#(like . i could write actual in depth thought on these issues but instead NOOOOO were STILL FIGHTING over allowing M-spec HCs to exist)

[oatmilkovich]

under your border scene reblog were gifs of wille's and simon's last hug. whyyyyyy 😭 😭😭

i rewatched episode 1 last night and i think it's really remarkable how edvin is able to show us when we see wille and when we see prince wilhelm. it's all in the first five minutes already. his parents/the queen not caring about his feelings, him lashing out yet still performing his duties like a good prince.

another fave scene of mine is the one in which wille says the society blames alexander. august probably thought he could do what he wanted and wille would go along with it. think again, august. it'll be interesting to see how that plays in S2, it's really hard to imagine the others not taking the crown prince's side. i doubt they care about wille, but they likely do care about the crown prince.

thank you for answering my asks ♥️♥️♥️ have a happy weekend!

nooooo not the last hug and i love you. it’s literally like the boarder scene 😭💔

the opening of episode one is one of my favourite montages of the show — the way it goes back and forth between wille in the bathroom, to the club, to the car, then eventually to his place in the royal family. we’re immediately thrown into wille’s pov — i mean, you open the show with the main character having a panic attack in a bathroom/calming himself down after one and we automatically understand his headspace (he also automatically becomes my child). then with all the other clips interjecting with the music, it builds and piles up on him until he takes his headphones out and we’re in the ‘real world’. that’s when he has to be the prince and fulfil his duties, we’re no longer in his pov - we’re instead observers of his royal duties. it’s produced so well and edvin carries it completely. we get to know so much about wille and what he is up against literally in the first 5 minutes.

i actually really want to talk about this because i love that scene. i think it was such a strong writing choice to have wille unapologetically want to blame it on alexander to get simon in the clear. it’s a good example of how the writing has made these characters so multi-layered. they make mistakes, they have flaws — they’re not perfect by any means. like, wille was conflicted about blaming it on alexander initially but the reality setting in that it would genuinely ruin simon’s school career triumphs over any moral ground he may have had. and that’s okay! it sucks for alexander, but it doesn’t make wille a bad guy. it just gives us such a good idea of how deep wille’s feelings for simon go. i feel similarly to simon stealing his dad’s medication — he does it without a second’s thought and i love that choice. it gives them depth — they’re not perfect, surface level characters. i’m really interested in seeing how the society stuff pans out because like, i feel like they’re going to have more of an issue about august releasing the video than anything else — especially when august was the one who harped on about being loyal to the crown and did the most egregious act of betrayal.

i love love love your questions and i’m always here for a discussion. they’ve become one of my favourite things ❤️❤️❤️ thank you, i hope you have a wonderful weekend also.

[gayregis]

im at that stage of fatigue from the day where i’m so tired the fanfiction is writing itself in my mind theough dialogue but i’m too insanely tired to sit down and write it all out and i work a shift in the morning too so i dont even have time ... so ill forget everything come morning

[[MORE]]

psych, ima try to outline it rn

this is after a little sacrifice and also after season of storms and takes place in cidaris (im not clear on if kerack is the capital so season of storms dealt with the proper king of cidaris or if it was just a local kingship but im hcing that cidaris is also a capital city as well as the region/nation).

this is geralt and dandelion going to the grape festival mentioned in a little sacrifice btw

main goal for this is to basically give dandelion more depth and address his identity issues and backstory and just how his character is in general

valdo marx (as far as i am headcanoning in terms of appearance right now) is of course , also a twink and they have similar builds but valdo isnt as skinny as dandelion because he has access to three full meals every day. he has dark brown hair and green eyes, and i might give him the same hair and beard as dandelion from tw3 just to spite cdpr. he used to sport green/purple doublets as an independent artist, but now as the reaident troubadour of cidaris, he’s adopted their emblatic colors (blue and white) and wears a doublet with a sash of these colors. he doesn’t have poofy sleeves, instead he has these ruffs and like... bellbottom sleeves. also this method of embellishing clothes that i learned from a glamour video (it’s @ 4:30ish) called slashing is applicable to his outfits. i think he veers away from tights unlike dandelion, so he wears more breeches than anything. he doesn’t have detailed embroidery like dandelion, but rather patterned/quilted areas with silver and some small pearls added for decoration in these sections as well.

