#Dbda

[technically-human]

*Reverses your Christmas*

A gift from @i-am-as-normal-as-you-are to all of you :) we really wanted the boys to get along for once, and what better occasion than Christmas? anything to make the Edwins happy!

[maggy-makes-art]

merry christmas <3

[makemeimmortalwithahug]

[shadows-and-starlight]

Dead Boy Detectives you deserve 5 full 20 episode seasons! Room to grow and explore a the characters, the world, the story!

eight episodes is not a full season of television

[merses-haunted-cat-bed]

Gifts

[asidian]

I've seen a lot of talk about how breathtakingly devoted Charles is for walking down into hell to rescue Edwin, but one thing I don't think I've seen talked about anywhere is how astoundingly brave it was.

Put yourself in Charles' place, at this point in canon.

Literally all Charles has heard about hell is what Edwin has told him. And all Edwin's said, over and over again, for thirty years, is how terrible it was. It's the worst place with the worst people, and, well, Edwin trauma Olympics like a champ. Even if Charles doesn't know the full story, and he plainly doesn't, he knows that it's Very Bad.

He's walking into an absolute nightmare, and he knows it, and he does it with his eyes wide open.

And then take a look at how he's getting there.

The last time he saw the Night Nurse, she forced him to relive his worst trauma in real time and was threatening to split the pair of them up - to drag Edwin back to hell herself.

You can actually see Charles' expression shift when Niko suggests the Night Nurse look in his head again; he's afraid, and he's trying hard to mask it. He's afraid, but he's willing to let it happen, because he will do whatever it takes to get to Edwin.

So he stands aside and lets her poke around in his mind again, no matter how much pain she caused him the last time she was there.

And then?

Then he's got to rely on this woman who has literally only ever done him harm to uphold her end of the bargain.

Add to all of that the fact that Charles doesn't know if he can do this.

The only time he forcefully tells Crystal no, without any apology or softening of the words, is when he tells her she can't come to hell with him.

That's because he doesn't know if he can keep her safe. He doesn't know if he can make it back.

This is on the heels of the Devlin house, where he was able to do nothing to save the family trapped inside. It's on the heels of the Night Nurse showing him how powerless he is. It's on the heels of the Two Dead Dragons, where he spends the entire episode certain that he's a terrible person. It's on the heels of the debacle in the forest with Monty, where Charles is able to do nothing at all. He has to rely on Crystal to save the day.

He does not know if he can do this, and even if he can, he does not know whether he can trust the person letting him have a chance to fulfill her end of the bargain.

But he doesn't even hesitate.

He's going after Edwin because he has to go after Edwin.

He's got to. Because the alternative, leaving Edwin on his own again to suffer this fate he's suffered for too long already, is unthinkable.

And so he walks into hell, and he rewrites the whole damn narrative with bravery and devotion and desperation alone. And that is so unspeakably lovely that I'm still not over it, all these months in.

[awidowgast]

a sketch turned experimental colour study. the boys having a quiet moment in the office

[shadows-and-starlight]

Love how the mannerisms each of them have here are so solidly representative of how they carry themselves.

Dead Boy Detectives (2024) — Season 01, Episode 01

[tragedy-machine]

Charles dies right after Christmas break, so Edwin has a whole year of getting to know him, and to slowly come to the realization that Charles moving on will be one of the most painful things he'll have to endure in his afterlife, before he has to think about getting Charles a present

He really nails it, if the delight spreading Charles’ smile wide is anything to go by

And every year after 1990, each Christmas Edwin gets to share with Charles feels enough of a gift that when Charles asks him what he wishes for, he has no answer

He tries to outdo himself with Charles' present every year, just in case it will be the last one Charles receives from him before entering Heaven

And year after year, Edwin braces for heartbreak that doesn't come because year after year, Charles decides to stay with him

[mrnightingale]

George doesn't know what the hell do with his face when he's not talking on the Cameos and I think it's pretty cute and funny because it's in those moments when I remember that, unlike Jayden who has more experience with the industry, Edwin is George's fucking first role.

And now I'm mad at Netflix again for taking such an amazing performance and role from him. He was absolutely brilliant impersonating Edwin and they took his work out of his hands. He'd spent a lot of time and effort studying his character, crafting his appearance, he did fucking ballet only to give Edwin his characteristic, elegant manners and way of habit the space. The level of comitement it's amazing. And he did it so well. So. Fucking. Well. That most of us didn't even thought for a bloody second the possibility of this being his first role. I'm still shocked. I still can't believe something like this happening.

Hate them so fucking much. I want to cry. They're destroying Art. The Corporations are destroying Art. They're taking all the work of people who love what they do and sacrifice a lot for doing it, because it's not easy working in the industry, and then spitting in their faces and throwing and kicking and I want to scream. This people aren't numbers. This people effort can't be valuated in viewership and monetary numbers.

