#steampunk vibes has my whole heart

[saltedcaramelchaos]

Wonderlust theory thoughts !! Just finished the first episode :D (these are very disorganized but we just roll with it)

Troy's first bit is pretty cut-and-dried as far as I can tell, it's very much to show the character in his natural habitat, but we'll probably get more context as the series goes on!

Aside from the character, THE STEAMPUNK VIBES ARE SO COOL AAAHHH!! Using flipbooks as play-by-plays? Whatever that interview camera thing was? Using "cogs" as currency?!? YES PLEASE

Also, I see you May. Where were you going so quickly :eyes:

Runt and the street rats are so interesting to me,,, my first thought was "oh there's poor people even in the 'utopia'", but then they actually were stealing from uplanders iirc!

This implies that Doppler + the gang have some way to get up above, without running into the clockwork soldiers. That will definitely be relevant later.

Also it might end up being important who exactly it was that they were stealing medicine from

Come to think of it, why is it always medicine that's being stolen/transported? It could just be a way to show that the characters are kind and care about others, or it could be emphasizing a deep flaw in the system Reclaim runs on...

side note that moment when runt saw the moon and went "how'd they make that".... ough. I don't think that adds a dimension to the worldbuilding other than the character detail of "SHE'S NEVER SEEN THE MOON BEFORE and most people here probably haven't either", but wow, way to emotionally destroy me with a single throwaway line grizzlyplays

More steampunk gadgets yaaayyy! so far between the clockwork soldiers and the mites, all the security measures up above seem like they go WAY TOO HARD. Is it a way to control people through fear? Do they secretly know there's a whole society underneath? Is it to protect something, maybe those purple stones? Is it just the person making them being unconcerned if people die at their hands? I'm so sure this means something (<-"troy's dad is a villain" truther)

Blink's turn! This man has SO many secrets and I can't wait to learn all of them. What was his relationship to Aeon? Why is he here now? Why is he on the run?

More specifically, he said something to- maybe shopkeeper guy-? about how he can't stop helping people. It sounded like a personal-promise-slash-oath kind of thing. He's clearly already been through character development; in his conversation with Aeon neither of them were happy about how the other has "changed"... that's so fascinating to me, is he a paladin? He does this out of the goodness of his heart, sure, but he sure talks like he's at least emotionally bound to it. What could have happened to cause his adamance that helping people is the right thing to do, and that Aeon isn't doing that?

Speaking of Aeon, I 100% agree with the person that said she got to Troy first. It did strike me as suspicious that he had a whole chase scene with Blink Specifically and not anyone else

From what I caught, the vixens are pretty much the self-imposed policemen/tax collectors of Reclaim! I wonder what the general public thinks of them...

that's all I can think of at the moment! let me know if anything on here has been proven or disproven because I tend to ignore the very obvious details for the character/worldbuilding ones LOL

[mildmayfoxe]

big fan of your romance novel complaint posts (love to see a fellow hater living it up) but i’m also curious if there are any you would recommend? not looking for anything in particular, just would love to hear your thoughts as someone else with nitpicky reading habits and a taste for trash

ok hello. i left you hanging for a FULL week and for that i am sorry but i wanted to be able to have some time to sit down and type out a real answer to which the short version is YES of course there are several that i have enjoyed!! my disclaimer is that i almost solely read gay romance so if you are looking for lesbian or even straight reccs i don't have much for you (although i will put a couple at the end anyway). hopefully something in this list is interesting to you or at least interesting to someone else! links are mostly to goodreads. break bc i'm gonna write too much

-kj charles is one of my fave authors in this genre bc they're all pretty reliable and there's a ton of them. they're all historical fiction and usually there's at least one murder- she's good at keeping a plot going while developing a romance. often supernatural or magical elements. sometimes cults! i've read almost all of the books she's written and have enjoyed them all

-charlie adhara wrote a really incredible werewolf series that i loved, the first of which is the wolf at the door. this is one of the only series i've read which keeps the emotional stakes up through the whole thing & kept me interested in a relationship after it was established bc sooo many series get boring the second the leads get together. i actually read the first book of the spin-off series (a pack of lies) first which is technically possible but i don't recommend bc i was like "wow they're really throwing me in here. i love it" and then i read the first series and i was like "oh i was supposed to know all this stuff." but i actually liked the dynamic between that couple better and i'm suffering every day because the next one still doesn't come out til 2025 and i read it in 2022. also worth noting that this (the original series) is cops-ajacent (~federal special agents~) and one of the characters is really prejudiced at the beginning & imo doesn't have enough character growth before it's waved away but if you can ignore that it's really good. mysteries! werewolves!

-speaking of werewolves (i could suggest several but i'll keep it to two) tj klune's wolfsong ends up at the top of a lot of gay werewolf novel lists (i'm keeping tabs) and there's a good reason. i enjoyed it a lot. made me kind of sad which is always a good sign to me. the writing voice was very fresh and novel at first but i did find it a little grating by the end so i've put off starting the second book in the series (it's also about a different couple which was disappointing) but i will get around to it. i enjoy tj klune in general although his recent stuff has a very different vibe than this and lightning struck heart is very 2015 in a bad way imo

-bone rider by j fally is a standalone that really delighted me. the russian mob? aliens? vaguely western? possession? throuple? it's got it all. very fun

-ok speaking of westerns there's this other series called magic & steam (yes it's steampunk. sorry. it's very silly) that starts with the engineer. a federal agent is sent to a town to apprehend a ~madman engineer~ except he runs into an infamous outlaw in the process. and the outlaw is really sexy. and probably why i enjoyed the series so much. the series also keeps them apart a lot in a way that i enjoy- i love when things take a long time. it's ongoing so this is another one that i keep checking for updates on

-i've read a lot of stuff by nr walker and they tend to be VERY hit or miss for me but one of my faves is evolved which is almost pure smut. it's about a sex robot that gains sentience. what more do i need to say. she also wrote a three-book series about an amnesiac that made me cry cry cry. and her cowboy (australian rancher) series is pretty ok. i could go through a list and tell you which novels of hers aren't worth it and which ones are good; i've read most of them

-salt magic skin magic by lee welch was a big surprise to me. cool magic, good folklore, fairies in there too. historical. big kj charles vibes which makes sense bc she edited it. welch also wrote a book called seducing the sorcerer which i had more mixed feelings about but had magic in it that i think about OFTEN (the horses)- that one's about an imposing sorcerer and a rundown groom cum handyman. and they're in their FORTIES!!! 🥳🥳🥳 (i love when books are not about 23 year olds)

-another one with a magic system i enjoyed was magician by kl noone. this was the first book i read by this author and i liked it but generally i find their books are too "nice" for me. i'm in the middle of one right now that i started months and months ago that i keep trying to go back to and it's sooo rough for me. but this one and the twelfth enchantment are pretty ok

-emily tesh wrote a duology of silver in the wood and drowned country that i loved because i am suuuuch a sucker for a wild man/green man story. really good. haunting! evocative! kj charles has a green man story too which was actually the first thing i read of hers (spectred isle)

-i complained about the monsterfucker book i was reading a while back but despite that i will also recommend the series it's from: lily mayne's monstrous, which starts with soul eater. are they messy? yes. are they repetitive? yes. are the monsters usually disappointingly humanoid? yes. are a lot of them about the military? also yes. so we're starting off on a bad foot. but the world building is interesting and there's LOTS of kinds of monsters and most of them were pretty fun. the one i just read (#7) was the worst one of the bunch though imo. and i have problems with #6. but 1 2 and 5 were good

-ok i should do a quickfire round. honeytrap: about two enemy agents during the cold war. put it off for a long time bc i didn't love that but it takes place over a VERY long period of time which is always interesting to me. zero at the bone: about a hitman who needs to protect a witness to a mob hit. really strong start but fell off a bit in the middle to the end imo.

