#thunderbirds fandom

[katblu42]

Symphony

Been thinking about this one a bit over the last few days, so I thought I'd give it a bit of a re-run.

It's just a bit of fluffy, music-related Earth and Sky.

Scott tore his eyes away from the unread emails, stretched his arms above his head, let out a long breath and turned the chair away from the desk to face Virgil at the piano.

“I like this one.  What’s it called?”

“It doesn’t really have a name.”

“I’ve heard you play it before, though.  Did you write it?”

There was the slightest hint of hesitation in Virgil’s response, although the music never wavered.

“I guess you could say that.  I haven’t ever really thought about notating it.”

“Aren’t you concerned you might forget it?”

A wry smile crept across the musician’s features, but he said nothing. 

“You should write it down.  And come up with a name for it.”

Virgil tilted his head a little by way of considering the notion, then asked “Why do you like it?  What does it make you think of?”

Scott stood, stretching more muscles, letting the music carry his thoughts away from TI paperwork as his gaze drifted upwards.

“Well, I like the way the melody climbs and swirls.  It kind of reminds me of flying.  And there’s a feeling of constant motion, fast, easy – sort of free.”  He closed his eyes for a moment before returning his gaze to his brother.  “In some ways it kinda reminds me of Dad.”

Virgil’s response began with the quirk of an eyebrow and the hint of a smile.

“Funny you should say that . . .”

“Why?  Is it about Dad?”

Virgil finished the last phrase, letting the final chord hang in the air before taking a slow breath and looking up at his big brother.

“No.  It’s you.”

“Me?”  Sapphire eyes widened with surprise bordering on shock, and his forehead creased in puzzlement.  “You wrote a song about me?”

Virgil looked back at the piano. 

“Not exactly.  It’s more like . . .” His gaze drifted upward.  “It’s hard to explain.  It’s sort of how I hear your presence, or your essence or something . . . I don’t know.”  His voice trailed off into mumbles and a shrug.

Scott was left speechless, staring at his brother’s awkward uncertainty, as the significance of his own interpretation of the music and what it represented really hit home.  It took him a moment, and he had to work to bring moisture back into his mouth before he finally found his voice again.

“Do . . .  do you have something like this for all of us?”

Virgil felt the heat of a blush rising in his cheeks, and he didn’t look up from the piano.

“Uh, yeah.  I sort of do.”  His hands drifted back to the keys and a new piece of music began, one with a complimentary theme to Scott’s.  It was in the same key, had the same tempo, and still embodied that sense of soaring movement, but this one felt somehow bigger, more far-reaching – almost heroic.

Scott let out a gasp.  “Is that . . .?  This one is . . . It’s Dad, isn’t it?”

Virgil gave a single nod.

“It fits with yours.  Like the second theme in a sonata-allegro.”  Virgil glanced over at his brother, taking in the blank look at the musical term.  “That’s the usual form for the opening movement of a symphony.”  His eyes drifted closed as he played, and he sighed.  “I can hear them both in counterpoint, but I can’t play both at the same time and do them justice.  I’d need an orchestra for that.”

Dumbfounded at this revelation, Scott could only marvel at his brother’s musicality.  Here he was listening to these amazing musical creations that rendered larger than life, full-colour images in his mind, and Virgil was complaining that what he could do with the piano alone was not enough.  He didn’t think he could even imagine what this music must sound like inside Virgil’s head.

The music came to a stop and Virgil turned again to look up at Scott.

“The variations on these two themes would encompass something like what I hear for Grandma and Kayo, a little of Brains, some of Grandpa . . .” he turned away again, “then everything would come back to you and Dad.”

For a moment silence hung between them.  Virgil’s fingers flexed, as though the music within him was searching for a way out as they reached once again for the piano keys.  A new piece of music began.  This one slower, gentler, quieter in terms of movement if not exactly in terms of volume.  Scott felt this one was more thoughtful and emotional.  It brought to mind light and colour and had a sense of space, but it also somehow felt warm.

“Mom?” The smallest possible upward inflection made it a question, which was answered with another nod and the soft smile that made his little brother look so much like her.

