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lisbeth-kk · 9 months ago

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Sherlock fandom.

Silvery Witchcraft

It is of course not a secret. Not per se. I don’t hide my true identity. It has more to do with what people observe. Or believe, I suppose. Coming to terms with the fact that the paranormal is real doesn't sit well with most people. Therefore, I always find it amusing when someone calls me a witch. Little do they know…

I took my time when I got to choose my appearance and colours. An image of an elderly, fragile-looking lady filled my mind. She fit my favourite colours perfectly. Purple and silver.

My place of residence had already been chosen for me. 221 Baker Street, London. Such a pretty place. Victorian. Reminded me of my childhood. I immediately set about furnishing the place. 221A would serve as my quarters. I decorated it as a woman my supposed age would. Lots of lace curtains, antimacassars, velvet cushions, a Persian carpet, and mahogany furniture. I hid the modern kitchen appliances in old, almost ancient ones. My cooking and baking would not suffer because of an unpredictable oven, thank you very much!

I didn’t bother with 221C at first but moved upstairs. 221B was going to be rented out. I needed to earn a living. Keeping up appearances and all that nonsense. The flat was quite spacious and had two bedrooms. The empty space got my full attention, and I chose carefully. My intention was for it to look as if the previous tenants had left it fully furnished.

The walls were covered with creamy-coloured wallpaper and a black lily pattern. Two mismatched chairs, one in worn, but exquisite leather, the other a faded red upholstery one, were positioned by the fireplace. Although they looked old, they weren’t.

I used quite a few moments to get the bathroom and kitchen just to my liking. The space was scarce, but by using my silver sparks, my secret weapon, I got everything to fit without it seeming cramped. Letting the rooms expand unnoticed by the users, was quite a challenge.

***

My first tenant was Mycroft Holmes’ little brother, Sherlock. Witchcraft is surprisingly fully recognised by the British government. Not publicly, of course, and only a handful of ministries are aware of its existence.

Mycroft summoned me to the Diogenes club, and almost begged me to save his brother.

“He won’t listen to reason,” he sighed. “I have tried everything. You are his last chance, or he will end up dead under one of London’s bridges.”

Mycroft Holmes is just as much of a drama queen as his brother, but this time he wasn’t far off. I saw it in the lines around his eyes and mouth.

Arrangements were made, and I literally served my fake mafia husband to Sherlock on a silver plate. We got on like a house on fire after that.

Sherlock immediately fell in love with 221B, and he moved in the day after we returned from Florida and the execution. I hadn’t felt so alive in centuries!

“You will need a flatmate,” I told him after a while. “It’s too lonely for you. Don’t you roll your eyes at me, young man. I hear you during the wee hours. Playing your violin and pacing. A loyal companion is what you need.”

“Who would want me for a flatmate, Hudders?” he asked.

My heart nearly broke at that. Sherlock had become like a son to me, and I hated to see his loneliness. Few people were able to look behind his haughty façade. Greg Lestrade, Mike Stamford, and Molly Hooper being the exceptions. And me and Mycroft, obviously.

“Talk to Mike Stamford,” I urged him. “He will keep an eye out, and he certainly won’t pull someone like Sebastian Wilkes out of his sleeve.”

***

Before Sherlock left for Barts on January 29, I sent some silver sparks after him. For a moment, too brief for the human eye to discern, it lit him up, making him appear even more handsome. Not that he needed it. It was more for good luck, which he might have needed. It was difficult to use my magic on him due to his unpredictability and that monster of a brain.

The moment I laid eyes on John Watson, after Sherlock’s unprecedented hug, I knew he was just the one to share 221B with the genius detective. I didn’t even consider using my magic on him. He was already perfect for Sherlock. I just had to make sure that Sherlock didn’t push John away when he made his move to inquire about his romantic life and orientation.

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theromanticscrooge · 6 months ago

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Dissecting Laserblast's and Silver Spark's Romance

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(Note: This is probably gonna be the Valentine's Day drop video since I already covered Cupid...)