so geralt and valdo have to be placed together somehow in a conversation. basically he wants to #expose dandelion for being a fraud... but he’s not doing it out of Pure Evil, he’s (vaguely) kind of like the lodge of sorceresses in which it’s like, he is only wanting things to be done his way because really he thinks it’s the best way to do things. he’s really a victim of academia, he would be someone that supports the fact that instruments are like $1,000 each.

basically he and dandelion were classmates at oxenfurt and at first hit it off very well and shared notes and thoughts and sexual partners and all was splendid. but they got competitive and valdo HATES that dandelion does NOT come from a family known for music or any kind of art. basically dandelion is a novus homo, but in the world of music, and valdo comes from an established family which has been musically inclined for generations. he feels that ppl like dandelion just wanna go to oxenfurt for shits and giggles and dont take this opportunity seriously because theyre too blinded by their own arrogance to actually learn anything. and he may be right in regards to a lot of other children of wealthy noble families that attend oxenfurt. but dandelion’s case was different and this he does not like to admit. also he hates how dandelion is... inclined to... a life of debauchery... because he feels he perpetuates stereotypes of artists being good for nothing penniless drunkards and lechers, and makes it harder for Real Professionals from Actual Lineage to get a job. also he has a disdain for how dandelion really wanted to travel and admired the “musicians of the world” that never attended some fancy college, and again valdo sees this as him not appreciating the opportunity he was given, because all you ever need to interact with is this little 1 mile by 1 mile square of oxenfurt, and not even the whole city, just the college. also when valdo tells all this to geralt he goes give him a judgemental up and down look like... “julian loves meeting, writing about, and... ahem... fraternizing with... all kinds of ... people.” (he was gonna say “trash,” but geralt has swords and cats eyes, so valdo swallowed that last word). ALSO ALSO valdo thinks dandelion is further destroying the sanctity of academic places like oxenfurt by training good for nothings from other nobody families, like essi daven, who was actually from a noble family but one not too rich because it was kind of distant from the ruling family. and since she threw a fit they let her do her own thing instead of marrying her off.

also valdo is like “julian— ahem, ... ‘dandelion,’ as you know him... i don’t know why he uses that absurd little nickname,” because he just finds the idea of a pseudonym stupid (since hes from a famous musical family of course he wants to highlight his lineage). and again he dislikes how dandelion is Corrupting Others by not only mentoring essi at oxenfurt, but training her in an “unorthodox fashion,” ie they just duet and talk shit about random stuff and he advises her weird things like “get a cool fake name so all the girls have something to scream as you go on stage”

as they interact with each other, valdo and dandelion actually are kind of opposite of dandelion and essi. they dont throw ANY snide remarks and keep it all under wraps with just pleased smiles and then as soon as theyre out of earshot (a long way for bards) theyre like “i am going to take the replacement strings of my lute and choke the lights out of that tone-deaf idiot” ... geralt is like 😳 to see aggression in dandelion and hes a bit intimidated at first but then is like Bro Are you Fucking Okay ????? Because its so unnatural for dandelion to be Actually Upset about something and not be ok within half a day

scene where dandelion is staring at the mirror and geralt is like you have been staring at the mirror for a long time, even by your standards... dandelion is like “i have to change something... geralt, look at me. look at me. (says it again bc geralt didnt look up the first time). if you could change one thing about my face, what would it be?” and geralts obviously like “nothing.” and dandelions like dont be fucking difficult just tell me i need to know i need your opinion and geralt is like that IS my opinion i sincerely like your face the way it is. something something blah blah blah tenderness geralt says smth like dandelion you have a lot of loyal fans okay...... and hes trying to refer to himself but he doesnt wanna say it aloud

i think something about dandelion talking about who he was (basically referring to “julian” in the 3rd person) and just very uncharacteristically self-loathing but them he pops back into his little arrogant self ... basically he covers that everyone Fucking Laughed at him for wanting to sing but he did it and now he’s the best and also, sexy. in this whole scene (same scene as last bullet point) he is also saying that he needs to “prove himself” and geralt is just like What More Can You Do, You Are Literally Famous... but dandelion is just pensive about it

also he says something like “theres two versions of me... julian with a dream who nobody knows, and dandelion who’s famous and loved.” and geralts like “theres three.” “three?” “there’s also dandelion, the one i know, who, it doesn’t matter if he’s famous or what, because i just like him and enjoy his company.” BECAUSE i dont know how not to be blunt and not hit my readers over the head with what i wanted to get across. geralt is a blunt man however so i think its acceptable to do this

basically this fic is “dandelion can have little a OOCness for character development”

tbh its not too ooc (hopefully) bc hes not like downright depressed, hes just pensive, like he is when hes trying to think of a good title or rhymes and nothing is working. nothing is working! hes frustrated!!!

