#simon dead boy detectives

[that-ineffable-devil]

I'm still blown away by the implications of the entire scenario between Edwin and Simon in Hell.

We discover that "unfinished business" is not exclusively reserved for souls roaming the Earth.

Simon was sent to Hell by a demon, not Death. We don't know whether that was his intended afterlife designation or not, we never find out definitively.

However, his torture and the conversation he has with Edwin implies that he's kept there not necessarily because he deserves it, but because he believes he deserves it.

When Edwin appears, Simon finally, after over a century, has the chance to come clean. He struggles to do so until Edwin finds the page with S + E written in the margin. But once he starts, it all comes out. He needs Edwin to understand--maybe not his actions, but at least his motivations. He needs Edwin to know he would never have actually hurt him on purpose. He would never have sent Edwin to Hell. And honestly, he needs to hear from someone that it's OK for him to be the way that he is--that being gay doesn't have to be torture, because he believes it does.

And Edwin takes all that in and does the one thing I imagine he never thought he'd do: he forgives Simon. Not only that, he frees him.

And in that moment, both of them were freed. Both of them finished something that was over a century in the making. Both of them finally let go of their self-imposed torture.

Edwin was Simon's unfinished business.

[hannaloony]

What if?..

Day 7

SIMON APPRECIATION WEEK

@simonappreciation

[mellxncollie]

On the Death of Friends in Childhood by Donald Justice Dead Boy Detectives (2024) — Season 1

[pandorem]

Genuinely find it fascinating from a writing perspective that Edwin’s propensity for playing trauma olympics is a well established trait of his that plays so interestingly into his relationships with Crystal and Charles and Simon especially, and how it works in his character arc and how it both plays into and CONTRASTS his incredible capacity for forgiveness. How it’s a flaw that makes so much sense with how much he’s suffered that it’s hard not to be sympathetic towards it or even agree with him sometimes, but that it IS a flaw and comes up at times that are less fair as well. Im not sure I have a real point to this yet, it’s just something I want to chew on for a while.

for one: Edwin’s tendency to put his trauma as worse than others’ (no matter how literally correct he might be) is set up directly to parallel Crystal’s own self centered tendencies and her character arc. They BOTH have a tendency to not consider other people’s feelings and pain until someone points out to them that they are being dismissive. They are mirrors of each other and I love them so much. I also wanted to push back a bit on some things I’ve seen about how Edwin’s reaction to her yelling at him in episode one was completely justified (“what she’s been through? I spent 70 years in hell!”) because of how their traumas interact and how she let David in the first time that feel too dismissive of Crystal’s trauma. Yes, their trauma’s with demons interact in ways that it makes PERFECT SENSE that Edwin reacted the way he did, and I even sympathize with him, but something being sympathetic does not mean it’s justified. Taking away the metaphor of the Demonic nature of it all, Crystal was just cornered and threatened by her abusive ex boyfriend who has succeeded in isolating her from her entire social circle/any safety net she might have had before the boys. And uh. We don’t say about people getting out of abusive relationships that it’s justified that people were mad at them for getting into the relationship willingly. So.

Also. While Edwin’s measuring of their traumas is more sympathetic in the first episode, the moment in a later episode where Edwin (nearly lightheartedly) dismisses Crystal’s nightmare about her abusive demon ex because “the living know nothing about true nightmares” is less so, and I think is there to confirm that this is a genuine, deliberately written character flaw that he needs to grow out of, just like Crystal needs to grow.

And that brings us to Simon. The character who Edwin is THE MOST justified to be angry at, to blame and to compare their punishments. When he rages that Simon damned him to decades of being ripped apart while Simon sits quietly crying in a room, getting paper cuts from tearing pages out of books, it’s honestly difficult not to agree with him, to not feel that same righteous indignation. But then despair lays it out for him: he was about to gloat over another’s torture. And even without yet knowing more about Simon, Edwin is horrified by the idea. I think it says so much about Edwin’s GOODNESS that the time this character flaw of his feels the most justified and right is also the time he works through and past it to empathize with the pain of the real person on the other side of that. It is after he comes back, needing Simon to know that he didn’t mean to gloat, that he is then able to see Simon as a real person, as someone he shares pain with, the pain of being closeted and terrified in the 1910s. Simon was a kid, same as Edwin, who was terrified of his own nature and let that fear and humiliation lead him to cruelty that ended in consequences that he never intended. And it says so, so much about Edwin’s goodness that once he is able to see past his own pain and empathize with someone else’s, he feels for and maybe even forgives the one person that he would be most justified in NOT forgiving. That connecting with him is literally what saved Simon’s soul in the end.

