#Rusty is a real character and not a plot vehicle now!

[huskies709]

Me: hm I am going to try and make a rewritten StEx AU. How hard could it be?

Me, one week later: how do trains age. where do they sleep. how the fuck is a train born. how is Rusty an older model of train and also younger than Electra, a newer model of train. how do I make any of this into a coherent, non-misogynistic story. what the fuck is going on

[ril-sillyart1st]

I hope I'm doing this right! 

All of my BATMM WIPs so far:

1. character design for the FF! AU - self explanatory title. 2. Humanized design - ermm I don't think I'll ever be finishing this one 3. Backstory - Blaze and just everyone in general backstories are in wip (including Crusher as well) 4. Drag race! - one of Crusher's race episodes without Blaze. (Doesn't have a full plot yet) 5. The Rollerskate Race! - same as the Drag race episode. 6. Valentine day card (drawing) - one of those "be my valentine" card thingy. 6. Chubby cheeks (drawing) - currently almost done with the line art 7. Flarelyn Family's house (drawing) - the house design is so hard to make. 8. Broomsom Taillights (Where the Flarelyn fam live/subdivision) 9. Smiley Smilers Funfetti - AN RAINGINE OC THAT LIVED IN AXLE CITY!?? 👀😱 (REAL! NOT CLICKBAIT!) 10. Tips for writing car character! (Book) - wip tips and tricks about writing sentient vehicles. 11. Dragon's castle (fanfic) - blasher fanfic that I just thought in my mind and now I'm working on it (not really right now) 12. why dis 🚛 look so mad 😭😭😭 (drawing) - still can't finish 13. stuck with each other again - an elevator blasher drawing for some meme. 14. Leader Clerrisstin - The Raingine god and leader themselves. (😱) 15. Onyx's and Mia's Toyhouse info 16. Your body, my Temple but Blasher meme - animation meme 17. That one seal meme but it's Blaze - that little animation gif that I have posted a few days ago. 18. Blaze and Crusher freaky time❗- freaky little NSFW animation 19. happy Crusher animation - self explanatory  20. bat candy oc (no name yet) - originally just some furry oc but then I thought I should make this into Smiley's fursona. 👀 21. what's lug nuts? comic (new version) - redrawing that little comic that I'm thinking of what episode would this be. 22. Fiar's human design 23. Reverse race! (episode) - another race episode but it's Darington's episode  24. Scarlett and her daughter design  25. Rusty Machines AU - one of my scrapped AUs that was inspired by those MLP infection AUs. 26. Candy AU - some AU idea that's also scrapped but came from a dream. 27. Onyx and Mia's anthro machines form

Aaannd more that idk yeah

Tags? No one! Cuz I don't do that so feel free to reblog this or whatever.

WIP Game:

RULES: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have WIPS.

This is my second time making one of these, and in part it's to help me reorganise my thoughts and help me get back into writing. University has done a lot to weigh me down over the past two years, and so in some ways I'm hoping to get the chance to write at least a bit more often this year.

In order to best show just how much I am working on, I'm dividing this into old WIPs (from the last list) and new WIPs (which I started on since then). And remember, you can ask about any of these and I will share what I can!

The Old WIPs: 1: Sir Topham Hatt and his Engines (RWS) 2: Mixed-Traffic Engines (RWS) 3: Silent Engine Bert Again (RWS) 4: Edward; a Requiem in Steam (RWS) 5: Mavis the Quarry Engine (RWS) 6: History of the Sodor Highland Railway (RWS) 7: Five American Engines (RWS) 8: TATMR Horror Story (RWS) 9: The Reject Railway (RWS) 10: Tales From the Other Railway (RWS) 11: Tidmouth Train to Hell (RWS)

12: In Orwell's World (Voltron) 13: Pidge & Dr Strangelove (Voltron) 14: Keith and the Wolf (Voltron) 15: Grandma McClain and Adam Join the Voltron Crew (Voltron) 16: Planet Obscure (Voltron)

17: TDWT Rewrite (Total Drama) 18: Total Drama Grand Tour (Total Drama) 19: In the Hold (Total Drama)

20: BirdFlash story (DC) 21: Jingle Bells, Nightwing Noel (DC) 22: Red Hood Reading Club (DC) 23: Manor on the Hill (DC)

24: Malevolent Spirit (Saiki K) 25: Dark Reunion's Anti-Love Ray (Saiki K) 26: How to Win Over Saiki K, or a Rhapsody of a Man Not in Love (Saiki K) 27: Saiki K Europe Trip (Saiki K) 28: Kusuo's Christmas (Saiki K)

29: Jinrao (Naruto) 30: Obito, Father of the Jinchuuriki (Naruto) 31: Akatsuki Parents (Naruto) 32: Naruto & Nazis (Naruto) 33: Sakura Out-trains Everyone (Naruto) 34: Work Shouldn't Be This Hard! (Naruto) 35: Adoption Shouldn't Be This Hard! (Naruto) 36: Children Shouldn't Be This Hard! (Naruto) 37: KakaObi Regency Story Part 2 (Naruto) 38: The Club (Naruto) 39: Atomic (Naruto) 40: Only Love Can Hurt Like This (Naruto) 41: The Hidan Story (Naruto) 42: School Shenanigans (Naruto)

43: AssClass Yearbook (Assassination Classroom) 44: The Theoretical Sequel to 'The Informant' (Assassination Classroom)

45: Britain in the AtLA World (Avatar; The Last Airbender) 46: Fast Car (Avatar; The Last Airbender) 47: Kaoru and the German (Ouran High School Host Club) 48: Romantic Killer AU (Romantic Killer)

The New WIPs:

49: The Samhain Special (RWS) 50: The Tour (RWS) 51: Summer Blues (RWS) 52: May Love Guide You Home (RWS) 53: It Lives in the Hills (RWS) 54: Thomas & Friends Season 22 Rewrite (RWS) 55: It's Sodor, Uramichi Oniisan! (RWS, Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan)

56: Easter Egg Hunt! (Voltron) 57: An Idiot Sandwich (Voltron) 58: The Spirit of Easter (DC) 59: Izuku Midoriya & The Dark Knight (MHA, DC) 60: The Gilded Age (MHA) 61: The Bunny Suit (Assassination Classroom) 62: Karma's Trick (Assassination Classroom) 63: Three Stops to Your Heart (Naruto) 64: A Trip on the Flying Scotsman (Naruto) 65: The Happiest Family (Naruto)

66: They Say the Past Haunts You (One Piece) 67: Zoro & Luffy: Buddy Daddies (One Piece) 68: Thailand (One Piece) 68: Down the Aisle (Avatar; The Last Airbender) 70: Dormmates (Sasaki & Miyano) 71: Wisps of Time (The Galaxy Railways)

Ok, so the good news is that most of my fics are now quite happily in one place... but the less brilliant news is a lot of these are longer-term projects. Some of them I am further along with than others, but a good few of these are a long way off. If you want to read them, then make sure to ask about them to keep them fresh in my mind!

Now, as for who I'm tagging in: I'm going to drop ten names here, and offer that anyone else who wants to do the game can do it as if I recommended you (I am not putting 71 tumblrs in here, I'm pretty sure the site would hunt me down). You don't have to join the game yourself, but I personally enjoy it as a fun way to order my thoughts!