-you'll notice a lot of these have subgenres of like fantasy historical supernatural etc but here's some regular contemporaries. a lot of these are about sad guys bc those are my favorite. best laid plans: hardware store owner helps a guy fix his house. in the middle of somewhere: same author actually. guy moves to small town to work at a college. mr jingle bells: this is a christmas one. bad title. fake dating. part of the reason i think i liked it so much is because i expected it to be awful but it was actually pretty good. good emotional stakes. published 2021 but feels very 2014. ignore that part. work for it: i rated this five stars but actually don't remember much what it was like. i think they were both really sad which i love. give me big emotions and i eat them right up with a spoon. i should read it again

-OK now i've got some straight & lesbian options. talia hibbert's brown sisters series is good and cute. she also wrote work for it, above. the unhoneymooners is the first real Romance Novel that i read and it really surprised me because i had fun! previously i had kind of written off romance novels as not for me but this kicked off a reading habit that is still going strong (primarily reading romance novels). i read this in 2020 so it might not be as good as i remember. as for lesbian options olivia waite has a series that i enjoyed that's also historical, and a friend of mine really enjoyed delilah green doesn't care (but i haven't read that one myself). and while not really romances i will always be a sarah waters fan: you may recognize her as the author of fingersmith, which is the novel park chan-wook's movie the handmaiden is based on. if you haven't seen the movie or read the book i recommend both. her books are very dramatic lesbian historical fiction; they don't always have happy endings but they're all very good

ok i think that's the end! regular disclaimer that romance is generally not a genre notable for Good Writing so a lot of these are just things i had fun with or just stuck out in my memory for having fun conceits etc. i can't guarantee that any of these are actually good, especially because this is a list solely based on my own taste and bad memory. would love to hear anybody's thoughts and/or if anybody has recommendations for ME!!! this post took me over three hours to write! crazy!

[xxswagcorexx]

anyways, re: my last post, here's a bunch of fun fighting hc's i have for casino quartet specifically (most of these focus on aesthetic though because i am someone who always romanticizes things at heart </3):

clown: something very flashy and based on acrobatics because of the whole. Clown thing he has going on. focuses on agility and very fast movements (because fighting with a scythe is very ineffective since it's such an awkward weapon, but i do think that you can make it work with modified fighting style). personally i think he'd go for doing backflips and whatnot to slice people in half with his scythe and or use his environment because of his flexibility :)

red: when thinking of red, i've always had this imagine of a brawler/defensive style for him in my head. like, someone who times punches and whatnot to be most effective, grounds himself to take punches, and hunkers down to deliver the most effective blow. definitely less flashy and a lot more practical than clown, but hey it works with his general vibes/aesthetic i think

ash: okay this is where this gets to "vibes i just really like" territory, but since ash uses a lot of lunar emotes to breakdance or whatever in minecraft, i think it would be fun if he also has a really flashy style that incorporates a bunch of breakdancing dances. like, the idea of him in the middle of this fight and then doing a 6 step to knock a bunch of people onto their feet is Really funny to me. or just spinning his legs in the air or whatever. i'd also sprinkle in some kickboxing elements in there because cc!ash did mention doing kickboxing training for like. 9+ years iirc so that would be fun. if i ever get around to writing a fight scene with ash and clown working together, their styles would go really hard i think

branzy: listen. i am so sorry this man cannot fight for his life but just to give him a fighting chance i think he knows some basic self defense. like, the stuff you learn from taking a 3 week course. i think instead of going to fights he just sends 3 hidden pipebombs to your house. maybe someone out there can write him as someone who fights with Really sick steampunk weapons (ex: his ksmp character design and the s5 heart factory) but for now i think he likes his revenge best served cold

[whypolar]

remi!!!!! happy birthday!!!!

can you tell me about your favorite mecha (aesthetically, not plot-wise)???

Thank you for your gift of talking about anime.

I didn't mean to take so long with this one! My phone notoriously hates uploading images, and once I got on my PC I spent entirely too long looking at pictures of robots. Please enjoy them.

I made a list of general vibes I like and then picked some examples for each. They're not ranked in any particular order, or anything.

Vaguely Unsettling Weird Tanks

I have so many examples of Weird Tanks. Here are just two. A strangely large percentage of these look like some kind of shellfish? Carcinization of tanks?

Funny little guys

They're generally actually pretty big. But they're little guys in my heart.

(The Hygogg is edging into being too genuinely menacing for this category, but he needs to stay here to hang out with all the other aquatic Zeon suits.)

Big Sexy

I don't have to explain myself to you.

Five Star Stories

These get their own section, because they're just that cool. I have zero direct experience with this series, but it has some of the most striking and immediately recognizable designs I've ever seen

It's actually weirdly hard to find good quality images just on google? I'm not downloading an entire art book or stealing somebody's fanart for this. I did my best. Maybe Japanese search terms would have yielded better results...?

Anyway. Look at these things

(This last one isn't from 5SS. It's the same artist, though, so I'm putting it here for convenience. Thank you Mamoru Nagano.)

These lead nicely into the next two categories.

High fashion glamour robots ...

... and Big Robot Knights

Escaflowne is another series with very knightly, suit-of-armour inspired mecha, but what I really want to show off is the cockpit. I love this very clunky, physical, fantasy-steampunk setup.

There's another version from the movie where it's much grosser, with drills that bore into the pilot's neck, but I can't find it right now. Sad.

An Extravagant Beast With a Whole Bunch of Bullshit Stuck on There

Sometimes the design still reads clearly despite the amount of stuff, like the Unicorn Perfectibility. Very rule of cool, very impressive.

And sometimes you get the Penelope.

I love this fucking thing so much. Half the time it flies upside down, so it doesn't even read as a humanoid. Girl why do you look like that

Misc

I also like general cyberpunk elements, bio-robots, and body horror.

It's not quite the same category as the rest (since I assumed we're talking about mecha in the sense of humanoid or creature-like robots that people can get in and pilot, rather than anything mechanical), but shout out to BLAME!

[vindieselsfacebook-blog]

For the gg ask game: 3, 4,and 22!

Yesss more more more thank yooouuu 💕

3. favorite lorelai love interest (besides luke)?

I like Digger! He's a breath of fresh air at that point in the series and I like that Lorelai gets a bit of escapist fun with him. He's set up as impossible long-term and just not a good fit for her and her world from the start, but they enjoy each other and have a fun brother-sister dynamic. Thinking of them having sex still makes me burst out laughing, though. Nooo sexual chemistry.

4. if you could go to one place in stars hollow, where would it be?

Hmm I've gotta say the boring popular answer - Luke's! I'm a restaurant nerd and love a good diner. You could soak up peak Stars Hollow vibes sitting by the windows and watching the fall leaves in the center of town and all the goings on. :')

22. favorite episode of ayitl?