(It’s also worth noting- Simon thinks that Edwin is “another trick” when he first sees him. He says that “the headmaster will be angry”. In keeping with the theme that we shouldn’t compare traumas or decide that we know what other people are going through, it seems clear to me that what we saw- sitting alone and getting paper cuts- was NOT the entirety of Simon’s hell.)

And then there’s Charles. Now. Edwin has a lot of 1910s sensibilities that make him connecting the dots on what Charles went through a bit difficult for him. But Edwin never, ever suggests that his trauma is less or isn’t worth getting upset about. Because it’s Charles, and Charles deserves no amount of pain ever, in the world. I don’t think it would ever occur to Edwin if I’m honest. Of course it’s because he loves him and Charles is his favourite person in the universe, but also I wonder at the fact that their very first meeting, so soon after Edwin had escaped hell, was one of complete empathy and compassion. Maybe seeing the bullies made him see himself in Charles but it sort of circles the point I think I’m making- Edwin’s very real flaws contrast against and thus highlight his INCREDIBLE kindness and goodness.

[lereadinggrinch]

Part 9! I'm somehow not entirely happy with the part, but decided to post it anyway. :)

[chotachica]

Favorite part of The Dead Boy Detectives for sure is Edwin pulling literally every single age appropriate male character he interacted with. The absolute cunt ever

[staticair]

[I Was Nervous]

Day 3 of Simon Appreciation Week! @simonappreciation

Simon and Edwin's story is so heartbreaking to me. They could've been the ones that understood each other the most. Every time I watch Simon's smile fade as Edwin rushes out is painful.

[foe-of-fate]

I know people talk about how repressed Edwin is that having a man whisper in his ear sent him into a whole gay panic, but people don’t talk about Simon enough.

This boy was out here experiencing Feelings™️ and didn’t know what to do about it so he opted to offer his crush up as a demonic sacrifice during a “fake” ritual. That’s a whole other level of gay panic.

[cadewitha]

rewatched episode 7 and am sobbing over the simon scene. it’s just so genuinely beautiful how Edwin is able to heal Simon’s worries and feeling of guilt, and the bit of him going to “heaven,” or whatever the good afterlife is, after is just such a nice touch. the line “does it have to be torture? what we are?” will always absolutely murder me because holy shit that’s such a real representation of internalized hatred, and the feeling that everyone and everything hates you that stems from ourselves. I feel like it was a piece of the best writing on the show, and a very real showcase of who Edwin actually is, without all of the drama surrounding the main story. anyways i’m going to go sob over the stairway scene

[sthilarions]

The birthname of the saint who in most popular depictions would have been responsible for marking Edwin to go to Hell - for the flawed paperwork the Night Nurse references - is Simon. Make of this what you will

[beantown-boy]

Shoutout to Edwin Payne for being y/n in 3 different genres. He's the guy who finds himself trapped by the sexy animal shifter man in a real bodice ripper. He's the nerd who turns out to actually be really cute in a fucked up She's All That parody. He's the silent object of unrequited repressed affection in an old black and white arthouse piece. Gay men project genre onto him like the fucking silver screen.

[hannaloony]

Day 3

SIMON APPRECIATION WEEK (@simonappreciation)

x

PART 14 Everybody’s alive AU, where Niko is a friend of Edwin and Charles is a friend of Crystal

and where Simon and Edwin are roommates

[mellxncollie]

Edwin Payne & Simon | Dead Boy Detectives 1.07

[idliketobeatree]

dead boy detectives text posts as starboarded (and others) messages from the dead gay detectives server, part 6 part 1 by @nix-nihili ↳ 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5 _ @hartigays @tragedy-machine @vyther15 @bitterdesert @agentearthling @magpiemarten @aletterinthenameofsanity @datglutengoblin @holvivum @autumn-equinox-04 @shaylogic @qwanderer + logan (pls tell me if i missed someone)

bonus:

[lereadinggrinch]

Part 7!

[jinchaeji]

I love this fandom so much omg

Not sure if you've heard but look!

Apparently it costs about 10-fucking-k to put up this billboard and people did it in about a WEEK

The money not spent on the billboard was donated to LGBTQ+ charity

I didn't even know about this project till today ngl