Laserblast's reaction to Rippy in flashbacks says a lot about the softer side of his character: He openly expresses how cute he thinks she is and is very quick to open, warm displays of affection. His reaction to Rippy carries similar weight and heartstring pulling to a later scene where his adoptive daughter Fink plays on his emotions with a pathetic puppy dog pout. While Laser's emphasis on how cute she is over anything else feels a bit patronizing, its offset by Rippy's enthusiastic response and jump to return his hug. Rippy is also shown as very capable and intelligent. Her gimmick is a mix between classic cartoon slapstick with what she can pull or hide away in her portable pocket dimension. Not to mention, the episode following up on Rippy in her later years reveals that she's a PhD grad with a focus on quantum physics!

Cute things are one of Laser's Achilles' heel. Whatever Laser specifically found endearing or lovable about Rippy absolutely transfers over to whatever circumstances led to him snapping up and adopting Fink. Those feelings carry even stronger weight here considering he steps up as her primary caregiver despite otherwise foregoing his role as K.O.'s bio dad. He can be really mean, nasty, and approaches most people with disinterest, boredom, or indifference. Scenes where he brags about conscious but expendable goo clones are slightly offset by other scenes where Fink is casually hanging out on his shoulder or cuddling with him. Shadowy Figure and the baggage attached to him aside, Venomous honestly cares about Fink and shows that he's very capable of being a concerned, compassionate parent that wants the best for their child. He also has much more thoughtful, considerate, and level dialogue with her than other characters. Fink arguably sees this side of him the most often. Boxman has to fight and work for it. Other characters never see this and K.O. gets table scrap attempts from Venomous to share this side of himself.

The cuteness thing doesn't apply to just Fink and Rippy, though. Silver Spark is not only a muscular and attractive young woman, she's openly enthusiastic, optimistic, and dorky. She has no problem showing off her craft supplies and stickers to her fellow junior POINT teammates. She probably would have gushed about Laser to Rippy or El Bow if the opportunity came up. When she started decorating her locker, she made no move to hide the Laserblast bias. Those were the bulk of the decorations. Enter Laserblast himself and it's awkward because Silver has only seen and admired him from a distance or her 'fangirl' bubble. Starting with the accidental finger in nose scene and building up to the awkward locker slam is a move pulled from a sappy romcom. It may have been humiliating for Silver, but it was a damn good showcase to Laser what the sillier, fun, behind closed doors part of her is like. She's adorable. Its easy to see why El Bow is so smitten with her and how she checks whatever boxes that Laser considers cute.

Despite this, Laser's romantic interest is dubious. Openly dorky, affectionate, earnest people are definitely his type (look at Boxman!), but unlike whatever platonic or fatherly dynamic he shared with Rippy or Fink respectively, there's another layer or set of expectations to a romantic relationship that makes them more difficult for Laser. Part of the equation is how Laserblast is a front or persona vs a fully realized person. The bigger part is Laser's attempts at appearing friendly, warm, and approachable in public but that he's walled off behind closed doors.

He's definitely drawn towards and attracted to Silver, but he doesn't know how to handle the deeper emotional intimacy and vulnerability that Silver wants and what makes a longer lasting romantic relationship work. Silver has no problem with physical touch, affectionate gestures, and letting herself show some ounce of vulnerability. She doesn't tie these attributes to a persona and approaches everybody with the same level of warmth. Based on generalizations about people being drawn towards potential partners with traits they lack, Silver's strong self confidence and comfortable self image is both alluring and intimidating. Another element is something Boxman lays out as "PV does what he wants, doesn't he?" He tries to commiserate with Carol on this point, hinting that the Professor has always been more individualistic and prefers to fly solo. He can work with others, but its only effective as long as they comply with what he wants and the bigger project matches his specific needs, goals, and motives.

Laser and Silver's dynamic starts with some questionable power dynamics at play with Laser as the more senior team member. He takes full advantage of this when he creates a convenient excuse to go for a one-on-one patrol with Silver. He also knows that he's probably getting a very enthusiastic green light based on the stickers alone. That knowledge places him in a similar situation to a celebrity meeting and dating someone that's very obviously a fan; and not just a fan, but someone that's entertained romantic daydreams about their snowball in hell chance with this celebrity.