@mean-scarlet-deceiver, @angryskarloey, @joezworld, @septemberofgenders, @scottishproductions, @jobsoldbootlace, @anonymousboxcar, @transsexualunderground, @eeveeandme05 and @thefedoragirl

And yes, I am probably going to do this again if I get under 50 fics. This is turning more into an organisational exercise than an exercise in showing off what WIPs I have XD

[bunnyjoyce-blog]

Using Train Facts for StEx Fics and Headcanons

Even if you eschew real-train AUs and have them be toys, StEx characters *think* they are real trains and reference real-life railroad culture. Familiarizing yourself with some railroad facts can enrich your story and give you a new understanding of characters. The following is some of the things which have helped me.

1) Establish the “truths” of your fanfic.

A common tactic I use in research is to establish what is true in my story — whether real-life facts or what is canon — and use those pillars to filter information. For example, suppose I want to write a story based on the Old London show. I begin by setting down “rules” which I, as the writer, must adhere to.

A) I want this to be set in 1984, so any information or media references after this point of time can be ignored (unless I have a good reason for the anachronism or I plan to foreshadow the future).

B) StEx is supposed to be set in America, so my worldbuilding will be (mostly) focused on America in the 80s.

C) Greaseball is a Union Pacific engine, so Control’s yard must be close enough to UP territory for Greaseball to see Dinah regularly.

Link

D) The yard is likely in or near a mountainous area, since the original set for the Apollo Victoria Theater had so many levels. Therefore, the characters live in a mountainous area near UP lines.

Link

Even though I haven’t pinpoint the exact location of the yard, I’ve plausibly narrowed it down, so now I can filter information relevant to my story. I *know* they can’t live in Miami, Florida or New York City or anywhere along the east coast. That’s not to say I can’t have them travel east or have characters who used to live east. In fact, the east coast will play a key role for certain characters. (More on that later.) Even so, I’m not going to have Greaseball drinking an egg cream or have Rusty spotting a Floridan crocodile on his way to work (unless I have a good in-story reason for this).

2. Pick a character, research them, then work your way through the cast — not JUST your favorites

Fun leads to creative flow, so it’s understandable to start with your favorite characters. However, neglecting or ignoring train details because you’re not interested in a particular character can cause you to miss out on enriching details.

For example, I’m not particularly interested in Flat-Top. That’s not to say I hate the guy, but compared to my favorites, he’s typically not on my radar. However, flat cars serve an important role in railroads, so if I failed to research them, I would not be able to understand rolling stock as I do now.

Did you know that flat cars are used to transport new trains from the factory? If I wanted to do a fic about Electra’s earliest memories, or a fic about Rusty and Pearl nervously waiting for their “newborn” child to arrive, then I would likely need to have a flat car carrying a “baby” train in my plot at some point. If I had ignored Flat-Top altogether, my story would have been lacking. I might have even made the mistake of having the newborn rolling on their own wheels!

As for how to start researching, my process was to focus on one character at a time. The very first StEx character I seriously researched was Volta. As a newbie, I was genuinely surprised that she was Electra’s coach. ELECTRA, the narcissistic, hard-hearted bully, had a deeper relationship with one of his components, not just treating them all as staff to exploit and mistreat? Curious, I looked up freezer trucks/refrigerator cars, and I discovered Volta would have been diesel powered. ELECTRA is in a relationship with a DIESEL vehicle??

You can imagine how I wanted to understand more about these hints at character depth for our electric villain.

Volta is a freezer truck from the Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe Railroad? That led me to discover the Santa Fe Reefer Dispatch, which was completely gone by 1988 (as in, the final 4 reefers were sold off that year). So, Volta is an outdated vehicle when she’s portrayed as a Santa Fe car. And Electra, the ageist engine of the future who hates antiques, still has her on his train? Whoa!

(Furthermore, in 1995 the railroad itself was merged with Burlington Northern to form Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, so this makes the Santa Fe costumes more antiquated.)

From Volta, I moved onto CB. Fortunately, a wealth of information has been written about cabooses, so it was comparatively easy to research him. (Admittedly, I used to be a big Dinaboose shipper, so I found many interesting facts regarding the pair.)

Cabooses have kitchens? Then he and Dinah could cook together!

Cabooses used to have whistles before radios replaced them? Interesting!

Cabooses stopped being used as brake vehicles once air brakes were introduced in the 1800s? What does that say about CB’s character?

Since I had a character to associate information with, it became easier to retain the facts and recall them when needed. When I began to branch out into train facts that aren’t related to the show’s canon, I had accumulated a lot of foundational knowledge.

3. Cross reference characters

What it says on the tin. This can help you understand how different characters and their histories interconnect, thus making your fanfic world feel more real.

For example, you might decide to look up James Watt’s steam engine (not a locomotive, by the way). In doing so, you discover that James Watt is the namesake for the watt (electric unit of measurement). So, in your fanfic world both steamers and electric vehicles might respect Watt as a historical figure. Then you might take it a step further and have Poppa use this common ground in order to talk to Electra about converting to steam.

Another example, the Union Pacific and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe were rival companies, and their respective territories ran through a lot of the same areas. Since Wrench and Volta are from the Santa Fe, you might decide that one or both of them have crossed paths with Greaseball years ago, and this is why they leave Electra to flirt with Greaseball during “Pumping Iron.”

4. AVOID CHERRY PICKING

This may seem to contradict what I said about filtering information and knowing Rusty wouldn’t see a crocodile, but there’s a difference between saying “Oh, I don’t need this” and saying “I don’t need this right now.”

Regarding Rusty and that crocodile, while the likelihood of him seeing Floridan wildlife is slim, it is never zero. My hypothetical story takes place in the 1984 London show, and I know for a fact that before Joule was a dynamite truck, the canon had her as Electra’s animal truck. Ergo, I could have a part in the story where Electra illegally imports a crocodile if I want to show how decadent, spoiled and arrogant he is.

A big part of the problem with cherry picking is how much you miss of the big picture. For example, have you ever read a fanfic for an anime where the writer did not bother researching anything about Japan except for a few aesthetic details? The writer might have good intentions, but if they don’t know fundamental truths, such as how Shinto and Buddhism shaped (or at least influenced) many aspects of Japanese culture, then the writer might accidentally show the characters doing things which would be offensive or taboo (e.g. sticking chopsticks directly into a bowl of rice, which is reserved for religious offerings and ancestor worship).

“Um, well, uh, I’ll just have all the canon characters be atheists! Now I don’t have to research as much.” Except, even if the characters were atheists, they would still be influenced by religion because of how much Japanese culture has descended from it. Sumo wrestling? Influenced by Shinto. Manzai comedy? Influenced by Shinto. Fairy tales? Influenced by Shinto and Buddhism. Amezaiku candy? Originally an offering to Shinto gods. Street performers rolling a ball on top of a paper umbrella? I’ll give you three guesses.

Getting back to railroads, I am by no means suggesting you have to be an expert or have to know copious amounts of railway culture before you can start writing. One of my favorite StEx fics has a glaring flaw about how electric locomotives work, but I still enjoy it because it’s a cute read. What I’m getting at is this: don’t discount information just because it’s not relevant to you right this second. Store it away for later.

