#ooc; en coulisse.

[badlydrawnarsenelupin]

soooooooooo-

there’s this new anime called Undead Girl Murder Farce and this silly French thief is in it. Plus, he stole a guy as well as a ruby saying "they should both belong to him". I’m not sure if you’ve heard of it but it’s pretty good!

// Oh yes I've seen it! I've tweeted about all the ugmf Lupin moments on my (less and less active) xitter account when it first came out actually haha.

His hair is so silly silly.... But definitely recommend for all Lupin fans! I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that it's probably one of the most accurate characterization of Lupin that's not a direct adaptation.

But hey, speaking of niche Lupin series, there's also Lupin Étude! A manga series by Yoko Iwasaki, who did these cool autographed editions of their Lupin series a few months back!

[allerdeguise]

// Thinking about Lupin’s differing relationships between each of his canon detective rivals because it’s so interesting to compare them...

First we have Ganimard, written as the first and one-true-rival, whose full name was only offhandedly mentioned once... not a genius but a very competent inspector and is able to hold his own against Lupin, they have an on-and-off frenemies relationship that gradually fell off in later books due to Ganimard getting old and probably just retired.  (Lupin likes the man a lot. Very honest, very down to earth, very fun to tease.) 

Then we have definitely-not-Sherlock-Holmes. Sorry, I meant Herlock Sholmès. The one with the most wasted potential and a disastrous ending... as Herlock was written to be old and bitter and treats his Wilson (Watson) in a very unlikable manner. Herlock and Lupin almost had something going on in their first few stories... but then I guess Leblanc decided he just didn’t want to write not-Holmes fanfiction anymore and closed their relationship in absolute shambles. (In a way that Lupin would never forgive Herlock after what had occurred)

Isidore Beautrelet, the opposite of the first two in almost every way. A cute young boy, genius highschool detective and has a persistently irritable but endearing energy that only a teenager could pull off. He matches Lupin’s own childness by being an actual child and was just so hard to dislike even though he’s purposefully stepping on Lupin’s toes at every turn.  (Lupin begrudgingly comes around to liking the boy. He can’t help it even if the boy had been such a nuisance, but how could he stay mad at this clever little lad...!)

And then... Inspector Théodore Béchoux. The least well-known of all the detectives, Ganimard’s protégé who cropped up out of nowhere one book and somehow ends up being best friends with Lupin. One of the few reoccurring characters in the series, sticking around as a deuteragonist with Lupin for 3 books in a row and they are just.... aggressively bisexual around each other... their interactions progressively gets more gay with each book. It’s only a shame that English translations of his books aren’t as widely available, which is why he’s not as well known as the other three. (“policeman of my heart,” to quote Lupin himself... so very stupid, but lucky for Béchoux, Lupin has a thing for bumbling detectives...)

[badlydrawnarsenelupin]

Is it bad that I find it somehow funny that Leblanc Lupin has more fics on AO3 than Night Hood Lupin? Like the sheer contrast in time periods of release (1990s me thinks to the beginning of the 1900s, literally a 90 year difference) makes me think there’d be more Night Hood fics than Leblanc Lupin on AO3. Also, there are literally zero fics for Night Hood on AO3, which further cements the fact that this is hilarious to me.

Anyways, sorry for the convoluted rambling, but I think you’d find this interesting (Also I love your Arsene. Pretty Bastard has stolen my heart.)

// I mean, thinking about it the other way... The original Lupin was around longer and had a big impact culturally, so it does makes sense that it has more fics than Night Hood. There's a whole bunch of niche Lupin-related media that I rarely see people talk about/has zero fics, so it's not the only one lol.

Also apologies for the late reply! I had this answer written and drafted like two weeks ago and then completely forgot to post it oop. Have a Lupin doodle!

[badlydrawnarsenelupin]

// made a Google Drive folder for HD versions of some of Vincent Maillé's Illustrated Arsène Lupin for all your wallpaper needs

( Vincent Maillé's twitter and website, buy the book! )

[badlydrawnarsenelupin]

did you see toho is doing a lupin musical??? furukawa yuta is playing arsène, i genuinely can't imagine a better casting!!!

// Yes, I saw the tweet for it last week!!!

I've literally been saying for years that Arsène Lupin has a huge potential for a musical and now it's real??? Looking at the cast/characters, it seems like they're combining Countess of Cagliostro and The Hollow Needle, which would be strange timeline-wise but... it kind of makes sense if you squint since the Hollow Needle is one of the four mysteries mentioned in Cagliostro.