There's a certain layer of optics to that situation which adds extra obstacles to overcome. It can and has been done. This isn't an immediate bar to what could be a healthy relationship. It's more that the fan/celebrity dynamic needs to be addressed and evened out at some point; preferably, the fan becomes a partner on even footing and the celebrity becomes a more actualized person rather than the fluffy caricature in the fan's head. Silver sees glimmers of Laser's true self, but it's more the rougher edges of his personality like his low self-esteem and hangups about his powers. Those glimmers are tempered or offset by his smooth talker, tough guy persona. Unfortunately, Silver was enamored with his persona to a degree that he could push aside her doubts, fears, and reservations with the right amount of swagger, sweet talk, and feigned confidence.

From what little screen time there is focusing on Laser and Silver's dynamic, Laser's interactions with her have a performative quality to them. Silver tried to reassure him and nudge him to be more vulnerable in private. She's a very sweet, considerate person that tries to talk things out and connect with others to the best of her abilities. Rather than communicating, Laser bottles his feelings and decides to sit with his brooding and envy rather than open up. The lead up to the donut shop explosion is a solid showcase of how Laser brushes Silver off with his persona.

Laser starts to get revved up and angry when Silver understandably pushes back on him going in alone. He insists that its safer for her and El Bow to hang back. When using logic doesn't dissuade her, he leans into using charm and charisma. He fully utilizes whatever romanticized and cool guy image of him that Silver is heavily invested in and enamored by. Under a certain lens, Laser leaving Silver with his discarded sucker could be seen as gross but sweet. Its a thematic echo to their awkward first meeting. The sucker is an important part of his aesthetic; there's always a sucker sticking out of the side of his mouth. Leaving this piece behind is a promise that he can and will be back. But its an empty token gesture.

Given different circumstances, Laser has probably left his sucker with other fans or civilians as a means to pacify and reassure them. Its a prop. The sucker hand-off is deliberately framed from El Bow's perspective as something very tense and uncomfortable to watch. El Bow's bias is something to keep in mind, but it doesn't lessen the weight of the framing choice. Silver looks at the sucker with heart eyes and holds it like its a precious artifact, but every other part of the scene including the saliva puddle scream "gross" and "why" to the audience. It's not sweet and goofy like Silver's accidental nose pick. It's just gross.

When the story picks up from Laser's POV, he's desperate to destroy any evidence that might link him to the contraband experiments that affected Dr. Grayman. Along with the offending orbs, Laser destroys a photo prominently featuring him and Silver. He categorizes it as another, easily disposable piece of evidence that could potentially be used against him rather than a precious momento. Its very bittersweet. He did care and treasure their relationship enough to keep some kind of visual reminder nearby. But their relationship is a lesser priority compared to maintaining his position at POINT or starting up his research efforts again elsewhere.

Laser and Silver were very physical. They kiss, they hold hands, and there's the implications behind the French kiss and sucker combo fantasy. Carol reminisces on her time with Laser with fondness and there's a note of tenderness to everything, but it's one-sided. What moments Laser and Silver share lack the intimacy and tenderness that Carol later experiences in romantic scenes between her and Mr. Gar. There are more scenes from a third person omniscient camera that show very obvious reciprocated interest between Carol and Mr. Gar. There's also focus on both Mr. Gar and Carol learning how to effectively communicate with each other. Mr. Gar learns how to be sweet, vulnerable, and open without some layer of blank expression or stoic mask that he wears as protection in other attempts to talk to others.

He's a trusted mentor figure. He usually tries to balance his powerful hero appearance with what he hopes is useful, helpful advice and guidance. The stoic mask is a defense mechanism to some extent; he was hurt and deeply impacted by Foxtail scapegoating him and Silver blaming him for Laser's death. Though his students saw him breaking down and panicking from trauma, it doesn't break their confidence in him. If anything, its powerful that they extend a hand to help him stand back up and their relationships with him become stronger because they saw such a fragile part of him. Mr. Gar is able to establish a healthy split between his stoic image and when to be vulnerable in large part because of Rad, Enid, and K.O. His relationship with Carol helps address his trauma and leads to him working through things in an even healthier, more meaningful way.