5. Fundamental truths to get you started.

A) Railroads are businesses, first and foremost. Profit and PR will typically influence major decisions. Why were steamers and electrics replaced by diesels on American railroads? Money. Why were cabooses replaced by end-of-train devices? Money. Why were all the characters built in the first place? Money. Why were Rusty and Belle allowed to become dilapidated? Money.

B) Profit is often why there are so many varieties of vehicles, especially for passenger trains. The parlor car was invented in the US because rich people didn’t want to ride in the same car as poor people. Smoking cars were originally exclusive to men, back when women generally didn’t smoke, and when women started wanting to have a place to smoke, some railroads started adding women-only smoking cars. Amtrak had the arcade car to attract gamers. Ski trains in Europe appeal to vacationers, and murder-mystery trains provide a fun, unique experience to patrons. The three McDonald’s dining cars (McTrain) in Germany and Switzerland were part of an experiment to see if they could make money.

When whole trains or individual vehicles fail to make profit, they are often quietly removed, refurbished, and/or scrapped.

C) Even so, some vehicles have been retooled for non-profit purposes. Hospital cars and other medical-related vehicles have been used to provide services to people. The Merci Train, which France sent to the US out of gratitude for the relief provided to them following WW2, were old boxcars filled with presents.

D) Steam locomotives are basically giant kettles with pistons — okay, not literally, but the design is so simple that many people have made working toy locomotives. Essentially, the firebox heats the water in the boiler, and the steam moves the pistons. This is why it’s such a big deal when Poppa’s boiler is cold after he wins the race.

E) Electric vehicles need to be connected to a power source. Some versions of Electra’s race helmet will show a pantograph on top, so he has to be connected to overhanging wires in order to go fast. Third-rail electrics comparably must be in contact with the, well, third rail, in order to move.

F) Most of the Nationals are electric vehicles, so Electra being electric isn’t that special.

G) Greaseball is an electric-diesel engine. Similar to how an automobile needs both gasoline and a car battery to work, Greaseball’s diesel powers his electricity. The Prince of Wales is also a diesel despite most of the UK using electric passenger trains. If a blackout hits a railway, the Royal Train isn’t trapped or stranded.

H) Dieselization has affected both steam and electric railroads in the US. Most electric railways are confined to the northeastern region of the country, with exceptions. The most common place to find electrics is the Northeast Corridor.

Link

I) CB began life as a boxcar. The fact that his cupola is on his head means he’s likely from the Eastern US originally because eastern cabooses typically had their cupolas in the center of their roofs. Western cabooses typically have their cupolas on one end.

Link

Link

J) Racing with rail cars is likely to show how well the racer can carry weight, since an engine has to be strong as well as fast. This is probably why Flat-Top wears bricks on race night, since he would be too light to meet the weight limit otherwise, and he was originally hoping to participate.

Now, go and write.

[wafflewarriors]

A Rewrite of History

Chapter 1—Pilot

Even in such horrible times, you could find some good in the world. For instance: at least none of this was your fault. Like, usually this kind of stuff was your fault, but not even you could botch something so royally.

One minute, you were walking into the kitchen, at home, on a crucial mission for pizza rolls, and the next, you were standing on gravel. You looked on with sickening dread at the salvage yard and immediately recognized it. A rusty lot of cars and suspiciously-shaped, freshly-dug patches of dirt…This was from Supernatural. Bobby’s place, to be in fact. The Singer Salvage Yard.

You pivoted, staring at the mass of cars surrounding you, trying to make some sense of this. But you were dumbfounded. Your jaw went slack, as you took in your surroundings. 

Fact was, you had just watched the season finale with your best friend, and you were justifiably upset. That finale was a train-wreck of emotions. But… not so upset you had wanted to be a part of the story. Well, okay, everyone has thought about being a part of the story, but you were at least modest enough to admit that if there was any character going to live, it wouldn’t be you. With your luck, you’d be the star blood splatter of the first five minutes.

You dumbly dawdled around the salvage yard, staring at the cars. This wasn’t possible. This was a dream. You just fell asleep on your couch and your best friend was going to find you drooling and dreaming about pizza rolls. 

You threw a hand in front of your face, trying to justify this reasoning, but everything was too vivid. Not even a lucid dream could invent this. This… this was scarily real.

A door slam behind you sobered you up quick, and you threw yourself down and behind a car. Bobby would not take too kindly to a stranger on his property, you didn’t think. That is, if he hadn’t seen you already. In hindsight, you could have used some help, but you were too much of a coward to face him.

You tucked your arms into your chest, and then froze when there was a crinkle of paper in your right pocket. That hadn’t been there before. Keeping in mind that Bobby was walking around somewhere in the lot, you quietly unfolded the wad of newspapers. Skimming, you realized they all had one thing in common. Missing persons from Jericho, California. All ten spaced out throughout the years.

Wait, wasn’t that the plot of Supernatural’s Pilot?

Your eyes widened. This is where it all started.

“Who’s out there?!” a voice bellowed. Bobby Singer.

Looks like you hadn’t been as quiet as you’d thought. You needed a game plan—and fast.

You sprung up from your hiding spot and leaped for the most reliable looking car in your range. A gunshot rang out; it was much louder than you expected.

“Hey!” he cried.

I am so sorry, Bobby.

You hopped in the backseat, thankful for the keys hanging from the mirror. You scrambled grab and fit them in the ignition, the jingling only making your heart race fast. More shots were fired, this time denting the metal and blowing out the back window's glass. The engine burst with life, and you burned rubber.

Once you were a safer distance away, you hid behind the seat and shouted out to him, “What year is it?”

“Why the hell would I tell you?!” More shots ricocheted off the metal and you recoiled.

Good point.

You decided to chance and pause the car, peeking your head out, and ducked when bullets sprayed in your direction. “Please?! It’s important!” you shouted, hoping he would confirm what you already feared.

He had taken a defensive stance ten feet from the running car, prepared to fire if he saw eyes. “What, you come from the future or something? It’s 2005, ” he snarled. You knew he was being sarcastic, but it was the painful truth. 

“Or something,” you murmured. So, this was it. Fifteen years in the future, and all the knowledge you needed to change it. You could change everything. You could save them from the pain they were going to endure. You could—

You could do anything, at this point.

Then, after a beat, you shouted, “I’m really sorry about your car!” And you sped off, already reeling in the small and neglected vehicle. This wasn’t going to be a fun ride. 

More shots fired, and you distantly heard him holler in frustration. You didn’t blame him; you’d want to kill you too.

///

If Bobby could see you right now, he’d be laughing. The excuse of a vehicle had begun sputtering thirty miles in, and after forty miles, it began lurching to a stop. You punched the steering wheel. 

It was karma.

You closed your eyes, then looked glumly at the passenger seat. There was a good-sized, blue rucksack situated beside you, which you could swear hadn't been there a moment before.

You blinked. Apprehensively, you reached for the bag. You raise your eyebrows at the heavy feeling of it, and you unfastened it.

Inside was a pistol, a silver knife, a sack of salt, cash, and shockingly, an angel blade. Christ. Well, wasn't that just subtle. That would definitely go well with everyone. 

Lastly, you pulled out a small note.

We won’t let you die until the future runs a different path.