I wish I can go and see it🥺<- doesn't know Japanese

Here is the tweet and their official website for anyone curious.

[badlydrawnarsenelupin]

// Been thinking about this for a while and I think fans of the Arsène Lupin books should probably start using the tag "#leblanc lupin" instead of just "#arsène lupin"

The main tag is quite messy and have posts from other fandoms like Lupin III, Code Realize etc. dominating it on slower days, making it hard to find posts specifically for canon Lupin

Misspelling of "Arsène" is another frequent issue... with the new tag, people will not have to wonder about which accent to use for his name lol

The Holmes and Raffles people have had their own separate tags for canon content too, we can also do that!!!

[badlydrawnarsenelupin]

i just wanted to say that i love your account!!!

// thank you for the message! I'm glad that ppl still enjoy this account even though updates are pretty sporadic at times

[badlydrawnarsenelupin]

what kind of hanfu would you envision lupin wearing :3c

// Hello anon, first of all: thanks for sending something so catered specifically towards me (designing useless alternative outfits for my blorbos). Second, I just want you to know that this was one of the most redraw-heavy, hair-pulling, triple-digit-layers experiences you've sent me on. Also lots of reading and research, which I am now going to make you read.

There's a lot of different styles of hanfu depending on the eras, the three main, popular styles these days are from the Tang, Song and Ming dynasties. There's more but you don't need to know about them here lol.

The ones I've drawn here aren't like.... super historically accurate but more of a mix of modern hanfu + Lupin-vibes for the✨aesthetics.✨

This is called Feiyu-fu/飞鱼服 from the Ming dynasty, which translates to 'flying-fish uniform' for its depiction of the Feiyu/飞鱼 in the embroidery. It's not actually a fish but a dragon-like creature, with wings and a fish-shaped tail (guess why it's called flying-fish lol). It's one of the more popular types you see in modern hanfu because it's just really elaborate and cool looking.

Speaking of elaborate, here's a closer look at my suffering!

Historically, Feiyu-fu was one of the type of clothing to be bestowed upon people by the emperor. There's like different tiers depending on the embroidery, the dragon or the Long/龙 is like exclusively for the emperor and then following that in order of tier are: Mang/蟒, Feiyu/飞鱼, Douniu/斗牛, Qilin/麒麟 etc. Those guys, unlike the Long has 4 or less claws instead of 5. If it's confusing, don't worry about it, they're basically different types of mythical "dragon-like" creatures.

There's a whole culture of gifting these specially embroidered clothes (from the imperial court to court officials, nobles, foreign royalty etc.) and it's pretty prestigious to get one. I found it fitting for Lupin since:

it's very lavish and opulent, also high-status

seems very much like the type of thing Lupin would somehow get his little thief hands on✨

unrelated but the two white stripes down the front on aren't a thing, I made it up for style + to add the lupine flowers on it (although they kind of look like wheat??? I tried my best ok)

Okok so fun fact, later in the Ming period, the Feiyu started to not be depicted with wings for some reason, and it became really really hard to differentiate it from the Mang, so some people just started wearing their Feiyu as a Mang... because it's a higher tier and second only to the emperor's Long-clothings. I just think that's funny and it reminds me of Lupin lmao.

Here's a more casual style with the Feiyu-yesa/曳撒 robes + a zhaojia/罩甲 on top!

So the flower here on the zhaojia is the plum blossom, or meihua. It's known as one of the four "gentleman-ly" flowers along with, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum (梅兰竹菊).

I thought the gentleman-ly theme was fitting for Lupin... although the four flowers' symbolism is more for strictly pure, noble and righteous characters.... That's ok, it's how Lupin thinks of himself anyways psh

Close-ups for the long-hair enjoyers. The little thing he's wearing is called fa-guan/发冠, it's basically a little crown-like thing that's used to hold up hair, sometimes coupled with a cloth/ribbon. The version on the right is a style very commonly seen in cdramas these days but it's historically-inaccurate... it looks cool though lol.

More details! These are called hebao/荷包 and they're basically little pouches to store things in, like money or handkerchiefs. They can also be used to carry fragrant herbs/perfume. They can also gifted from young women to men they like :^))))

For alternative hanfu styles, I think something like the modern Tang dynasty-inspired hanfu would fit Lupin as well... they're more flowy and with larger sleeves that you can hide stuff in... They look best in motion! An example from those videos of skateboarding hanfu guys.