i have nooooo idea how to resolve this conflict ive introduced. i think valdo and dandelion have to sing a duet together and it is like skating on thin ice with sharks underneath . MAYBE valdo gets possessed by,, something? not a demon bc IVE HAD ENOUGH GOETIA AFTER SEASON OF STORMS but you know An Entity, and dandelion is like wow this is an improvement!! and geralts like no it isnt, now i have to exorcise this fucker

also throughout this i think that the king and queen of cidaris (maintaining that kerack isnt the capital and is just another kingship within the nation) looooveveeveveeee dandelion and his presence and are like oh dandelion you are always welcome in our court :) which also totally pisses valdo off because its like dandelion came into his work/home and fucked both of his bosses and is trying to steal their loyalty through Sexual Appeal. which. may ring true. but dandelion does stuff for fun and not for manipulation soooo valdo is a little wrong in thinking dandelion is manipulating them. and this also adds to valdos resentment of dandelion for being so promiscuous and also writing about his love affairs bc he feels it detracts from The Art...

basically this fic is also me telling academia and ppl who feel art should be limited to a certain crowd to go stuff it cause no one cares and creativity and learning is only human of anyone. also an excuse to give dandelion character depth and also an excuse to break how geralt is always the gloomy one and dandelion has to cheer him up, i think though they do have their strong personalities, relationships should ideally go both ways in terms of emotional support so it shows geralt has the capacity to support a dandelion with festering anger and personal identity problems. also a way for geralt to learn a little abt dandelions backstory without learning/spoiling the fact that hes a v*scount and actually noble and wealthy (they just refer to his family as being wealthy enough to pay for oxenfurt which is significant but not astounding)

[themyskira]

The 18th Letter: A Love Story - Part 1

I’ve been meaning to talk about this one for a while and, re-reading it, it’s even more awful than I remember.  Practically its only saving grace was that it was cut down from the originally proposed 96-page hardcover graphic novel to a 66-page three-parter that languished in the anthology comic Legends of the DC Universe, where it went almost completely ignored by mainstream continuity.

Christopher Priest has written acclaimed cape comics for both Marvel and DC, including what’s often cited as the definitive Black Panther run. Unfortunately, I only know him through his work on Wonder Woman, which, I think it’s safe to say... isn’t his best.

Writing about his experiences as an occasional WW fill-in writer, Priest describes the frustrations of having to treat lightly with the character and not rock the boat. Wonder Woman is, of course, a major corporate property, and it seems at the time (in the mid-to-late nineties) DC was particularly anxious to protect that. Says Priest, “I was absolutely forbidden from making Diana interesting”. (I take some issue with that, but okay.)

So The 18th Letter arose out of a desire to do something with Wonder Woman that had never been done before. A story that was “edgy and controversial” and had something to say about the character. A story that was “relevant to the political and social climate at the turn of the century” -- and one that “could only happen to Wonder Woman”.

Which is how we ended up with this utterly execrable story about a man who uses mass slaughter to blackmail Wonder Woman into fucking him.

Priest got one thing right: you ain’t gonna see any writer trying to pull this shit on Superman.

Needless to say, there are some heavy trigger warnings for what follows. This story is rife with abusive and coercive behaviour, attempted date rape, victim blaming, slut shaming, normalising of abuse and general shitty treatment of women.

Prolog

We open on scenes of a city being pounded by missiles and civilians dying horrifically while Wondy struggles against the bombardment.  In the accompanying narration boxes, an unseen character pervs after Diana.

She was too late. Much too late.

(Here we pause dramatically on what is meant to be Diana straining with the effort of catching a downed helicopter before it crashes, but instead appears to be a porno tracing worthy of Greg Land.)

Her name was Diana. And I adored her. Which was why I sent for her— in the most compelling way I could think of.

The most compelling way he could think of was a missile that killed dozens of civilians. Because this is a love story.

Diana’s surrounded by human desperation and she’s struggling to save them all. The people cry out to her in broken English, and a bearded man confronts her angrily: “Help us!! I demand it, American hero—!!” Diana protests that she’s trying and the man responds by slapping her in the face and screaming that she’s a liar.