You scoffed a little, but your stomach clenched nervously. What did they mean, ‘let you die’? Was that a threat? You certainly didn’t want to die, so you didn’t see how that was encouraging at all. What, were they really expecting you to have no regards for yourself and just… blindly interfere with the Winchesters? You were scared, but you weren’t stupid.

You flipped the note, and there were more words: 

Tell, and your companion will rot.

You couldn't help the stutter in your breath. This note was written by someone who knew you weren’t from here. They had your best friend. This was blackmail.

Meddling with history or not, you were going to need the Winchesters’ help. So your obvious choice was to help them anyway, right? Jump on their side, and when Big Brother wasn't tuning in, approach them for help.

You figured that there was only one thing that could possibly change the future so early in time. Something that was supposed to throw Sam Winchester back on the road with his brother. 

Jessica's death.

You ended up jettisoning the car, Bobby probably would have tracked it anyway. It had been a four mile jog, wasting more than half an hour of your time already, but fortunately happened by a small gas station. Where there were gas stations, there were cars.

You walked in the respectable business, making a beeline for the newspaper. November 1st. Jessica was supposed to die tomorrow. You were going to have to pull an all-nighter. Dusk 'til dawn.

You sighed. This was real. This was actually happening.

Walking back outside the business, you began to choose the best victim—or in other words, a car.

There was a little Ford a few blocks away, hidden from the gas station’s cameras and out of view from Mainstreet. You closed in on your target, scanning for watchful eyes. From the looks of it, you were safe.

You peered into the vehicle. There were crumbs, pop cans, and some fast food wrappers on the floor, but it was reasonable—nothing you couldn't tidy up later. You couldn’t afford to be choosy.

You smashed the glass with the heel of your pistol, careful to conceal the weapon. You didn’t need more trouble than you were already in.

You hot-wired the car. It was a rough start because you hadn’t actually ever hot-wired a car before, but the wiki-how article you’d read in the past for a certain fanfic was proving useful.

Muttering an apology to the family who'd owned this vehicle, you drove off and buckled up for a long drive. You just hoped you'd make it in time. After all, you have to drive through four states to get there, and you'd probably be stuck sleeping crooked in the car at a rest stop. 

You didn't have enough money to pay for a real bed. There was five hundred dollars in the backpack, but that was for food and gas money. You couldn't afford to blow it all on one night's sleep. This had to last you for who knew how long. Months? That really wasn't much to live on, if you thought about it.

Clearly, the person who had put you here had no knowledge of human spending. Because, wow, was money going to be tight. You were broke.

You finally pulled into a rest stop at two in the morning after yawning, straining, and heavily blinking at the road for a solid thirty minutes. You thought you could push through the night by blasting tunes, but at that point, you knew you were a danger on the road and you needed to rest.

Your mind wanted sleep, but the world was against you. Your mind kept going back to the note, and then to Jessica, doubting you could make it in time to her.

You leaned your seat back, shuffling and trying to make yourself comfortable. Because if there was one thing the Winchesters did, it was drive all over the goddamn nation, so you'd better get used to the feeling.

You cried yourself to sleep.

///

You'd never been to California.

Your impression of Palo Alto was, for the most part, a decent one. It was sunny, which you had anticipated. Downtown was pretty chill, with bikers and pedestrians left and right. Trees were everywhere, providing shade as a compliment to the harsh sun. You respected Palo Alto. You did. It had a nice, suburban feel to it.

The only trouble was the traffic. You were stuck in a constant go-lurch go-lurch motion for a half and hour. And it was getting too close to Jessica’s death for comfort.

By the time you got to the street you wanted, it was getting late. You were a little desperate to get there before the demon did. With a little Sam and Dean level investigation, wit, and lies, you found yourself on your way to Sam's home. Instead of breaking in the doorway, you climbed in through a loose window with a pry of your knife.

You weren't alone. Brady, Sam's college friend had a maniacal grin on his face, twirling his fingers at the ceiling. "You're just in time for the show."

You stared in devastation at Jessica, who was half dead currently, gasping on the ceiling and pleading for her life. If you hadn't gone to that rest stop, you would've been there in time. You could have saved Jess.

The smirk he wore was starting to bore a hole into you. Mortified, you backed away from Brady. You gripped the angel blade in your bag, which was loosely hung at your shoulder. But he vanished, leaving you with a dead girl on the ceiling and a sick feeling in your gut.

"Jess?" someone called out from the front of the house. "You home?"

You froze. Sam was home. No no no no no—!

There was a pause, and then you saw Sam come around the door-frame. He froze as well. You were both unsure what to make of each other.

"Who are you?" he demanded from the other side of the room.

You couldn't really breathe right, much less speak.

Your last brain cell realized that at any second the house was going to burst into flames. You had to get out. Now.

Sam noticed the red splat on the bed, and looked up. His expression morphed into one of devastation, and from there, you knew you’d never forget it. He looked so damn young, and to see the look of loss as he cried out his girlfriend’s name was absolutely heartbreaking. And it was all your fault.

Flames erupted around Jessica before you had the opportunity to say anything.

That's about when Dean rushed in, shouting his brother’s name and locking himself around Sam to pull him back away from the fire. Away from Jess.

You broke into a fit of coughing, breaking your train of thought. Blindly, you reached for the window again, batting at the latch. Climbing out took some effort, but you wiggled your way through the small window, collapsing in a heap on the ground. You were still wheezing when you got up. You needed to get the hell out of dodge. Because Sam Winchester now believed you murdered Jessica.

///

Tags: X

[hextual]

Podcast Recs

The following recs/summaries may contain light-to-moderate spoilers, though I try to keep things vague and rot13 the more specific stuff! Here is an abbreviated spoiler-free rec list, for the sensitive among you.

Night Vale Presents

The three non-WTNV shows have all finished their first seasons (and Alice Isn't Dead just started its second). They're relatively short and contain complete story arcs. 

WTNV: The ur-podcast, the light horror fiction narrative that kicked off the trend. Y'all know it or you don't. If you've somehow never heard it and don't want to start from the pilot, I recommend trying Episode 13; it's a stand-alone episode in a slightly different format than the rest, but it gives a good sense of WTNV's general aesthetic. Also it's just really really good.

Alice Isn't Dead: A surrealist horror roadtrip about a trucker searching for her wife Alice, who isn't dead. She's got nothing to lose and a lot of dangerous road to cover.

Orbiting Human Circus: Bizarre and magical and a little bit heartbreaking, like all good circuses should be. Julian is the janitor of a heavily fictionalized Eiffel Tower, and he desperately wants to be part of the Orbiting Human Circus show that he cleans up after every night.

Within the Wires: Dystopian sci-fi 1980s AU, told through a series of 'relaxation' cassettes. More grounded in reality than the others, though that's not saying much. The medium is also foregrounded much more in the narrative.

Hiatus

Wolf 359: SUPER dark, though you wouldn't know it from the first dozen episodes. However, the inflicting-trauma to coping-with-trauma ratio is low enough that I listened to the whole thing and will almost definitely listen to Season 4 when it's released starting this June. Also, no queerness whatsoever (making it unique on this list).  

Eos 10: Spaceship sitcom. Less artistically ambitious than most of the others on this list, which is not necessarily a point against it. 