The melody moved and changed, built, swelled, adding a complexity in the musical patterns reminiscent of a conversation, an exchanging of information.  The lightness now sparked imagery of stars. The feeling of space changed from that of a breeze in an open field to the vastness beyond Earth’s atmosphere. The gentleness was now reinforced with a sense of almost hidden strength – Scott thought that might’ve come from a stronger bass line, but he wasn’t sure.

“Is this . . . John?”

Virgil’s smile brightened.  “You’re good at this.”

“No, the music speaks for itself.  You’re the one painting these images of our family with notes and chords.”

The smile faltered as Virgil held the last chord, then he let his shoulders sink a little.  Scott silently cursed himself for bringing back that awkward self-consciousness in his brilliant brother, but before he could say anything Virgil spoke again.

“I guess they would be the second movement if this were a symphony.”  There was a brief pause, then he straightened back into his playing posture.  “No prizes for guessing who the third movement is.”

This piece of music was a jaunty, up-beat number that seemed designed to make people move – to dance, to tap their feet or clap along.  It definitely felt like a dance of some sort, and it contained hints of sea shanties, or maybe a sailor’s hornpipe.  It was the musical equivalent of laughter, sunshine, pure happiness, and it had a lilt that moved like the sea.

“Gordon!” Scott exclaimed with a laugh.

The comparatively brief third movement came to its conclusion, but Virgil barely paused before beginning what Scott guessed to be the fourth.

“And that leaves . . .” Virgil spoke softly as he began the final theme.

This one was in march tempo, strong, bright, driving forward with a sense of heroic purpose, and bringing back some of that swirling, soaring movement from earlier.  Scott could pick out hints of his own theme, and a faster version of parts of John’s, but the piece definitely had its own identity. There was a sense of urgency to it, as though the melody was trying to push the tempo into moving faster.

“Wow.  Alan would love this,” Scott found himself thinking aloud.

Virgil stopped playing after the end of the next phrase.

“There would be more.  If this was a symphony, I mean.  The fourth movement would bring in some more of the other main themes, tie everything together, finish with a bit of fanfare.”  Virgil was once again looking up at Scott, a mixture of curiosity and self-consciousness etched into his features.  “You really think Alan would like it?”

“Virgil,” Scott answered with a sigh and a shake of his head as he took the few strides over towards the piano stool, “it’s amazing.  All of it.  The whole symphony.”

Virgil gave a shrug and his brow creased a little.

“There’s a lot more to it in my mind.  Only so much can be translated through the piano.”

“Then orchestrate it.”

A sigh, a shake of the head and a hint of a smile was the only response.  Scott firmly planted a hand on his brother’s shoulder and piercing blue eyes locked gaze with warm brown ones.

“I mean it, Virgil.  Write your symphony.  Give it the life it deserves.”

Scott could see the struggle to find the right words as Virgil’s eyes struggled to hold with his.

“I . . . It’s not mine, Scott, it’s . . .” Virgil lost the battle to keep looking at the determined pride in his big brother’s blue eyes.  His gaze lowered and he focused on his hands.  “I mean . . . it’s all of you.  It’s not music I’ve created, it’s the music that you are.”  Then, almost too quiet to hear, “At least to me.”

“So, you don’t want to share it?”

“I don’t know.”

“You said this symphony isn’t yours.  I think you’re wrong.  It’s very much yours.  Something that you maybe want to hang onto, keeping it all for yourself.  And that’s okay.”  Scott shifted his grip, pulling his brother close.  “After all, this is family – The Tracy Family Symphony.  And if I’m the only one who ever gets to hear even this glimpse of what you carry in your heart, then I consider myself privileged.”

[shirubie]

Romance Showcase Event: TAG: Love & Thunderbirds

Calling all romance fans of the TAG fandom! Love is in the air (and in space, and underwater...)!

This event is to showcase stories and art, old and new, that has romantic love as it's main theme. Want warm and fuzzy cuddles, awkward crushes or burning passion? You'll find it here!

To participate, post or reblog and use the tag #TAG:Love&Thunderbirds. Doesn't have to be your own stuff, you can link to works you like and want to share with the fandom. Just make sure to credit the original creator (no reposting please).