Alright that's finally done! I'm going to go and pass out for the next 10 hours _(┐ 「ε:)_

[badlydrawnarsenelupin]

// thinking about Lupin and Béchoux being horrible for each other, just absolutely terrible. And it's all Lupin's fault. Lupin being the biggest asshole all the time to Béchoux, using him, lying to him, betraying his trust, having sex with his ex-wife, just the fucking worst.

Yet Béchoux, after all of that, still shows up at his door, and he hates Lupin so much. This lying, scheming, manipulative son of a bastard. It burns because Lupin is the best detective he's ever seen, he's just that good at it all–committing crimes, solving them, saying the most charming and horrible things in the same breath. He has everyone in the palm of his hand and Béchoux is so, so hopelessly attracted to him.

For Lupin, who lives so many lives and lives them fast, constantly changing social circles with very few people who actually sticks by him for long... to have this one guy, this silly detective he's been so horrible to, willingly show up to his door again and again... he likes it. Maybe he feels a little smug about it, because he knows Béchoux hates his guts. But mainly, he's genuinely surprised and pleased! He knows he's an awful person, but despite all of that, this guy is still here.

They get together, they talk like best friends, they flirt, they sleep in the same room. Lupin kidnaps Béchoux in the middle of a date with a criminal-couple. They go on a road trip and solve crimes together.

and then Béchoux fucking betrays him, after so long, when Lupin was happy to see him again! Policier de mon cœur!

[badlydrawnarsenelupin]

// was looking through the Queen’s Necklace again and

“hereditary influence” “natural tendency to crime” made it sound like Raoul had some sort of biological thief genes inherited from Théophraste or like if he had kleptomania. But then you look at the original french and it was completely the opposite:

for comparison, another more accurate eng translation:

“his upbringing” “chosen vocation” implies it was more of the environment and outside circumstances, and also a conscious choice to continue with the career of thievery as an adult vs the inherent biological forces of the Thief Genes™

[badlydrawnarsenelupin]

Silly question but if Lupin was a vampire would he be a fruit bat vampire because of his vegetarianism ahdhdbdbsbs

// Can vampires sustain themselves off of just fruit...? I mean, it does sound like something he'd do if he could... who knows what's in the blood of random strangers, imagine the health risks! Although, would he even be a vampire at that point? Pretty sure bats weren't even a big thing in modern vampire lore until Dracula... Sounds like he would just be a fruit bat man(?) lol

Have a definitely-a-tomato-vampire Lupin.

[badlydrawnarsenelupin]

I KNOW HE HAS LIKE A 1% CHANCE OF WINNING BUT I BELIEVE IN HIM!!

// he's just a little guy! he extra pinky promises not to take anything if you give him your vote or bring him home✨

[badlydrawnarsenelupin]

// some context for this image because i saw the tags on the original reblogs

yes, this is Gilbert. If you remember this Gilbert design then you deserve veteran compensation for being around so long.

↓ him!!!

no, it isn't a magazine cover.... it's actually based off of the packaging on this coconut milk carton....

[badlydrawnarsenelupin]

// b...bnuuy... happy new year everyone

on a small update: twitter has become truly insufferable, so I'm going to attempt to move my (inconsistent) activities back on this blog more. I will try to be as unhinged as I am on twitter.

[badlydrawnarsenelupin]

// blorbo memes

[badlydrawnarsenelupin]

What kinds of books do you think a young Raoul would’ve liked? I’m personally a fan of the idea that he would’ve been a fan of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas or something like Dangerous Liasons. Although I’m not sure if he’d have been into science fiction or something along those lines.

// I'm unfortunately not as well read on the books of the time period... but I think sci-fi is something he might be interested in!

He was shown to be quite fascinated by the telegraph in the first story, and even in the canon stories, there are bits of sci-fi ish things like Lupin's car being quite a lot faster than what was achievable at the time, and his car being customized with a dressing-room type area so that he can quickly switch disguises on the go. Leblanc himself has also written two sci-fi novels, it would be a fun parallel if his character read sci-fi as well :^)

He might've also been into epics/adventure type stories with a historical element, and poetry! So probably like.... The Three Musketeers (also by Alexandre Dumas) or The Odyssey.