This may be surprising because it seems like the general fan consensus is that Fall is the best and most beloved, but I think Winter is my favorite. Fall is gorgeous, has iconic Jess moments, redeems Emily's entire character for me, and of course the L/L of it all, but I hate the Life and Death Brigade steampunk-y nonsense so fucking much lmao. I fast forward that shit more often than I do Stars Hollow the musical tbqh. I will never forget SCREAMING when I heard the Across the Universe version of that Beatles song kick in for the first time... like, what in the world... ASP was really saying yes to her deepest, most embarrassing cringey theater kid impulses - as a fellow cringey theater kid, I'm allowed to say this!!! I know who we are.

Spring and Summer also get some cringey bad jokes and some sweaty writing (thanks, Dan - love to blame that guy), but I honestly think Winter is pretty perfect and have like no complaints about it? I already like AYITL more than like 99% of fans so I will cape for this one all day.

I treasure with all my heart seeing domestic, happily ever after Luke and Lorelai - combining their lives in their cozy house that finally feels like a mix of the two of them, date night at the Black, White and Read, Lorelai refilling salt shakers at the diner, walking Paul Anka around town together, and that scene in their bedroom with the DVR is one of my all-time favorite GG scenes.

PARIS!!! Her gay little haircut! Rory has keys to her house! Lorelai is one of the only mother figures she ever had! Paris and Doyle have always had big divorced couple energy and I think their whole thing is very funny. Having Paris own a fucking surrogacy/fertility clinic is truly the most hilarious possible outcome and I love it so much.

Pink coat 2.0 - omg I can't believe I forgot to mention the pink coat on my last post about costumes!!!

I like that L/L choose not to have more kids - I think my one nitpick is that I wish their conversation made it a bit more clear that the whole "not talking about kids" thing was clearly because neither of them really cared that much anymore because I'm so sick of fans taking it so seriously and acting like it's this huge tragedy and failure in their relationship.

Luke awkwardly trying to hug Emily twice. :')

They handle the Richard stuff sooo well and I love all the meaty emotional material Lorelai and Emily get together. It's so real and I love that they don't just act like everything is happily ever after with the Gilmores - they will always have tension and love and complicated feelings and fight and come back together and it's beautiful.

I love that Lorelai and Michel have become closer friends - just a cute detail!

The ending is just so adorably perfect - love the funny cliff hanger of Lorelai stuck in therapy with Emily and L/L walking off together in the snow to "Here You Come Again", specifically Dolly's version??? I could cry!!!

I think the Paul thing is funny okay??? Suck it!!!

Aww I want to watch AYITL again now. 💕

[imperiuswrecked]

Namor: Conquered Shores #1 SPOILERS

I’m gonna be read/reviewing the comic that has gripped my BODY AND SOUL today, and I’m gonna make it everyone’s problem.

We start off Namor, 100 years in the future, and the explanation for why is short but to the point, I’m really glad Cantwell didn’t dwell on the whole end of the world plot because I have read those kinda plots so many times and I have zero interest in another one.

When we first see Namor you get this sense of aloofness from him, as if he’s looking down at these two humans like they are bugs he can easily squash, even his offhanded judgement of “I don’t really care enough, to be honest” would make one think he’s removed himself from the situation of the surface human struggle to survive.

Ferry’s art is wonderful, I do love how pointy he made Namor’s ears! But the sketchy quality of his work, really works for the story imo because it’s been giving me these raypunk scifi novel book cover vibe, it but it def has that astonishing stories cover art feel to it. As a person who loves most of the Punk subgeneres (cyberpunk, raypunk, steampunk etc.) this was great for me.

What I want to quickly point out is how awesome the colorist is as well, the toxic air in the surface world being represented by this mist is such a great touch!

It's so refreshing to see Atlantis thriving when all we ever get in the current comics is another Atlantis is destroyed plot. I love the undersea scenes Ferry has created, it really has this beautiful underseapunk futuristic vibe.

Namor’s arrogance is present as well, you can almost hear him saying “Am I not the most benevolent ruler?” and “It was I who usered in this golden age of Atlantis”, I love how Cantwell doesn’t shy away from his Pride and Arrogance which are both key traits for this character.

You do not know how great it is to have Nita back, for many people who may not have read Namor and Nita comics, there is a Big Brother and Little Sister relationship, and when she died it really messed him up because she was the closest family he had. Future!Nita is now Queen, and there is a coldness to her in her regards to the humans that past Nita didn’t have, who knows what has turned her heart colder, one could explore a lot in the 100 years since to understand why.

However the aloofness we felt from Namor in the opening pages is contradicted by Nita’s words “When you do return home, you obsess over the suffering of the surface settlement clamoring for aid to a doomed people.” Namor once again showing that even if on the exterior he is a salty mean bitch, inside he is a bleeding heart. I love how this comic shows that Namor is still trying to bridge the gap between his two people, and how he’s always been the one to stand for and between them depending on the circumstances. The Atlanteans in the comics have always hated and mistrusted the surface world, Namor is one of the few who would actively seek peace (outside of plots that would require him to take vengeance for his people, etc)

I ADORE this scene, lol. This Snobby Bitchy pair hold my whole heart, but I really love the third panel in the center, Nita trying to copy Namor, she’s looked up to him ever since her escape from Llyra’s clutches, and it’s just so cute, little sister coping her big brother. Also her words, her wanting Namor to be there to advise her. DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR 1 CRUMB OF SUB-MARINER FAMILY FEELS? SO LONG.

lol, to Namor slyly suggesting/joking she give up her crown if she feels the burden is too much and have a council XD this is that dry sarcasm I don’t get from Namor these days because writers never write him well! I’m just really happy about this comic.

Eudora is a great addition to the supporting characters. I do love a tiny science nerd lady.

The cool blues of the thriving people beneath the waves vs the harsh reds of the decimated world above really provides the best contrast between the worlds. I think the artist and colorist collaboration is perfect in setting the tones for each world. 

I've always said "Namor going to the surface world should feel like he is setting foot on an alien planet bc to him the humans ARE aliens, their world isn't the world he was raised in by his mother, Princess Fen", for once I finally get that feeling that Namor is in another world.

There is this vibe, this tone, that Cantwell sets within his words that I'm trying to describe, it's like a sadness? but deeper. It's sorrow. It's like they lost something long ago, and while Namor's people are thriving his heart is torn with sorrow over the plight of the humans. This whole surface scene is just ALOT, but the way Namor is shown is so in character, yes Namor is older and less brash and less ready to talk with his fists, holding himself back even when attacked. I like to think it’s because Namor knows how sensitive things are in the relationship between his people and the humans. A human dying at his hands would make his mission to convince the rest of the surfacers to move to one of his undersea settlements much harder, they already hate him.

I was NOT expecting Jim to show up in issue one, but aaaahhhh my HEART, the way Namor is screaming for him!!! I wonder how long has it been since he’s seen Jim? I just love Namor and Jim SO MUCH, and this comic is gonna make me cry over them I just know it.

Cantwell's letter at the end of the comic is a must read as well! I really enjoyed reading it and it really feels like I have a person who understands what makes these characters so beloved even if most of the world and time has forgotten about Jim and Namor.

There’s more I haven’t talked about but I urge people to give this comic a read and to follow along with future comics!

[brinannersinpajamas]

Heyo! It's been a hot minute since I visited this place and I'm starting fresh, so I figured I'd kick things off with a proper introduction post.

My name is Brittany M. Willows (she/her, "Bri" for short). I'm a self-published author and self-taught digital artist from rural Ontario, Canada. Science fiction, fantasy, and post-apocalyptic stories are my jam, and I tend to write some amalgamation of the three. I also stream art and games occasionally over on my Twitch channel and am currently working as a comic colorist/script writer.