I'm not planning a specific start or end date for this event, so there's no deadline, you can post whenever you want.

A few ground rules:

-All ships are welcomed, even OC ships, as long as the story is centered on romance. Respect other people's ships even if they're not ones you like. Don't forget to tag your ships so that people can find/avoid them (everyone wins that way!)

-Please tag/warn for any adult or triggering content.

-Please credit the artists if you are not the creator of the work.

This is my first time starting an event, I hope to do a good job. If you have any suggestions you can send me a message.

Have fun everyone!

[sethizah]

Okay, this is funny 🤣.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

[blinktwicebaby]

I’m so thankful for new Thunderbirds fans. I fell out of interest around 2019 because there just wasn’t much fan content around it- Even Ao3 had fewer than 100 pages of stories on it. I was so excited to have a reboot of a show that meant so much to me when I was younger, but felt like I had no one to share it with.

Only 4 years later and TAG on Ao3 is closer to 300 pages. You come onto Tumblr every day and there’s something new to see. There are more amvs on YouTube to watch. More discussions, more content, more arguments and AUs and ideas.

People care about it now, and it feels amazing for TAG to finally have the community that it deserves.

[selene-tempest]

This is 100% you @i-t-guy-in-the-sky

[thatkidwholikesthunderbirds]

To the Thunderbirds fandom.

Thanks for participating in our first ever @thunder-pride event, all of us who had a hand in planning it were so excited for this and it was everything we dreamt it would be.

People sharing headcanons, writing fics, making art, digging up old content to pass around again and just having fun. It also brought the Thunderbirds and Gerry Anderson queer community into the spotlight, there are so many more of us in this fandom than I ever thought and I hope that even though pride month is over, we'll all keep going strong!!

I'm so honoured that I had a hand in planning this, it was an amazing experience and I met people and made a bunch of new friends who love and support eachother.

@mrmustachious @knyee @silverstarfics @quasar-concept @tanushakyrano @avengedbiologist and everyone else.

Y'all are amazing people and I'm so glad that I met you.

And @tracybirds thanks so much for inviting us all to help make this event, you are truly awesome!!

Ok this is getting long so yeah thanks for tuning in, thanks for joining us for Thunderpride 2023 and I hope to see you all again next year.

Much love from @squiddokiddo.

– 💛 🦑 –

[squiddokiddo]

As promised, here's the oc ask game.

I've tried to make the questions fit all Thunderbirds universes and all types of OCs while trying not to make it too generic, I hope you have fun playing.

Under the cut I have added some Picrew links incase you wanted a picture of your character if you can't draw them, please make sure to add the credits for the picrews you use on your posts.

I've also added a plain text version of the ask game incase anyone needed it.

Thx for reading, Happy March of the OCs.💛💛

Picrews:

Hunbloom's Picrew

Bananah Kim's Picrew

Makowka's Picrew

Nuggt's Picrew

Lunevani's Picrew

Ask game questions:

🐚 • Give us a brief bio for your OC(s). Add things like name, age, gender, pronouns, sexuality, ethnicity, occupation, religion ect.

🪐 • Is your OC connected to any of the Tracys or IR? Are they a friend? Family member? Colleague? Love interest? Enemy? Ect.

🌩️ • What's your OC's favourite Thunderbird/IR vehicle?

🌊 • Can your OC swim? Are they comfortable in space? Or do they prefer to keep their feet on the ground?

🌺 • How would your favourite character describe your OC? Physical features, personality ect.

🌟 • Is your OC disabled, neurodivergent or mentally ill? Do they use any disability aids? What does support for their disability look like in the 2060s?

🍂 • Does your OC have favourite clothes or outfits? What kind of aesthetics do they like?

🫧 • Name a character and I'll tell you what my OC thinks of them/their opinion on them.

🛟 • Has your OC ever needed rescuing before? If so, what happened? Why did they need saving?

🌿 • Does your OC live on Tracy Island? If so, what do they think of it? Have they always lived there? If not, what would they imagine living on Tracy Island would be like?