Airing

The Strange Case of Starship Iris: Newer sci-fi podcast that I absolutely love; it ticks all my very specific boxes (including medium-as-message) and is also just really well constructed and executed. I adore every single one of the main characters. There are only 4 episodes but I'm so hyped about it. 

The Bright Sessions: Audio files from a therapist to teens and young adults with superpowers. Everything I ever wanted X-Men to be: light on the fight scenes/explosions, heavy on exploring what it means to have superhuman powers and how that might affect your life/relationships.

The Penumbra Podcast: Cyberpunk noir pastiche that sometimes gets a little too broad for me but is generally good fun of the Thrilling Tales! variety.

Ars Paradoxica: Time travel in one of its more complex interpretations. Paradox is a major plot element. Kind of sci-fi historical fiction?

Now for the more detailed writeups, including overviews of queerness and genre. As I said before, potential spoilers are rot13′d...but Here There Be Dragons etc.

Night Vale Presents

All of these are incredibly solid shows with an otherworldly feel to them that I love, despite being otherwise quite different.

All main characters are queer; WTNV has queer side characters (including nonbinary characters), but afaik the only other explicitly queer characters in AID/ORC/WTW are love interests of the MCs. That's pretty understandable, though, given that the casts of the three non-WTNV shows are exponentially smaller, and they've aired significantly fewer episodes.

I want to mention something in a totally value-neutral way: none of the shows feature homophobia or directly discuss queerness (lowkey exception for one episode of WTNV). I actually enjoy that, personally; it's usually very restful to spend time in worlds where queerness is normalized and unremarkable. Occasionally, however, I do want a slightly more direct approach, so I wanted to make a note in case you're in that kind of mood. 

Welcome to Night Vale The first and only podcast I listened to for about a year. Honestly, do I even need to say anything about WTNV?  I do want to mention that I think it's gotten a little bogged down in continuity over the last year. AFAIK it wasn't conceived as a long-running narrative arc, and a lot of its early charm came from the total lack of context. After Year 2, I feel like it did start spending a little too much time explaining things and filling out backstory for elements that, frankly, didn't need them. YMMV ofc, and I still listen to/enjoy every new episode, but I'm not madly in love with Year 3 the way I was with Year 1-2. Queerness: Queer af! The main character gets a full same-sex romance arc; V'q pnyy vg 'unccl-raqvat' ohg vg'f fgvyy batbvat nf n ybivat naq urnygul eryngvbafuvc, juvpu vf rira orggre. Multiple side characters are queer, including a few nonbinary characters who use they/them pronouns.  Genre: tucking into a short stack at 2am in a diner in the American Southwest, slowly realizing that the woman behind the counter called you by name even though you've never been here before, and also you can't quite remember how you got here in the first place. Alice Isn't Dead Beautiful, creepy, and acted by the brilliant Jasika Nicole. I'd place this more firmly in the horror genre than the others, so if you're sensitive to that kind of thing, take note; there's some suspense and a little bit of violence. That said, I am usually MASSIVELY sensitive and can't even watch trailers for horror movies (I have made my peace with never ever seeing Get Out), and I was perfectly fine with it. Queerness: The main character is a woman married to Alice, who isn't dead. It's like the opposite of the Bury Your Gays trope. Genre: driving along a nameless interstate late at night, the world around you narrowed to the section of road thrown into sharp relief by your headlights, and the occasional glint of animal eyes. The Orbiting Human Circus of the Air ORC is the most fanciful of the Night Vale family. The other shows seem like they take place in realities just a shade off from ours, but ORC completely throws any pretense of realism out the window. There's no real sense of a world outside the Circus, and why should there be? The Orbiting Human Circus of the Air has an infinitude of fantastical delights: singing saws, a bird that can mimic (almost) a full orchestra, tap-dancing mice. There's no trick or sleight of hand involved, not even a dusty tome of magic spells. ORC simply presents a world in which these wonders exist in hidden corners. The story is sometimes melancholy, and there are regular hints of a deep sadness underneath the surface, but the main character is defined by his determination and...well, 'optimism' would be too strong a word, but he has an unyielding sense of hope. He doesn't actually think things will turn out well for him (and he's so often right about that), but he clings to the hope that this time, maybe it might. Queerness: Gur znva punenpgre nyyhqrf gb na rk-oblsevraq bapr. This is one of the lighter touches of queerness in the Night Vale family. Genre: peering through a dusty velvet curtain just offstage, while brightly-costumed creatures dance to a tune you haven't heard since you were a child. Within the Wires While all Night Vale Presents shows have some kind of narrative conceit framing the audio medium (community radio station, trucker radio transmissions, broadcast wish fulfillment), those tend to be vehicles for the story and stylistic flourishes, rather than core elements of the story itself. WtW is presented as audio cassettes on full-body relaxation, and the cassettes themselves become key actors. This is not a story that could be told in any other medium, which personally I freaking love. This is also a more sci-fi show than the others, despite being set in AU 1980s, and more blatantly dystopic. The world-building's a little more evident, which is neither a good thing nor a bad thing; I think it's a side effect of being more sci-fi than fantasy. Everything feels like it has an explanation, even if the explanation is not provided, and it all fits together smoothly. Also: the narrator has a mild kiwi accent, which I find incredibly soothing. Queerness: Yep. Gur znva punenpgre unf n pbzcyvpngrq ohg qrpvqrqyl abg cyngbavp (s/s) eryngvbafuvc jvgu gur jbzna gur gncrf ner vagraqrq sbe.  Genre: lying quietly in a sensory isolation tank until you inexplicably start crying for the first time in years.

On hiatus

Wolf 359 So, there are a couple voice actors in Wolf 359 that don't do a whole lot for me, performance-wise. I don't want to get more specific because YMMV and I'm also just a really picky audio consumer, but there you have it. Mostly it's not an issue, though. This is also one of the darker shows I listen to, although it starts out with more of a zany sitcom vibe. There's a fair amount of murder, murder attempts, and general people-being-horrible-in-ways-they-believe-to-be-justified. It's not something I think I could sit through again, but it is a captivating story told well. There's a lot of focus on the emotional arcs and characters dealing with trauma, which I am All About in sci-fi. 

Queerness: zero. Zip. Zilch. It doesn't feature any romance arcs at all, though, so...I found it tolerable. Honestly, if it hadn't come so highly recommended, I probably would not have given it a shot. Genre: placing your hand on a rusty, unmarked door that wasn't in the ship schematics, and knowing you must step through—you must step through. Eos 10 After my first pass at this write-up, I realized that I was being really negative—far more negative than this show deserves. So I want to be clear: I listened to and enjoyed every extant episode of Eos 10, and I'm looking forward to Season 3, whenever it's released. It's a pleasantly entertaining space sitcom and I've gotten attached to the characters; the writing's solid and the voice acting is generally pretty great. It's just not quite tailored to my specific tastes. Ok, back to what I originally wrote: This podcast feels a lot more mainstream/conventional in its tropes than the others. Unlike most of the podcasts I listen to, the medium is invisible to the characters: it's not pitched as a radio show or a voice recorder or a series of motivational tapes. To me, this adds another layer of remove between the audience and the story. It's fine, it's just very straightforward in its presentation, with no medium-specific conceit or anything. It’s not really outsider art in any sense, and could legitimately be a TV show if it had the budget. That's a pretty good description of the show as a whole, honestly. It makes no pretense at being high-concept, it just does what it does. Queerness: This one...is not very queer. One of the side characters is gay but it doesn't really come up a lot. There's also a gay minor character that gets mentioned but never appears, and it's kind of a running gag that the gay character has a thing for the main character, who insists he's straight. It's a gross trope and I kind of winced at it, but it's usually framed by other characters as "are you sure you're not interested, because [gay character] is way out of your league and you're really not going to do better," which mitigates it somewhat for me? Also, gurer ner uvagf gung gur znva punenpgre zvtug npghnyyl or vagrerfgrq va gur tnl punenpgre, but only time will tell whether it's queerbaiting or not. Look, it's not an ideal situation. If it’s a dealbreaker, I totally understand, especially since there's no clear answer to the "is this queerbaiting" question and due to some unfortunate creator health issues, we might not get one for a while. Genre: ducking out of the way as a harried-looking man in a lab coat and stethoscope pelts down the hallway, yelling "GET ME FIVE UNITS OF ALIEN SEX POLLEN, STAT!"