…it’s hard not to read this as a cynical, simplistic commentary on American foreign relations. “We do our best to help them and they spit in our face and accuse us imperialism! We just can’t win!! Like, I know you’re dying and stuff, but do you have to be so angry about it? Can’t you see you’re making Wonder Woman sad?”

Okay, maybe I’m reading too much into it. It’s possible Priest is just trying in a hamfisted way to establish that Diana wants to save everyone and it pains her that she can’t, setting up a clear reason for to seriously consider the gross “proposal” she’s about to receive.

Voiceover again:

She was the soul of an unborn child incarnated within a body of clay and endowed with special gifts from the gods themselves. I was a homeless spirit cursed to wander the earth. Reaching out for a moment of peace— and finding only— a living death.

Then a blonde in gold spandex and rocket boots attacks Diana with a shooty-energy-staff.

Sigh. This is Helena Kosmatos, aka Fury, and she deserves so much better than what Priest has planned for her.

Helena exists due to an accident of continuity. See, after Crisis on Infinite Earths rebooted DC’s continuity in 1986, the modern Fury — Lyta Trevor-Hall, best known for her role in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman — still existed, but her mother — the Golden Age Wonder Woman — didn’t any more. DC had to come up with a new parentage for her, so Helena Kosmatos was introduced as a World War II-era heroine who is an avatar of the goddess Tisiphone, one of the three Furies.

I don’t believe she’d ever interacted with Wondy before this story, and I actually think reintroducing her in the modern era as a Wonder Woman supporting character was a great idea… if only it hadn’t been handled so spectacularly badly.

Diana and Fury’s exchange is clunky and reads like an unproofed second draft: Diana asks Fury who she is and why she’s attacking, but Fury responds instead as though she’s been asked who sent her. The answer to that is nobody: “I just heard you were coming here — and thought it was high time we met.”

Then she drops the bombshell:

“I’m your sister. And I hate you for what you’ve done to me.”

Then she proceeds to pound Diana into the ground while deriding her legendary powers. “Somebody told you you were unique. Somebody said you were her only child. You were lied to. And, ever since your first appearance, I’ve meant to correct things.”

(Check out Diana’s gravity-defying cape)

Diana breaks free and beats Fury into the pavement while protesting that her mother had no other daughters. Fury… it’s not clear how she does this, but apparently she uses her super-strength (and rocket boots?! fuck if I know.) to rapidly tunnel underneath the pavement and pop up behind Diana, then throws a tank at her and flies off.

those hips those thighs what the fuck am i looking at

(In retrospect, I don’t think they’re even rocket boots, I think it’s just shitty art.)

Diana is then approached by a soldier, who announces that she has been sent by “Michael Lysander, leader of the East Vladonian Resistance” — in other words, the man responsible for all the bloodshed. Her message: Come see my master and he will stop the war. Diana replies that she will see him only after he declares a ceasefire. The soldier says she will relay the message and, oh, by the way, Lysander “prefers to be called by his Epigoni birth name— Alcmaeon.”

The name causes Diana to make this face:

...yeeeeeeup, that’s what alarm and perhaps some puzzlement looks like, alrighty.

Voiceover again:

My agent saw it in her eyes. Alarm— and perhaps some puzzlement. It was a name she’d heard before. And, I’m sure she must have wondered… why a dead man wanted to see her.

Interlude: Parados

The Justice League discuss Diana’s decision to involve herself in the conflict in Vladonia.  The JLA’s charter prohibits taking sides in international disputes, but Diana’s mission in Man’s World is to bring peace, and in this instance, J’onn worries that these two mandates might come into direct conflict.  This is actually an interesting idea, and it’s a shame that Priest didn’t try to explore it in more depth instead of going full Indecent Proposal on Diana.

Interlude: First Episode

Three editing fuckups in one, with a title boxes that is

incorrect (it should read “First Episode”; the interlude is over),

uses the wrong lettering style (it’s inconsistent with all the other title boxes, which use a distinctive font and border), and

in the wrong place (it's at the bottom of the Interlude page, whereas it should be at the start of the following page).

Back to the voiceover.

Which was how I knew she would come. Immediately after I ordered the cease-fire. I could hardly breathe. After all, I’d waited a lifetime…

fuuuuuuuuck offfffffff.

Writing elsewhere about this story, Priest has described Alcmaeon as — direct quote — “Tom Cruise. He is the most arrestingly, unexpectedly charming and disarming person to ever appear in a DC comic … a guy most any woman on the planet would fall immediately in love with”.

So naturally he looks like Doctor Psycho’s younger brother.

