purple-dreams9 - Tumblr blog

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The real tattoos

Drawing these made me realise I can’t wait for the rest of Jean’s reinvention. He’s the most powerful force on the board and hasn’t even got started yet…

[purple-dreams9]

If Thea was Theo, a controversial opinion

I want to preface this post by stating that this is not meant to change anyone's mind or opinion. I am not here to tell you to like a character or to ship a certain ship. You are free to hate Thea, write her off your fics, ignore her existence, and ship Kevin with the milkman if you so desire. This is also not an essay. Instead, think of it as the thought dump of someone munching over it for days.

This all started with a conversation about Thea with a couple people on a Discord server. I've been mostly neutral about Thea, not understanding the overall hate but not knowing much about her either. It led me to read Nora's most recent post about Thea, the replies and the "Why do you not like Thea?" poll, and I've seen plenty of Tweets about her, too.

In general, I noticed one main element when people explain their stance: it is not because Thea is a woman and people want to ship Kevin with male characters. The real reason(s), branched in different directions: the age gap, the lack of building of her character, how little she shows up/how little we know about her/the feeling of her being shoo-ed in out of nowhere as Kevin's love interest, and her attitude (inc. her lack for communication with Kevin after he left the Nest, her comment to Jean in TSC, etc.)

I have been in many fandoms for over a decade, some with more prominent mlm ships, and to be honest, none of those reasons seemed to truly justify the dislike of Thea to the degree she is disliked in the fandom as a whole, especially as the romantic interest of a main character. It seemed to me that most of it is rooted in the desire for Kevin NOT to be straight, but to be gay and be with a guy (or bi, but I see more people using "gay" for Kevin. And some prefer Aro/Ace Kevin, but these fans are a bit more quiet and subdued with their headcanon.) See, even taking Thea out of the equation, there are no popular mlw ships for Kevin with characters from canon, and even in fanon ships the counterparts are mostly (if not all) men.

That got me thinking: "What if Thea was Theo? How would that change how fans interact with this character, even if her personality was the same? What about the relationship with Kevin? Would fans approach the ship differently if he had had Theo as a boyfriend instead of Thea as a girlfriend?"

Of course, it is all hypothetical. For one, a big part of her character is that she is a woman of color (note that I am not black, so I am in no position to talk about how her race plays out with her character) in a predominately male and white team (violent cult) that had to fight her way to the top. It wouldn't quite have the same weight or the same background if she was a male. For two, I am aware it would bring another discourse to the table, that of the "predatory gay men stereotype" (even though there was nothing predatory or "grooming" in their relationship, but that conversation is not for this post.) I am sure plenty of fans would still hate the Kevin/Theo ship, and Theo himself.

Still, I allowed myself to picture it. I read, once, that women used to ship male characters together because female characters were underdeveloped and were not interesting. I wondered if this applies to fandom as well, how certain fandoms prefer to develop and grow male characters.

Things like "lack of canon information about Theo" would not be an issue. Fans are very good at filling in the blanks and building a character from the few spare parts given by the source. This also applies to "there is almost no interaction with Kevin" because let's be honest here, guys, ships are sometimes made from nothing. Rarepairs exist, and even ships like pre-TSC Jerejean can explode in popularity.

With how big of a part Kevin plays in the books and how big his shipping fandom is, if Theo was a thing, I truly believe we would have seen him bloom in fanon spaces. He would have given space and opportunity to grow, change and develop both as a character and in his relationship with Kevin.

The "forbidden relationship" trope and the possibility for angst would have fans foaming, fics working around Theo's past and how he had to fight his way to the top would be written, AUs where he leaves the beliefs of the cult behind and reunites with Kevin would also exist. We would see stories about how his and Kevin's love story played out before and after Kevin left the Nest (at least one primarily focused on the notes they used to pass each other in secret). His mean comments and bitchiness would be ignored, played down, understood, forgiven, or found charming (like Andrew's throughout the series, or even Abby's in TSC.) In a few words, he would be more present and less disliked.

AFTG is a predominately queer fandom, and there is nothing wrong with wanting representation, but I also think it's necessary to use the same scale for female and male characters that are romantically or sexually involved with more popular ones. It's fine not to like Thea, but also to sit and think: would I asses a male character in the same way? How would my view of them change regarding their gender? Just food for thought, I guess.

Again, this is not a call to action of any sort. It is just me, rambling and putting my thoughts down. I can't see different realities so this is basically all fiction. I wanted to take it out of my brain, hear what others think and that's it. Ship what makes you happy. Create what inspires you. Curate your experience. All that being said, Id love to hear your thoughts, but I wont debate anyone's opinion because that's truly, not what Im seeking.

This got longer than I intended so I'll end this here. If you made it, thanks! I hope you have a nice day.

[purple-dreams9]

"Why didn't they love her enough to keep her safe?"

[purple-dreams9]

𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴

I initially wanted to draw something that represented a bit of Jean's grief over a situation and environment that doesn't deserve it, but then this took a turn and got away from me. so. this is what I have to offer.

[purple-dreams9]

Based on this ( https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZGewoHf1c/ ) meme, I had to use the format for AFTG. So here you go! (some were easier than others lol)

The OGs:

Some TSC goodness:

"Opposites attract" boyfriends

And the twins to finish lol

[purple-dreams9]

This is going to be Jeremy when he finally gets his puppy

[purple-dreams9]

This is wrong because Jeremy WILL name this dog BarkBark and tell everyone the cardboard became real with  ✨ the power of friendship ✨ 

jeremy will NOT be naming his actual dog bark bark. he's keeping the cardboard dog.

[purple-dreams9]

to tiny miracles and new beginnings

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“I’m sorry. I’m sorry that he hurt you, I’m sorry that you’re still afraid to talk about it, and I’m sorry that you think I’ll never understand. I’m sorry that he tricked you into thinking you deserved it."

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something something height difference something?

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jean makes one (1) effort at trust (he has no idea what rizz means) and immediately regrets it

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cardinal red

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The Sunshine Court being a trilogy just means Nora is treating this story with care and wants the final product to be as fleshed out as possible. It means Jeremy’s backstory is somehow more complex than we thought. It means Jean and Jeremy’s relationship is a slowburn but maybe they kiss in in the second book and figure stuff out in the third (i.e., Jeremy’s family, Jeremy’s captaincy, Jean’s past trauma and his healing.) It means we get another two books of Jean learning to live because he wants to. It means another two books of You’re place is here with me, with us. I’m you’re captain. You’re my partner. We’re supposed to be doing this together, aren’t we? Stop leaving me behind. Look at me.

[purple-dreams9]

AFTG/TSC characters as Incorrect Test Answers

JEAN MOREAU

JEREMY KNOX

NEIL JOSTEN

ANDREW MINYARD

RENEE WALKER

KEVIN DAY

CATALINA ALVAREZ

LAILA DERMOTT

NICKY HEMMICK

AARON MINYARD

MATT BOYD

DAN WILDS

ALLISON REYNOLDS

[purple-dreams9]

so uh. has anyone done this yet

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I can't believe The Sunshine Court drove me to revive my in-a-coma Tumblr account.

The power Jean Moreau has over me is insane. And, Jeremy Knox, of course.

[purple-dreams9]

we are behind (long story, longer year). but unless anything goes horrifically sideways, best guess is sometime December for 2 and 2025 for 3. please do not ask me WHEN in 2025 or I will kms, thx lovies bye <3