Airing

The Strange Case of Starship Iris

I love this show a disproportionate amount, given that only four episodes have aired. This is a newer podcast, and one I stumbled on completely by accident! I wasn't expecting much, but it was sci-fi and the main character's last name was Liu, so I decided to give it a shot. And then it turned out to be not only awesome but also totally queer! I think I actually said "HAH! YES!" out loud when the queerness was canonized within the first few minutes. (This is why I live alone.) Plus, this is a small thing from a throwaway line, but...the main character weighs roughly the same amount as I do. Do you know how often that happens with Asian characters? Never, is how often. For possibly the first time in my life, I feel like I can legitimately headcanon a main character who looks exactly like me. I'm definitely going to do some incredibly self-indulgent fanart at some point. Unprecedented overidentifying with the main character aside: honestly, it's like this podcast was tailor-made for me. MAJOR SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 1 (and kind of 2): Vafrpher ovbybtvfg wbvaf ent-gnt perj bs fzhttyref jvgu n sbhaq-snzvyl ivor naq nyvra phygheny pynfurf, nyy senzrq va n fvavfgre zrgnaneengvir gung hfrf gur zrqvhz nf n cybg qrivpr, CYHF cbgragvny ebznapr orgjrra na Rnfg Nfvna jbzna naq n Fbhgu Nfvna jbzna? Um, sign me the fuck up.  The only downside is that this has definitely raised my expectations for new podcasts by an unreasonable amount. Every new podcast I've tried since Starship Iris has been vaguely disappointing. My podcast standards are way too high now, and it's all Starship Iris's fault.

Queerness: YES. The main character is a queer woman, there's a nonbinary alien species and the alien crew member uses they/them pronouns, and there's a trans guy. Also, this is wild speculation, but V guvax/oryvrir/ubcr gung bar bs gur bgure srznyr perj zrzoref vf orvat frg hc nf n ebznagvp vagrerfg sbe gur znva punenpgre. There's some explicit discussion of gender identity in a non-traumatic way which tbh is like water in the freaking desert.

Genre: ??? it's too new and I love it too much to assign it a genre. 

The Bright Sessions

As I said in the spoiler-free summary: this is everything I wanted X-Men to be. Hell, it's everything I ever want superhero stories to be, and it's why I've been drawn to superhero stories since I was a teenager. The Bright Sessions deals with the complex consequences of, e.g., having empathy powers as a teenager while learning how to manage your own emotions and maturity. The main character is Dr. Bright, a therapist specializing in people with superpowers, which naturally provides the perfect angle for those people to get really navel-gazey about their lives. There is an actual overarching plot with a shadowy government agency, of course, but that's definitely not what I'm here for and luckily that’s clearly just a vehicle for the feelings.

Queerness: One of the main characters has a m/m romance arc; another main character is asexual; a side character (who may soon be considered a main character?) is bisexual. Because the conceit is therapy sessions, Dr. Bright does inquire delicately about how her patients may or may not be coping with emerging/existing queer identities, but none of them find it traumatic.

Genre: telekinetically fiddling with a desk puzzle limned in afternoon sun, as the doctor asks: "And how does that make you feel?"

The Penumbra Podcast

I'd had the Penumbra Podcast on my radar/subscriptions list for a while, but I'd never quite finished the first episode...until the remastered/rewritten first story was released. The difference is astronomical. The creators talk about audio quality etc. in their reasoning for recreating the first story, but for me, the main distinction is the skill in storytelling and the confidence to create noir without relying on questionable tropes to signal "hard-boiled!!!" I sometimes think the writing and characterizations are a little broad, but that may be down to genre. Penumbra doesn't really go for 'subtle' or 'realistic.' An important format note: there's a main character with episodic adventures, but in between the two-part adventures, there are one-shots in various genres. I actually skipped most of the one-shots because I'm not great with horror or kid stories.

Queerness: The main character of the main story is queer (jvgu na qryvtugshyyl rzbgvbanyyl pbafgvcngrq z/z ebznapr nep gung'f abg va n terng cynpr evtug abj), as are numerous side characters. It's a noir pastiche, though, so the main character is pretty self-sabotaging in all areas of his life; a 'happy ending' doesn't seem incredibly likely. One of the stand-alone stories is a queer Western, which I found delightful. It's also one of the few stand-alone stories that has a bonus follow-up episode.

Genre: taking a long, slow drag on a cigarette as the rain blurs the neon lights and filth of the alien city below.

Ars Paradoxica

Ars Paradoxica shares a producer with The Bright Sessions, which is why I tried it! Like all decent time travel stories, Ars Paradoxica is meticulously planned with a lot of moving parts. The worldbuilding is intense and requires actually paying attention, which can be challenging for me since I typically listen to podcasts while multitasking.  Frankly, it moves a little slow for me...which is odd to say about a show that regularly has timeskips of months or years and literally involves time travel. I guess I feel that way because there's a lot of attention paid to the action and plot, but less to the emotional character arcs. And obviously my narrative preferences run a certain way, so I'm only really paying attention to the character stuff. Which, to be fair, certainly exists and is carried through well—it's just not in my preferred proportions. Plus, the cast is quite sprawling compared to most other podcasts, and the tone is almost Crapsack World but not quite. 

Queerness: The main character is explicitly asexual and briefly explains it, and there are a handful of queer side characters. It's semi-historical, and there's some discussion of managing visibility etc. 

Genre: staring into the dusty gears of a massive clock running backwards as the minute hand slowly approaches a blinking red light.

[ba1bkbm]

Narratology Lecture Notes 3

Noteable Books

The Enchanted Screen: The Unknown History of Fairy-Tale Films (2011), Jack Zipes

From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairytales and their Tellers (1994), Marina Warner

Morphology of the Folktake, Vladimir Propp

“One of the best-kept secrets in the study of the cinema concerns the neglect of the influential role that the fairy-tale narrative has played in informing most of the films ever made” (Zipes, 2011)

What is a fairy-tale? “A wonder tale involving marvellous elements and occurrences, though not necessarily about fairies.” Encyclopedia Britannica

Fairytales do end “happily”

Justice is served, there is closure (such as the fate of the step-mother in Grimm’s Snow White, forced to dance to her death in red-hot iron slippers fresh from the fire)

Bluebeard (1697), Charles Perrault May have roots in real life story of a 15th century serial killer Bluebeard gives his new wife a key to a secret room that she must never enter, and inside the room are all his dead wives.