Also, when Diana meets him, he’s cleaning a gross shit-covered toilet. Because he might be a supreme dictator, but he’s also a manly man of the people, I guess? His explanation is that he’s short on staff at the moment and, well… and…

um.

HE DOESN’T KNOW IF AMAZONS NEED TO SHIT

WHAT THE ALMIGHTY EVERLOVING FUCK CHRISTOPHER PRIEST

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU

WHAT--

YOU--

FUCK--

Alcmaeon invites Diana to dine with him — after his female lieutenants help her to “freshen up”, of course, because dinner with a sleazy predator just wouldn’t be complete without a change of costume into an outfit that he has specifically picked out.

If she stayed in there more than thirty seconds, I knew I could begin to build trust between us. And trust was all we needed. I’m sure she looked for cameras that weren’t there. Advanced science to trap her in my castle. Not yet realising I didn’t want to trap her— I wanted to win her.

mate, you’ve used the threat of further civilian deaths to lure her into your creepy castle and now you’re manipulating her into donning a hand-picked outfit and sitting down to dinner with you; I think we’ve already established you don’t give two fucks about consent.

Here’s Diana “freshened up”, by way:

Diana isn’t amused, either: “Children are dying, and you’ve got me playing games with some lunatic claiming to be my sister.” And again we run into some bad continuity. Diana has no reason to connect Fury with Alcmaeon, and in fact Fury explicitly said she wasn’t working for anybody. Considering this story reportedly took Priest almost three years to write, this is some very sloppy work.

Alcmaeon: Ah. I see you’ve met Fury. Diana: Fury? I’ve heard that name… she was a heroine… Alcmaeon: Yes. During the Second World War. Now she’s a little, well, loopy— and obsessed with me.

noooope nope nope nope nooooo thank you.

Things the world does not need more of:

Waifishly beautiful heroines driven mad by the inability of their female minds to handle ~terrible power~

Hysterical women antagonists acting craaaazy because of a maaaaan

Pretentious-ass writer bros sabotaging powerful heroines to prop up their Deep and Complex date-rapist warlord villain

Alcmaeon says that he has brought Diana here to fulfil a prophecy — the 18th Letter — and then dives into his backstory, and we get a half-page of prose summarising the story of Alcmaeon from Greek mythology. Here’s the potted version:

Alcmaeon’s mother conspired to kill his father by sending him into a fatal battle.

Alcmaeon killed his mother to avenge his father’s murder, and was hounded by the Furies for his crime of matricide.

He’s basically Orestes but less interesting.

Anyway, then some other stuff happened and he wound up being killed, it’s really not important to this story.

Diana’s getting fairly shitty with Alcmaeon now, particularly as she’s noticed that there’s a forcefield surrounding the palace, which he claims is defensive, but also conveniently prevents her from leaving. Not creepy at all.

And now we’ve come to the Indecent Proposal part of the story.

Alcmaeon bullshits long and hard about how this is his ancient homeland by right, and he’s fighting a war of liberation, and there’s going to be a lot more large-scale civilian death and suffering before it’s done, and there’s nothing that the UN or the US or even the JLA can do about it— but it juuuuuuust so happens…

“I’ll give it all up — recall my forces, end the bloodshed — stop the war — in exchange for one night with you.”

THE END WHAT A SATISFYING CONCLUSION I’M SURE WE CAN ALL AGREE THIS WAS QUITE THE ah fuck there’s more.

Alcmaeon is shocked!! shocked!! that Diana would even think that he’s trying to coerce her into sex against her will! Nonono, he’s just trying to coerce her into hanging out with him against her will, in the hope that she will realise the fundamental truth that they are meant to be together now and forever! Noooothing predatory about that!

And again, I remind you that this bloke is supposed to be the most sexy and charming and arresting man in the DC universe.

As Diana leaves to (ugh) contemplate his bullshit offer, Fury appears in the door and goads him.

Fury: Crash and burn, Alcmaeon. Alcmaeon: No… not yet, anyway. Her mission in life is to teach the virtues of her people. She wants to teach me. Fury: So do I, Alcmaeon. So do I.

And we end on a final voiceover from Alcmaeon:

She was too late. Much too late. Which was what I had in mind when I started that war. For the express purpose of winning her— in the most compelling way I could think of.

YEP. THAT’S RIGHT. This worthless shitheel started a massive civil conflict, killing innocent civilians and destroying countless lives, for the express purpose of coercing Wonder Woman into banging him.