⛵ • Whaw would a fun day out look like to your OC? Where would they go? What would they do? Who would they bring with them?

🩹 • Is your OC squeamish? Do they have any phobias? How do they deal with these feelings?

🪵 • Send me a character and I'll tell you if they'd share any interests/hobbies with my OC(s).

[willow-salix]

Thunderfam! I need your help!

This John loving, fic writing, arty creating person has been away for far too long. I've been busy (with both Thunderbirds / Anderson stuff and other life projects) but I want to catch up as best I can.

I've noticed soooo many lovely new people around, but I can't find them all to follow even though I'm trying.

So please pop in the comments (or reblog so this can spread) and introduce yourselves so I can say hi and hit that follow.

I miss the Thunderbirds chats! I miss the posts! I miss seeing all the lovely stuff everyone is creating.

Help a girl out.

Pic of my gorgeous boy for attention.

[idontknowreallywhy]

Hi Thunderfam!

Hey, so I know this will have been done MANY times before but for us newbies it would be fun to know how everyone got here!

So… I was a super fan of TOS in the 90s, tried and failed to build a Blue Peter Tracy island, pored through every annual and comic I could get my hands on. Saw small section of 2004 film and could not, so when heard there was another reboot I avoided it because I didn’t trust them not to ruin my childhood love.

Got into Nevermoor late last year, discovered tumblr, overlapped with @womble1 on Nevermoor things and followed a rabbit hole into a womble TAG fanfic which made me think… oh, maybe I should give that newfangled series a little look.

Sat down with 8 year old and said “there’s this thing that’s a remake of something I used to like, let’s see if it’s any good”. We were both hooked the moment Thunderbird 2 appeared out of the clouds - we’ve just finished our second run through all 3 seasons - and I realised there is a LOT of Thunderfam content to catch up on on here too which has kept me pretty busy :) at some point I’m planning to revisit TOS.

How did other people end up here?

[katblu42]

Dinosaur Bandaids

I am totally blaming thanking @womble1 for inspiring this one, with one little line from her Sweetapple Slice 8 fic.

Also many thanks to @gumnut-logic for the read-through and help with the piece that was missing.

CW for mentions of blood/bleeding (nothing gory)

Virgil fumbled the opening of the box, contents spilling to the floor as he attempted to grab what he needed with just one hand.  He cursed himself for his clumsiness.  Again.  It was clumsiness born of distraction that had necessitated the raiding of the little first aid kit to begin with.

Just a simple slip of the screwdriver and his left hand now had a nice bloody gouge in it.  Not deep, and not longer than a few millimetres, but bleeding profusely, and a little painful.  He had immediately wrapped a somewhat clean rag around his hand to staunch the bleeding while he fetched a bandaid to put over the wound.  Next stop would be the sink to clean the area before applying the sticky plaster.  If he was quick no one else would be any the wiser about his little mishap.

Of course, his hopes on that front were dashed as he bent to pick up the mess.

“Hey Virg!  Watch doin’?”  Gordon asked with mock innocence.

Virgil simply huffed in reply as Gordon scooped up the handful of little paper packets.

“Dinosaur bandaids, huh?”  A raised eyebrow to rival one of Virgil’s own was deployed, along with a knowing grin.  “Here, let me help.”

Plain beige sticking plasters were a rarity on Tracy Island.

The older residents of the villa would say it was because the Terrible Two had always demanded bright colours and fun designs on their wound dressings when they were little, and no one had ever bothered to change the habit during re-stocking purchases.

The Two in question would complain and say it was because said older residents had never admitted that the little ones were now adults.

There were some practical reasons too.  A brightly coloured sticky plaster that had fallen off while performing tasks like food preparation or some types of maintenance would be more easily visible than plain beige.

If Virgil was honest with himself he’d say the real reason was because they all sometimes needed the little mood lift the bright designs provided.  It was part of the magic ability bandaids had to make small injuries better.

Virgil allowed Gordon to take his hand and begin the process of cleaning and dressing the injury.  Once done, Gordon gently smoothed the sticky plaster’s edges down one last time before looking up and locking eyes with his big brother.