Medieval versions of Cinderella: her step-sisters slice off their toes to fit in the slipper - versions which the Grimm brothers based their story on. The Fairy Godmother was Perrault’s romanticised version. Cinderella is actually helped by birds who visit a tree she plants on her mother’s grave. The step-sisters are physically beautiful and inwardly ugly, and are punished for their deception and cruelty by having their eyes pecked out by pigeons (the natural world can only ever be appeased, not tamed). The glass slipper was originally made of squirrel fur.

The Little Engine That Could (1921), Lucy Sprague Mitchell Focuses on stories about the “here and now” because old fairytales had peculiar and disturbing images.

Dr. Gardner’s Fairy Tales for Today’s Children, 1974 Disturbing psychological messages removed - Cinderella decides the prince is out of her league, opens her own dress shop and marries a hardworking printer from the shop next door.

The earliest fairytales were shared amongst adults, contained serious meanings and ritualistic elements with clear polarity between good and evil. Draws lines between myth and religion. We can never be that heroic or that perfect in our actual life.

Fairytales rarely have names and instead use nicknames (Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella), implying that they could be us. They are about “everyman” and “everywoman”.

Angela Carter (1940-1992), feminist writer (dark fairytales: The Bloody Chambers (1979)) brought sex and death to fairytales.

Modern “subversions” often reject the “polarity” of the old-fashioned tale. (Charle’s Perrault’s 1967 version of the tale, Little Red Cap, was a clear warning to “stick to the path”: danger was “out there”, in the forest, a thing to be avoided.

Angela Carter suggests that danger is also “in here”, in us - our “inner hairiness”

Tales of Mother Goose (1697), Charles Perrault

Children’s and Household Tales (1812), The Brothers Grimm

Georges Méliès, the pioneer of the fairy tale film (and the man who accidentally invented stop motion animation when his camera jammed) with Cinderella (1899)

The trouble with live action fairytales are special effects.

Animation: the ideal medium for fairytales?

Disney has started doing live action as well as animation (the new Beauty and the Beast has CGI puppets)

Who is the audience aimed at?

Muppet fairytales

CGI is so good now that you can use elements of that in a live action and create a believable movie - NASA didn’t believe that the movie “Gravity” was actually CGI

“Metamorphosis defines the fairytale” Marina Warner, 1994

“Shapeshifting is one of fairytale’ dominant and characteristic wonders: hands are cut off, found and reattached, babies’ throats are slit, but they are later restored to life, a rusty lamp turns into an all-powerful talisman, a humble pestle and mortar becomes the winged vehicle of the fairy enchantress and the slattern in the filthy donkey skin turns into a golden-haired princess.”

Images eat each other in Fantasmagorie (1908)

The Fleischer Brothers, Snow White: A Cartoon Fairy Tale (1933)

“The moveable silhouette charmingly maintains the right balance between the product of art and life; we believe enough to be enthralled, and we do not believe it enough to get the goosebumps we get when experiencing the supernatural.” Rudolph Arnheim (film critic) describes the silhouette film as the ideal medium for the realisation of a fairy tale.

Lotte Reiniger, Cinderella (1922)

“The Three Brothers”, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, J. K. Rowling 3 minute animated shadow-play sequence created by Framestore, for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part One) Follows along the idea that silhouette is best for fairytale - the animation is precise and straight to the point with no focus on details. Assumed to be a brief history of the Peverell brothers, who each owned a Deathly Hallow (Elder Wand, Resurrection Stone, Invisibility Cloak) that made up one Master of Death. J. K. Rowling loosely based this on Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Pardoner’s Tale”. Follows the idea of the “rule of threes”, and would probably be more of a fable than a fairytale. Has connotations to the “Three Billy Goats Gruff” which also features three goats trying to cross a river manned by a troll.

Has several interpretations and morals: taught to wizarding children to provide humility and morality, teaches that you “cannot cheat death” and you will eventually “part [with death] as equals”, suggests that extreme greed leads to an untimely death.

Les Contes de la Nuit (2011), Michel Ocelot - CGI silhouette animation (contemporary)

Disney was among the first (Zipes, 2011) “to realise how the fairy-tale genre might be enriched by film in unimaginable ways, and how film might be enriched by the fairy tale.”

Disney did “Bowdlerise” (so called for Thomas Bowdler who produced a ten volume set of the collected works of Shakespeare in 1818 which took out all the “offensive” content) the tales he told.

One hand, he was entitled to this - fairytales have always been subject to change depending on the audience they’re aimed at (Disney wanted as big of an audience as possible).

Other hand, the emphasis on romance - on dreams “magically” coming true - could stand in opposition to the true moral of the fairy tale: that rewards are earned by overcoming tests and challenges rather than simply “wishing” for things.

Epic Forumals in the Folktale (1908), Axel Olrik - identified so-called “Epic Laws” including:

The Laws of Threes - “three is the maximum number of men and objects that occur in a traditional narrative”

The Law of Repetition - actions in folk tales are typically repeated 3 times

Such as Grimm’s Snow White, the bodice laces, poisoned comb, poisoned apple

The Law of Contrast - other people should be antithetical to the hero; therefore if the hero is generous, other characters should be “stingy” to contradict him.

The Law of Twins - two people can appear together in the same role, and should be similar in nature

The Law of Patterning - situations and events are told and re-told in “as a similar a manner as possible”

Olrik also said that folktales are “single-stranded” have a “unity of plot”. There is a Concentration on a Leading Character. They don’t branch off into sub-plots.

“31 Functions” - Vladimir Propp analysed 100 Russian fairy tales and found striking similarities between them. He found they were all built on a pattern drawn from 31 functions (actions) occurring in a set order. In other words, only 31 things can happen in a fairytale.

Alfred Hitchcock 1939 “MacGuffin” described this as a plot device

Before Propp’s seminal work, fairy tales were categorised according to type (animal stories, fantastical stories, etc.) or “motif” (the appearance of a dragon). There were weaknesses: many tales belonged in more than one category, and the system did nothing to illuminate the underlying structure of the fairytale. Propp argued that fairytales had a “particular structure” and, although many details were variable, there were also set elements, or constants.

Any basic plot “will have static elements and variable elements. If we decide, for example, that the quest is a basic plot then we can say that a static example is that it will always involve a journey. A variable would be the destination.” Thomas, 2012

You can’t find 31 functions in 1 story

Propp’s “dramatis personae” (characters, like the archetypes)

Villain

Doner

Helper

Princess and the Father (single agent)

Dispatcher

Hero

False Hero

Villain appears twice usually - sneaks up, is sought out - Hans from frozen saves Ana from falling into the ocean, Ana then seeks him out for true love’s kiss

Doner is encountered accidentally and provides the hero with a magical object or gift (such as Rumplestiltskin)

Helper - such as the fairy godmother

An “initial situation” is followed by any of 31 functions, organised into 6 stages: Preparation (1-7), Complication (8-10), Transference or donation (11-15), Struggle (16-19), Return (20-22), Recognition (or difficult task) (23-31).

Deviations on Propp’s theory do occur. It aimed to catalogue oral fairytales of Russian origin, and he admits that it may not fit all fairytales.