I don't want to work for a world like this. I don't want to be an artist if that's what they'll gonna do with me. And yet, it's the only thing I ever wanted, like all of them. All those people are working in something they love, they're working so hard in making something important, something beautiful, and they're doing it. They're doing Art. They're doing things right. And still this fucking system kicks off their arses. Like they did with George and all the crew, all the people behind the show.

They don't deserve this. WE don't deserve this. We as a fandom don't deserve them taking away this show from our hands. They don't care a shit about Art. They don't care a shit about how this impacts in our hopes, in what Art can do in people's lives.

I HATE THEM SO FUCKING MUCH. I want to cry. I want to cry and scream and disappear because I don't want to live in a world like this. It's rotten. It's wicked. How can everything change so much in a few years?

It's disgusting. Capitalism is disgusting. I want to throw up. People aren't fucking numbers.

Let's keep fighting.

[adskayapanda]

«Keep calm and kiss me under the mistletoe»

Merry painland Christmas ❄️❤️

@dbdayuletide @dbdaghostmas

[cherrychapstickdramaqueen]

Welcome to the fandom. We're always glad to have another member who loves our group of oddballs as much as we do ❤️

Allow me to finally break and enter this fandom with my humble offering!

I just wanted to do something with them all being good friends. Love, love, love their group dynamic! Also I have like 20+ pages worth of silly little dialogs that I want to turn into equally silly little comics, so hopefully I'll be sticking around.

Aaand a lot of rambling under the cut.

I'm an avid reader, you see. I generally don't watch things (sometimes not in literal years), it's just not something I do. So when at the beginning of fall tumblr exploded with outrage over the Dead Boy Detectives cancellation, my first thought genuinely was "what a stupid f*cking name" and then immediately "people are overreacting, it's just a series, nothing is worth that much of a fuss". But after observing for some time from a safe distance I eventually grew curious. I thought I knew what I was getting into.

(I had no bloody idea)

Well. Here I am now, almost four months of obsession later, eating my words with shards of glass and no sign of reaching the bottom of this cursed rabbit hole. I've been drawing more than ever and for the first time seriously thinking about honing my artistic skills. I have some drafts for at least two stories, and even though I'm a little hesitant to write (not being a native and all), I'm pretty determined to give it a go anyway. I tend to avoid social media and digital public spaces in general, but #SaveDeadBoyDetectives campaign changed that as well. To my great regret, there is not much I can do or participate in, so I settled for trying to be supportive of all the lovely people who created probably the safest and most comfortable online space I've ever encountered. I'm not as good as Charles at keeping spirits up, but damn I wanna try.

It honestly feels like if I had something like dbda growing up, I'd turn out at least 40% less traumatized as a person. It grew to mean so much so quickly. It's like some moments were plucked right out of my life and then embedded in the show. I felt (and still feel) so seen, and understood, and reassured, and safe, and hopeful, and accepted when watching (pretty much everybody's but especially) Edwin's side of the story. It's so much more than "just a series", and these Dead Boys deserve every good word that's being said about them.

Okay, I'm wrapping it up now, and the only thing left to say is thank you to all the people who put their effort into keeping this wonderful story alive and making the fandom so friendly and welcoming.

(right now I'm working on a big Christmas comic that I definitely won't be able to finish in time, but it will appear here at some point)

[idliketobeatree]

to this day i was only vaguely comprehending that the true meaning of esther's little speech, "i really really... love girls" is nothing close to sinister to anyone not aware of the giant snake in her cupboard which she feeds little girls to keep her youth. the word choice is dubious, but everyone (including esther) knows she's hot. to the best of their knowledge, she's announcing mommy dom services on main to the port townsend's young women population. like. let that sink in

[deadboyoffice]

I just cant stop thinking about this ok

[anonymouscheeseball]

This hit too hard. 😭

Edwin and Charles getting held captive, and their captor hitting Edwin with a torturing hex. Edwin knows Charles will immediately tell their captor what she wants to know if Edwin looks like he’s in too much pain, so he just… locks it down. Continues talking to their captor as though nothing has happened, voice doesn’t even waver.

So she hits him with the hex again. And again.

Nothing. Not a twitch.

Charles gloats to her - such an incompetent warlock she can’t even cast a little hex! Which results in her adding in a different torturing hex, which frightens Charles for a moment, until he sees that Edwin is still utterly unbothered; he looks blankly bored, if anything.

Eventually Charles’s taunting draws her close enough to him that he’s able to wrap his manacles around her neck and choke her, and once she’s unconscious, it’s a pretty simple matter to get out of said manacles. And all’s fine and dandy, until Edwin says, in a voice that’s strangely distant and floaty, “Charles, could you hand me Agonizing Invocations, please?”

“What do you need that one for, mate? She’s already out. Planning on trying to torture her back? I mean, I’m not saying I’d stop you, but…”

And then he looks back up at Edwin, and Edwin looks distant and floaty, now.

He spends about 30 seconds patting Edwin down frantically, and then about 30 seconds putting together information he doesn’t like, and then shrieks Edwin’s name loud enough to make up for all the screaming Edwin isn’t doing.