Here's a quick rundown of my projects! I'll give them their own intro posts later on.

Works and WIPs to my Name

The Calypsis Project (2013) & TCP II Rebirth (2016): Known collectively as the Echo-Alpha Duology, this is my debut series! It's a science fiction/space opera that tells of an unlikely alliance of humans and lizard-like aliens in their mission to thwart a conspiracy that could see their whole galaxy upended. However, as it's currently slated for a rewrite, book #1 has been taken off the shelves haha

Bloody Spade (2021) & Bleeding Heart (2023): The Cardplay Duology is an anime-inspired YA urban fantasy about a cat-eared boy touched by dark magic and a softhearted girl with the power to cleanse it. It's queernormative, features a slow-burn romantic subplot, has plenty of hurt/comfort goodness, and a chaotic found family to boot.

p.s, Bloody Spade has an audiobook edition coming out on August 2nd! You can listen to a sample here.

The Howling Dark: This is the gay space werewolf brainworm that sprung from a dream a couple years back and has only been growing since. Set on an Earth-like planet recovering from the aftermath of a radioactive war, it follows fugitive werewolf brothers Sylvain and Illia on their search for a safe haven. It's currently in planning stages!

Bleakhouse: A more recent seedling of an idea that also originated from a dream! This gritty steampunk tale will tell the story of a mechanical girl bursting with soul, and a boy who's more machine than he looks. This has no real plot yet, but the vibes are good lmao.

Favourite Anime

D.Gray-Man

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Fruits Basket

Bleach

Noragami

Toradora

Jujutsu Kaisen

My Hero Academia

Favourite Games

Halo (pre-Halo 4)

Mass Effect 2

Dishonored

Dead Space 2

Assassin's Creed

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Favourite Books

This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

Halo: Cryptum by Greg Bear

Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun by Jonny Garza Villa

Sedition by E.M. Wright

And that'll do it for now. I'm excited to be back and will hopefully become more active in the future (especially as the bird app is slowly imploding on itself). I'm mainly a reblogger but will be tagging all my original posts appropriately so they can be found!

[chickycherrycola]

Okay, I have the same questions for you! How long have you been writing and what are some of your favorite tropes/storylines to write? Also, do you have a movie/show/book you’d consider a hidden gem or under-hyped fave??

Hello there Tower! 🎶 thanks for providing me with a wonderful distraction while I work from home today ehehehe *rubs my tiny fly hands together*

How long have I been writing:

Truly, kind of all my life? I've loved books, reading, and words since childhood - I was that quirky little kid who preferred going to the library over going to the park 😅 I wrote a LOT in high school and college, but I doubted myself too much to ever do anything with any of it. I never submitted short stories to publishing houses, never posted any of my fanfics online as a result. I took a long break from writing after graduating college and only recently got back into it, about... late 2021, I want to say? I re-read some fave old Soul Eater fanfics and got inspired to take up the metaphorical pen again, and I'm so glad I did. Now it feels like all I do with my life is write and I wouldn't have it any other way tbh!

Favorite Tropes/Storylines To Write:

Boy oh boy, where to even begin? I love romance, comedy, and the wonderful intersection of the two in the form of the ROMANTIC COMEDY, which im sure is pretty obvious given the kinds of fics I tend to post. I write as a form of escape from reality and use humor to cope and process big feelings, so writing rom-coms with a lot of heart and mature themes at their core is my jam.

In terms of tropes - my faves are the following, in no particular order: Friends to Lovers, Idiots In Love, Boy Falls First, Found Family (im actually a HUGE SLUT for this one and want to write it so badly!), Second Chance Romance, Animal Companions (i utilize this one a TON in my original fiction), Cozy Fantasy and/or stories that seamlessly weave magic or supernatural elements into the "real" world... and lastly, not really a trope, but Character Driven Stories are the GOAT.

Also... I just really love writing smut. PWP one-shots are my guilty pleasure. >:3

Hidden Gems/Underhyped Faves:

I AM SO GLAD YOU ASKED!

Books (though two of these are comics technically):

-SAGA by Brian K Vaughan & Fiona Staples: adult graphic novel space epic series full of memorable characters and absolutely gorgeous art that tackles a lot of tough stuff and has made me feel the full spectrum of human emotion

-The Tea Dragon Society by K. O'Neill: a wholesome, heartwarming all ages comic chocked full of pocket-sized dragons and the COZIEST fantasy vibes EVER

-The Locked Tomb series: idk if it counts as an underrated fave/hidden gem cause the book series has a pretty sizable and active fan base, but im recommending it anyway cause Harrowhark Nonagesimus is one of my favorite characters in all of fiction, and if you like stories that explore both romantic and platonic partnership dynamics, you should give it a read if you haven't already!!

Shows/Anime:

-D. Gray-Man: shounen anime set in Victorian England about exorcists and featuring the most Cinnamon Roll Main Character in the Universe who I will always love with my whole heart, Allen Walker

-Re:Creators: a reverse isekai in which fictional characters are suddenly pulled from their universes into the real world and tackles the question of what fiction/art mean to us humans, one of my favorite shows of ALL TIME with excellent music composed by Hiroyuki Sawano

-Baccano!: a sort of steampunk/fantasy caper involving alchemists, immortals, outlaws, gangsters, an immortality elixir, and a murder mystery on a train, told in a non-linear format that really puzzles the brain on the first couple of watches

-Witch Hat Atelier: is technically a manga but is getting an anime soon! A series about a young girl who goes to magic school to become a witch, featuring an excellent magic system and gorgeous art

Movies:

-this answer is already soooooo long so ill just recommend my favorite movie of all time, PACIFIC RIM, which if you haven't seen you should WATCH RIGHT AWAY because it has the partners trope you love! Its a 2013 sci-fi flick directed by Guillermo del Toro about kaijus invading Earth from outer space, and the giant, dual-piloted robots that humanity devises to fight back with, and was so revolutionary in its portrayal of its main female character that it created a whole new benchmark for assessing portrayal of women characters in fiction (The Mako Mori Test).

In conclusion - thanks for giving me an excuse to ramble on and on, and I do truly hope you enjoyed all this drivel! 🙏😁

[fearofahumanplanet]

Jane's Special Interest/Hyperfixation List

I'm mostly making this bc friends keep asking me about gifts

Will also likely be edited over time as I'm sure I've forgotten some things or will get more (there is a Lot going on in my brain on any given day)

Broad Things (aesthetics, genres, etc)

Anything gothic (like, classical gothic)

Victorian aesthetics

Pagan vibes

Anything punk (music, fashion, aesthetic, etc)

Skulls & bones

Masks (specifically face-covering masks) (favorites include plague doctor masks, kabuki masks, porcelain masks, Venetian carnival masks, gas masks, etc for reference)

Horror (as a whole genre, but particularly gothic horror, psychological horror, body horror, folk horror, sci-fi horror and slashers)

Mythology (any, but particularly Norse, Egyptian, Aztec, Celtic, Japanese)

History (most anything, but particular obsessions include Victorian London, 1700s-1800s America, Golden Age of Piracy, the Wild West, Edo period Japan, Mongols, WW2)

Culture (particularly anything that isn't Saxon - favorites include things like Mexican culture, Celtic, Chinese/Japanese, Brazilian, etc sets off all my brainworms)

Music (particularly metal, punk, and hip-hop)

Medieval weapons (particularly fixated on polearms)

LEGOs (stuff without theme usually, i like buildings)

Cyberpunk, steampunk, biopunk, cowpunk, all the punks...

