tictactotallyokay

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A lot (all) of the sorcerers in the SP world are terrible people but something that is really normalised throughout the series is fat phobia and comparing looks. And I’ve been thinking about it a lot.

In society in general there is a relationship between privilege and appearance. People who have more money and time are going to be able to control more factors like diet, exercise, sleep and the various products that society tells us we need to buy to be considered attractive. When the war with Mevolent was happening there is no way this level of control was possible for the sorcerers fighting. It would have been near impossible for people to have access to the amount and types of food needed to maintain physiques. People would have been sleep deprived and gone days if not weeks without showering.

So whilst there is this elitist attitude with appearance what if it’s more than that? What if it’s a reminder that sorcerers didn’t always have the ability to control these things in their life. That people who stray outside of the ideal of beauty are choosing not to and it reminds them of when they didn’t have the choice. Saracen is a great example where his body changed when he was no longer fighting for his life and could eat what he wanted when he wanted. And he’s teased relentlessly for putting on weight despite the fact that he’s no longer a solider and it’s no longer war time. Even from his friends there’s this shame put on him and I think it goes back to control and everyone’s trauma response.

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I can’t help but wonder how sorcerers navigate the “mundane” or mortal aspects of life.

How do sanctuary workers get paid? Do sorcerers pay taxes? How do they navigate healthcare? Do they pay for it? Are there insurance companies?

Do people like Ghastly or Frightening meal plan and batch cook? Do sorcerers have skin care routines? I’m trying to imagine different Elders doing their laundry.

No matter if it’s a sorcerer that hates the mortal world they’ll use some form of technology. Do they keep up with latest releases? Have some Roarhaven minded sorcerers created their own company out of spite?

When sorcerers buy houses or go on holidays how do they sort it all? Same with buying anything really. Every time he gets an outrageous car does Skulduggery use a mortal car dealership? I like to think that he goes to the same one Desmond did when he bought the Oompa Loompa.

I have so many questions and want them answered but that won’t happen

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China is supposed to be the most beautiful woman in the world. thats like her whole thing. you cant just change her character for your woke agenda

...Holy shit

First of all I'm not even going to bother explaining why complaining about the 'woke agenda' in a fantasy book where like 75% of the characters are queer makes absolutely no sense? Wake up.

But more importantly- how dare you.

How dare you imply that the skin color makes anyone less beautiful.

When I draw Ghastly as a man of color the most I get is “but why” Not racism, just bewilderment/curiosity as to why I’ve chosen to depict him that way.

But when it comes to a woman who is word for word described as the most beautiful you get all upset? How dare you. Not to mention the fact that her skin color has literally nothing to do with the story. Her character spans way beyond just beauty, but you don’t care about that do you? You’re angry because you're hateful and god forbid a woman of color with corn rows and *gasp* not model-thin?? be attractive.

I made her skin dark. I braided her hair. I gave her a tummy. Who gives a shit? She is beautiful. Black women are beautiful. Women who do not fit your simple-minded definition of beautiful, are beautiful.

Get out of my inbox with your hateful comments. I literally could not care less if you don't like my art because you think the art is bad. I don’t care if you have strong opinions about if Alice’s hair should be blonde or brown. I don't care if you get upset because I give Skulduggery eyebrows.

I do care when you start demeaning an entire group of people because you think that their skin color belittles their beauty. Go do something productive. Spread joy you noob.

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I don’t know how much of an overlap of the fandoms there is but I’m getting huge Ghastly Bespoke vibes from Mothers Milk (MM) in The Boys. Like there are so many parallels

- initially not wanting to be involved in the events going on but forced to and then ending up in a position of power

- pining after a great love but forced to watch their would-be-partner with someone else

- can and will fight

- Dad vibes

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Possibly a controversial take but do you know who I think the most dangerous member of the Dead Men is?

Saracen Rue.