“There you go.  All better.  The dinosaurs will take care of that little scratch.”

Virgil matched his little brother’s smile and thanked him with a hug before returning the box of bandaids to their rightful place.

Long gone were the days when Gordon or Alan would come running to a big brother because of some perceived injury that was completely invisible.  The application of a blue bandaid covered in brightly coloured fish, or a black one with little red rockets, and a kiss to make it better was all it took to have a little brother smiling and running off to do more mischief.

Mom had done the same for the older boys when they had needed their bumps and scrapes tended.  And Dad and Grandma had done their share of both patching up, and sticky plaster purchasing.  There had never been boring beige ones as far back as Virgil could remember.  And there had often been a variety of sizes and shapes in the medicine cabinet.

The habit had stuck so fast (not unlike the plasters themselves) that it had even affected the restocking of the Thunderbirds. Plain bandaids in a variety of sizes and skin tones were carried in every kit and medbay, but there were almost equal numbers of the patterned ones in the larger first aid kits.

Offering an injured child a choice of dinosaurs or aeroplanes was sometimes just the right kind of distraction from the fear and confusion of whatever event they had just been through.  Virgil had even patched up a few beloved dolls and plushies with their own teddy bear plaster.

But, the novelty bandaids worked equally well on adults. 

There had been so many occasions when Virgil had treated a rescuee with only minor cuts and scrapes, but with the tell-tale tremble and haunted expression that prompted him to offer the choice of plain or patterned.  Without fail the glassy eyes would focus on the various designs, the tension in their bodies would ease and the bandaid magic would begin to take effect as they made their choice.

After all, when you’ve been through an event traumatic enough to require a Thunderbird to the rescue, doesn’t everyone deserve their very own superhero or fairy princess plaster to patch their wounds and lift their mood.

[shirubie]

What are the Tracys bad at?

Question for you Thunderfam: what do you think each Tracy is bad at? We all know this is a family of insanely talented overachievers, but is there an activity that each Tracy would just suck at? I'm not talking here about Scott and self-preservation or John versus Gravity: the eternal struggle, I'm thinking hobbies or sports or any mundane thing that they tried and were just not talented at. Did they try once and give up, or do they keep trying despite failing spectacularly each time (Grandma and cooking doesn't count, we know that one)?

Just tell me what you think!

[rawyld]

Today we remember Bill Paxton birthday who played the greatest live action Jeff Tracy ever!

[blinktwicebaby]

“Talk to me Scott” John said after a few moments of dead silence.

“The stupid helmet makes you seem far away!” He complained, ignoring his real problem.

“We can fix that when you get home.” Optimism. “I’m seeing a finger about to break, what happened?”

“Stupid fingers got stuck on my stupid collarbone. I’m going to die looking like a pretzel!” Pessimism. He hadn’t even meant to say the ‘d’ word, it had just slipped out.

Read the whole thing here ❤️

[selene-tempest]

Me, reading aloud: Did you know that, apparently, every word that ends with "ie" automatically sounds adorable?

Virgil: Really? Cutie.

Alan: Cookie

Gordon: Bogie

Me: Ewww

Scott: Die.

Me, pointing the finger of doom at him: You! Nap time!

[sethizah]

Chapter 5

Link AO3

Did you sleep well, sweetie?

A little cuteness and comfort. Your opinions help me improve my writing.

[squiddokiddo]

Hey Thunderfam, I have an idea I want to propose to you guys.

Every so often I see people post about feeling a little down because they missed their fave's birthday by a couple of days or a piece they were making for a character's birthday took a little longer than they thought.

Back in the day, before I had an account but still secretly scrolled this site, I remember an event called Virgil Tracy Week which was held around his birthday.

I'm thinking why don't we hold a week event for each character around their birthdays? It gives artists, writers, creators in general a chance to make something for a character's birthday if they've been too busy or forgot or life getting in the way ect. It also gives people who may be busy on their favourite character's birthday the opportunity to still join in on the celebration another day without feeling left out.

(No need for you guys to worry about dates and such, I'll put together some dates for the birthday weeks. I may need some help deciding which one of John's birthdays to hold the event on though. (;^^))