crimson-phantom-designs

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there was some Twitter madness recently where someone left a comment on someone's art to the effect of, "Ed shouldn't wear a dress, he's a man!" which I do disagree with on principle, but unfortunately, it brought out one of my least favourite trends in the fandom

so, naturally, I had to write a twitter essay about it. and I already largely argued this in a post here, but the thread is clearer and better structured, so I thought I'd cross-post for those not on the Hellsite (derogatory). edited for formatting/structure's sake, since I no longer have to keep to tweet lengths, and incorporating a couple of points other people brought up in the replies

so

I want to point out that the wedding cake toppers in OFMD s2 aren't evidence that Ed wants to wear dresses. Gender is fake, men can wear skirts, play with these dolls how you like, but it's not canon, and that scene especially Doesn't Mean That.

People cite it often: 'He put himself in a dress by painting the bride as himself! It's what he wants!' But that fundamentally misunderstands the scene, and the series' framing of weddings as a whole. I'd argue that Ed paints the figure not from desire, but from self-hatred; it's not what he wants, but what he thinks he should, and has failed to, be.

(Yes, I am slightly biased by my rampant anti-marriage opinions, but bear with me here, because it is relevant to the interpretation of the scene, and season two as a whole.)

The show is not subtle. It keeps telling us that the institution of marriage is a prison that suffocates everyone involved. Ed's parents' cycle of abuse is passed to their son in both the violence he witnesses then enacts on his father, and the self-repression his mother teaches, despite her good intentions ("It's not up to us, is it? It's up to God. ... We're just not those kind of people. We never will be."). Stede and Mary are both oppressed by their arranged marriage, with 1x04 blunty titled Discomfort in a Married State. The Barbados widows revel in their freedom ("We're alive. They're dead. Now is your time").

But even without this context, the particular wedding crashed in 2x01 is COMICALLY evil. The scene is introduced with this speech from the priest:

"The natural condition of humanity is base and vile. It is the obligation of people of standing ... to elevate the common human rabble through the sacred transaction of matrimony."

It's upper class, all-white, and religiously sanctioned. "Vile natural conditions" include queerness, sexual freedom, and family structures outside the cisheteropatriarchal capitalist unit. "The obligation of people of standing" invokes ideas like the white man's burden, innate class hierarchy, religious missions, and conversion therapy. Matrimony is presented as both "sacred" (endorsed by the ruling religious body), and a "transaction" (business performed to transfer property and people-as-property, regardless of their desires), a tool of the oppressive society that pirates escape and destroy. That is where the figurines come from.

When Ed, in a drunk, depressive spiral, paints himself onto the bride, he's not yearning for a pretty dress. He's sort of yearning for a wedding, but that's not framed as positive. What he's doing is projecting himself into an 'ideal' image of marriage because he believes that: a) that's what Stede (and everyone) wants; b) he can never live up to that ideal because he's unlovable and broken (brown, queer, lower-class, violent, abused, etc); c) that's why Stede left. He tries to make himself fit into the social ideal by painting himself onto the closest match - long-haired, partner to Stede/groom, but a demure, white woman, a frozen, porcelain miniature - because, if he could just shrink himself down and squeeze into that box, maybe Stede would love him and he'd live happily ever after. But he can't. So he won't.

The fantasy fails: Ed is morose, turns away from the figurines, then tips them into the sea, a lost cause. He knows he won't ever fulfil that bride's role, but he sees that as a failure in himself, not the role. It's not just that "Stede left, so Ed will never have a dream wedding and might as well die." Stede left when Ed was honest and vulnerable, "proving" what his trauma and depression tell him: there's one image of love (of personhood), and he'll never live up to it because he's fundamentally deficient. So he might as well die.

This hit me from my very first viewing. The scene is devastating, because Ed is wrong, and we know it! He doesn't need to change or reduce himself to fit an image and be accepted (as, eg, Izzy demanded). Stede knows and loves him exactly as he is; it's the main thread and theme of season two!

(@/everyonegetcake suggested that Ed's yearning in these scenes includes his broader desire for the vulnerability and safety Stede offered, literalised through unattainable "fine" things like the status of gentleman in s1, or the figurine's blue dress. I'd argue, though, that these scenes don't incorporate this beyond a general knowledge of Ed's character. Ed is always pining for both literal and emotional softness, but the significance of the figurines specifically, to both Ed and the audience, is poisoned by their origin and context: there is no positive fantasy in the bride figure, only Ed's perceived deficiency.