Dark, urban & mythological fantasy

Noir & any crime fiction that focuses on the actual criminals (fuck police procedurals, I'm obsessed with gangs & serial killers) (this does not include true crime, i'm not into fetishizing my mental illnesses)

Soulslikes

Roguelikes / roguelites

First-person shooters (especially the older style, Doom, Gothic, Hexen, Shadow Warrior, Unreal, Quake, Halo, Dusk, mmmm)

RPGs (tabletop or video games)

Weird west

Dungeon crawlers

Vampires

Kaiju

Specific Things (franchises, games, etc)

Aliens / Predator / Aliens vs Predator

Arcane (the show, fuck everything else Riot has done) (mostly Jinx and Vi actually, fuck the rest of the show lmao)

Arkane Games (Dishonored, Prey 2017, Dark Messiah, Deathloop, etc)

Assassin's Creed

Binding of Isaac

Borderlands

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Civilization

Cthulhu Mythos (anything Lovecraft is in a hate way, but I love what happens when people who aren't racist expand on it)

Cyberpunk 2077

Dante's Inferno & Paradise Lost

Dark Horse Comics (Hellboy my beloved)

Darkest Dungeon

DC & Marvel (but like, in a hate way. I cannot stand them. Cannot stop thinking about them either. AAAA) (Jason Todd & Moon Knight are as obsessed as I get)

Destiny (hate way)

Deus Ex

Devil May Cry

Diablo and its rip-offs (Grim Dawn, Path of Exile, etc)

Disco Elysium

Discworld

Divinity

Dune

Dungeons & Dragons

Elder Scrolls

Fables

Fallout & Wasteland

Far Cry

Final Fantasy

Frictional Games (Amnesia, SOMA, Penumbra, etc)

Friday the 13th

The Forest

FromSoftware (Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro, Elden Ring, etc)

Godzilla

Grand Theft Auto (in remission)

Halo

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

Hotline Miami

iD Software (Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein, etc)

Insert-Shock (BioShock, System Shock, Prey 2017, etc)

Life is Strange (Chloe.....)

Mad Max

Metal Gear

Metro

Middle-Earth (Lord of the Rings, Hobbit, etc)

Monster Hunter

Mount & Blade

Niel Gaiman works (especially Sandman and Good Omens)

NieR

Paradox Games (unfortunately... Hearts of Iron, Crusader Kings, Stellaris, etc)

Resident Evil

Saints Row

SCP

Shadowrun

Silent Hill

Skulduggery Pleasant

Star Wars (Disney is working very hard to kill this one)

Stardew Valley

Stephen King works

Telltale Games (what an odd thing they were)

Those truck sim games (yeah i dont know)

Undertale

Valve (Half-Life, Portal, Left 4 Dead, etc)

Walking Dead (fuck the TV shows, i mean everything else)

Warhammer 40k/Fantasy and its derivatives

Watchmen (Rorschach....)

Witcher

Yakuza (like, the games, not the organized crime syndicate)

[starburst2000]

Starlight Express Appreciation Month!

Day 2: Pearl and Opal

PEARL

Favorite actresses: Stephanie Lawrence, Reva Rice, Nikki Belsher, and Lovette George 💕

Favorite song: A Lotta Locomotion, He Whistled at Me, Only He/Only You, Make up my Heart.

Favorite costume: OLC, Broadway, and the one used in the Johannesburg production! She had some neat steampunk/Cancan dancer vibes.

Favorite ship: Prusty the whole life!!

Headcanon: Pearl is trans (Brand new girl) and has a collection of perfume bottles. Her favourite is called "Eau d'Orleáns".

Unpopular opinion: Her costume is better when she gets the fluffy pink wig. Also, the Las Vegas costume must be hidden in a closet and never taken out again.

OPAL

Favorite actresses: Georgina Hagen

Favorite song: Für Immer

Favorite costume: The post-2018 costume is simple, but cute.

Favorite ship: Post-2018 Prusty, lowkey Pearl/CoCo

Headcanon: Opal is Pearl's younger half-sister, from their mother's side. Their mother is named Crystal.

Unpopular opinion: Making the costume completely white, while using lighting that costs thousands of euros, can be considered a bad choice, as the light gets reflected a bit too much. Perhaps the costume department should have chosen a cream/champagne color instead.

[fictionadventurer]

Can you recommend a few new books/series for me to read? My favorite genre is fantasy but I also like good fictional, good renaissance/Edwardian fiction and good scifi. > I like stuff written by Brian Jacques, Diana Wynn Jones, Patricia McKillip, Tolkien, Lewis, some Jonathan Stroudt, Timmothy Zahn ( I love his star wars books <3) and a lot of other stuff, but those are my big authors. Got any ideas for me? (for fiction I like things like Gary Scmitd, Jean Little, and Georgette Heyer) You can also just shoot off some stuff you like it doesn't have to be related to my list.

Thanks for your time!

I can give it a try. I'm not too familiar with some of the authors, but since many of them are authors I also love, I feel relatively confident just recommending certain books within the categories that I like, and trusting that you can vet which ones appeal to you.

Fantasy

Creatures of Light trilogy (Woodwalker, Ashes to Fire, Creatures of Light) by Emily B. Martin: Non-magical adventure/political fantasy set in a world inspired by North American environments. Excellent characters and amazing setting.

Galleries of Stone trilogy (Meadowsweet, Harrow, Rakefang) by C.J. Milbrandt: Children's fantasy series about a sculptor who makes magical statues, the boy hired as his servant to make sure he remembers to do things like eat and bathe, and the family and community they build around them. Excellent small-scale domestic fantasy that I feel like would hit some of the homier Redwall vibes (especially since the races in this world have animal features). Writing's a bit rough--you will go nuts over her use of epithets--but I love it with all my heart, and I need someone to join the 5.7 of us who are in the fandom.

The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson: Novella about a prisoner who uses a stamp-based magical system to rewrite identities. Much shorter than Sanderson's usual work, with a solid plot and characters and (of course) worldbuilding, plus some fascinating discussions about art and identity.

City of Masks by Mike Reeves-McMillan: The last book I finished, and very much enjoyed. Set in a roughly Renaissance-ish city where everyone must wear masks and follow the rules of behavior for the characters assigned to those masks. Follows a diplomat sent to the city who has to learn the Byzantine rules of identity while helping to find a killer and stop an assassination attempt. Very old-fashioned writing style, but I think it really enhances the work. Worldbuilding is complicated, and I'm not sure it totally holds together, but you really do feel like you're exploring a whole new culture, and there are some excellent twists.

Brine and Bone by Kate Stradling: Novella-length Little Mermaid retelling from the POV of the "other woman" that actually follows the original story. Excellent romance and magic system, beautiful story. One of my top favorite retellings.

The Heir and the Spare by Kate Stradling: Non-magical, political-focused fantasy about a princess who finds out the man who tormented her at boarding school is about to marry her psychopathic older sister. Feels a bit underdeveloped, and some of the ending reveals are a bit over-the-top, but it's very easy to read, with some interesting dynamics. I liked it even more on reread.

The Electrical Menagerie by Mollie E. Reeder: Easily one of the best indie fantasies I've read. Set in a stardust-powered steampunk-ish Edwardian universe where islands in space are linked by trains. Follows an idealistic, shy middle-aged stage magician and his shrewder, more worldly twenty-something manager, who enter a competition hoping to save their show, but get caught up in intrigue that puts them in danger while strengthening their friendship.