Carol feels more comfortable in trying to be spontaneous, take risks, and expressing what she wants and needs from her relationship. Since Laser was her last on-screen long-term relationship, he set some unhealthy precedents: There were certain topics that were always off-topic, he was secretive and mysterious in an uncomfortable way, and the relationship was centered on his needs. After grieving Laser, Carol has a stronger interest in rebuilding who she is and what her life looks like as just her and K.O. She makes a very positive push in sharpening her empathy and strengthening or expanding her emotional IQ. Giving herself space and focusing on herself also led to her better able to approach others with more patience at their level or wavelength. That said, Carol is still deeply engrained in POINT. She holds some level of implicit trust in POINT as an institution as well as Foxtail's shaky leadership. Her approach to what doubts and misgivings she has is working within the existing system. This also installs similar trust and blind faith in POINT and heroes in K.O. Part of Carol's recovery process relied on POINT as a stable fixture in her life.

Where Mr. Gar rebuilds himself as well as something entirely new, Carol was working on a patchwork between who the new Carol is as well as a continuing, but tenuous connection to Silver Spark. She's Silver Spark by title alone. In every other part of her life, she deliberately goes by Carol in an attempt to distance at least some part of her life from the frustration around Silver Spark's remaining unsolved issues. She never found closure with Laser. She maintained their relationship despite what secrets and other hidden side he had. If that state of things was acceptable with Laser, then she could perform similar mental gymnastics for what obvious cracks and issues there were with POINT. She eventually helps push back against Foxtail and her authoritarian measures, but it took rebuilding her trust with Mr. Gar and re-establishing that she does have a strong support network separate from POINT.

In regards to Mr. Gar specifically, Carol feels overwhelmed by Mr. Gar's romantic gestures and active effort to make room for her and dates in his schedule and life overall. While Mr. Gar goes a little overboard, asking him to scale back is a far more approachable and easily resolvable issue compared to whatever tooth pull efforts Carol faced with Laser. Again, Laser and Silver were only ever shown as very physical and flash in the pan surface level. Carol's relationship with Mr. Gar has meat, substance, layers. They help each other work through what issues they had as a result of the sandwich incident as well as how to progress and become better people period.

Every healthy romance in O.K. K.O. places emphasis on both characters involved showing obvious, blatant interest as well as what their kind of emotional intimacy looks like. There's active story beats on the how and why these characters are drawn together; the efforts both put in to improve each other and their relationship. While Red Action and Enid is a slightly different case that frames the majority of interest from Enid's perspective, Red does share intimate moments with Enid leading up to affirmative dialogue where she calls Enid "my girl" as well as an on-screen kiss. The bulk of their romantic storyline are a pair of cool kids learning its okay to be dorky and vulnerable. They end up together because the other girl is one of the handful of characters they feel comfortable around as their true, unrestrained self. In short, the lack of confirmed reciprocity from Laser was a deliberate narrative choice.

Venomous shares a lot of these flagship romance cues with Boxman. Both Venomous and Boxman give each other a very anime-inspired, elevator eyes treatment. In general, Venomous is the more competent villain and attentive parent. Boxman becomes a more proactive parent and better villain both on an individual level and in regards to Boxmore's overall success because Venomous enters the picture. Also, while Boxman holding hands or sharing some physically intimate gesture with Venomous isn't as explicit as Laser and Silver could be, there's stronger, mutual intimacy to all of these gestures. When Boxman tries to talk to or engage with Venomous, he's far more soft and receptive. Boxman is the driving force for most romantic overtures, but he gets very enthusiastic propositions about commitment and collaboration from Venomous in turn. Its framed as just business, but Venomous and Boxman share two keystone scenes that are pretty much equivalent to going steady or getting engaged. In a nutshell, Boxman sees something closer to who Venomous really is and has very blunt reciprocated interest.

The caveat is that the bulk of Venomous and Boxman scenes are still filtered through Boxman's perspective. "Boxman Crashes" is one of the few exceptions. Where Venomous is attracted to Boxman, there's a more fleeting feel to his elevator eyes scene; the sparkles are immediately followed up with something like a pin popping a balloon. Where Boxman maintains a rosy picture of Venomous no matter what, Venomous still keeps some level of distance and attempts at maintaining his wall. Boxman has a reputation as a weird, awkward, social pariah. While Venomous does peel away this bias, both through active and unconscious effort, it's in play up until Venomous offers to fund Boxmore and moves in. Boxman is annoying until Venomous actually learns how to talk to and work off of him. When Boxman and Venomous share domestic scenes like what's scattered through "All in the Villainy," they've achieved a level of open communication and intimacy comparable to Carol and Mr. Gar.