Further, assuming that a desire for vulnerability necessarily corresponds with an explicit desire for femininity, dresses, etc, kind of contradicts the major themes of the show. OFMD asserts that there is nothing wrong with men assuming femininity (through drag, self-care, nurturing, emotional vulnerability, etc), but also that many of these traits are, in fact, genderless, and should be available to men without affecting their perceived or actual masculinity. It thematically invokes the potential for cross-gender expression in Ed's desires, especially through the transgender echoes in his relieved disposal, then comfortable reincorporation, of the Blackbeard leathers/identity. It's a rich, valuable area of analysis and exploration. But it remains a suggestion, not a canon or on-screen trait.)

Importantly, the groom figure doesn't fit Stede, either. Not just in dress: it's stiff and formal, and marriage nearly killed him. He's shabbier now, yes, but also shedding his privilege and property, embracing his queerness, and trying to take responsibility for his community. In a s1 flashback, Stede hesitantly says, "I thought that, when I did marry, it could be for love," but he would never find love in marriage. Not just because he's gay, but because marriage in OFMD is an oppressive, transactional institution that precludes love altogether. All formal marriages in OFMD are loveless.

So, he becomes a pirate, where they reject society altogether and have matelotages instead. Lucius and Pete's "mateys" ceremony is shot and framed not like a wedding, but as an honest, personal bond, willingly conducted in community (in a circle; no presiding authority, procession, or transaction).

That is how Stede and Ed can find love, companionship, and happiness: by rejecting those figurines and their oppressive exchange of property, overseen by a church that enables colonialism and abuse. Ed is loved, and deserves happiness, as he is, no paint or projection required.

ALL OF THIS IS TO SAY: draw Ed in dresses! Write him getting gender euphoria in skirts! Write trans/nb Ed, draw men being feminine! Gender is fake, the show invites exploration, that's what 'transformative works' means! But please, stop citing the cake toppers as evidence it's canon. Stop citing a scene where a depressed Māori man gets drunk and projects himself onto a rich, white, silent bride because he thinks he's innately unlovable and only people like her can find happiness, shortly before deciding to kill himself, as canon evidence it's what he wants.

(Also, please don't come in here with "lmao we're just having fun," I know, I get it. Unfortunately, I'm an academiapilled researchmaxxer, and some of youse need to remember that the word "canon" has meaning. NOW GO HAVE FUN PUTTING THAT MAN IN A PRETTY DRESS!! 💖💖)

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Stede is very good and obedient and definitely not trying to secretly touch himself, since Ed told him not to. 😇

[AO3 link]

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When I see Ed walk out of the sea ready to burn down the world for Stede, I always think of Love Crime... 🔪❤️

I was originally planning to make gifs of this scene and made a whole video segment instead. 🤣 It's simple, but enjoy. :)

"No one can be fully aware of another human being unless we love them. By that love, we see potential in our beloved. Through that love, we allow our beloved to see their potential. Expressing that love, our beloveds potential comes true." -H

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His side profile is so pretty...

I am going to ignore Nightmare Ed.

'Beauty' is correct

Also I've been drawing his side profile wrong this whole timeeee

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A sketch I meant to finish months ago, and with the waters these two are in, I felt it was needed for something light-hearted to share.

Stolas does love romcoms. He would absolutely love Our Flag Means Dearh and relate to Stede.

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I've been tracking this down for a while now and I've finally found confirmation of what I suspected: the current Google Maps imagery for Piha Beach in Aotearoa New Zealand was taken during setup for filming of Our Flag Means Death's Season 2, Episode 8!

On the left is the north end of Piha Beach with the inn set. On the right is the south end carpark with the film crew base.

Why is that cool to me? Because it truly was a fleeting moment in time, no more than a handful of days of possibility, and yet we can see it right now on Google Maps, at least until they update it. As an archaeologist I love a moment preserved in time.

The specifics of how I pinned down the imagery and the date are in this Twitter thread, but the short version is, I was hunting for a better visual on the area immediately surrounding the inn while writing Full Fathom Five, and noticed that the carpark in particular seemed to line up exactly with images from the final day of filming.

The final day of filming overall was 13 December 2022, filming at Piha was on 12 December 2022, and this aerial image was taken on 11 December 2022.

I had already been through the first image to make a comparison to the aerial map and it looked like a match, but Google Maps had 2024 in their attribution. [Noting that I'd put 13 Dec on my image notes, but I'd got that tangled with the last day of filming in the Kumeū studio the next day, and it was 12 Dec on location].

Thankfully Google Earth came through with the actual date.