A Spy in the Silver Palace by Jordan Rivet: In a world where people are commonly born with one of four superpowers, a shapeshifter gets assigned to be decoy for the princess and gets caught up in intrigue. Actually a three-book series, and I don't much like some things in the last half of it, but it totally captures that midlist adventure fantasy vibe that you don't often get from books these days.

The Glamourist Histories by Mary Robinette Kowal: If you like fantasy and you like Regency, these are the books for you. The first one, Shades of Milk and Honey is a Jane Austen book with magic, and the others branch out into other genres, with my favorite being the fourth book (Valour and Vanity), which is a magical Regency heist. (Bonus points: Each book has a stealth cameo from one of the Doctors from Doctor Who)

Science Fiction

Revenge of the Sith novelization by Matthew Stover: If you like Star Wars stories and somehow haven't read this one yet, I'm begging you to do so. Easily the best thing to come out of the prequels. It manages to make the character arcs of the prequel make sense, while providing beautiful writing that will tear your heart out.

Ahab by E.B. Dawson: Moby Dick in space, where they hunt down murderous AI-driven spaceships. Fascinating worldbuilding and good characters.

Arabella of Mars and Arabella and the Battle of Venus by David Levine: Alternate-history science fiction where Regency-era sailing ships fly to colonies on Mars and Venus. I prefer the second book, but they're both fun adventures. (Bonus: taking a page from Mary Robinette Kowal, the second book has a Ninth Doctor cameo).

Master of Formalities by Scott Meyer: P.G. Wodehouse in space. Been a while since I read this, but I remember it being as funny as the concept suggests.

Edwardian Classic/Historical

Beau Brown by Nina Clare: If you love Georgette Heyer, please read this. Closest thing I've ever read to her work that wasn't by her. About an aristocrat who escapes the French Revolution, becomes a tailor, and winds up going to London to be personal dresser for a wealthy but vulgar family. Funny and sweet, with some great characters.

Sanditon by Jane Austen and Another Lady (Marie Dobbs): Completes the story from Jane Austen's last unfinished novel. It's like this book has a dial with two settings: Austen and Heyer. It's starts totally Austen and gets more and more Heyer as the book goes on, until it cranks the Heyer up to eleven. In a rare move for Austen fanfic, I feel like the hero and heroine can stand beside Austen's originals.

Psmith series (Mike and Psmith, Psmith in the City, Psmith Journalist, and Leave It to Psmith) by P.G. Wodehouse: Edwardian series about one of the most interesting trickster characters in fiction. Not as polished as Wodehouse's later work, but has an actual character arc from Psmith. First book has a lot of cricket, so you may want to start with the last book, which is more like Wodehouse's usual work, to decide if you're interested in the characters before digging deeper.

[princesscallyie]

Okay so I’m finally getting around to coming up with some designs for Calypso’s children. Thought it’ll be fun to share my initial inspirations and design ideas before I get started. So I’m thinking the whole family has this gothic/Victorian aesthetic. Purple, dark blue, black color palette. They have a crime family sorta vibe and the final pic I had planned is similar to what I referenced here.

For the kids, all I have is general ideas for their personalities. I think I have all the names but they might change so I won’t name them now. They all start with C though.

So for eldest son, we got Chrollo with locs and then some asshole Mako eyebrows. Probably piercings. Definitely shirtless. He has to look sexy idc. Don’t have a concrete personality, but he’s Turq’s counterpart so the opposite of him. Eldest daughter with got this SICK Merida from some Disney mmo kinda game, but more steampunk assassin like. I’m thinking her personality is like hers too. Is supposed to be ladylike but is a warrior at heart. Hints at what linage her father is. Second daughter, bratty arrogant Princess vibes. Has puffy hair that also hints at her father the instrument as well. For the youngest son, all I got is dark sadistic victorian child. He probably has a cool power that makes him glow idk yet.

[windlion]

Podcast Reviews - A La Wind

So for some reason I have binged through a whole bunch of podcasts lately, probably because at long last I caught up to the present on Morbid and needed something else to occupy my brain. In no particular order: Malevolent, Midst, Out of Place, Red Valley.

Malevolent:

Could be described as "Two people play Amnesia The Dark Descent while the one holding the controller isn't the one who can see the screen, with predictable amounts of resultant screaming." Absolutely incredible production values. . . for a one man show. If you saw my screamalong you already have a good idea how I feel about this one. Where it suffers is the Patreon choose-your-own-adventure aspect dicking the story around and making for inconsistent characterization. On the other hand, if you wanted you could participate and choose to make Arthur suffer, so! Every choice is a pay off to someone even if it's not me.

I think it's perfect fandom bait: it hits that line between compelling story and interesting characters and enough flaws that GOD you want to get your hands in there and tinker and make it better. Three? seasons, and the get along shirt hasn't done its job yet so we've got plenty to go.

Midst:

Fantasy steampunk spaghetti Western??? The best I can do at describing the plot is "Mega evangelical church rolls into town and ruins everything, while excommunicated badass has Regrets, young acolyte realizes he should probably have Regrets, and local conman gets a new dream job."

You really just have to try this one to know if you'll like it, as it just picks up and never stops running. Sort of like three people reading a Terry Pratchett book, with flawless baton passes and asides and emphasis. I really like the style and the story, even if I want to smack multiple people many times. (The narrators tend to make it clear when they want to smack people, too.) Has a character that reminds me of one of my OCs who is near and dear to my heart that then proceeds to be a young idiot because, he's a young idiot. Two full seasons in and god knows how many to go-- definitely one to keep an eye on!

Out of Place:

An archivist keeps cataloging impossible historical items sent to them from what must be parallel worlds. It's definitely got good production value, decent writing, but it's really not as engaging to me because of the monologue format. Falling back on having separate voices all have different accents really felt forced when they show up. Interesting in concept more than execution. Two seasons, and as far as I know that's a wrap.

Red Valley:

Impeccable production values, great snappy writing and acting, with a soundtrack that reminds me of the Moon OST - with similar vibes. Present day sci-fi that's really cleverly done. Average guy just trying to get by being terrible at his job finds out that his actual job that he IS really good at is uh. Complicated. His new best friend is spiritually one of the Lone Gunmen from X-files, and his only guide at what the actual fuck he is involved in. They've laid so many Chekhov's guns that I am bracing for the twenty one gun salute that's just about to hit us. Two seasons, and they're currently crowd-funding the third. I willingly and knowingly gave them money for an asshole character to insult or threaten to kill me and I am delighted.

[monotonous-minutia]

Cendrillon (Paris, 2022) final (probably) thoughts

a few extra thoughts on the 2022 Paris Cendrillon I just watched:

-I am SEVERELY pissed off that the camera looked away at the end when the Prince and Lucette are reunited because after such an insane level of gay affection between the two of them since the instant they met you KNOW they would have kissed here. they had to. and yet we can’t see it. homophobia i tell you!!!

-that said this one is FANTASTICALLY gay, like the Prince and Lucette basically never stop touching each other and cuddling and hugging and smooshing noses and it’s just !!!! so lovely !!!!

-the production and set had such a fantastical and eccentric steampunk vibe. Madame seems to be some kind of inventor, and the chorus at the top of Act I are all her employees who clearly are not fans of working for her and dealing with her strange inventions. The one we see here apparently makes fancy pink dresses and curly blond wigs and if you step into one tube you come out the other wearing the clothes. she demonstrates by using the cat. we’re not sure what happens to the cat after it’s dressed. the sisters come out okay so we can hope the cat does too.