Now, I know Skulduggery and Anton are deadly and powerful and would probably win in a fight against Saracen. However, I think it needs to be acknowledged that Saracen survived not one but two wars with a power that is not combative. He fought Mevolent’s soldiers, the Warlocks and Darquesse and managed to walk away unscathed (for the most part). He survived a decent length of time in Season of War before being bitten. And this is not even counting the amount of times people have probably tried to kill him for his promiscuity. And he does this whilst reportedly being the most unfit of the Dead Men.

He comes across all smiles and charms but I think he’s in the top 3 of the Dead Men of people who can end you with very little effort.

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I’ve been thinking about the Dead Men a lot recently. Like, A Lot. I think that the series glosses over a lot of their trauma. I know Phase 2 shows Valkyrie struggling with her trauma but it doesn’t show the others. And after fighting in a centuries long war these guys have a vast array of mental health difficulties. Content warning for the rest of the post regarding mental health, trauma, sex and self harm. These are my personal headcanons

Anton

Anton self-harms. It’s subtle. So subtle that it’s just treated as part of his personality as him being stoic and stubborn. But in LSODM we see him refuse to take some leaves offered to him by Dexter.

Yeah sure he applies the ointment but it would be impractical not to in case it affects his reflexes or fighting abilities later on. But he chooses to continue to feel the pain because he thinks he deserves it. Part of that is due to what the gist does when he releases it but part of it is because of the gist itself. Because Anton has all these “bad” thoughts that are fuelled by anger and hate and they create the gist. If he can create something so violent then he thinks it makes him a bad and dangerous person.

This feeds into part 2 of how he self-harms. He isolates himself. He has his hotel that goes all around the world but in doing so he cuts himself off from his support group. The other Dead Men would be the best people to understand how he feels but he’s too scared of hurting them. Because one day his gist will take over and he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if it hurt his friends.

Saracen

Saracen has PTSD and trust/attachment issues. Yeah, all the others have varying levels of them too but Saracen is constantly in survival mode from his. It’s why he’s secretive about his power. Not because he’s ashamed of it but because if people know what it is he’ll lose his edge. In LSODM Saracen noticeably changes when a wraith jumps out at him.

He’s so used to seeing through things, knowing what’s coming that when something comes that he didn’t know he’s scared. Helpless. Powerless. He doesn’t have the type of magic he can use to save him in the heat of the moment like all the others so he needs to know what’s coming at all times so he can keep them at arms length.

The reason Saracen gets around is because he’s scared of trusting someone. If they get too close to him he’ll be weaker, vulnerable. He won’t know what’s coming. It’s why he goes from country to country. From one bed to another. And it gets pushed aside like it’s just him being a play boy but I think he actually wouldn’t mind being close to someone if he felt like he could. Dexter is probably the closest person to him but he still kept him at arms length by not telling him his power and happily not talking to him for years.

To curb being alone all the time Saracen finds comfort where he can. It’s why he prefers more luxurious things. Because he’s not in a war anymore so why should he have to sleep on the ground? Sex is a good way to get a rush of endorphins so he does it as often as he can. Food is also a good way to get endorphins. Saracen finds comfort in it and the fact that there is no longer the worry that his next meal might be his last. So he feels more comfortable eating whatever he wants when he wants it. It’s his way of getting through the day. It’s also why I HATE the “jokes” that are made about his weight and that all his friends constantly body shame him. But he doesn’t object or correct them because otherwise they’ll know more about him. And he can’t have that.

Dexter

Dexter has body dysmorphia and control issues. He accepts that he can’t control the things around him because he’s a soldier and he’s been in unimaginable situations. But the one thing he can control is how he looks. How much he works out. How defined his muscles are. He’s fine traveling and sleeping rough because he can still control how active he is and how much he exercises. In the same way that Saracen gets his endorphins from sex and food, Dexter gets his from exercise. It’s how he can put up with all of the nonsense that goes on with the others. In some ways, his appearance is all he has. Saracen has his secret power. Erskine had his crusade with Corrival. Anton his hotel. Dexter is known as being the person with the toned physique. If that gets taken away then who is he?