Which means we now know that for now, if you hop onto Google Maps (not Google Earth, because they have a different image for the north end that does come from 2024) and zing on down to Piha Beach, you can take a look at a preserved moment in time from the filming of S2Ep8.

You can hop straight to the inn here.

And straight to the parking lot here.

And remember to put the layers into Satellite mode to view the aerial imagery.

Everything that's shown at the north end lines up with what we've seen both in the show and in behind the scenes content, all of which I delved into in this Twitter thread last month. That goes into a lot more detail about specifics, but the evidence is solid across the board.

The sandy path that runs beside the inn is a distinct feature seen in the show.

The peak that sits behind it, likewise (from Google Maps user uploads here and here).

The inn itself, and the way the path gives way to an unseen carpark, from Simone Nathan's TikTok video.

Based on all of that, it's easy to see that we've got our inn right here circled in red, preserved in that moment in time, even though it was no doubt taken down as soon as filming was done.

Prep looks like it took a couple of days before filming; filming was pretty much done in a day, according to an article at the time.

So, there you have it- it's a minor little thing and it won't be up forever, but for now you can hop into Google Maps and see an aerial view adjacent to the filming of S2Ep8 at Piha. The other beach scenes from Eps 1, 3 and 8 were filmed at Te Henga/ Bethells Beach.

[crimson-phantom-designs]

I'm curious--how do you guys go about creating your OCs?

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Something that always stands out to me in 1x4 during Izzy’s “I have to do everything around here” rant to Ed is Ed’s dismissiveness. And after doing some research on pirate ship roles, i get why. Besides the fact that Ed is having fun for the first time in maybe years, part of Izzy’s duties as Ed’s second in command would be to handle crew disputes and act as a go-between for his captain and the crew.

So when Izzy is complaining to Ed about “massaging the crew” and all that bullshit, he’s literally just complaining about doing his job. These aren’t legitimate complaints, they’re Izzy blaming Ed for not being able to handle doing his own fucking job.

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Part 3 of 3

Part 1

Hope you enjoyed it.

I've done a lot of these to do with the SAMU and just never posted them yet.

Eb and Fran is have a specific way of texting.

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Part 2 of 3

Part 1

Part 3

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So I found this prompt in another fandom and figured I would give it a try with the boys because yeah. It fits them... ☠️ Also, to try and post things on Fridays since WIP Wed seems hard to manage. I'll just call it Francis Friday. 🤣

This is in parts because it's a long convo from Eb's pov view. It is based off the modern Sweettooth SAMU with Francis as the mob boss. This is an alternative first meet.

God's, poor Ed. He goes through it in this verse. He always goes through it. (What is it with these characters and awful fathers? 😵‍💫)

Part 1 of 3 is below. PG-13. Hint of alluded spice and language.

Part 2

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"When we believe that we alone can love, that no one could ever have loved before us, and no one will ever love in the same way after us."

For pride month with Francis and Eb! It's drawn after this unnamed pair mid 1800s. I've had it on my phone since early writing of Fox and the Rose.

Also, the second illustration is untextured. I couldn't decide which I liked better.

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Working on revisions and oh boy, why do both of these assholes always fight? Truly, it leaves me baffled how each time they sit down damn near a squall is going to happen if not they circle back for round two.

I swear its foreplay for them.

Problem is one can't fight himself out of a wet paper bag while the other knows how to kill quite well when the situation calls and could easily kill the other with a swipe. Isn't hard to guess which one.

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So I had a friend tell me again they've been watching Interview with a Vampire and they remind them of my Francis and Ebenezer except with a child. XD

Me: Yeah well, with the way Francis acted to Cratchit's kid he would ideally steal one he liked and make Ebenezer be the assistant parent.

I have thought about Beryl, if Francis met her, he would adopt her because oh boy that tenacious attitude she has he would want to mentor.

I mean. It's partly what started a split off modern AU called Sweettooth. 👀

It would be a battle for Ed not to have her grow up to be a female Francis, tho. Francis is training her how to weild a knife. Fight. Defense... Medical knowledge... so on... Meanwhile Eb is watching and sweating like-

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Tried this and uh-

Yeah. Checks out.

It knows. 👀

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Doom.

I write doom.

Original template cr: @mhuyo from Twitter

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Any of my Eb mutuals have a fandom type discord? I'm not on Tumblr like I used to be- or social media as a whole anymore- but I miss fan geeking over Scroogeverse content with everyone. I know there is a small handful of us left, but Eb will forever be a comfort character to me.

Chatting really helps with inspiration to keep working on content and also getting updates so I don't miss others works. I literally will unless I'm tagged.