Useful Vocabulary

Märchen - popular folktales, oral in origin (predate written records, many are hundreds, if not thousands, of years old) Kunstmärchen - literary (written) or artistic fairytales, mostly produced in the 19th century (such as The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen (1837) Morphology - the study of forms Dramatis Personae - Proppian version of the archetypes

[daikenkki]

You know what? I'm going to talk about Thomas, the books and the show. I want to share my thoughts on it all. Read this if you want, or ignore it, I don't care. The Railway Series was clever. What set it out from other children's books was its age-wide appeal. When writing the stories, Wilbert Awdry did have the children's thoughts in mind, but also those of the adults, who would have to read these stories an untold number of times. So, unlike the basic sentences or "fantasy" worlds, Wilbert kept it close to reality. Think about it, if the engines and vehicles didn't have faces, you could easily take the series as being real. All accidents were based on fact, and the engines acted like engines. They didn't have hands, or bent around. They acted like real locos, but felt human. They have all human emotions - joy, sadness, anger, envy, you name it. Characters would often bicker. They didn't always get along. There was a sort of locomotive hierarchy on Sodor, with big express engines at the top, and grubby shunters at the bottom. Despite being children's books, the Railway Series was never afraid to go to more mature areas. Scrapping (death) was occasionally mentioned, along with other darker tones. And the language. How many children do you think knew words like "deputation", "indignation" or "sagacity" before reading the books? That's what made the books clever. It was a series for children, but why stop at appealing to just them? Obviously the TV series soon followed. Allowing a new generation to meet Thomas and his friends, but also letting the adults, who have known the early books, reunite with their old friends. Being older, obviously one sees that the series is made with models, but to young children, it seemed real. I hope I'm not alone here when I say I used to think Sodor was real. I remember being 4 or 5, and seeing a helicopter high overhead and thinking "It's Harold! He's going to Sodor! I wish I could go too!". Britt Allcroft, David Mitton and all the other team members clearly cared for Thomas. Seasons 1 and 2 kept to what the Awdrys have written. But they would soon run out of stories, they even commissioned Christopher Awdry to write a book so they could have stories to use. Obviously, they would soon have to make their own stories, and with Season 3, they did. It did lead to some controversy. Wilbert wasn't happy, because it strayed from his books and some of the new stories weren't the railway realistic world previously established. Episodes like "Henry's Forest" stuck out. Yes, they weren't super accurate, but still tried keeping the balanced, real world of the seasons and books prior. With Season 4 they went back to the "real" routes. "Rusty to the Rescue" was controversial, in that it ignores the Bluebell Railway routes of Stepney and having Rusty star was an odd choice, though it helped the season flow from narrow to standard gauge. A few flukes, some may say, but all in all, true to Thomas' routes. Sadly, in March 1997, Wilbert Awdry passed away. After that was the series' first major change, Season 5. Praised by some, disliked by others, but it has to be agreed. Season 5 was the first to shake the series' formula. No RWS adaptations, while not as a bad thing, it was the first of many changes for the show. Then came "Thomas and the Magic Railroad". It flopped. No longer was Sodor the realistic railway, but now supported by magic. Magic. Keeping an island of 6 (then 9) engines running aimlessly about, with a human population of 1. Engines can now drive themselves, no engine crews needed. The movie failed. Britt Allcroft soon had to sell Thomas, and in the eyes of the public, it was now just another kids show. Season 6, ignoring TATMR, tried to keep on like Season 5, but without the dark tones. It was a cosy, and friendly world now. Then, Hit Entertainment bought Thomas. Season 7 was in production, but changes clearly showed there, with the new title "Thomas & Friends", and helped teach kids that friendship matters. Don't be rude or disrespectful, but help one another, and be a team. It was now plainly shoving the morals. But it was more apparent with Season 8, Hit's first season. Engines now travel where they please, no one is assigned to one branch line, engines roll around light or with silly loads. Fish in open wagons, huge sailboats on a flatbed, balloons, streamers, all sorts of things. It had extra runtime for episodes, but it was basic now, a show just for kids. It slowly fell from season to season. Yes, it wasn't completely terrible, there was still the odd good story. But it wasn't the realistic, complex world it was. Toy sales started to drive parts of the show. Characters who appear once, have 5 different merch lines sell them, and never appear again. It had to make money. It had lost its charm. It dropped further with the CGI switch in "Hero of the Rails" and Season 13, becoming even more kid-friendly, the 3 strike plots were more frequent, morals were pushed more, and everyone would always be happy and smile. If someone was rude, they had to learn their lesson at the end. The realism went away again, with more aimless driving, the drivers apparently being driven by the engines, not the other way around. Thomas was at a new low. Of course, it didn't last. Mattel then bought Thomas, changed the formula again, by bringing in a new head writer, Andrew Brenner, who had previously worked on magazine stories, which were the basis for some Season 3 episodes. Brenner and his team brought life back to Thomas, they made it feel more real, kept to its roots, Sodor started to feel like it was a real railway again. Yes, it wasn't perfect, but miles better than what came before. In 2015, the RWS turned 70, and was a great year for the franchise. It even gained another special, "The Adventure Begins" to mark the anniversary. Thomas was getting back to what it had been, continuing with Season 20 and a little of Season 21 as well. Come 2017, and it suddenly fell down. With Mattel in full creative control, toys would be made, but they wanted to cut corners, redesign TrackMaster to be cheaper to make, redesign Take-N-Play to be cheaper to make, start forcing ridiculous scenes in specials so that big playsets can be made, because gotta make money. Then Thomas Wood happened. Why paint the full model? Saves money on painting parts. Oh, and let's get rid of TNP, rework the couplings, released as a new range called Adventures. They introduced new toys, that weren't so comparable with the older stuff, so people didn't buy as much. Mattel then thought redesigning them again would fix the problem. They got lazy. They wanted Thomas to generate stacks of cash, but it didn't, so they cut corners. Mattel started to waver, they needed more money, so they redesigned the show as "Big World! Big Adventures!" which also saw Edward and Henry scrapped from the main cast for two new female replacements named Nia and Rebecca, designed to please the extreme feminist groups who slammed the lack of women in the series. The series had been going for what, 33 years? All of that was Thomas and his friends on Sodor, with the occasional trip to the Mainland. But it failed to make enough money, so Mattel sent Thomas round the world to China, Australia and India, for a new marketing opportunity to make more money. It was said the team were stuck with keeping the stories on Sodor, but were they? BWBA fixed something which was never broken to begin with, they ignored what was established, they ignored everything, except Thomas and minority-pleasing international characters. They feel having him tour the world will make the series better, but that's not the true Thomas. First of all, the characters are a mess. Thomas loves his friends, yet he is fine with ditching them in an instant? It wasn't thought properly, just dived right in. Thomas was a world with talking trains, as real as possible. It had age-wide appeal anyone could enjoy. It wasn't a fast-paced bouncy kiddies' show. The Season 22 finale taught kids about numbers and counting, which is something those other shows do. Thomas is now just a run-of-the-mill kids' show, where being trains is a hindrance, and lost everything that made it special. They kept trying to change Thomas, even when it didn't need changing, and now Thomas has forgotten what it was, and run its course.

BeattieWell