What sucks are the layers of subtext and queer coding for these two where Carol and Mr. Gar can share explicit romantic scenes together. I'm glad that Red and Enid managed to escape this bullshit. It says a lot about media censorship that Boxman and Venomous are obviously a gay couple with a blended family and supposedly the general family target audience can't handle that level of queer rep. RadChad called this out in a side tangent in one of their videos. It hurts my heart so much, but they're right. It's disappointing there wasn't a fight for making the Voxy Bunch clear, undeniable text vs subtext.

Compared to Carol and Mr. Gar or Red Action and Enid, Boxman and Venomous fall apart because they don't have a clear scene addressing their respective trauma. Carol and Mr. Gar have their defining moment in "Dark Plaza." They recreate their trademark elbow drop move dressed as El Bow and Silver Spark, apologizing to the other and promising to be more trusting and open with each other going forward. Red and Enid have their defining moment in "Red Action to the Future." They've established that they like, appreciate, and admire the other. There's a vested interest in hanging out and getting closer, but Enid hasn't expressed honestly and clearly that she wants more than a casual dynamic. A big part of her character story is telling others how she feels and owning who and what she decides to be regardless of others' opinions or perspective of her. Owning that she wants to date Red Action in a serious, long-term way is part of that.

Unfortunately, Professor Venomous refusing to unpack his trauma around losing his powers or doing any kind of meaningful introspection is a huge part of the overarching story. It's more complicated than this, but a general overview is that Shadowy Venomous is following someone self-destruct in the worst possible way. The other romances can wrap up or reach a satisfying conclusion because the mutual understanding needed for them to function fits neatly in where the story wanted to go. Because Shadowy Venomous was a centerpiece of the series finale, Boxman and Venomous were a narrative element left to the aftermath or any follow-up that has breathing room for them to talk things out in the respect that the other couples have.

As for Carol's awkward reunion with Professor Venomous, its the capstone for years of resentment on Venomous' part and both Carol and K.O. experiencing a cold water realization. When Venomous shares his version of events, it's a knife in the back moment. At the time, Carol chalked up Laser's brooding as a character flaw that could be addressed or helped with time and effort. When Venomous shares just how deep his envy towards her powers was, it's a retrospective red flag. Venomous saw every move or gesture from Carol through a specific, narrow lens: She had more power and prestige than him because of what super powers she had and would never see him as equal. He places such a high premium and importance on power that he prioritizes this above everything and everyone else. Venomous revealing his villain origin story was a warning. It's compounded by him surrendering to the unchained impulses and utter lack of restraint from Shadowy Venomous. No relationship this man has survives this all-encompassing, world-narrowing and shrinking desire.

Venomous is a product of giving in to bitterness and festering in those bitter feelings with no real attempts at working through the root cause. He's contrasted against Carol, someone that chose active self-improvement and learning to grow to help her grieve. How they sit as such intense thematic opposites paints a dramatic picture of what their original relationship and dynamic looked like. Laser was entertaining a passing fancy. Silver was going for a wild dream come true and ready to put in the effort to make things work. They would have been a one off, experimental, bad fit relationship without soap operatic tier elements like an unexpected pregnancy and Laser faking his death only to show up as the nasty, mustache twirling bad guy later. Instead, these two remain connected because of the obstacles around their co-parenting situation and respect for K.O.'s desire to learn more about his bio dad.

These two were a bad fit and its a really thoughtfully done and detailed exploration on why.

(Unnecessary End Note: The petty part of me wants to point neon signs at how effectively this was set up without bringing other story beats and themes to a crippling halt or world-building lore to its knees like another certain superhero cartoon does. If I end up in an especially bad mood, I might just make a compare and contrast that'd get Miraculous fans storming my door with torches and pitch forks. If for some godforsaken reason you absolutely need this, I'd start working as soon as tomorrow for $100 and a pizza.)

#ok ko let's be heroes #ok ko #character analysis #character essay #voxman #rednid mention #mr. gar x carol #ok ko laserblast #ok ko silver spark #laserblast x silver spark #ok ko point #ok ko professor venomous #ok ko carol #shipping discourse #ship analysis #Youtube

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