen, a misplaced order. I know now that it was not.

Slices of avocado. Nine of them, edging my plate. Artisanal. Healthy.

I shrugged it off, took a picture and threw it to the internet with the kind of frivolity that characterised my behavior at that time. Hey @blackdogcafe when did you get on that Porowski hype? How light was my load, that I could dance with gaiety around the pitfalls of fate.

Days passed, and the incident drifted from my mind.

Sasha and I liked to visit Ikea, in those days. Laugh at scatter cushions, point at coffee tables. Storage solutions were a great source of joy to me, back then. Before I saw him.

It was just a flicker. I could have missed it. Again I tried to ignore it, to pass the moment off as the stirring of a curtain caught in the wind. But in my gut I knew exactly what I saw.

A man wearing a scarf tied artfully about his throat. A graphic tee. A selection of tupperware that would make meal prep easy for even the least capable kitchen novice.

Antoni.

I blinked and he was gone. My imagination was playing tricks on me. I ushered Sasha from the store as fast as I could, citing a disgust with capitalist mores as my justification. Even then, I felt she knew the truth. She knew what haunted me. We broke up shortly afterwards. She told me I had become withdrawn and cold. Within a year she had married a vegan chef.

After that, I saw him everywhere. I saw him reflected in the chrome door of my fridge. I saw him through the steam of the sauna at the gym, posing artfully with a branded tennis racket. I even saw his name emblazoned on the t shirts of young women. And always, with every meal I ordered, those slices of avocado.

They came with acai-bowls. They accompanied bran-muffins. Once, my last-ditch attempt to outwit him, they clustered around a t-bone steak. In each case they lay limply on the plate, winking at me accusingly with non-existent eyes.

I would send plates back, demand to see the chef. “We’ve always served it that way,” they claimed, but I knew.

I hadn’t checked my blog for notifications in weeks. It was self-care, I told my friends. I just needed to unplug for a while. They could not have known the fear I felt as I tentatively logged into my laptop, my hand shaking as I clicked.

There it was, that thoughtless article. Three hundred thousand shares and counting. I watched the number increase, second by second. Was that a gently tanned face in the reflection of my screen?

An email notification roused me from my reverie. I clicked, and my fate was sealed.

It was an invitation to come to the head office of a prestigious magazine. They wanted me to write a piece for them. I was a freelancer; this was nothing new to me.

In trepidation, I made the journey. The heat that day was oppressive. Even though my growing fear had numbed my fragile body, my dry mouth told me I needed a drink.

I bought a bottle of soft drink from the cafe on the station platform. With care, I unscrewed the cap and took a sip. An unfamiliar taste engulfed my mouth and I spluttered. Through the tears brought to my eyes by the momentary distress, I squinted at the label.

Lemon and Yuzu.

Perhaps some people would not know the word. Perhaps some people would have racked their brains trying to remember where they had heard it before. Perhaps some people might have Googled it.

Those people are free, and they do not know the privilege of their liberty. No search engine could assist me now. It would only have confirmed what I already knew.

He was everywhere.

I passed artwork in the square outside the offices I was visiting. Small children scampered over a statue of a giant pepper, a comically large knife protruding from its bulk. An enormous cucumber, skewered on a gargantuan fork, loomed out of the concrete like the tentacle of some unearthly being. I rounded a corner and my heart stopped.

Some insensitive fool claiming to be an artist had erected an enormous mandoline slicer. Atop the preposterous structure, there it stood: an avocado of inhuman proportions.

There was a time when I might have laughed. I would have deigned to share the gift of my mirth on Twitter: what fool thinks you can use a mandoline slicer to chop an avocado? There was a time, before, when I might even have levelled my wit at the man himself. A chance for @antoni to prove his worth. I staggered towards my destination.

The woman on the front desk asked me if I was ok. I shuddered away from the creamy green colour of her blouse. A necklace of heavy, round wooden beads hung from her neck. He had been here.

I took the lift to the eighth floor, sank into an office chair. My interviewers stared. There were two of them, but I don’t remember details. They were pleased I had been able to come in. They loved my work. Especially my recent piece on -

I interrupted them. I could not bear to hear his name.

The storm that had been brewing all day in that oppressive heat suddenly let rip over the city. The clouds unburdened themselves of rain as if it were evidence of some heinous crime. I would not look out of the window. I still shuddered at the thought of the horrifying statues below.

One of the people in the room spoke, but I didn’t hear. My throat was tightening, as if restricted by an elegantly tied scarf.

“Pardon?” I asked, sitting on my hands to hide the shaking.

“He’ll be coming in this afternoon. Our usual interviewer broke his ankle jogging. We’d really appreciate you being able to do this short-notice.”

His words washed over me.

“Would you like to get yourself set up for the interview in here?”

I nodded, dumbstruck.

“We’ll send in some lunch for you,” I do not remember the faces of the men who spoke. I only remember those final words.

I plugged in my laptop. Placing my pen artfully atop my artisanal leather and bamboo fibre notebook, I arranged everything carefully. I snapped a picture. I shared it.

All of this on autopilot, all of this without thought.

Lunch arrived. Tex-Mex. Through my horror I managed to consume a couple of potato chips and some salsa. I hid the guacamole in a pot plant. I moved the pot plant to a different office.

As I returned to my desk I overheard the woman in the avocado shirt speaking to someone in reception, “Just this way, Mr…”

I didn’t hear the surname. Or did my terror strike it from my mind?

You know who she was speaking to. In my haggard, frazzled state I had not put two and two together. How could I? I was a wreck.

Seconds later, it all made sense. Words that I had ignored during that morning meeting became clear and urgent memories.

“It would be great for you to meet him, you’ve become his online nemesis in a way.”

“A lot of our readers are big fans of his, and we’d like to give him an opportunity to defend himself.”

“Just this way, Mr Porowski.”

A red scarf tied artfully around his neck. A graphic tee with a list of names. The scent of chinese lime and avocado.

I burst through the floor-to-ceiling window. I fell with the rain.

The mandoline slicer claimed its first and last victim, and the last word I ever heard, whispered in the wind:

Antoni.

#Antoni porowski #queer eye #gothic #fiction #fic #lovecraft

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