Ghastly

Ghastly has survivor’s guilt. He’s seen too many friends die and so many times it should have been him. It’s why he puts so much effort into making armoured clothes. Because he is going to do everything in his power to make sure his friends don’t die again.

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Idk what it is but something about Phase 1 Dexter Vex screams Russell Howard energy

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I’m going to level with you guys. If a live action Skulduggery ever happens there’s only one person I’ll ever accept as Saracen Rue and it’s this man

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When it comes to wlw in Skulduggery Pleasant everyone talks about Valkyrie, Tanith and Militsa but no one ever mentions Aurora Jane and it pains me

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Alright you guys are going to hate me for this one. Recently I’ve had a head cannon that Larrikin had a young daughter when he died. Alternatively could be a baby sister that he’s raising because his parents aren’t around. But just picture this:

- Dexter feeling so guilty that Larrikin is dead because of him that he essentially raises the girl

- All of the dead men check in frequently and help out

- She stays at the Midnight Hotel a lot and it hurts Anton because she reminds him of the man he loved

- Skulduggery is the one that is around the least. She just looks too much like his own child that he can’t stand to be there

- Despite her dad being one of the dead men she never had magic

- So after a few decades it finally hits the dead men that the last piece of their friend is going to die soon too

- When she does it’s the nail in the coffin and it’s the reason they’re so out of touch. They had to say goodbye to Larrikin a second time and don’t want to have that pain anymore

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Okay so currently one of my favourite ways to procrastinate and avoid my responsibilities is to play the Sims Freeplay from the App Store. And because I want to cling on to my comfort series and ignore some decisions DL has made practically all of my Sims are from the Skulduggery universe and I’ve tried to get them as close to canon as possible.

Tanith Low

Saracen Rue

Aurora Jane

Dexter Vex

Frightening Jones

I have many more so if you want to see them let me know.

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If you call pedophilia a kink please unfollow me and never talk to me again

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Something I don’t think is talked about anywhere near enough is how fucking smart China Sorrows is. Yeah, she’s cold, calculating and manipulative. But she’s also centuries old. Was a collector of rare books and owned a library. Can read people instantly and know how to charm them, even without her powers (canon in DB). You have to be very intelligent to know just what to say to get your way. All of this plus the fact that she’s resourceful as hell makes her character arc in phase 2 even more puzzling and I really don’t want her 3-D potential to get squashed

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@shuddersdreams I get exactly what you mean! Take Skulduggery for example. One thing that I’ve never liked the idea of is having an actor actually playing him. I’ve always thought he’d have to be CGI or animated because, you know, he’s a skeleton. If they have someone playing him with just face paint or something it won’t capture how he’s basically not there/stick thin and I feel that will ruin the effect

Possibly an unpopular opinion: I think that the Skulduggery Pleasant movie should be animated or in the style of “Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse.” I’ve loved this book series for so long and a big fear of mine is that if they turn it into a movie it won’t get done properly due to budget restrictions. If it’s animated, this becomes less of an issue. Plus animated movies are severely underrated

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Possibly an unpopular opinion: I think that the Skulduggery Pleasant movie should be animated or in the style of “Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse.” I’ve loved this book series for so long and a big fear of mine is that if they turn it into a movie it won’t get done properly due to budget restrictions. If it’s animated, this becomes less of an issue. Plus animated movies are severely underrated

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OP, considering your username there is a very important name missing from that list

list of valid characters

- kenspeckle grouse

- anton shudder

- clarabelle

- the monster hunters

- desmond edgley (just think y’all should know my phone tried to autocorrect edgley to edgelord)

- that’s it

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I’m absolutely in love with the Dead Men and a big part of it is because I’m 99.99% sure that they’re just a gang of nerdy feminists...

Apart from Erskine for obvious reasons