None of this seems to impact the rest of the story much or be making a statement other than giving us a unique look at the stepmother character (more on that below) and also just being a fun and very different setting for this story. The scene at the palace is more traditional-looking. I can’t really tell what the “forest” scene is supposed to be or what’s going on with some of those props and effects; guess I’ll just have to watch it again. oh no.

-The cast is great solid 10/10 i love all of these people. 

Kathleen Kim said La Fée is one of her favorite roles and you can really tell. She absolutely nails the vocals. it brings me to tears. and she handles the strange, ambiguous incarnation of the character in two very different but equally compelling ways (here and in the Met 2018 one). 

Tara Erraught needs to be recorded more. the first time I heard her open her mouth I was like “WHYYYYY DID THEY NOT FILM HER NICKLAUSSE” (yeah yeah I know they’d already filmed the Sher production twice but still). anyway she was sooo cute and sweet here, so awkward and silly and loving. and I think her voice matches the character really well. Maybe they’ll put this one on audio????

when I found out that Anna Stephany was going to be the Prince in this I actually screamed because though I’ve not seen her in a ton of things she’s definitely one of the cutest Annios ever recorded and her Sesto is pretty great too (AND SO GAY???) so like. sign me the heck up. and she did not disappoint one bit. Her portrayal is hilarious and tragic at the same time and so charming (I had to) and sweet and :’) I actually had to pause the video to tell my roommate this diva was giving me heart palpatations and no I was not distracted by her legs. also the whole things with the sneakers was just. so cute. I loved it.

I’ve seen Lionel Lhote as Pandolfe before (in the Glyndebourne one) and tbh I found that portrayal to be more sympathetic but I’m sure it has to do with the differences in production concept (more on that later) and he’s no less compelling here, just different. he’s put-upon but not altogether cowed. he’s actually kind of checked out. which is interesting and again more on that later.

Daniela Barcellona! I have seen her only once or twice, most notably as Malcom in La donna del la Lago so I was very interested to see how she played Madame de la Haltière. the strangeness of her portrayal goes along with the strangeness of this production. she’s not full-on mad scientist but I get the feeling she’s less “abusive mother/wife” and more someone who’s become so obsessed with her work she’s lost touch with her family (and may be losing it a little bit mentally too). Like Pandolfe, she seems a little checked out and seems less overtly mean than she is neglectful. In fact I rarely see her interacting with Lucette. Tbh I got some Ms. Trunchbull vibes from her at the start, partially because of her fisrt outfit I think, but also because of her pompous silliness and comical aggression. I’m still not entirely sure what precisely is going on with her, but it was enjoyable to watch.

The sisters! Okay, the sisters.

THIS has to be the most interesting portrayal of the “evil” stepsisters I’ve ever seen. A lot of times they’re nasty, sometimes just silly, and almost all of the time they follow their mother around like puppies, soak in all of her attention, and are almost as demanding as her when it comes to Lucette and Pandolfe. Here they couldn’t be more different. It seems this would directly oppose the libretto--and it does--but the way they played with it was fascinating and overall compelling. (I feel like I’ve been using that word a lot.)

The sisters sing along with their mother a lot in this opera; in fact almost all of their lines are in response to their mother or simply repeating what she says. Normally this is portrayed as them being their mother’s little minions or copycats. here, though, it seemed they were repeating her statements not because they’re hanging onto her every word but because they’re scared that if they don’t, they’ll suffer the same fate as Lucette. They clearly disagree with much of what she says (in fact much or their parroting of her comes along with eye-rolls), but if they don’t do exactly as she wants, she makes it clear she’s unhappy with them. They don’t even seem that interested in going to the ball and meeting the prince; they’re reluctant to get dressed for the party (though that might have something to do with the way in which their mother plans to dress them) and once they get to the party, they have little interest in the men there, at one point even preferring to dance with each other than anyone else there. They don’t mock their father like Madame does, and they’re not scared of him either. In the scene where he chases them out and they all scream musically, here it’s staged as them showing their frustration with him that he doesn’t trust them to take care of their sister. this gets an interesting resolution later on.

In addition to all this, there are several moments where they show they actually have a genuine, sweet, caring relationship with Lucette. Lucette is clearly worried for them when their mother puts the girls into her contraption to get them dressed for the ball. When the stepsisters leave for the party, they give Lucette a hug and blow her kisses as they leave. During the party we can see them sneaking some extra food, and when they get back to the house they try to give it to Lucette. When Lucette faints after hearing the Prince apparently doesn’t love her, the sisters rush to her side (and here’s where Pandolfe chases them off). Later, once night has fallen and Lucette has run away, the sisters go to her bed with the food they’ve stolen to give to her, and when they see she’s gone, they start looking frantically around for her. Before the final act there’s an illustrated pantomime of the sisters finding Lucette in the snow and carrying her home. Then, the act opens with them tending to her as she sleeps. Meanwhile, Pandolfe appears to be writing a poem about the ordeal (counting the syllables of his monologue and writing it in a notebook as he goes). 

Or course the text here says he is the one that found her, so we can imagine he’s using some poetic license for his work, and we can see the sisters giving him a few annoyed glances. And when Lucette wakes up, the script has her addressing her father and thanking him for caring for her during her ailment. However we, the audience, can clearly see it was her sisters that were taking care of her. But she thinks it was her father because of the way the production stages this. As soon as Lucette begins to stir, before she fully wakes up, the sisters hurry away and usher Pandolfe to her side. Pandolfe gives them a confused look and gestures as if wondering why they don’t want Lucette to know how they cared for her, and the sisters just smile and hold up their hands like they’re saying it’s all you now. They want to give him the credit so he can strengthen his relationship with his daughter. And we can see soemthing kind of click for Pandolfe here. In this production, he’s not as affectionate and protective of Lucette as in some others. (want to see the best operatic father figure? Go watch Laurent Naouri in the 2018 Met one. he makes me cry.) He clearly cares for her, but as mentioned before, he’s a bit checked out. He lets her take care of him rather than the other way around. He’s less attentive to her. Here, the stepsisters are giving him a chance to redeem himself in the wake of a near-tragedy.

I thought at first that making the sisters nice to Lucette was minimizing the abuse the character traditionally deals with, and I’ve always appreciated how this story brings to light the struggles of youth stuck in abusive situations. But this narrative paints a different picture that’s no less powerful. Madame here is clearly a neglectful mother and wife, never bothering to check in with the true desires of her biological daughter, and not attending at all to the welfare of her stepdaughter. She barely gives Pandolfe a second thought. She doesn’t specifically see to Lucette’s abuse, but she doesn’t do anything to change it.

Pandolfe, meanwhile, is painted as somewhat of a neglectful father. He expresses despair over Lucette’s plight, but he does not seem very motivated to do anything about it, and again, in their scenes together, seems more willing to let her wait on him and comfort him than make an attempt to be her protector or advocate. The bit after their duet in Act 3 as they talk about moving back home was especially emotional to me, as Lucette lets her father lie down on the couch and covers him with a blanket before she makes her plan to leave alone. Normally, we would see the father treating her with such tender care as he tries to make up for what her mother does. Here, she’s the one putting forth even more emotional energy when she’s already the one suffering.

Conversely, the sisters actively try to comfort Lucette in her despair. A narrative that’s less often heard, I think, is the solidarity that can be seen between siblings who share abusive parents. The stepsisters are clearly in a better position; they’re not compelled to sleep in a tunnel or wait on everyone at home and at work. But here they don’t disdain Lucette at all. They show her more love than either of the parents. They even experience a bit of the neglect as well when they occasionally try to appeal to their mother but are dismissed. It’s a different kind of dynamic that does not make less of the abuse suffered by Lucette, but paints it at another angle.

maybe that was more than needed to be said on the topic but as someone who works with abused kids and dysfunctional families, it really resonated with me.

ANYWAY

overall I really enjoyed this :) I wouldn’t suggest it as someone’s first encounter with this opera, but it’s a very interesting take and the cast is fantastic.

[joestarwhore]

How do you think yandere Rohan would react to his Darling insulting him and/or his manga in a moment of anger. My mans has probably the biggest ego so he probably wouldn’t stand for that at all. You can also make it nsfw if you want 😳

A/N: i love this. i love your brain. this is EXQUISITE, it shall be done!!

————————————————————————

Yandere!Rohan x Willing!Fem!Reader - All for you.

Rohan’s hand had an iron grip on yours as he led you down the street you both lived on. There was nothing hiding his rage after Josuke just HAD to open his giant mouth.

“That stupid punk thinks he can just say or do whatever he wants huh?!” Rohan dragged you up the porch step & shoved you through the door way. Your breath hitched as your back met his hardwood floors, his tall lanky frame standing in front on his closed front door. His eyes absolutely brimming full of anger, and a deep desire. “Awful bold of him to just say how nice you look in front of every body. I bet he was thinking about your stupid cunt wasn’t he?!”

You groaned & stood up, gently popping your back as you did. You shot Rohan a glare as you got back to eye level. “Josuke literally just told me my shirt was nice Rohan, what’s your goddamn problem?”

“My problem? My fucking PROBLEM?!”

Rohan grabbed the vase that sat by the door and threw it outside, not wasting time to watch it break and shatter. His eyes were on you.

“You’re my fucking problem!! Every time we go out you dress like a fucking slut & everyone sees that!!”

You roll your eyes and start walking up the stairs towards your shared bedroom. “Maybe if you didn’t work on your Manga so goddamn much I wouldn’t have to think of ways to get your fucking attention.”

That, in Rohan’s mind, was the last straw.

Rohan moved impossibly fast, only giving you a moments time to bolt your fastest upstairs.

You tore yourself up the stairs as fast as you could, swinging yourself around the top banister to the right down the hallway. Rohan’s angry footsteps quickly catching up to you, his breathing erratic and brimming with anger. Your chest was pounding in fear, why did you HAVE to bring up his manga?! You loved Rohan & you knew he loved you, but this was a whole new Rohan. This one had no remorse.

You took a left down the next hallway, & you knew you had to gain more room, but- “HEAVENS DOOR!”

“IRON MAIDEN!” you scream, the steampunk scythe wielder emerging behind you. You tried using the scythe to hook onto something to give you some leway, but Rohan did what he did best. Proved who you belonged to.

Heavens Door threw you into the wall, opening up your inner book for Rohan to edit all he wants. Rohan’s figure loomed over yours as he angrily scribbled in your book. “This’ll teach you to fuck with me you stupid whore. I fucking own you do you understand?”

You felt your head nod without you doing so, no matter how hard you resisted. Your heart was beating out of your chest, you wanted to scream at him and fight back, but your body simply wasn’t yours anymore. Rohan’s eyes bore into yours with a fury.

“First you dress like a whore & make Josuke ogle at whats mine, THEN you insult my work?!” Rohan ripped open your shirt, exposing your chest to the cold open air. “You forget who owns you. Who houses you. Who gives you a fucking LIFE. Well you won’t forget today.”

You wanted nothing more to scream as loud as you could, wanting to shout at Rohan that you didn’t want this, but your body simply wasn’t yours anymore. Rohan had ripped off your shirt, hiking your jeans down to your ankles as he palmed your area. Adrenaline shot through your lower half as Rohan attached his lips to your neck, sucking hard enough to ensure you had a nasty reminder in the morning.

There wasn’t an escape.

You lost.

__________________________

When you woke up, You were being held in Rohan’s arms, his fingers gently stroking your arms as he slept. The record player softly playing piano lullabies in the background added a calm vibe to your shared bedroom. You noticed you were in your satin pajamas & your body and hair were especially clean. You had no recollection of what happened last night, much less what happened after you both went to hang out with the boys- but there was a new set of scars ontop of your freshly cleaned body, in a very specific order.

If you didn’t know any better, you might’ve thought it said, “Property of Rohan Kishibe.”

_________________

ok this might be my fav one i’ve written 👀 thank you for requesting!!! ♥️

[entertaining-intentions]

Meet the Muses!

If you clicked about on my blog, you probably came across the Muse Page I have. But, faceclaims alone don’t do the justice of that I see in my mind. SO! Since I do art, I made quick sketches of each of my muses. In this post, view their faceclaim verses how I see them.

Let’s start with Dina, my oldest OC out of the bunch. He’s been through many changes because of that. He used to be one of those edgy wolf demon ocs with the emo black hair and the red eyes. You know the OCs you make when you’re, like, 10 right? ... just me? MOVING ON. As I built up his character into something less cringy and something more suitable, I found that the character Anubis from the game and anime Kamigami no Asobi was a pretty good match!

But, in comparison, here is how I actually see him.

Odel. This grim reaper is part of a story that I’ve been developing for years, but have no confidence to actually share the whole thing. It’s packed full with more characters than just him, but he has to be my favorite. A reaper who gets bullies by his coworkers because he doesn’t fit in and because of that doesn’t like to do his job. For the sake of tumblr, the faceclaim I chose for him is Rinnosuke from the Touhou series. It’s not a perfect fit, but the vibes are similar.

However, here’s how he actually looks:

Coco. Coco is a character that has had so many different coats of paint to her. She’s an undercover spy at heart; manipulative, cunning, and likes the finer things in life. Other than her job, she’s just a normal human, in comparison to everyone else in this lineup. The faceclaim I have for her is Mirai from Baccano!

But here’s how I see her:

Lillia. Oh Lillia. I really like vampires that were turned as children as a trope. You get to play with so many different elements of a psyche and how a person, let alone a child, would handle that kind of trauma. In her infancy as a character, she was very much inspired by Claudia from Interview with a Vampire, but grew to this gremlin child slowly but surely. For her faceclaim I have Chidori from Persona 3

But she looks a little more like this:

Next up we have Eve. I think I explained her as best as I could on my muse page, so if you want her backstory, go there. She’s a character I’ve been wanting to play for quite some time, but never had the confidence to. She used to look really normal in my eyes, but has become a goth dommy mommy, so... shrug emoji. For vibes alone, her faceclaim is Chane from Baccano!

But here’s the actual goth bitch:

Finally, we have Ekko. He conception was heavily inspired by a myriad of steampunk bands, Steampowered Giraffe, The Cog is Dead, etc, but what if it was pop? He used to have a more steampunk design to him with gears in his outfit and metal skin, but I loved playing with the idea that he was more like an anamatronic and worked with hydraulics. Still technically steam powered, but not in the normal steampunk way. the faceclaim I have for him, for mostly vibes, is Izumi Sena from Love Stage!(18+ if any of y’all look it up)

And, of course, what he actually looks like: