#Fiyero does a lot and he deserves some love for it

[femboywizard]

Ok, but hear me out… what about G(a)linda hoarding any love she can get her hands on like a dragon to its most prized possessions. Any and all attention or positive affirmations belong to her and she takes them.

Admittedly I’m a Gliyeraba shipper, but for me it’s not that she shares, it’s that they both can belong to her. Which is a view Elphaba, little miss polyam parents, would probably hate on principle, but its Glinda and she's whipped af for her.

The way I see it, Ariana's Glinda would only tolerate it if she saw Fiyero as hers too. They would both belong to her, so they're hers, first and foremost. Anything else would be secondary to Glinda's possession of them. This based on how I personally see the movie portrayal of Glinda as more closeted biromantic lesbian, where she does actually love Fiyero, romantically too, just not sexually.

Musical Glinda, however, gives “would just be happy to have any Elphie”. And although I haven't finished the book I believe that version of her too would work around absolutely anything to keep Elphaba happy, would she be the happiest about it? No, but there is no happiest anymore, she would take any joy at that point and she would genuinely be happy about it.

The idea of Shiz!Galinda having Feral levels of jealousy is amazing, but post emerald city Glinda Depression Upland seems too broken to be viciously monogamic. Plus she has like what 100?1000? ladies waiting on her in the book? That isn't exactly monogamic behavior.

Also also. It's not just any guy it's Fiyero, her Fiyero, the only person in the world she had and who understood her while she was being a puppet for morrible. Even if she -for a multitude of reasons- didn't go with him to elphaba, he clearly knew she wanted to just as much as Elphaba did. (Thank Goodness leaves this pretty clear I think)

Its Fiyero, who died in his crusade to do what she couldn't do defending Elphaba. Its Fiyero who was dragged to his death in front of her while she could do nothing about it. Its Fiyero who was reborn and lives only because Elphaba's magic saved him when she couldn't, who was there for elphaba when she couldn't. It's realistic that by the end of part two even as a lesbian Glinda would not only be trauma bonded to Fiyero, but loosing him in this situation must have felt like loosing a limb. Sure shiz!Galinda would not like to share, but at the end I doubt she would love for nothing else than having them never leave her sight and arms reach ever again regardless of romantic configuration.

as funny as I think Elphaba taking down the wizard and Morrible with her wife and himbo would be, realistically it wouldn’t happen even if it wasn’t doomed by the narrative because Glinda does. not. share. The “arrangement” they’d arrive at woulda been Glinda takes Elphie and Fiyero looks elsewhere. She’s Glinda the Good, not Glinda the Generous

[contrarian-grammarian]

Glindafication, or the Trap of Persona in Wicked (2024)

So I recently saw Wicked for the second time in theaters (this week). As a longtime fan of the musical, I think I'm one of the few people who has always loved the love triangle in it... actually, I think I'm one of the few people in fandom spaces who is willing to be open about loving love triangles when all of the characters are narratively and/or emotionally connected. Idk what to tell you other than I love mess and when shipping echoes the themes of the text.

Anyway, that's a longwinded way of saying that while the movie adaptation didn't make many changes to the story (including not adding a lot of extra Fiyero/Elphaba scenes, which I thought they might given how much that ship drives the plot in Act 2), I thought it highlighted/made me realize a number of things about Elphaba, Glinda, and especially Fiyero that I think are both really interesting character moments and foreshadow their eventual arcs in Act 2. (Spoilers for all of Act 1 below).

:readmore:

Most of this character analysis is coming from one scene that really stood out to me in the film, even though it is basically unchanged from the musical. It's a very small moment between Elphaba and Fiyero, right after 'Popular' (though I think we can assume some time has passed in the actual timeline) and right before Dr. Dillamond is fired. Elphaba is practicing her hair tossing that she's learned from Glinda, and the camera cuts to Fiyero, watching her with a slight smirk, who then says: "You've been Galindafied." Pause. "You don't need to do that."

I didn't really notice this on my first watch--like I said, it's almost the exact same dialogue as in the musical--but it did stand out to me on my second watch because of a few other acting choices for F & E that I will point out later. But on my second watch, I was like, "Wait... what do you mean, 'Galindafied' (derogatory)?" Dude, that's your girlfriend?

In Act 1 of the musical, Fiyero presents way more sincerely as a male version of Glinda. He makes a much ruder comment about Elphaba in their first meeting, and (at least in the stage versions I've seen) really seems settled into his playboy persona in 'Dancing Through Life.' However, in the movie, I think it becomes clearer earlier on (due to the sincere interest displayed in his and Elphaba's first meeting, as well as some other small acting choices during his first meeting with Galinda) that Movie!Fiyero does not actually like fakeness. Which means he doesn't like himself, because he knows how fake he is.

I think in Fiyero's mind, he is two people: Fake Fiyero, who is selfish and shallow and stupid and hot, and Real Fiyero, who knows that Fake Fiyero sucks and it's all a bullshit cover to make his life easier. And Real Fiyero is onto Galinda in a heartbeat--at least, the version that he first sees of her, which I'm sure he considers Fake Galinda. In Fiyero's mind--as seen when he compliments her machinations with Boq and Nessa--Fake Galinda is selfish and shallow and manipulative and hot. And he thinks Fake Fiyero and Fake Galinda "deserve each other" (derogatory).

Interestingly, I think Glinda also knows about Fake Glinda and Fake Fiyero... but she thinks they're the best versions of themselves. In Glinda's mind, everyone is supposed to wear their shiniest, most perfect versions of themselves as a mask in front of their real face. It's why 'Popular' happens right after she connects with Elphaba--in Glinda's mind, the best thing for Elphie is to develop her mask, so that everyone else can learn to love her too. Glinda is aware that it's possible to love the person under the mask--that's how she feels about Elphie and Fiyero ("I don't even think he's perfect anymore and I still want him!") but the mask is preferred.

To tie this back to the Galindafied scene, I think Fiyero sees someone doing what he thinks is the height of bravery at the OzDust dance--being themselves, unabashedly, in front of everyone despite the mockery. "I'll say this for her, she doesn't give a twit what anyone else thinks," is, in Fiyero's mind, the best thing a person can be. He's obviously misreading how much Elphaba does care, because I don't think Fiyero can fathom how somebody could care and still do the brave/embarrassing thing, but when Glinda explains that Elphaba really does care, he becomes even more impressed. And when Glinda joins Elphaba and then they both run out of the ball together, you can tell by the look on his face that he's just been impressed by both of them.

And then, it's the next time he's alone with Elphaba, and she's doing Fake Galinda's hair toss. And Fiyero's like, goddammit. He thought that Elphaba and Glinda might both be real, and now Glinda's making Elphaba into a Fake Elphie. And he's done the fake persona thing himself, he's going to keep doing it, but he really doesn't want Elphaba to think that's her only solution. That Fake Glinda is better than Real Elphaba, and she needs to change for people to like her.

In the musical, "You don't need to do that" always kinda came across to me as a "you're not like other girls" line, but Movie!Fiyero's delivery comes across as both very sincere and something of a warning. He's willing to play a fake person, and he's willing to date a fake person, but he knows perfectly well that being fake sucks, and he doesn't want Elphaba to do it. And Real Fiyero, who's not stupid or selfish, follows this advice with another comment that could never come from Fake Fiyero: "C'mon, let's get to class." And Elphaba gives a small smile before following him. Because, for the first time, I think she appreciates that Real Fiyero exists, and that he would stand up for Real Elphaba.

And speaking of Elphaba... Once she becomes friends with Glinda and Fiyero, Elphaba basically ignores the false front that Glinda and Fiyero put up and judges them based on how they see themselves. Like Fiyero, she prefers their real selves to their fake shells, but she accepts all of the parts of them that they accept. Which is why she is so much more patient with Glinda than Fiyero. She sees that Glinda is both much happier and more integrated into her mask role, and sees that it still allows her to have a basically good heart. (It's also why she's so accepting of Glinda's decision not to leave with her in the end.) She prefers the real, genuinely kind Glinda, but she can accept Fake Glinda as a protective covering.

But Elphaba sees that Fiyero is deeply unhappy with his persona, and tells him--as he just told her--you don't have to do that. "No, you're not. Otherwise you wouldn't be so unhappy." She knows that it's harder to go through life as a Real Person, but it is possible--and now she's learned that it's even possible to have friends.

At the same time, Elphaba, who otherwise is so clear about her friends' true selves, is still incredibly blind about her own worth and identity. And if she can't (or chooses not to) be Galindafied, she'll have to build a different type of mask/persona to protect herself from getting hurt. And she chooses the role of the lonely outsider who would never even be considered as an option for romantic love. "He could be that boy... but I'm not that girl." That ends up being her Fake Elphaba... one that I'm very interested to see how she sheds in Act 2.

[lonelylittledot]

Wicked

~ a Wicked scholar's thoughts on the movie

Okay. I had detached myself from any feelings about the movie truly years ago, and so I walked into the movie theatre with really low expectations.

My overall opinion: it was not a bad adaptation. I'd expected to give it 3/10, it turned out as a solid 6.5/10.

Here are just a few things that stuck out to me:

The landscapes - didn't hate them but didn't like them.

The costumes - amazing. Pretty much every outfit slayed. I feel like they could have been even a bit more extravagant, but they were great as they were. - As for Elphaba, I think my favorite outfit was the first Shiz dress and the post-Popular outfit. - Glinda's bubble dress was exquisite, and I really liked her Emerald City ensemble, although I do miss the yellow dress, I feel like it doesn't get enough love

I liked Ariana's G(a)linda surprisingly a lot. Maybe it's because I know she's a huge Wicked fan, but I felt like her love for the source material really showed.

I wasn't really sold on Cynthia. Don't get me wrong, she has a truly fabulous voice, and she absolutely did shine in the big, loud parts - but overall, I wasn't a fan of her versions of the songs. She looked and acted great, though.

Michelle Yeoh, the woman you are. Fantastic casting, no notes.

Jonathan. Oh, dear, Johnathan Bailey. Looks? Hot. Vocals? Gorgeous. Vibes? Flawless. I wish he'd played the role a decade ago, because he does look forty and not college-age, but I think everything else about him truly makes up for it.

Speaking of - I liked that Fiyero got just a few tiny little additional scenes/lines, really helped to flesh out his character more.

Grammar-nazi Elphaba, my beloved.

Listen, I have shipped Fiyero and Elphaba since I was 14. And I'm not going to stop now. I stan them, I loved their chemistry in the movie, I will ship them until the day I die.

The direction on G(a)linda/Elphaba - hella gay. But I didn't quite feel their chemistry, neither friendly nor romantic. It was okay, but didn't blow me away.

IDINA AND KRISTEN???? love love love love my og queens

The movie dragged on. A lot. This is my only really big criticism, unfortunately it's a really important one. I think they could easily have made the whole musical into one 3h long movie, and it would have been much better for the pacing. - there weren't even that many added scenes; and a lot of the additions were pretty good, actually - some were totally unnecessary though. like the guards chasing Elphaba and Glinda and the whole balloon shenanigans? - similarly, many scenes were just unnecessarily stretched out; with the camera staying too long in one place or one moment being dragged out way too long - some of the songs just had slightly longer (like 2 bars?) breakes between the choruses added for no reason

Defying Gravity. This is the same thing as one of the previous comments, but I feel like it deserves its separate mention. The pacing in that scene (or, here, more like a collection of scenes) was extremely off, the song losing all of its momentum by being chopped up into pieces. And the way they made us wait for the iconic vocalization at the end; I honestly thought I'd die of boredom.

Sometimes I felt like the movie couldn't decide if it wanted to be more stage-y and theatrical, and lean into the whole campy vibe, or more cinematic and "naturally" acted; and sometimes it switched weirdly between the two.

There was one single thing that looked way better onscreen than onstage. The Lion cub. In the movie, he looked extremely cute, tiny little adorable darling baby kitten. Way better than the creepy-ass puppet they use in the show.

There were many more tasty little details that I simply couldn't remember/write down, or else I wouldn't have been able to pay any attention to the movie. Once it's available, maybe I'll rewatch and dissect it in more detail (I should also finally watch the 1939 Wizard of Oz, it's a CRIME that I still haven't! I'm sure people who know it well could also see many references in the new Wicked - even I noticed the ruby slippers in Popular, for example!).

Summing up this unnecessarily long rant:

It was not a bad adaptation; although I doubt it will make many people into Wicked fans. At the end of the day, it's clearly a story made for the stage, and even though it was transferred to the big screen fairly well, I think it still belongs in the regular theatre, not the movie one.

[mid-sweettalk]

Making it Up [Wicked - Gelphie]

Rating: E (smut)

Words: 5685

Chapters: 1

Prompt from @pinkgoeswellwithgreen (summary: Top Glinda using her eyebrows to tell Elphie what to do in bed. Using her pink strap on Elphie, who’s nervous, so Glinda talks her through it and reassures and praises her. Dominating but sweet Glinda. Lots of reassurance, love, and checking for consent, eye contact, Elphie having a mini freak-out, Galinda calming and praising her, and hand-holding because you can’t have Gelphie without hand-holding.)

Notes: Warning that there are some pretty unhealthy relationship dynamics between the girlies in the beginning of this, but I promise that progress is made by the end. This is canon-compliant up to the Ozdust and takes place months after; Galinda and Elphaba are in an established relationship. No problems with the Animals here because I just want my girls to be gay and happy. Okay, here we go!

Elphaba was early to Dr. Dillamond’s class, as per usual. It was routine, at this point, to wait outside the classroom door until her girlfriend showed up, usually with Fiyero in tow. Today, when they finally arrived, they were in the midst of an argument. From what Elphaba could hear, it didn’t appear to be a very… scholarly one.

“Galinda, I promise you, a straw only has one hole.”

Oh, dear Oz. 

“And I promise you, you’re wrong,” Galinda retorted. “The drink goes in through one hole and out through the other. Two holes. Let’s ask Elphie, she’s the smartest person I know. Elphie, darling!” She turned to meet Elphaba’s gaze and stuck her arm straight up in the air to wave, as if Elphaba couldn’t see her from across the nearly-empty courtyard. She could hear Fiyero protest against the fairness of having her girlfriend be the judge.

Elphaba couldn’t help but smirk at Galinda’s antics, thinking her adorable. She lifted a hand and wiggled her fingers in return, and a moment later, Galinda was by her side. “Hello, sweet,” she greeted softly, her smirk growing into a full-blown smile in the blonde’s presence. 

Galinda leaned forward and kicked a heel up behind her as she pressed a firm kiss to Elphaba’s cheek. She lingered before pulling away fully, whispering in Elphaba’s ear, “My love.”

Elphaba felt her cheeks light aflame and was momentarily grateful, for once, for her verdant complexion–though, with the way Galinda giggled as she stepped back, she couldn’t be sure her blush was hidden at all. 

“Alright, now, come on,” Fiyero said with a groan, averting his gaze. “It’s bad enough that two of my exes are together; you don’t have to show off about it.” Even though he was complaining, he couldn’t hide the smile on his face. 

Elphaba playfully narrowed her eyes at him with a smirk. “Do we even count as exes? We never even kissed.”

“Ah, but we both thought about it, no?”

Galinda, as per usual, took the dramatic route. “This is nonsense!” she nearly shouted. Elphaba’s eyes went wide as Galinda suddenly wrapped her arm around her bicep and yanked her in close. “My Elphie deserves to be shown off. I refuse to acknowledge your man-pain. Now, stop distractifying from the question at hand.”

Fiyero sighed and shrugged his shoulders. “Yes, ma’am,” he said sarcastically.

Galinda loosened her grip on Elphaba’s arm but didn’t fully let go. “Alright, Elphie,” she said haughtily. “How many holes does a straw have? There is a wrong answer.”

Well. Elphaba knew there was a wrong answer, of course. “Well, yes, because topology tells us that a drinking straw is the same as, say, a donut; it’s just stretched out longer. And a donut only has one hole, therefore a straw only has one hole.” She tapped her nails against the book in her arms as she finished, pleased with her answer. 

Galinda, however, did not seem pleased. When Elphaba turned to meet her gaze, her girlfriend was staring at her with her eyebrows sky-high, like how she’d attempted to teach Elphaba months ago.

Uh, oh. Elphaba’d said something wrong. Her heart panged anxiously; they’d had little spats and arguments since they started dating, never anything serious, but every time, Elphaba was frozen with the fear that this would be the last straw, that Galinda would leave her. 

This fear was worsened by Galinda withdrawing her arm from Elphaba’s and stepping back. “I see,” the blonde said in a higher voice than usual. “Hmph.” She tossed her hair and walked right past Elphaba to go into Dr. Dillamond’s classroom. 

Elphaba’s chest ached. She didn’t know whether to follow her or not and looked to Fiyero for help. 

Fiyero raised his hands as he grimaced. “Sorry, love,” he said genuinely as he moved to enter the classroom, as well. “That’s Galinda for you. She doesn’t know how not to get her way. I’m sure she’ll calm down soon.”

Ah. Elphaba was supposed to have agreed with Galinda, apparently, even though she was wrong. That seemed fairly illogical, although she could see the merits of supporting your significant other in public. She wondered if Galinda would be open to a compromise where Elphaba would agree with her in public (except for possible extreme circumstances) and then they could discuss the truth in private. 

If she doesn’t break up with you right now, said a nagging voice in the back of her mind. She shook her head to clear it and adjusted her braid before entering the classroom. 

She immediately noticed that her usual seat next to Galinda was still open, so Galinda couldn’t be that mad at her. She was, however, sitting unusually straight and staring directly towards the front of the classroom, even though the lecture hadn’t started yet. Her hands were folded neatly on the desk in front of her. When Elphaba approached, she didn’t move a single muscle in acknowledgment. 

Elphaba gingerly took her seat. She set her books down on the desk and turned to look at her girlfriend. When Galinda still didn’t pay her any mind, Elphaba’s heart lurched uncomfortably. She scooted her chair closer to Galinda’s; Galinda didn’t look at her, but she didn’t move away, either. Elphaba reached out a hand and slowly, gently placed it atop Galinda’s thigh. When her girlfriend still didn’t pull away, she leaned in close to whisper against her cheek, “I’m sorry, sweet.” She placed a gentle kiss there. She saw Galinda’s eyes flit towards her for a moment, but the blonde didn’t say anything. 

“I’m still getting used to the… nuances of all this. I’ll take your side, next time,” Elphaba continued softly, apologetically. She figured now wouldn’t be the time to bring up her compromise idea; for now, she just wanted to make sure she was still in Galinda’s good graces. 

The blonde peeked over at her again and, once she saw Elphaba was being genuine, relaxed a bit. “Good,” she said firmly. Elphaba’s heart felt ten times lighter as Galinda fully turned to face her. “I understand that, as brilliant as I am, I will… occasionally be wrong.” Wow. Elphaba really hadn’t expected Galinda to be able to admit that. “But it would be nice to know that I have my girlfriend as possible backup. You can tell me how wrong I am when we’re back in our room, away from prying eyes and ears. And I’ll do the same for you if such an event ever arises.”

Elphaba’s heart swelled knowing that Galinda was thinking exactly as she had. She smiled softly and pressed another kiss to her girlfriend’s cheek. “I can do that.” She was simply relieved that she hadn’t ruined everything like she’d thought. 

Galinda returned her smile before tossing her hair and looking forward again. “Now, you’ll have to make up for your earlier transgression, of course. Any ideas?” She peeked over out of the corner of her eyes and raised an eyebrow suggestively.

Elphaba felt her face burn and couldn’t keep her eyes from darting down to Galinda’s lips. She started absentmindedly tracing designs along her girlfriend’s thigh, grazing her nails over the skin there. It drew a gasp from Galinda, who looked around scandalocialized. 

“Elphie!” she squeaked quietly. 

Elphaba shushed her with a hum. “Quiet now, sweetness; Dr. Dillamond is starting his lecture.”

Galinda opened her mouth to argue, but Dr. Dillamond did, in fact, start his lecture at that moment, making her shut her mouth and sink back into her seat. 

Elphaba couldn’t help but smirk, and she definitely didn’t pause her teasing antics. The entirety of the lecture was spent running her fingers lightly up and down Galinda’s thigh under the desk, finding spots and designs that would make her breath hitch and body tense, and seeing just how far Galinda would allow her to push her luck. She diligently took notes on the lecture, as always, and noticed how unusually empty Galinda’s own notebook was. The heiress held her pen aloft, but it never actually touched down to the parchment. Elphaba was honestly a bit surprised it didn’t snap in half in the middle of class, especially when she quietly whimpered and parted her knees slightly as Elphaba slid her fingers toward her inner thigh. 

When Dr. Dillamond dismissed the class, Elphaba barely had enough time to gather her things before Galinda dragged her out of the classroom. She didn’t even get to wave goodbye to Fiyero, Nessa, and Boq before she was yanked through the doorway.

Galinda practically stomped the whole way back to their dorm room, but Elphaba could hardly keep from giggling. Occasionally, she heard Galinda muttering to herself, things like, “Why must you be so infuriatingly sexy?” and “Stupid, beautiful, perfect hands…” as she trampled along. That wasn’t helping her hold back her laughter. 

When they finally made it to their dorm room, Galinda pulled her inside and then pushed her back against the door to shut it. She pinned Elphaba by the shoulders and narrowed her eyes, but her glare’s heat was diminished by the pink flush covering her face and ears. 

“Elphaba Thropp… you are wicked,” Galinda accused without true malice. 

Elphaba smirked. “But you liked it… right?” Her heart skipped a beat nervously at the thought that Galinda might be truly upset. 

That fear ceased, however, when Galinda kissed her fiercely. She gasped in shock, and Galinda took advantage of her parted lips to slip her tongue inside and kiss her more deeply. Elphaba moved her hands to Galinda’s hip and back, pulling her body flush against her own. She returned the kiss with just as much fire.

Galinda moved her arms to wrap around Elphaba’s neck and shoulders, using them to expertly lift herself and wrap her thighs around her girlfriend’s waist. Long-used to this move, Elphaba smoothly caught the blonde by cupping her ass, bringing moans out of both of them.

“Elphie,” Galinda breathed between kisses, before making her voice more firm, more needy and speaking directly in her ear. “Take me to bed.” 

Elphaba shivered. As frustrating as it could sometimes be outside of the bedroom, whilst inside, she loved how bossy Galinda could get. Not only did it save her from the issue of not knowing what she was doing, but hearing the sternness in her voice always sent a throb from Elphaba’s stomach to between her thighs. (Did that make things difficult when Galinda used that voice in public? Yes, but here, falling onto Galinda’s pink cloud of a bed together, it was more than acceptable.)

In their many previous heavy-petting and sex sessions, Elphaba had learned a good amount of things Galinda preferred in bed. For instance, she usually preferred to start off with Elphaba on top–this was mostly so that she could feel the power of flipping them over when she was ready. She liked when Elphaba kissed her neck, but especially this one spot just behind her ear. She wouldn’t let Elphaba finger her when she wore her nails long, but she loved it when Elphaba used her mouth, anyway, so it was a non-issue. 

Galinda pulled away from their kiss, panting against Elphaba’s ear. “Elphie,” she moaned lightly. She gripped Elphaba’s braid and tugged her away–just forceful enough to make Elphaba’s thighs clench–to look into her eyes. She had a single eyebrow raised and looked her up and down, which Elphaba was able to translate into, “You’re going to ‘make it up’ to me now, yes?” 

Elphaba nodded, even though an actual question hadn’t been asked, and started kissing her way down her girlfriend’s body, moving to kneel on the floor beside the bed. Galinda hurriedly pulled up the skirt of her dress and slid a hand into black hair to make her go faster. Elphaba couldn’t help but smirk against her skin as she allowed herself to be pushed further downwards. 

When she got to Galinda’s damp underwear, she leaned in immediately, nosing against her fabric-covered clit before pressing her tongue to the wet spot. She pulled back a bit and chuckled when Galinda whimpered and started pushing her own underwear down. 

“Elphieee,” she whined. “Help meee.”

Elphaba did as she was asked, hooking her fingers in the pink lace and tugging downwards until the offending fabric was discarded on the floor. She was immediately pulled back between Galinda’s thighs and felt her legs swing up onto her shoulders. Galinda officially had Elphaba trapped, but she wouldn’t rather be anywhere else anyway. She licked through wet, blonde curls and moaned, making Galinda shiver and tug harder at her hair. 

“Oh, Elphie,” Galinda moaned above her. “You’re so good. So perfect.”

Elphaba whimpered as her own pussy clenched at the praise. She raised her hands to grab at her girlfriend’s thighs, nails digging in like she knew Galinda loved. Dipping her tongue into the blonde’s wet entrance, Elphaba let herself get lost in the multitude of sensations she found herself surrounded by. She gave long, slow strokes over Galinda’s cunt with her tongue as if she were savoring the taste, then would move up to lap at her clit until her thighs twitched. 

“Yes, Elphie–oh, dear Oz–just like that,” Galinda rambled, free hand draping dramatically over her forehead. “Oh, my love, your mouth is amazing. Just like that.” 

Elphaba listened, staying where she was–with her lips wrapped around Galinda’s swollen clit while her tongue rubbed and flicked over it. 

“Yes! So good, Elphie, don’t stop!” Galinda’s voice raised higher and higher as Elphaba continued her ministrations. 

The green-skinned girl moved her hands from her girlfriend’s thighs to pin her down to the bed by the hips, after which she did what she knew Galinda needed–she moved her tongue to run just the tip of it back and forth rapidly over her clit. Just a few seconds of this and her lover finally fell apart, mouth falling open in a silent scream as her back arched off the bed and thighs squeezed around Elphaba’s ears. Her hips thrust up into Elphaba’s mouth repeatedly, and the hand she had in her hair tugged to keep her close. Elphaba very nearly came, herself, just at the sight and feeling of Galinda coming undone underneath her.

A moment later, Galinda finally relaxed back into the mattress with a sigh. Her grip on Elphaba’s hair relaxed, but she still pulled lightly to get her lover to lift herself off of her knees. 

Elphaba dutifully rose back up until she and Galinda were face to face once more, trailing light, loving kisses along her body the whole way. When the heiress pulled her into a slow, deep kiss and raised a leg up to wrap around her hip, Elphaba’s body was so on edge now that she involuntarily thrust her hips against Galinda’s with a moan. 

Galinda bit down on Elphaba’s lower lip and tugged for a moment, then ran her tongue over the bitten spot to soothe it. When Elphaba whimpered, she pulled back and opened her eyes to meet her gaze. Without warning–although Elphaba really should have known this was coming–Galinda flipped them over so she was straddling Elphaba’s thighs. 

An “oof” escaped Elphaba’s mouth as the wind was briefly knocked out of her. She found herself once again pinned at the shoulders by her girlfriend, who was looking down at her with a curious expression on her face. 

“Elphie, darling,” she said sweetly, “I want to try something.”

Elphaba felt one of her eyebrows raise questioningly, but Galinda was already up and bouncing over to one of her many dressers. This one, in particular, Elphaba didn’t think she’d ever actually seen Galinda use before.

She quickly saw why that was the case.

When Galinda turned back around, she had something dangling from her hand–a very large, pink, phallic something that had Elphaba’s eyes widening and heart racing. 

“What’s that?” she asked, a bit apprehensively. 

“It’s a strap-on, my love.”

“To use on… me?”

“Well, that’s what I had in mind, although I don’t think I’d particularly mind if you used it on me, either.”

Elphaba paused. This was new territory. Elphaba didn’t know anything about having sex with Galinda with this… device. 

Although… if she thought about it, the idea of using it was pretty thrillifying. She pictured Galinda above her with that adoring look on her face she wore so often, and feeling her inside, more full than when it was with her fingers. Her pussy pulsed at the thought.

You’ll mess it up, that nagging voice said, returning at a most inopportune time. You’ll mess it up, somehow, and she’ll never want to have sex with you again.

Elphaba knew that was an illogical train of thought, but when faced with this new territory, she felt untethered from reason. Her anxiety took over. 

The lights in the bedroom all flickered simultaneously, and Elphaba wrapped her arms around herself to try and calm down. Galinda looked around confusedly at the lights before realization dawned. She looked back to Elphaba with worry covering her features.

“Elphie, baby,” she said gently, using the pet name Elphaba loved the most because of its rare usage. Placing the strap-on down, she made her way back over to her girlfriend. She sat on the bed next to Elphaba and grabbed her hands, bringing them against her heart. “We don’t have to, I promise. It was just an idea.”

“No, that’s not–” Elphaba breathed out before laughing sardonically at herself. “That’s not it. I want to try. I’m just… being stupid.”

Galinda raised her eyebrows high and brought their hands down to rest in her lap. “Elphaba Thropp, that is unacceptable language. You are the brightest person I’ve ever met; you are not stupid. What in Oz has you feeling this way?”

Elphaba chewed at her bottom lip for a moment before speaking. “It’s just a… fear… that I have. It really is stupid.”

Galinda tapped the back of her hand in admonishment. “Nonsense. Tell me, darling.” Her eyebrows furrowed in worry, making Elphaba’s heart pang with guilt. 

“I just…” She paused and took a deep breath before trying again. “I have this fear that I’m going to mess this–us–up, somehow, and you’ll leave me for it.” She held her breath as she anxiously awaited her girlfriend’s reaction.

Galinda, however, only seemed more confused. “Elphie… you’re afraid you’ll mess up sex? With me?” She reached a hand out to cup Elphaba’s cheek gently. “How many laughs have we shared when either one of us struggled with clothes or messy kisses or balance?”

That… did actually help to reassure Elphaba, a bit. “That’s true… but it’s not just with sex.” At Galinda’s questioning head tilt, she continued. “Like, for instance, earlier, outside of Dr. Dillamond’s class. I was…” she cleared her throat. “I was briefly afraid that you were going to leave me because I didn’t agree with you in your argument with Fiyero. But, we have a compromise now, so it’s fine.”

Galinda seemed taken aback by this new information. The expression on her face slowly changed to one she hadn’t seen since the Ozdust–guilt. “Oh, Elphie,” she said softly. “No, my love, that’s not–that’s not okay.” 

What? Had Elphaba just ruined everything by confessing? She panicked for a split second, sending the balcony doors flying open and startling them both even further.

Galinda, however–sweet, loving Galinda–merely stood and calmly walked over to close the doors once more. “No, no, darling, not you, you’re perfect,” she said as she moved. When she returned to her place at Elphaba’s side, she took both of their hands into her lap again. “What’s not okay is that I made you feel that way with my–my… obsession with appearances and need to be right constantly. I’m so sorry, my love.”

Oh. Oh. Elphaba hadn’t expected that, at all. 

“You tell me when I’m wrong, even if it’s in front of others,” Galinda continued. “Don’t be cruel about it, obviously–as if you even would–but…” she paused and squeezed Elphaba’s hands tightly. “It seems that I could stand to be… humbilified a bit. I’m so, so sorry for putting so much pressure on you. You’re perfect, just as you are.”

Was this right? She hadn’t somehow manipulated Galinda into taking the blame for everything, had she? 

As if she could see the internal war Elphaba was battling, Galinda cupped her cheek again and leaned in closer. “Elphaba Thropp, you could do whatever your heart desired and I would still be here, fully and completely in love with you.”

Elphaba felt her eyes tearing up at that statement. She found herself leaning forward to kiss her girlfriend without even thinking about it. She mirrored Galinda, bringing a hand up to cup her pale cheek before she pulled back from the gentle kiss. Stroking her thumb over Galinda’s high cheekbone, she whispered, “I love you, too. You really understand?”

Galinda nodded, and Elphaba noticed tears in her eyes, as well. “I do, completely. I’ll do better.” She brought her hand from Elphaba’s green cheek to poke her harshly in the shoulder. “But you have to do better about talking to me, as well. I’m a sorceress-to-be, not a mind reader. Please tell me if you feel like this again, okay?”

Elphaba nodded and smiled softly, lifting the hand she still held to kiss her palm. “I can do that.”

Galinda nodded resolutely. “Good. Now let me put this hideoteous thing away, and I can finish taking care of you,” she said with a smirk, rising from the bed to move towards the pink strap-on. 

“Wait!” Elphaba called out, grabbing Galinda’s hand before she went too far. When her girlfriend turned back questioningly, she continued, “I just… I really do want to try it. It does scare me, sometimes, trying new things where I don’t know what I’m doing, but… I really like it when you tell me what to do.” Her cheeks flushed heatedly, and she suddenly couldn’t meet Galinda’s eyes. 

This apparently would not do for Galinda, though, as she used a single finger to lift Elphaba’s head up by the chin. “Why, Elphaba Thropp,” she says in mock surprise, “is this a kink I’m hearing?”

Elphaba’s ears burned. “M-maybe?”

Galinda’s eyes narrowed just slightly, and her left eyebrow rose.

“...Yes,” Elphaba admitted as her pussy throbbed.

Galinda’s face relaxed again and, with a small nod, she sat down next to the green girl once again. “Alright,” she said, “obviously, I’m not opposed to this, but I need you to know that I will never,” she placed a hand on Elphaba’s thigh and leaned in close, “ever be mad at you for asking to stop or saying ‘no’. Do you believe me, baby?” There was that pet name, again.

And she did believe her, because Galinda had nothing but open honesty and unabashed adoration in her gaze, so she nodded. “Yes.”

“And we’ll need a safeword,” Galinda continued, “something we can both remember that we can say if either one of us gets uncomfortable. We say it, and we stop right away.”

Elphaba hummed for a second before saying the first word that came to mind. “Artichoke.”

Galinda dramatically placed an offended hand to her chest as her jaw dropped. “Must you remind me of the horrendibly uncultured child I was, all those months ago?” Elphaba only smirked adoringly at her antics, so Galinda scoffed, though a smile was growing on her face. “Fine. I suppose it’s one we’ll both easily remember. If that’s decided, then…” She stood from the bed to tower over Elphaba, and the look on her face changed to one that sent her heart racing. “Time to take your dress off, darling, so I can fuck you properly.”

Elphaba didn’t hesitate to comply, scrambling to undo the buttons of her dress and kick her boots off while Galinda walked back over to get the strap-on. By the time her dress was pooled on the floor, leaving her standing in only her slip and underwear, Galinda was back with a new addition between her legs.

A low, rhythmic pulse started low in Elphaba’s abdomen, like a flame slowly spreading throughout her body. Galinda had removed her own dress, as well, and was now clad only in the pink strap-on, breasts bouncing openly. Elphaba hadn’t realized just how much the sight would turn her on, but she could feel the wetness soaking through her underwear. 

She had to admit, though, that it was still a bit intimidating simply due to its sheer size. The length of the dildo wasn’t extreme, but Elphaba did worry about how she’d be able to fit something that wide inside of her. 

Sensing her hesitation, Galinda walked up to her girlfriend and cupped her face in both hands. “We’ll take it slow, and I’ll guide you through it, my love. And remember, you just say the word, and we’ll stop–no consequences.” She paused for a moment, and Elphaba nodded as her girlfriend seemed to search through her eyes for something. “Are you sure you want this, darling?”

Elphaba nodded, but words also tumbled out of her mouth. “C-can you call me ‘baby’?” She instantly bit her lip in regret, but Galinda only smiled and lifted an intrigued eyebrow. 

“I most certainly can,” she said lowly, stepping closer until their lips were centimeters apart and the dildo pressed against Elphaba’s stomach. “Good girl, telling me what you want, baby.”

Elphaba melted before Galinda even kissed her, so she was grateful that her girlfriend wrapped an arm around her waist when their lips met. All of their earlier passion reignited as the kiss quickly deepened, tongues messily sliding against each other. Galinda slowly guided Elphaba back to the bed, where she laid her down and climbed on top of her.

“I’m going to touch you first, alright baby?” Galinda checked in. When Elphaba nodded, she leaned in to whisper against her lips, “We have to make sure you’re ready for me.”

Oh, Oz, Elphaba was ready, alright. “Please,” she gasped against Galinda’s lips. Her lover obeyed and kissed her as her fingers found Elphaba’s wet cunt. The green girl whimpered and moaned into Galinda’s mouth at the feeling of the heiress’s slim fingers moving through her folds, collecting her juices before swirling around her swollen, sensitive clit. 

“Wow, baby,” Galinda breathed, moving her kisses to Elphaba’s neck and ear. “You want me that bad?”

“Badly,” Elphaba corrected habitually, although it was said on a filthy moan as Galinda’s finger pushed inside her. 

“That’s it, baby,” Galinda said, pulling back to hover above her as she fucked her with an additional finger. “You take me so well. Look at me, baby; I want to see you.”

Elphaba opened her eyes and immediately locked gazes with her girlfriend, which sent her heart soaring. Galinda added a third finger and didn’t break eye contact as she fucked her harder. Each thrust sent Elphaba’s head spinning. She struggled to keep her eyes open as the tension in her body grew. When she felt like she was on the brink of release, her back arched and her eyes closed–and Galinda removed her fingers. 

She couldn’t help the pitiful whine that escaped when her orgasm never came. She opened her eyes again to see Galinda staring at her, worship and love in her eyes along with a bit of teasing. 

“Are you ready for me, baby?” Galinda asked lowly, and oh, yes, this was better. 

“Oz, Galinda. Please, yes,” Elphaba begged brazenly. 

Galinda shifted until Elphaba could feel the coolness of the strap-on pressing against her wet folds. Her girlfriend rocked her hips a bit, coating the dildo in her juices first. Once it was covered to her satisfaction, Galinda gripped it and positioned the tip at Elphaba’s entrance.

She looked up to meet Elphaba’s gaze again. “Are you sure you want this, Elphie?”

Elphaba nodded, pussy throbbing with need. “I want you to fuck me, Galinda, please.”

Galinda moaned and leaned down to kiss her as she slowly started guiding the strap-on inside. She pulled back, panting already against Elphaba’s lips, as she said, “Let me know if it hurts, baby.”

Elphaba nodded before dragging her down into another desperate kiss as Galinda pushed inside her.

Elphaba had figured that this would feel different than Galinda’s fingers, but she didn’t realize just how full she’d feel as her girlfriend entered her. For a brief moment, there was a tinge of pain that had her clutching at Galinda’s shoulders and murmuring, “Wait.” The lights flickered for a split second. 

Galinda dutifully paused and pressed gentle kisses along her cheeks and neck to help her through it. She started murmuring sweet assurances to her. “That’s it, Elphie. You’re doing so good, baby. I’ve got you. I love you.”

Once she was ready, Elphaba nodded and made sure to open her eyes, staring into loving pools of dark brown as Galinda entered her further. She gasped against her girlfriend’s mouth as the affirmations didn’t stop coming.

“Just hold on to me, baby. You’re doing so good for me. You’re so perfect.”

When Galinda was fully inside of her, Elphaba nearly sobbed at the feeling. She felt so full, both physically and with love. 

Galinda trailed her fingers along Elphaba’s arms before weaving their fingers together and raising their hands above their heads. She pressed the backs of her green palms into the mattress and kissed her again. “Are you ready, baby?” She whispered, lips grazing over Elphaba’s. 

Elphaba shivered on a moan and nodded, leaning up to take Galinda’s lips with her own once more. 

Then, Galinda started moving, sliding the dildo out until just the tip remained before easing back inside. As she continued, she slowly gained speed, thrusts getting slightly more forceful each time. When they weren’t kissing, Galinda made sure Elphaba met her eyes so she could make sure she was okay through it all. 

And the constant praise was probably Elphaba’s biggest undoing.

“Oz, Elphie, you’re so good for me, baby,” Galinda groaned, hand now propping herself up against green abs as she fucked her with quick, deep thrusts. 

Elphaba’s body had relaxed so completely that she’d splayed out on the bed, except for the hand that she now brought up to hold Galinda’s own atop her stomach. She was so close to falling over that edge. “Galinda, don’t stop baby,” she gasped, pet name slipping out without thinking. “I’m so close.”

Galinda groaned and gripped her hand back hard as she focused on keeping up her pace. “Are you feeling that good, darling?” she said sweetly, grazing Elphaba’s inner thigh with her free hand. As she continued to fuck her, stretching her with each thrust, she moved her hand over to rub her finger against Elphaba’s clit. “Be my good girl and come for me, baby.”

The tension in Elphaba’s lower abdomen snapped like a rubber band, sending a shock up her spine that had her arching off the bed and against Galinda with a languid moan. The lights around them went crazy as her girlfriend fucked her through her orgasm. They calmed as she did, as the tension left her body in waves. 

When she had finally stopped clenching around the dildo inside of her, Galinda slid it out and stood quickly. She undid the harness and dropped it to the floor so she could immediately crawl back on top of Elphaba, planting sweet kisses all over her neck and face. “I love you so much, baby, my Elphie, you’re so perfect…”

With the way Galinda was laying on top of her, Elphaba could feel how slick Galinda still was against her thigh. Moving on instinct, she grasped the blonde’s slim hips and pushed her thigh up until Galinda’s cunt was pressed tight against her. Galinda’s arms nearly buckled at the feeling, breath panting. 

“Elphie?” she said curiously, looking into her eyes. 

With a sudden bought of courage, most likely from her recent orgasm, Elphaba said, “I want you to ride me until you come.”

Galinda whined, “Fuck, baby,” before kissing her harshly, immediately doing as Elphaba requested. She ground down against her lover’s thigh as their teeth and tongues clashed together in the rough, needy kiss. Elphaba gripped her hips and helped her get the friction she needed. 

It wasn’t long, considering all they’d done already, before Galinda was close to coming again. She sucked at Elphaba’s bottom lip before roughly capturing it with her teeth. Without letting go, she reached up to grasp her girlfriend’s long black braid and tugged her head back, pulling at the lip she’d bitten into. She moved her other hand down between Elphaba’s legs until her finger found that familiar little nub.

Elphaba groaned at the rough displays of affection, pussy clenching as Galinda pressed against her sensitive clit. “Fuck,” she called out, “Galinda!”

Elphaba never cursed, so hearing the pure want in her voice sent Galinda spiraling as she came all over her girlfriend’s green thigh. Elphaba soon followed, still sensitive from her recent orgasm and triggered by the absolutely beautiful sight of Galinda coming undone above her. 

The girls clung to each other as they came down from their respective highs, panting softly against sweat-coated skin. Soon, their soft kisses turned to giggles, which turned into quiet cuddling amongst Galinda’s millions of pillows. 

“Elphaba Thropp, you are so unbelievably perfect,” Galinda said as she grazed Elphaba’s hip with her fingertips. “I am completely enamored with you.”

Elphaba smiled back at her girlfriend softly. “As I am with you, my sweet,” she replied, taking her other hand to press a kiss to her palm.

“Aw,” Galinda pouted playfully, “no more ‘baby’?”

Elphaba kissed the lip Galinda had stuck out petulantly with a grin. “I can use multiple, you know. As can you.”

“Yes, but your reaction to ‘baby’ is just so fun,” Galinda teases with narrowed eyes before smiling widely and kissing her back. She hummed, pleased. “I love you, my darling.”

Elphaba’s smile softened, and she brushed her nose against Galinda’s. “I love you, baby.”

[princesssarisa]

Oh wow, your comments about Quasimodo are so spot on! (i read your other comments here and there!) and it's something that has ALWAYS bothered me when talking about this movie online (tumblr and tvtropes- they are so conservative sometimes!), people really underestimate and dismiss Quasimodo's feelings as a disabled abuse victim. it feels very insidious that tumblr, who goes on and on about loving 'beauty and the beast' narratives, and privilege yada yada yada, dismiss the main character and fawn over the basic, conformist white man in the movie about outcasts. but they do this so much its not surprising (Wicked and Little Women say hello!)

Thank you!

It does seems as if a lot of online commentary about Quasimodo's relationship with Esmeralda focuses only on Quasimodo as a male (with presumed male privilege and potentially toxic masculinity), and not enough on the fact that he's disabled and has lived a life of isolation and psychological abuse. And Phoebus can't just end up with Esmeralda because she loves him and they're suited to each other – oh no, he has to be the most worthy of her love out of all the men in the story, and Quasimodo can't just be not ready for romance yet, he needs to be less worthy!

I find it especially interesting that when you look at comments from the movie's creative team (as far as I know), when they talk about why Quasi doesn't 'get the girl', none of them say "It's because he objectifies her in a toxic way by seeing her as a perfect angel." That's the answer the Internet always trots out, but the actual creative team (e.g. screenwriter Tab Murphy in his 2021 YouTube interview, or the book The Art of The Hunchback of Notre Dame) always emphasizes "Quasimodo has a crush on Esmeralda, but she really matters to him as a friend, not a love interest. Quasi's greatest desire isn't to 'get the girl,' it's to go out into the world and be accepted, and that's the happy ending he gets."

Of course, the whole fandom narrative of "Phoebus is more worthy" is a backlash against the equally wrongheaded claims of "Quasi should have gotten the girl. The movie seems to say that ugly or disabled people don't deserve love." It's a pendulum-swing from one extreme to another.

It's the same in the other two fandoms mentioned above. Fans of Little Women who idealize Amy and tear down Jo are reacting against other fans who idealize Jo and tear down Amy, while fans Wicked who idealize Glinda are reacting against others who vilify her. They're opposite extremes, but IMHO, they're both wrong.

And in all three cases, it probably all comes down to shipping wars. Some people go to one extreme to insist that their preferred ship should have been canon (Jo/Laurie, Quasimodo/Esmeralda, Elphaba/Glinda), while others defend the canon ship (Amy/Laurie, Phoebus/Esmeralda, Elphaba/Fiyero) and take their defense to the opposite extreme.

[gliyerabaa]

@tiger-is-a-certified-idiot HELLO!!!!!

what a TROVE of ideas!!! you bet I'm going to respond to and/or elaborate on every. single. one.

pretty sure it's book canon that she uses various oils to clean her hair which makes sense but also seems counterintuitive because wouldn't that just make it more oily? Either way I support your headcanon. It'll be interesting to see the movie's take on it. I know some pics have gone around and her hair is actually in like. little microbraids which is REALLY cool

I NEED to do more digging/inventing of a Glinda Backstory. I can totally see her having Not The Greatest Childhood, but also her not realizing that until MUCH later in her life, whereas Elphaba is Very Aware that her family kinda sucks

interpretation can vary, and that's the best part about headcanons! In the musical, I personally hc Elphaba as bi and Glinda as a deeply closeted lesbian, but I've also written interpretations where they're both bi, and I also have a fic where they're both lesbians and Fiyero plays no role. Also, being an AVID gliyeraba shipper, bi Glinda is something I'm certainly open to, despite the fact that my general hc for her is lesbian

"They?" being fiyero/elphaba or glinda/elphaba? And considering Elphaba's "death" wouldn't any of that have to happen before For Good? Either way, I may or may not be working on a fic with that premise right now >:)

God i WISH we got more in depth of Elphaba and Nessa's relationship in the musical. We do see a bit more of it in the book but even that still isn't much. Such a complex sisterly dynamic and the musical barely touches on it. The book has a lot more in terms of religious thematic material, where Elphaba is a professed athiest and Nessa is a devout follower, and they butt heads over that too, which makes for an interesting dynamic

On Boq and the Lion... Boq DID deserve better and it's a damn shame we don't get to see more of his story. Also idk where you got the idea that the Lion is a 'killer'... he's literally the Cowardly Lion

I think it's pretty much canon that the water allergy is NOT a thing in the musical. She gets rained on briefly after "I'm not that girl" and appears to be just fine. While I LOVE the drama that the water allergy can provide, it's a much easier narrative to forgo it, I agree with you on that

I've... never actually thought about who caught feelings first. Looking on it, you're so right that everything Glinda does after Popular seems to be to draw Elphaba's attention. And One Short Day is TOTALLY them on a date. (I've had a plot bunny in my head for AGES where they're already dating and trip to the Emerald City goes better and DG never happens... and I think that night they would've gone to some fancy restaurant to celebrate a successful meeting with the Wizard, and then Elphaba proposes. I think of the line in One Short Day where they say "And I'll be back for good someday, to make my life and make my way..." which implies that they both wanted to come back together and permanently live in the Emerald City..... Just food for thought)

I don't try to align canon between Wicked the Musical and Wicked the Book and The Wizard of Oz... If I think about it for more than two minutes my brain explodes completely

GLINDA HAS TO KNOW THAT ELPHABA'S ALIVE..... there's no way she doesn't know!!! Between the water allergy being a lie and then the duet of For Good in the finale almost seeming like a telepathic conversation... she has to know elphie's alive. and that HURTS

Okay. as a Certified Glinda Enthusiast.... I don't necessarily think that post-musical "Glinda the Good" is a lie. I think, by the end of the musical, with everything she's been through and how she's seen Oz torn apart by conflict... she really would want to Do Good. I don't know how long she'd be able to keep it up though, being wracked with grief like she is. And then going back to the idea that she knows Elphaba is alive... Elphie's alive, and she doesn't care enough to come back or to even tell Glinda she's safe... that's gotta hurt.......

For Good IS a love song you literally cannot ever change my mind. I sang it in middle school choir, and I had no context for Wicked or what it was or anything... and my first thought was "this is a love song." and then I looked it up and saw that two women were singing it and honestly I think that might've been the start of my gay awakening.

I LIKE the angst in this one. I've often thought about Glinda's emotions and life after Elphaba leaves, but I've never thought about just how broken Elphaba would be.... thanks for the healthy dose of angst on that one...

send me your wicked/gelphie headcanons I want to Engage with y'all!!!!!!!!

[lesbiten]

if you were in charge of the wicked movie what would you do with it? like, what changes would you make, etc.

OK so i wanted to think about this a bit and also wait until the dw mania was over with so now that we're here. hm.

i think first and foremost i would add at least a few elements of the book into it.....because i think that both the musical and the book on their own arent really suitable to be adapted into a movie but i think if you combined them it would better translate.

i think that having some of elphaba's upbringing (maybe toned down a bit since this. is. a movie that will appeal at least somewhat to kids) and many of the side characters (avaric, crope and tibbett, pfannee and shenshen, etc) from the book would help out a lot with the worldbuilding and relationship building that the musical misses out on.

on the other hand i think that the movie would be better off keeping shiz the way the musical interprets it (the whole ama system isn't there, etc) at least in most aspects because i think it would work better in a movie setting. the book does a fine job at going into the intricacies of shiz life and i don't think that the movie would be able to do it proficiently. it would be better to have it the way the musical does as an almost modern college.

now, onto the things i will get fired up about! the main characters!!! let's start with something easy. boq! he's a funny one because his character between the book and the musical are like night and day. i do think that at the end of the day boq's characterization doesn't matter THAT much in the grand scheme of things. however. the musical does sort of turn him into a caricature and i did like how the book kind of made him. human. and i want for movie!boq to have more of the Human aspect than the caricature aspect. i want for him and elphaba to be friends (if the movie shows some of her upbringing like i suggested, one of the scenes it could show is her and boq playing together as children so it. makes sense). im not sure if i can ask for the same 'boq eventually gets over his crush on glinda' from the book if they go for the same route story-wise as the musical, but i did also like that aspect of his character more than i did in the musical :)

next! fiyero. fiyero fiyero fiyero. i will be honest. i don't really know what i want from fiyero in this movie. i want him to look like he does in the book. i think that ones pretty obvious. if they whitewash him in this movie i will actually kill someone. but like. character wise? i don't really know! i think at this point it's kind of a staple of fiyero's character (both book and musical) that he's not a great guy. and i'm fine with him being kind of a creep or generally unlikeable. but i want the narrative to UNDERSTAND that he's unlikeable. i don't want to be fed the idea that fiyero is a hero in this story when he isn't. i think that's really the most i can ask for right now for him. i think they're either gonna do really well with him or really bad. i guess we'll see!

glinda. :). i think that. well. okay we know that the musical kind of had a problem with turning characters into stereotypes. and while this did happen to glinda, i do think she managed to retain a lot of character traits outside of her stereotype and i can appreciate that. HOWEVER. i would kind of just like for that dumb blonde stereotype to......maybe just.......be toned down. like a lot. she deserves to be smart!!! i don't know. i want her to have her interest in architecture back. i also want there to be no plot point even remotely related to her actually being in love with fiyero. i've already talked about it a million billion trillion times so i won't do it again when this post is ALREADY long but i think that when you read thank goodness as being about fiyero it becomes almost meaningless. it loses so much emotion and meaning. that song always has been and always should be about elphaba. that's all! thanks! but yeah i think glinda is also kind of in the category of 'it can go either way'. like i think they're either gonna nail her or they're going to just. do so so badly. either way we have to watch ariana grande perform her songs so who's really losing

and NOW. for everyones favorite green motherfucker. elphaba. she's a really tough one for me!!!!!! because book!elphaba and musical!elphaba are so so so SO different but they make enough sense in the context of their respective worlds. if the movie had the world of the musical and dropped an elphaba modeled after her book counterpart into it, i think it would just! not work! so i think how she gets written should and will depend entirely on which direction they go with the worldbuilding. i think that if they lean in more on the politics and religion from the book, then we should have the elphaba that didn't like the wizard in the first place. who worked closely with dillamond during his research and was deeply in tune with the political world of oz. but if they lean in more on the "were going to drop worldbuilding for the sake of relationship building" that the musical had, then i'm all for elphaba retaining her whole 'idolizing the wizard' thing. i mean. it's not like they're just gonna cut the wizard and i. so elphaba in some capacity is going to have to idolize the wizard. idk. once again!!!!!!!!! i'm not sure if i have a specific "i want her to be like this" i just want for them to write her in a way that makes sense. i want for her to be her own character and not become an extension of fiyero in the second act. anything. at all. please.

overall. i don't know what changes i would make because i am not a writer and i do not write. HOWEVER. i do spend an excessive amount of time thinking about blorbos from my musicals and i think this movie has the opportunity to right some of the wrongs of the musical. will it actually do that? who fucking knows! i'm going to watch it either way.

[lillifaba]

A Very Merry Lurlinemas Eve

A very late, self-indulgent domestic one shot with the Thropp/Tiggular family I wrote for Lurlinemas! Hope you enjoy and have a Happy New Year!

Art by the beautiful @noether3​ ; Full image here! (Be sure to reblog if you like it!)

                                  ┍━━━━ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ━━━━┑

“Yero, did you wrap the presents for Nessa and Boq yet?”

Elphaba hovered over the cradle, gently swinging it back and forth whilst making silly faces and babbling nonsense at the child nestled inside. At just twelve months old, Liir was amused by everything. His big, green eyes glimmered in the light from the fireplace, his mouth in the shape of a small o. He wrapped his tiny fingers around Elphaba’s index and cooed. 

“Yeah! I got them right here-”

He cursed slightly above a whisper when he stumbled into the living room and nearly tripped over his own feet.

“Fiyero!” Elphaba scolded. “Not in front of him! I don’t want his first words to be foul.”

“Sorry,” Fiyero sheepishly chuckled and set the presents under the tree. “It’s not like he can understand what I’m saying. Isn’t that right, little buddy?”

He squatted down and blew raspberries into his soft belly, making him squeal and giggle. Elphaba playfully rolled her eyes, brushing back the short, dark curls that fell over Liir’s forehead. She pinched his chubby cheek and got up to look at the haphazardly wrapped gifts Fiyero placed below the tree. 

“... Please tell me there’s still left over wrapping paper.”

Fiyero looked over his shoulder, still in the midst of a tickle fight with Liir. “Hm? You don’t like the way I wrapped the presents?”

“Yero, I say this with all the love in my heart... it looks like you layered the paper around the box several times and slapped a ribbon atop it.”

He feigned offense. “Fae! How could you? I’m wounded by your horrendible words!” 

“Oh Fiyero…” She sighed defeatedly.

“I’m kidding... Come on, what difference does it make? They’re going to be ripped apart tomorrow— why stress out over how the wrapping paper looks?”

“It shows that we put some thought into their gifts and didn’t wrap them up at the last second.” She stripped away a piece of excess tape stuck to the shiny emerald paper.

“Well, we technically did- but they’ll get over it once they see what they get. I can already hear Glinda screaming for joy when she opens hers.”

Elphaba rearranged the small, pink gift bag that contained the jewelry set for the petite blonde. It was true, they both put a lot of thought into what they planned to gift their loved ones.

“Well… I suppose you’re right,” She smiled up at him. “Thank you for wrapping the presents, Fiyero.”

“You’re welcome,” Fiyero walked over to her, Liir in his arms. “I must be the luckiest man in Oz to have the most patient wife, right Liir?”

Liir babbled nonsense in response. 

“See? He agrees.” Fiyero planted a sweet kiss on her cheek. 

“Of course he does, he has my brains.” She quipped. 

“Oh ha-ha...” 

They took a moment to gaze at the tree. Liir’s eyes twinkled at the dozens of multicolored lights glowing on the branches. His tiny hands reached out to grab an ornament doll made of tin. Elphaba gently pulled his wrist back before he inevitably put it in his mouth.

“Y’know… this’ll be the only time we’ll have for ourselves,” He placed his hand on her shoulder. “Tomorrow will be one big day of festivating with the others.”

Elphaba hummed in agreement, stroking his cheek affectionately.

“-Hey, what do you say we celebrate a little early— just the three of us?” He suggested.

Elphaba looked at him, perplexed. “You mean… open our presents right now?” She quirked an eyebrow in doubt. “Shouldn’t we wait for everyone until tomorrow morning as courtesy?”

“No, no- just one present each!” Fiyero assured. “It’s a huge pile, no one’s gonna notice if a box or two is missing. Besides, with all the guests in one room, how will I get to see the absolute look of joy on your face when you open my gift?” He lightly squeezed Liir’s cheek and spoke in an adoring voice, “-and our boy has been good all year round! Well, aside from throwing up all over my dress shirt last week.”

“Oh, he didn’t mean to do that,” Elphaba smooched her son’s temple. “Maybe papa shouldn’t have spun you in the air right after you ate.” 

Fiyero winced at the statement. “Alright, that was on me- but the point is he deserves one early gift tonight!” Speaking in his baby voice, he smiled down at Liir. “You wanna see what Lurline brought you this year?”

Not comprehending any of his words, Liir incoherently blabbered. Fiyero took that as an agreement and plucked something out from the tiniest stocking hanging above the fireplace. He hid it behind his back as he returned, bending his knees to be at eye level with the child.

Fiyero presented a plush doll: a cutesyfied monkey with small wings stitched to his back and a friendly smile. “Look! This is for you!”

Elphaba played up her excitement at the toy, lightly bouncing Liir in her arms and coaxing him to look at it. The young boy looked unfamiliar with it at first, not sure what it was exactly. When his mother didn’t stop his tiny hands from touching it, he grasped it. A slow smile grew on his face, followed by giggles.

“Happy Lurlinemas, Liir.” Fiyero kissed his cheek. 

“Say thank you to papa,” Elphaba encouraged. The infant was far too preoccupied with his new toy to even acknowledge her. “I guess we’ll have to work on expressing gratitutions later…”

“He’ll learn.” Fiyero promised. He beamed brightly and ruffled his messy, raven hair.

“Well, since we’re at it,” Elphaba carefully handed Liir over to him. “I’ve got something I hope you’ll like.”

“Fae, you could give me a pebble as a gift and I’ll love it.” 

She leaned down and reached behind the tree. “That’s quite the reassurement, but I promise I got you something one step above a pebble,”

Wrapped in shiny emerald paper with a gold bow on top, Elphaba handed him a small box. “Happy Lurlinemas.”

Fiyero eagerly took it and lightly shook the box next to his ear. He handed Liir back to her and tore it open, revealing a gold wrist watch with a green dial. There were five, smaller sub-dials inside the watch, each one labeling the time of day for all the provinces in Oz. 

“Elphaba…” Fiyero carefully held the watch in his hand, examining it in pure adoration. “This is... I can’t even begin to describe it-”

“Do you like it? I wasn’t sure if it was something you’d wear daily.”

“Elphaba, I love it! It’s beautiful! Thank you, my dearest.” He placed a peck on her lips. With her help, he secured the watch around his wrist and basked in its glory. “-Speaking of which, I’ve been waiting all year to see your reaction to what I’ve got for you.”

“Is that so?” Elphaba watched him scour through the presents until he said “Aha!” when he found a medium sized box. 

“Here...” Fiyero sat cross legged on the floor. Elphaba followed suit and passed Liir over to sit on his lap, taking the somewhat heavy box in her hands 

“What’s this?” Her brown eyes lit up with curiosity. 

“Open it and see for yourself!” Fiyero grinned. 

A smile grew on Elphaba’s face. She tore away the gold wrapping paper, revealing a wooden box. Confused, she unlocked the latch and opened the lid. When she removed the bright blue fabric on top of her gift, she gasped in disbelief.

They were ruby slippers. Nearly identical to the silver slippers her sister owned. Elphaba had once brought up to Fiyero the time her father gifted Nessa the priceless pair of shoes as a parting gift at Shiz. While she did not care for extravagant shoewear, she remembered how hurt she felt when Frex didn’t give her something as little as a postcard. 

At the time, it felt like a stab to the heart, seeing Nessa look so beautiful and elegant in her new slippers while Elphaba lugged around in worn out boots like a beggar. It was a painful reminder of how low she thought of herself before she found the people she loved the most in life.

Elphaba couldn’t hold back her tears, her fingers hovering over the red jewels. “Yero… I- I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything…  your face speaks a thousand words.”

Elphaba placed the shoes to the side and frantically wrapped her arms around him. Fiyero placed a hand on the small of her back, laughing wholeheartedly at the kisses she planted all over his face.  

Below them, Liir cried out. Elphaba cupped his cheek and placed soft kisses on his tender face as well.

“Oh, I didn’t forget about you.” She spoke sweetly, smothering him in kisses. 

“Happy Lurlinemas to my most beautiful wife and son.” Fiyero said.

“Your only wife and son.” Elphaba teased.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

He helped her remove her booties and slipped her shoes on. They were the perfect fit, comfortably tailored to her size. She stared at them in admiration, once more thanking her husband with kisses. 

The pair spent their evening playing with their child, enjoying the sacred time they had together.

                                     ┍━━━━ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ━━━━┑

Thanks for reading! I’m sorry this is probably not my best work and that it was posted a little late in the season. This was mostly a self-indulgent fluff fic I’ve been meaning to write since I see so little of the Thropp/Tiggular + Liir family dynamic. I’m also technically still a little new to publishing fiyeraba fics that maintain their characters. Bear with me please haha ;; 

Thank you again to Emma for the beautiful art! Show your love by reblogging and commissioning her if you can!

[gascon-en-exil]

Who Can Say if I've Been Changed For the Better?: Ferdibert Does Wicked

This concept has been a bit in building. It started from a much-loved cover by Hubert and Ferdinand’s VAs inspired by their support line and the broad observation that these two are a musicals couple who absolutely would sing their feelings in all manner of theatrical AUs. It continued through my later observation that there’s ample material to carry that idea even further, albeit with a shift outside of Crimson Flower for a better tonal match. Still, I’m not quite sure what to call this project; it’s not really a headcanon nor is it fanfic by any means. I’ve written a handful of longform character/narrative explorations before, although when it comes to FE I’ve previously been inspired to do so only for Jugdral characters. That setting is somehow both underdeveloped and deceptively dense - and I suppose in a way you could say the same of Three Houses as well, insofar as it’s been incredibly popular for fan content of all sorts.

Regardless of what this post is in terms of my fandom output, the following isn’t exactly a Wicked AU as such. Rather, it’s how I would envision a hypothetical blend of the non-CF routes of FE16 centering around the Eagles trio and set to the structure and songs of the musical as organically as possible. There are no 1:1 analogues with characters and plotlines from Wicked, because few if any would exist without a lot of tweaking; to use the VA cover example, Ferdinand might be a decent proxy for G(a)linda, but the mere presence of Edelgard substantially complicates Hubert’s claim to the Elphaba role. The similarities only unravel further from there, but I did my best.

Writing this out gave me the opportunity to play around with Edelgard’s character as a way of addressing what I and many others in my circle have long considered to be some of the major problems with her canon presentation. For Ferdibert meanwhile I got to make use of my headcanons for how their relationship would develop outside of their support line, in a way that mostly preserves Hubert’s delightful evil wickedness. Add some ruminations on how one would splice together the non-CF routes in a dramatically satisfying fashion, some snark directed at the non-character of Byleth, and a bit of background Dimidue/Lions OT5 for spice and that just about sums it up. Enjoy this…whatever this is.

Act I

“No One Mourns the Wicked”

The show opens on the citizens of Adrestia celebrating the death of their emperor and the end of her bloody war. Ferdinand rides in, resplendent on his steed, and is hailed as the new Duke Aegir as he relates to the crowd the news of Edelgard’s death at the hands of the combined army of liberators. The “Are people born wicked?” flashback sequence is replaced with a summary mostly in pantomime of Edelgard’s backstory: the Insurrection, her being taken to Faerghus and then returning, and then being experimented on by the Agarthans before agreeing to work with them. Notably Hubert is not named or referenced anywhere in this song, appearing only as a boy at Edelgard’s side at appropriate times during the flashback.

“Dear Old Shiz”

Someone in the crowd finally brings up Hubert, the emperor’s vile and murderous minister, and accuses Ferdinand of having been his friend. With Ferdinand even more flustered than Glinda since his “It depends on what you mean by friend” definitely carries sexual undertones, so begins the flashback to Part 1. There’s an equivalent intro of Garreg Mach, so one may feel free to insert any headcanons for school songs here. The following dialogue scene establishes the student body in general and the dynamic of the Eagles trio in particular: Ferdinand pompous and eager to one-up Edelgard at any opportunity, and Edelgard and Hubert cold and dismissive toward his antics and just about everyone else for that matter. Edelgard is instantly enamored of the quiet new professor, of course. Because the room assignment conflict doesn’t make a lot of sense with the monastery’s setup, instead Ferdinand is incensed that Edelgard is chosen as the Eagles’ house leader over him even though it’s been ages since a Hresvelg has attended. Neither Nessarose nor Morrible has an exact equivalent (although Seteth can act in Morrible’s role as the academy’s main authority figure), so the segue into the next song ends there.

“The Wizard and I”

Now alone together, Edelgard and Hubert have a brief dialogue outlining their villainous plans for the school year. This establishes Hubert’s hypercompetency but also how detached and professional Edelgard is around him. Then comes the song, now “My Lady and I,” which serves as Hubert’s character introduction. In tones more sinister than Elphaba ever reaches - you know he’d have fun with “When people see me they will scream” - he outlines his history with his lady, that he delights in serving her because she validates his work ethic and gives him an outlet for his ruthlessness and cruelty. Where Elphaba fantasizes about the Wizard removing her green skin, Hubert instead goes full Nice Guy, believing that once he’s given Edelgard her continental empire and crushed all her enemies she’ll be so grateful that of course she’ll put out for him.

“What Is This Feeling?”

You could rip the tone of this one directly from the Ferdibert C support and change nothing - homoerotic subtext included. I like the thought of Hubert replacing Elphaba’s deadpan one-word summation of Galinda with a mocking imitation of Ferdinand's most memetic line: "He is Ferdinand von Aegir!". The chorus can be made up of any number of other students excluding Edelgard, who’d happily agree that Hubert is ugly, creepy, and downright unpleasant.

“Something Bad”

The content of this song and surrounding scenes would have to be completely altered, but they work as a necessary reminder that the plot of Part 1 is still going on in the background of all the school drama. Seteth runs through the major events up to Chapter 9 of the game, including the bandit threat, Flayn’s kidnapping, and the experiments on the Remire villagers. The audience/accompaniment for this exposition dump ought to be Dimitri and Claude with Byleth as a silent observer (more on them later), with Edelgard brushing off the news and eventually being the one to shut down the song as Morrible does. There could be some small side character moments in here as well particularly involving the Lions and Deer since they get so little focus in this story.

“Dancing Through Life”

Speaking of which, this was an awkward sequence to place. It matches up chronologically with the ball in Chapter 9 and the main part, Fiyero’s, is a dead ringer for Sylvain and his flirty, hedonistic nihilism (“Nothing matters / but knowing nothing matters!”), but it’s hard to tie into what’s going on with the Eagles trio particularly with the Ferdibert timeframe preserved, i.e. unlike Elphaba and Galinda they don’t become closer until after the timeskip.

As such I see this song as an opportunity for little vignettes with the other students: Dimitri angry over how Dedue’s talked about and hoping they can share a dance (fitting contrast with the coldness of Edelbert), Felix prickly between Dimitri’s recent outbursts and Sylvain’s showboating, Claude hinting toward the bigger picture with Hilda flitting between her excitement over the dance and knowing more than she's letting on, Dorothea casually taking note of Edelgard’s fascination with Byleth (see just below), Bernadetta as a wallflower who doesn’t want to be disturbed (a setup for Act II), etc. Thanks to one of the Forging Bonds events in Heroes I had the thought that the "You/we deserve each other" through line that later gets attached to Nessarose can become one for Dimitri's relationships, with Felix initially throwing it out at him and Dedue and the two of them then turning "We deserve each other" into a romantic line...and then an ironic one and finally a triumphant one come Act II, by that point with Felix et al included as well.

I’m not sure that the following scene of Galinda and Elphaba bonding on the dance floor really needs an equivalent, although it could be altered to something Edeleth-related. In any case Ferdinand ought to get a dance scene of some nature, so he can try to show up Edelgard as he brags about in canon.

“Popular”

It would be a travesty to have a musical starring FE16’s cast and not give Dorothea and/or Manuela a solo. This song works quite well for the former, and it doesn’t intrude on the Ferdibert development with the aforementioned timeframe and how the lightly sapphic vibe doesn’t translate well to two guys. Dorothea has taken note of her good friend Edie’s crush on their mysteriously wooden professor, and she senses the opportunity for a makeover. Not as exaggerated as Dorothea trying to make over Hubert, naturally, but I still think this works out well. Also, Galinda’s observation on leaders, “Did they have brains or knowledge? / Don’t make me laugh! They were popular!”, is darkly comedic when said to Edelgard.

“I’m Not That Girl”

This song comes with preceding dialogue scenes for setup, so those first. Edelgard emerges fresh from her makeover (given her general hot for teacher fixation, I’m thinking she’d lean pretty hard on the naughty schoolgirl look) to Byleth silently grieving Jeralt’s death - bad timing there. She’s as callous about it as she is in canon, only now with more clumsy flirting, and while it’s impossible as always to tell if Byleth notices or cares Hubert most certainly does. The scene segues into the Eagles trio together, with Edelgard alluding to the upcoming events in the Sealed Forest and indicating that Hubert should meet up with her later for some more villainous scheming after he’s ditched Ferdinand. Ferdinand, indignant about being left out of the loop as he is in canon, grumpily points out that he was a much more splendid dancer at the ball than Edelgard, makeover or not. To his utter surprise, Hubert acknowledges that this is true before leaving. This leads into the actual song, altered from homoerotic via triangulation of desire to an outright sexual awakening for Ferdinand. He realizes that part of his jealousy toward Edelgard is that he wishes Hubert were devoted to him instead, and tells himself not to get his hopes up because he’s, well, not that girl or even a girl. We shall of course leave aside how anyone could be attracted to someone as repulsive as Hubert; that’s part of the inherent comedy of this pairing.

“One Short Day”

This was the hardest song to place in this whole project. The touristy trip to the Emerald City just doesn’t have an analogue in the story of Three Houses, especially not late in Part 1 when tension is mounting toward the upcoming reveal and war. It took me a while to realize that it works wonderfully as an Edeleth piece: Edelgard invites Byleth to Enbarr for her coronation, but that scene is left offscreen in favor of a light romp through the city that further highlights Edelgard’s crush as well as her emotional immaturity in spite of everything she’s about to do. She just wants to have a fun day out and take in the sights and eat sweets with her beloved teacher, and it’s all very “Edge of Dawn”-esque where Edelgard knows she’s about to do terrible things that will change everything forever and hopes to prolong the time until she has to take that step. Adjustments to the lyrics could even work in reference to that song to make the similarities more apparent. An awkward/funny issue here is that I envision Byleth to be totally silent throughout this musical with no sung or spoken parts, which would naturally make them having a duet impossible and make Edelgard’s fascination with them even weirder. Even their gender should be left ambiguous throughout, somehow never confirmed if it’s m!Byleth or f!Byleth. It would take a lot of reworking, but I can see the value in it.

“A Sentimental Man”

The core of the Wizard’s character is not all that different from Rhea’s. Both were thrust unexpectedly into positions of authority that required them to enact a large-scale deception to maintain their power/safety, and both are driven somewhat by parental feelings. The tone of the Wizard’s songs doesn’t align well with Rhea, but once you cut out the vaudeville and do some rewording I could see this one working as Rhea addressing her child (among other things) Byleth at the Holy Tomb just before the Flame Emperor reveal. Of course the dramatic irony hits differently; Rhea knows who and what Byleth is whereas the Wizard doesn’t learn about Elphaba until the end of the show. Nonetheless this would still establish Rhea’s character and motivations as well as set the stage for the impending betrayal.

“Defying Gravity”

Said betrayal being Byleth’s, who decides to stand by Rhea and condemn Edelgard as the Flame Emperor when she arrives with her army. This is another song in parts that would need to be broken up. Edelgard gets the bulk of it, but the middle sections between Elphaba and Glinda could work as a kind of separated duet with Edelgard and Hubert attempting to convince Byleth and Ferdinand respectively to join them. Because of Byleth’s silence only Ferdinand can reply in song; only he and Edelgard add the “my friend” bit to the end of this segment, to illustrate the unevenness of Edeleth and Ferdibert at this point in the story. Then things turn to full bombast, albeit darker than in Wicked proper. Edelgard does the belting, Hubert’s sinister laughter reverberates below her (would it be too tasteless for him to be leering up her skirt the whole time?), Ferdinand has Glinda’s mournful “I hope you’re happy!” toward Hubert, and through this and the reprise of “No One Mourns the Wicked” the major events of the timeskip are enacted in pantomime or silhouette. Byleth tumbles off a cliff, Rhea is taken captive as is Dimitri but Dedue rushes after him, and Claude makes a tactical retreat. Side note: “And if I’m flying solo, / at least I’m flying free” is classic Edelgard fixating on Byleth and forgetting that Hubert exists.

Act II

“Thank Goodness”

A surprisingly tough one here. The core of the song, pivoting around the double meaning of “I couldn’t be happier,” suits early Part 2 Ferdinand perfectly, second-guessing his choice and, outside of CF, melancholy about fighting his homeland. In terms of plot it’s an easy translation too, with the crowd announcing the terrible things the Empire has been doing to win its war - persecuting believers, abducting civilians and turning them into Demonic beasts, consorting with inhuman shadowy figures who can disguise themselves as ordinary people - and the assembly working as a way to bring together the leads of the three routes: Byleth, Dimitri (who had Dedue always at his side and thus never had a full psychotic break), Claude, and Seteth, with Ferdinand representing the Adrestian resistance. It’s only the wedding announcement that’s hard to pin down, and I toyed with a number of ideas including Dimidue making yet another public declaration of devotion to one another or Ferdinand planning to follow through with his arranged marriage to Bernadetta they have in their supports (which makes more sense in light of the following sequence). In the end though I don’t think the marriage element is strictly necessary, leaving the song as a means of catching up with the cast five years later and seeing them united against Edelgard - with Ferdinand’s private regrets the only sour note.

“Wicked Witch of the East”

More a dialogue than a song, but still important. Bernadetta is arguably the Eagle other than Hubert most comfortable supporting Edelgard, because all Edelgard has to do is put Count Varley under house arrest for Bernadetta to sing the emperor’s praises. I can also see her as the same sort of self-centered, negligent ruler that Nessarose becomes in Wicked, not because of an unrequited attraction but because of her reclusive desire to be left alone. I see this scene playing out as Hubert surprising Bernadetta at her estate, angry about rumors that she may be helping the rebels and/or engaged to Ferdinand if going with that plot point after Edelgard has done her the favor of locking up her father. He’s fully prepared to, ahem, “persuade” Bernadetta, but before he can break out the torture implements Ferdinand arrives asking for her to support the rebels’ cause.

Farcical, sure, but it gets the two of them together again after five years and underscores how strong their UST has become in their time apart, with Hubert too flabbergasted to attack a known enemy and Ferdinand expressing how happy he is to see Hubert again despite everything. Each learns that the other isn’t as happy about his chosen path as he’d hoped, in Hubert’s case because his lady has grown ever more distant from him as the war has dragged on. Bernadetta cuts through the tension by bringing things back to the song (sort of) and blurting out that she knows both sides are marshalling their forces near Gronder Field. Ferdinand is too caught up in the fraught romance angle to do more than leave with this new information, but Hubert recovers enough to condemn Bernadetta for her flagrant misrule (venting by inference his frustrations toward Edelgard in the process) and resolve to set her on fire for her treachery.

“I’m Not That Girl (Reprise)”

The Gronder rematch happened offscreen - and Bernadetta was indeed set on fire - and on the Imperial side Edelgard is left increasingly frustrated over her losses and hurt that Byleth still refuses to listen to her and continues to fight her regime. You may notice that I’ve shuffled around the middle of Act II, necessary at this point in order to better line up with FE16’s story and Hubert and Edelgard’s separate narrative climaxes while also ensuring that those climaxes don’t overlap too much. This song is only a brief reprise, but it’s a significant one; Hubert finally realizes that Edelgard will never love him. It’s also kept gender-neutral, because Byleth.

“As Long as You’re Mine”

That segues naturally into this moment. Ferdinand sneaks into Enbarr using his unexpected stealth powers (I usually talk about Dedue having them, but Ferdinand shows he’s no slouch in his Mercedes supports) and encounters Hubert. Their UST boils over in a furor of awkward, impassioned sex and also this song. I like the idea of rewording some of Fiyero's lines to incorporate Hubert's acidic snark: “Maybe you’re brainless, / maybe you’re wise.” It’s all very desperate and sensual, ending with Ferdinand taking Elphaba’s line about feeling wicked for the first time - which will have a dark reverberation two songs from now.

“Wonderful”

Again, axe the vaudeville and it’s a solid Rhea song. There’s just the small problem of Rhea being captured at this point in the plot; I thought about moving this number toward the very end at first before reconsidering. While Hubert and Ferdinand are rolling in the sheets, a distraught Edelgard confronts Rhea in prison. Rhea responds to Edelgard’s frustrations with Byleth with her backstory in song, much more somber than the Wizard but, like him, still willing to rehabilitate her estranged listener. The bits of this song about the nature of history are especially relevant to what Edelgard falsely believes about the church and what she views as her own legacy, so I could see this as an interesting character study on what Edelgard actually wanted with her war apart from dragon genocide. There’s a lot that could be done here in the dialogue surrounding those revelations.

“No Good Deed”

However the interrogation of Rhea turns out, Edelgard takes a leaf out of SS Dimitri’s book and visits Byleth alone at the monastery, only to be as harshly rebuffed as is possible to be without the rebuffer speaking. Then comes this song, which was incidentally the one where I realized that Edelgard would need a major role in FE16-does-Wicked even with the Ferdibert focus. Hubert fully embraced his evil wickedness long ago and wouldn’t think twice about being wicked or being perceived as such, but Edelgard is a different matter. Here she breaks down, admitting that her good intentions were largely selfish and that she regrets that her war has cost her any relationship she could have had with Byleth (continuing the joke at his expense, Hubert goes unmentioned when Edelgard names the people she’s lost/failed). It ends with a foreshadowing of her Hegemon form, the sign that she’s abandoned all pretense of goodness and become truly wicked.

“March of the Witch Hunters”

Another ensemble/vignette piece, checking in with the various members of Byleth’s army as they prepare to storm Enbarr. Dimitri hopes for the chance to forgive his stepsister, Claude has big plans for the continent and wants to remove the threat Edelgard poses, Seteth is desperate to find Rhea, and Byleth…is there. As in many of the songs, the self-righteousness of the crowd here rings more sincere and less hypocritical than in Wicked given Three Houses has actual villains, but it still works.

“For Good”

The song that inspired this whole thing, now with many paragraphs of context to set it up instead of only some fluff based on the Ferdibert A+ support. Ferdinand sneaks into Enbarr (again) ahead of the battle, and their second love ballad is more somber as they resign themselves to their fates. As in the VA cover, Hubert refuses to ask forgiveness for anything and Ferdinand is fine with that.

“Finale”

Wicked reduces the final battle from The Wizard of Oz to silhouettes backed by sections of “No One Mourns the Wicked,” and that’s what comes here: Ferdinand and Hubert facing each other in battle, Edelgard becoming the Hegemon before being defeated and then dying as in AM’s final cutscene, and Dimitri taking the throne with Dedue at his side and proclaiming his intention to do all he can to restore both the Kingdom and Duscur - and that his first act as king is to announce that he and Dedue have decided to open their marriage up. This is met with much manly cheering and stripping and someone (Ashe?) saying incredulously that he didn’t even know they were married. End silhouettes.

The final scene with the Wizard and Morrible becomes Claude, Seteth, and Byleth rescuing Rhea. Rhea names Byleth her successor as leader of the church and says that she will go into quiet seclusion and do what she can to correct her mistakes. This all suits Claude just fine, who tells everyone that he’s off to take care of some other business and that Byleth will make a great archbishop - and also they can have the Alliance, no big deal. As with the King of Faerghus’s gay orgies, the King of Almyra’s grand ambitions are too large for this story to do more than allude to.

Next, Ferdibert does a version of the Elphaba/Fiyero scene, with Ferdinand revealing that he had Hubert spared on the condition that he help root out any remaining Agarthans and that he remain under house arrest at the Aegir estate. Ferdinand was also required to assume governance of the Empire, because Dimitri wasn’t getting that dumped on him as well. They can be together, but the general population can’t know that Hubert survived lest Ferdinand’s reputation and basic ethics be compromised…which in a darkly funny hypocritical twist then segues to Ferdinand pontificating before the crowd at the beginning of the show, reprising “For Good” with Hubert until they’re drowned out by “No One Mourns the Wicked.” Thus the story concludes on one of my favorite things about Ferdibert: perhaps even in this non-CF continuity Ferdinand wasn’t changed for the better by falling in love with the Most Wicked Man in Fódlan, but they’ve both been changed….

[nicnacsnonsense]

I said yesterday that every single song on the Wicked soundtrack is a Good Omens mood, so today I went song by song, and yep, checks out. (I am going to be skipping three songs -- “I’m Not That Girl (Reprise)”, since as a stand alone song it is not meaningfully different than “I’m Not That Girl”; “Dear Old Shiz” since it’s only intended to transition us from the opening number which takes place at the end of the story back to the beginning; and “Finale” since it is just a reprise/combo of the previous song “For Good” and the next song (in the stories internal chronology) “No One Mourns the Wicked” and does not meaningfully add to either -- and I will be adding in “Wicked Witch of the East” which does not appear on the soundtrack.)

“No One Mourns the Wicked” -- Aziraphale (Glinda) talking to the Archangels (Chorus) about Crowley. “Nothing grows for the wicked/They reap only what they've sown”

“The Wizard and I” -- The general sentiment echoes Aziraphale’s continued faith in God, despite private doubts about Heaven and the Great Plan. “He'll say to me, "I see who you truly are/A girl on whom I can rely!" 

“What is This Feeling” -- Heaven (Glinda) vs. Hell (Elphaba) with the Chorus representing Christianity, on Heaven’s side despite neither ultimately being appreciably better than the other. Alternatively, there’s some solid Ineffable Bureaucracy feels if you’re into that. “There's a strange exhilaration/In such total detestation/It's so pure, so strong!/Though I do admit, it came on fast/Still I do believe that it can last/And I will be loathing, loathing you my whole life long.”

“Something Bad” -- Aziraphale (Elphaba) believing God will stop the Apocalypse. “If something bad is happening to the Animals/Someone's got to tell the Wizard/That's why we have a Wizard/So nothing bad....“

“Dancing Through Life” -- Fiyero’s opening section is very remiscent on Crowley’s policy on working and his efforts to tempt Aziraphale into the Arrangement. In that context, him coming to this philosophy after having been kicked out of schools in the past is a bit... painful. “Dancing through life, no need to tough it/When you can slough it off as I do.”

“Popular” -- This one is a bit harder to place, but I can imagine that if Crowley and Aziraphale had to teach each other how to do their jobs in service of the Arrangement, this is the kind of energy I imagine they’d bring. Alternatively, if you dial down the good-natured intentions and dial up the judgement and condescension, there are shades of Heaven/Hell (Glinda) wanting Aziraphale/Crowley (Elphaba) to be a proper angel/demon. “Don't be offended by my frank analysis/Think of it as personality dialysis”

“I’m Not That Girl” -- Crowley through 6000 years of pining, with the “that girl” he’s losing out to being Heaven. Though the general longing for someone you feel you can never have also has some pretty strong Aziraphale through 6000 years of pining vibes too. “ Ev'ry so often, we long to steal/To the land of what-might-have-been/But that doesn't soften the ache we feel/When reality sets back in “

“One Short Day” -- This is the background music every time during the 6000 years when Aziraphale and Crowley manage to sneak in some time to enjoy each other’s company just for the sake of it. “ And then, just like now, we can say/We're just two friends/Two good friends/Two best friends/Sharing one wonderful/One short day!”

“Defying Gravity” -- The main feel of the song has a lot of Crowley (Elphaba) immediately pre-Fall energy, but the conversation between Elphaba and Glinda in particular is very reminiscent of the bandstand. G:”Elphie, listen to me, just say you're sorry!/You can still be with the wizard/What you've worked and waited for/You can have all you ever wanted.” E:”I know/But I don't want it/No, I can't want it anymore”

“Thank Goodness” -- Aziraphale (Glinda) trying to put on a obedient and faithful attitude while dealing with his doubts about Heaven and his forbidden feelings for Crowley. “ And if that joy, that thrill/Doesn't thrill like you think it will/Still, with this perfect finale/The cheers and the ballyhoo/Who wouldn't be happier?/So I couldn't be happier”

“The Wicked Witch of the East” -- Most of this doesn’t connect much, and very little of it is sung, but this last bit here is absolutely Crowley (Nessa) sitting in the bar after the bookshop fire. “Alone and loveless here/Just the girl in the mirror/Just her and me, Wicked Witch of the East!/We deserve each other”

“A Sentimental Man”/”Wonderful” -- I combined these two because “A Sentimental Man” by itself is really short and doesn’t really tie in, but thematically it goes with “Wonderful” so I think it works with that context. One thing for this one is to keep in mind that in Christianity Gabriel is an Archangel, but he’s generally consider the messenger, which one would think would generally put him at the bottom of that top group, and yet in Good Omens he seems to have worked his way up to de facto leader of Heaven in God’s absence/silence. Making the Archangel Fucking Gabriel feel a lot like the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Not to mention the general point about labels and history has a lot of Good Omens Heaven and Hell are basically the same thing with different names vibes. “There are precious few at ease/With moral ambiguities/So we act as though they don't exist”

“As Long as You’re Mine” -- Azcrow Saturday night “you can stay at my place” feels. Enough said. “ Say there's no future/For us as a pair/And though I may know/I don't care/Just for this moment/As long as you're mine/Come be how you want to/And see how bright we shine”

“No Good Deed” -- The bookshop fire. The first three-quarters or so of the song is Crowley running into the burning bookshop, desperate to find Aziraphale and being overwhelmed by how absolutely everything has gone completely wrong this week capped now with this, losing the love of his life. The last bit of the song transitions to Aziraphale up in Heaven completely done with all this bullshit and flipping the entire Host off on his way out. “Fiyero, where are you? Already dead or bleeding?/One more disaster I can add to my generous supply?”

“March of the Witch Hunters” -- This is literally just the Witchfinder Army’s theme song. “Go and hunt her/And find her/And kill her/Kill the witch!”

“For Good” -- Aziraphale and Crowley on Sunday morning as they wait for Heaven and Hell to come for them, not knowing if their plan will work or if they’ll ever see each other again. “ Who can say/If I've been changed for the better? I do believe I have been changed for the better/And because I knew you/.../I have been changed/For good.”

And there you have it. Every single song on the Wicked soundtrack is a Good Omens mood, fact checked and proven. Still compiling evidence for the “Stephen Schwartz is a time traveler who did this all on purpose” theory. I’ll keep you posted.

[lovelylogans]

You seem to be the person that I follow who knows the most about fanfic, and I kinda want to get into reading it again. I used to read a lot of phan or supernatural stuff and now I read none, lol. Can you rec me LAMP or any pairing between the light sides or platonic fics with happy endings? Even if it's the most basic ones that everyone has read, I probably haven't. Thanks so much!

*cracks knuckles*

this is gonna be a long one. it’ll go title, pairing, then super basic plot summary, so. below the cut!

as far as self-promotion goes, i’ll get that out of the way first and rec you some of my most popular stuff in this fandom. these links will be to ao3, though you can also find them on my tumblr:

where you lead, i will follow (romantic moxiety, romantic logince): 150k of a gilmore girls au that absolutely no one asked me for, you do not need to have read the show to read this. it’s slowburn friends-to-lovers moxiety and childhood friends-to-lovers for logince, this fic follows patton, who was a pregnant trans teen who ran away to the tiny town of sideshire, his son, logan, who just got accepted into one of the most prestigious high schools in the state, patton’s parents, emily and richard, who clash often with their son, virgil, the owner of the local diner and reason all the locals have not developed scurvy, and roman, a teenage dancer/dance instructor who just so happens to have a crush on his best friend. this is a big personal favorite of mine, and i’m still writing in that verse, so. 

lavender for luck (romantic polyamlamp): the fae family has been cursed with magic dating back two hundred years. with great power, however, comes a great price; any man or woman who falls in love with a fae is doomed to die. virgil fae is trying his best to ensure that that does not happen. as is his uncle, dee. however, three of the friends he makes at college makes that increasingly difficult, for him.

my true love gave to me (romantic prinxiety, romantic logicality): a christmas-centric fic of four roommates, all of which are in love with each other in some way. follow these disaster gays being wooed or attempting to woo their crush in time to make out under some mistletoe. (this fic was nominated for best overall in the fander fic awards on tumblr.)

not you again (romantic prinxiety): inexplicably my most popular fic in terms of tumblr notes, this follows roman being a Gay Disaster Barista who is crushing hard on one of his regulars, who unfortunately has a boyfriend (or does he?) ft. remy (aka the sleep character from thomas’ short vids.)

dance partner (platonic royality): the popularity of this one is also due to the fanart made by the incredible sanderstribute, roman takes patton for a night of dancing on the town. 

okay, that’s enough of my stuff. this section is mostly “fandom essentials” in that most people have either read them or are familiar with them, in some way. a lot of these are kind of old-school fander fics, but they’re still really good and a good introduction to fandom! mostly the most kudos/bookmarked fics on ao3. also a pretty good starting point to a variety of popular fic-types in this fandom.

to build a home (romantic logicality) by avalorouschoice on ao3: patton and logan adopt virgil from an orphanage. this is a lot of found family, kid-growing-closer-to-the-family, and it’s just. i Like It A Lot and i’m definitely due for a re-read of it, it’s just very sweet

starved (polyamlamp, ft. thomas) by @randomslasher: honestly, it was tough to pick just one randomslasher fic to put on the list (if you’d like more fandom essentials, i’d argue that lj has written a toooon of them so just reading through their fics would be good!) but this one kind of had to win out. this fic boils down to “virgil needs hugs desperately and hides how desperately he needs them from the other sides, the other sides find out, the other sides give him hugs.” that’s... yeah. that’s the one. it’s Good Stuff.

of trying and towers (romantic prinxiety) by @parsnipit: similarly difficult to parse down any parsnipit fics! a lot of their stuff ranks among my personal favorites, so again, just reading down the list of what they’d got is a Good Call especially once upon a dream, which is similarly one of those “fandom essentials.” this fic in particular is about thomas in medieval times, stuff goes wrong, and all the sides split up and are turned into what they hate/fear, and it’s their journey of teaming up together again and defeating the evil ruler in place of the kingdom. there’s dragons. it’s Good Stuff.

it’s only logical (romantic logicality, romantic prinxiety) by @tinysidestrashcaptain: logan owns a flowershop and hires single dad patton, while his best friend virgil, who owns a coffee shop, and roman flirts with virgil a lot. very cute, very sweet, kid thomas is Great! again, tstrashcaptain has a lot of the stuff i’d call “fandom essentials,” so. those! all good stuff!

silence and duality (platonic lamp) by @xaandiir: one of the first takes on the whole “dark sides” aspect we had, back in the day, this fic follows along with the sort of psychology/mentality of the sides as children, as they grow up, and the potential of what could happen to one of the dark sides, especially if they were rejected. i’m trying not to spoil it too much, but! again! good stuff!!

insomnia (platonic lamp) by @xaandiir: virgil cannot sleep, attempts to hide it from the other sides, and the other sides find out. Good Stuff. let the boy take a nap

learning & loving verse (romantic prinxiety, romantic logicality) by @virgilsjourney: jenna’s just... yeah, lots of really good fics there! again! a college verse fic in which Pining Roommates feature; virgil helps roman through some stage fright (trying not to spoil it!) to eventually star as fiyero in wicked, and the realization of Feelings throughout. good stuff!

college verse (platonic lamp) by @princelogical: again! one of those Really Great Authors to just read a ton of their stuff! this one in particular is a college verse, in which all the sides have various emotional reckonings. really great character development, really great backstory. i will say read the warnings, just in case!

and now, for some of my personal favorites. this is only a fraction of my favorite fics, and if you’d like more of my personal recommendations, i have a whole tag for fanfic! (if there’s an indent under, it just means ‘more by this author!’)

love and other fairytales (polyamlamp) by @tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors: ohhh my fuckin god. worldbuilding a+, characterization a+, plot a+. have you ever wanted faerie!virgil and changeling!logan and witch!roman and a-little-cursed!patton??? you do! trust me you do! i have no idea how to describe it without spoiling any of the plot, however, i will say that this is basically just Straight Up a novel and has developed a little fandom of itself which is honestly so lovely to see, so!

faded with uncertainty (romantic prinxiety): in the aftermath of ‘dealing with intrusive thoughts,’ roman finds virgil crying in the midst of the mindscape and comforts him in the aftermath of That Reveal that virgil had in the video

blanket!verse (romantic prinxiety, romantic logicality): a few oneshots of varying topics, this deals with virgil and his anxiety in his new relatinoship, as well as patton’s tendency to hide emotions, with fluff involved in each. (canoodling especially it’s so soft and fluffy and just!!!)

track seven (romantic logicality): logan struggles with his emotions and snaps and blows up at everyone; patton tries his best to get to the bottom of it.

lovely, dark, and deep (romantic analogical) by @teacupfulofstarshine:  MERMAIDS!!!! virgil’s a doctoral student and thomas is his advisor, and logan, roman, and patton are all mermaids, of a sort. very good, very gay, the imagery is spectacular and it is Good! Stuff!!!

little and broken (but still good): moxiety as dads! logan, roman, and thomas are their kids! they’re all so good! so cute! really great family feels! i cry every single time! the domesticity! the FLUFF! it is a masterpiece!

the pattonella au (romantic analogical, romantic royality): oh my actual god, star, YOUR MIND, this au is just such a wonderful take on the cinderella fairytale and putting it within the context of the sides with its own little twists and turns, they are Cute and Good and the development of the relationship in the aftermath of a cinderella-type event is just chef’s kiss 

living in the real world (ain’t it fun): the sides coalesce into the real world, and thomas is KIND OF FREAKING OUT about it; they’re having trouble adjusting, at first, but since the work’s still in progress you can see them kind of slowly coming to terms with it and it’s just a take on the “sides become people” au that i’ve never really seen before so!!!!!!

stardust sleeper (and the college!verse in general): logan gets to take the nap He Deserves, there are Cute Accents in here, and it’s just a very cute, very good domestic slice-of-life in the midst of the chaos that is college. it’s Very Cute and Very Sweet and please just read it oh my god???? 

internal bleeding (past romantic logicality, romantic prinxiety) by @princelogical: virgil and roman come to visit patton at christmas, in the aftermath of patton’s husband’s death; his husband is very aware that he’s dead, but he hasn’t been able to leave yet. angst, hurt/comfort, Oh My Fuckin God

the queerplatonic logince verse: logan and roman are in a queerplatonic relationship, and the stuff that entails. i just really like it whenever someone focuses on aro or ace sides, and i think this is a really well-done portrayal of the fact that relationships absolutely do not need to be romantic in order to be significant.

i feel like it’s just me: patton is a professional cuddler, and the people he meets in the course of that job, ft. some patton angst and general thoughts about loneliness. to quote, “this is more of a concept piece,” but i very much like the concept

lists.: just a short, sweet lil thing about the other sides appreciating logan.

hold your breath until it’s okay by insertfandomjoke, @notafeeling on tumblr: a brooklyn 99 style au in which logan is the captain, and virgil, roman, and patton are the detectives—it’s a “Five Times They Closed a Case Without Anyone Getting Hurt and the One Time They Didn't” au. 

in which we are all virgil: in which virgil stares at elliott and thinks “oh no they cute!!!” and also presents elliott as joan’s anxiety and dr. picani as a fusion between patton and logan and it just. Good!

sweaters: patton makes his boyfriends all christmas sweaters and They Cute

habits (romantic logicality) by @astralbone: human au, slice-of-life kind of thing. the characterizations are Very Good and honestly i just really love to read it. both of them are hurting and their life may not be perfect but they’re fitting together and it’s just. it’s Very Good

sanders sides ficlets by @virgilsjourney: ranging a variety of topics/timespans in terms of the series, there is a ton here. you want movie night fluff? it’s here! you want hurt/comfort angst in which roman is locked away like in the snow queen? you got it! you want logan and patton mend up after moving on???? it’s here! just a lot of really good stuff!!!!!!

blink back to let me know (romantic moxiety, hinted romantic logince) by @virgilsanxiety and @shakespearesocks: virgil and patton are both pining, logan and roman don’t get paid enough for this, and they are Good Soft Boys who maybe need to improve a bit at communication

logic’s notebooks (romantic analogical) by @parsnipit: logan keeps notebooks about all the sides and feels bad about it; in the midst of all this, some Very Great domestic analogical

and you lied to all your selves (romantic prinxiety, romantic logicality) by penrosequartz: i haven’t read this in a minute, but it’s a prinxiety fic in which they get closer, and virgil is being, well, anxious, and i’d recommend you read the warnings but!!! loosely structured, good characterization, it’s just some! good! stuff!

migraine (analogical) by @theonlyjelly-iwillput-inmybelly (philosophicalrune on ao3): virgil is overworking himself through a migraine, logan helps him feel better, and tries his best to make virgil feel better. it’s cute and sweet and very good in terms of hurt/comfort, i tend to go back to it whenever school is stressing me out, so that should tell you something!

smile (platonic moxiety) by @doggo-fiends-on-a-spaceship: to steal their alternative title, “Alternatively titled: Virgil has a nightmare and wants a hug, but being emotionally constipated, Cannot Ask for one.” virgil has a nightmare and spends the night in patton’s room; the trouble is, patton did not know that he was doing that until he nearly trips over virgil. they are Good Boys and it’s just Real Nice

again, this is a tiny, miniscule fraction of really spectacular fics in this fandom—there’s a lot of talented people here, so happy reading!

[nnessarose]

my take on gelphie.

     Firstly, I’m going to start by clarifying (whether you choose to read this or not) that I do NOT hate this ship in any way, shape, or form. I think it’s cute! Additionally, I am not purposely intending to harm or hate on anyone by writing this or make fun of any tropes that have sprung up in the fandom regarding that pair. If something that I address may apply to you, please keep in mind that I am not a robot and have not kept track of everything that you, personally, have done and that, therefore, it is not about just you! These are just my thoughts and my interpretation about the whole thing. This post is going to be entirely musical-based both because I have no problem with the book’s development of them, most of the book-based fanfiction is reasonable, and because I don’t want to only pick on the good/bad parts of each of them. Also, most of my thoughts DO come from the musical and others’ interpretations of it. So, if you choose to read this - I hope you enjoy it! If not, have a great day!

     The first thing I would like to address (if that’s the proper word) is how much I dislike the idea that as soon as they saw each other that they fell in love. I think that this is inaccurate and, honestly, a bit of a gigantic stretch. When Elphaba arrives at Shiz, she is delighted to meet new people but is quickly heartbroken by their prejudiced stares and rude comments to her. This is, undeniably, also done by Galinda. The idea that she bullies Elphaba because she is interested in her romantically is honestly just terrible ; it’s the same thing as telling a little girl that the boy who picks on her just likes her. Throughout the introductory scene at Shiz, Galinda makes jabs at Elphaba while Elphaba stands far away from her (behind Nessarose) and makes fun of the way she speaks with her sister. When Galinda accidentally volunteers to room with Elphaba, it truly is accidental ( though - thankfully - the fandom seems to accept that). This, however, brings us to the next interpretation that I dislike.

     “What Is this Feeling” is not a love song. I genuinely cannot tell if some people in this fandom are joking about this or not. It does, of course, have humor in it of mocking a love song ( “my pulse is rushing”, “my head is reeling”, etc.) but that is clearly done only for satirical purposes! After that, the song is just them picking on each other and hating for the sole reason of hating. One could argue that it is simply them denying their feelings for the other, but that simply is not true! Galinda is clearly spreading these rumors around to her friends and they are making it to the entirety of the student body who teams up against Elphaba simply to bully her. The only person on Elphaba’s side at this moment is Doctor Dillamond and Nessa, while the entire school sees Galinda as some sort of hero. I cannot fathom how people can twist this harmful bullying into love and honestly, it’s disgusting. The two girls obviously are not in love at this point, nor are they even fond of each other. Elphaba makes it clear that the only friend she has there is Nessa, if anyone. 

     To restate, the bullying doesn’t end when the song does. Throughout Doctor Dillamond’s class, Galinda proves herself to be mean again. She tears Elphaba down more and more, almost as if the girl has no emotions (or at least no HUMAN emotions). Galinda bullies Elphaba so much that it makes her not want to do anything, not want to hang out with any of her peers. Keep in mind that at this point in the show, Elphaba and Galinda have not had a proper conversation with one another, which is important. How can they possibly know each other enough to be infatuated? One may argue that their conversations are off-stage and, as valid as this may be, just doesn’t add up. If this was the case, they would not still bicker and hate each other in the later scenes.

     This brings us to “Dancing Through Life”, another song that, despite how people try to twist it, is not where the two of them magically fall in love with one another. Elphaba has been bullied and beat down so much throughout the year that she refuses to attend the ball that Fiyero is hosting, calling it a “cultish social gathering”. One could debate that she only doesn’t want to go because of how Fiyero treated her earlier, but I think this is a stretch. She blames it on people going to “worship” him, but I think her real issue is that Galinda will be there, ready to make the entire school make fun of her. Otherwise, Elphaba would be jumping to go, if not just to accompany Nessarose to keep her safe, especially after she finds that she has a date. But it is so valid that Elphaba doesn’t want to go. She’s seen Boq stand right alongside Galinda when she throws insults her way and won’t go and ruin it for her sister. 

     Once Nessa tells her to do something nice for Galinda instead of hating her, Elphaba decides that this may just work. She can see the world for a moment through Nessa’s more innocent eyes and, even if just for a few moments, thinks that this plan may work and goes to talk to Madame Morrible about including her in the sorcery seminar, which she does. Elphaba rushes to tell Galinda what she has done for her, only to be greeted with a dirty trick. She thinks that the blonde has come around in offering her this hat and that it is now safe for her to attend the party. Elphaba does not, however, go to the party for Galinda. She knows that, even if they are on better terms, that they are friends. When she arrives, however, she just sees that she has fulfilled what she didn’t want to ; Nessa is embarrassed at her sister’s outfit and upset that she had the nerve to surprise her there.

     Elphaba still decides to have the best time she can, taking the floor over to dance on if not only to say “fuck you” to her classmates. They laugh, they point, they make fun - but this time Elphaba doesn’t back down. She doesn’t let it get to her. For the first time, Galinda sees that despite her unnatural green color, she is human and experiences real human emotions. Galinda feels bad for what she has done as all of her actions come rushing back ; getting the school against the poor girl, calling her names - giving her that atrocious hat! Additionally, Madame Morrible had just told her that she was moved to her seminar (what Elphaba had been trying to tell her before). So, she goes to dance with her, perhaps as an apology. But this, still is NOT them falling in love with each other! You cannot, and should not, skip from hatred to infatuation that quickly. It isn’t healthy, and they are not an exception!

     This is the beginning of their friendship. Yes, friendship. Before “Popular”, Galinda is eager to make up with her roommate and offers her simple companionship. She decides they should tell each other a secret. When Elphaba shares her deeply personal secret, Galinda again sees how she is experiencing the same human emotions that everyone does. This scene is their first proper conversation, and it is the beginning of their blooming friendship (and eventually relationship). Galinda doesn’t respect Elphaba when she doesn’t want to talk about the bottle and, to get her way in having Elphaba share a good secret, takes the bottle from her despite how clearly she was uncomfortable and protective of it. Galinda gives Elphaba a makeover and even calls her beautiful, but I still don’t believe this is truly them falling in love. One must pause to realize that the same day they had hated each other! There are a lot of things that still must be resolved and figured out before they can trust each other, not to mention that they are both young. Elphaba leaves during “Popular” because her emotions are too much for her to handle, this is true. However, I don’t see the emotions as being romantic yet. She is just overwhelmed by the sudden change in Galinda, wondering if she is being tricked again as she was just that same day. Elphaba begins to wonder if she or Nessa were right about the girl and her intentions.

     From here, this is a divide over how the rest of the plot advances regarding a preference between Elphaba and Fiyero or Elphaba and Galinda. I think if Elphaba and Galinda fall in love, it happens in the time of the show between the scene with the Lion cub and “One Short Day”, but no sooner than that.

     The last topic I would like to address is why I do not think Gelphie should only be endgame with the proper development of events post-musical. Before you hate me, let me start by saying this does not mean I don’t think they should be together. I do! I just genuinely do not believe that they would be the right person for each other if one only takes into account the events of the musical. Firstly, they have a lot of bad connotations with each other, what with the past bullying and, eventually the stress they caused each other. For Glinda, it’s the emotional stress she went through pretending to dislike Elphaba, the years fighting against her, the pain with what happened with FIyero (even if he was just a companion to her and not a true lover), etc. For Elphaba, it’s that Glinda never tried to help her, left her during “Defying Gravity”, was the reason her sister is dead, never denied the rumors like Fiyero did, etc. They are both stubborn, and I doubt either would bring up these issues to each other, much less actually resolve them. Glinda, throughout the entire musical, does not change until the very end despite knowing what she is doing is wrong. Elphaba doesn’t deserve that. Glinda took advantage of Elphaba’s vulnerability in a friendship for years, catering their relationship to her liking almost the entire time. If the two of them do not address these very prominent issues, their relationship will just slowly deteriorate over their ignored past

     The point that is trying to be made is that while Gelphie does work, and it is adorable, I just don’t see how they can stay together without their relationship becoming unhealthy if they don’t have a proper and well-developed redemption arc. All the points that I brought up CAN be debated, even between me and myself as I was writing this! I think that whether they work at this point depends on how the rest of their days are fleshed out, whether Elphaba stays in Oz or not, and whether or not they chose to ignore the events of Act II. As wonderful as the thought of these two girls falling in love instantly may be, it is unrealistic that that is the case and, if it was, their relationship would never be healthy. Additionally, one must keep in mind that this is a musical! There isn’t enough time to include everything and as much as people claim that they would watch a four hour show - the general public would not. Changing around their character dynamics just doesn’t work. Wanting fluff is valid, but at what cost? People end up erasing some of the bad characteristics of Galinda (who was undeniably a horrible bully) and are erasing some of the strong characteristics of Elphaba (who still went to school and stayed loyal to Nessarose throughout all of the pain she went though herself). It isn’t fair to look past these just to validate your ship. Gelphie CAN work! In Act I, however, it is unlikely and Act II would need the right development to result in a happy relationship for the two of them. Once again, I will restate that I do NOT hate Gelphie. I simply wanted to share my thoughts on some aspects of how the fandom views their relationship.. I hope no one is mad at this post and please, please, please do not hate me for it! I love Gelphie, I really do!

[wickedlyqueer]

random question: who are your favorite glinda and elphaba actresses, and why? (also this blog brings me great joy. thank you for giving us the good gelphie content we deserve)

(Ayyy i’m just glad I have a place where my gelphie feels and rambles are appreciated *finger guns*) 

I’ve talked about my faves before, but not so much why they are my faves so here goes:

Katie Rose Clarke is my favorite Glinda. I don’t know how she’s done it, because I usually don’t have a favorite performer. But I do, and it’s her. KRC!Galinda believes in her own goodness, which works really well for the stage version. She’s innocent, sweet, and by all means good. It makes sense why she keeps getting called ‘good’ by everyone around her. She’s also secretly a dork (WHICH IS TOTALLY GLINDA LBR). Even when she’s supposed to be mean to Elphaba, (”she’s phosphorescent” “the artichoke is steamed”) it comes across more as an Observation (although tacky)  than it’s actually meant to hurt Elphaba. 

But what I appreciate most about KRC, is she takes her goddamn time to let moments hit. With the dance scene, she lets it sink in how this is such an important and difficult decision for Galinda. She takes her time letting the words “you’re beautiful” hit. She is ONE OF THE TOUCHIEST GLINDA’S OUT THERE! That’s always a plus. 

AND WE HAVEN’T EVEN TALKED THE SECOND ACT MY FRIEND!!!! Katie Rose Clarke, first and foremost, is the angstiest Glinda ever. It’s painful. It’s heartbreaking. No other Glinda can convey the emotion of Thank Goodness better than KRC. It was like it was fucking made for her. After Elphaba’s death, she isn’t just sad, she’s fucking bitter and that’s exactly what adult Glinda is all about. She’s bitter. She’s only pushing through because that’s Elphaba’s wish. But even in scenes like NOWTM it’s written all over her how much she only doing this for Elphaba... if you know where to look. 

I could literally talk for hours about all the decisions she made. I actually had to cut some of it out bc it was getting too long. I just. I LOVE HER OKAY!?

Very honorary mentions of other Glindas I absolutely adore: Kara Lindsay (I know she’s your fav, and I agree, she’s awesome!), Megan Hilty, Annaleigh Ashford, and even though I’ve only ever heard her perfomance, I think I’d also very much dig Suzie Mathers’ Glinda. 

Come to think of it, my interpretation comes closer to most West End Glindas, than Broadway ones. This is mostly a cultural difference. Because in the US The Blonde trope is closer to “popular, shallow, dumb” whilst in the UK The Blonde trope is “classist, rich, spoiled, bratty, arrogant” which is waaay more Glinda-esque. Like the only West End Glindas I’ve seen are Sarah Earnshaw, Gina Beck and Suzie Mathers, and I think they’re all great, even tho I am a very specific about my Glindas. 

Not so much with Elphabas! (awesome segue) What I like about the role is that it can be pretty stylized, and that’s what keeps the role new and refreshing. I have talked before that I prefer my Elphabas to be rough around the edges (you got some who play her soft and innocent and NOPE), but here goes anyway.

Elphabas that I absolutely love to death in alphabetical order so it doesn’t look like I show any bias because I genuinely love all these ladies equally and for different reasons:

Eden Espinosa GAWDD She’s so good. I just. Yes. YES! I need to rewatch her some more so I can been more specific but YES!

Emmy Raver-Lampman deserves all the FREAKING LOVE okay!? She’s a deadpan Elphaba and sings like a goddess. What more do you need in life?

Donna Vivino this lady can SIIINNGGGG. Her Elphie is smol and bitter and angry and I love it. There’s also this one bootleg where she goes “As you can seeee~ she’s a PERFECTLY normal color!” and she accidentally kind of sings the “see” and sometimes I just replay that tiny bit because I love that line delivery so so much. 

Jennifer DiNoia is just an all-rounder Elphaba. Really good singer and actress and it shows how long she’s been with the role and how much she loves playing Elphaba. 

Lindsay Mendez look. okay. I haven’t been able to watch a bootleg of her in which she’s Elphaba. But I rewatch Fly Girl on the regular, and I’ve suffered through Dog Fight for her so I’m pretty sure I’ll love her Elphaba once I find a bl of her

Mandy Gonzalez so far the only real softie Elphaba I enjoy. She’s soft but bitter. Also she’s the only actress who gave me sibling Nessa&Elphie feels. She. WOW. I did not expect for her to rip my heart out, but I love. 

Rachel Tucker listen. when. Tucker. GROWLS. in her songs. I. Am. LIVING. also she looks exceptionally pretty in green, even tho all these women look gorgeous in green BUT SHE LOOKS SO GOOD IN GREEN!?!? I’m still furious she wasn’t allowed to talk with her gorgeous accent and she’s also just a genuinely good actress with a lot of passion that comes across really well on stage.

Stephanie J. Block I’ve only watched her bootleg once bc the camera quality is pretty bad but SHE’S SO GOOD!!! Also love love LOVED her in Falsettos and 9 to 5.

Willemijn Verkaik I mean, do I have to mention why? We all know why!

Also, I know you didn’t ask this, but there’s only one and I mean ONE Fiyero that genuinely charmed me and that is Derrick Williams. He’s does the most with the little that’s given to him and he’s actual a man of colour like Fiyero should be. My musical!Fiyero scale goes somewhere between “you’ve nice line delivery. thanks for that” to “i skip your scenes bc you’re an insufferable brat” but Derrick is the only Fiyero I look forward to seeing. He makes me get why every Ozian is so enarmored with Fiyero. Also he somehow managed to give me fiyeraba feelings???? ME!! one of THE biggest gelphie shippers out there. I mean, that’s impressive buddy. Well played. well played indeed!

[takaraphoenix]

Book Adaptations Wishlist

Let’s start with my biggest fandom that is based on a book-series. Percy Jackson and the Olympians, by Rick Riordan.

I’m one of the... very few who likes the Percy Jackson movies. Most certainly not in the sense of them being adaptations of the books. Hah. Good one. No, I view them more as “motion picture fanfiction”. I mean, damn the pretty cast they got. I love Clarisse and Chris in particular. And I will forever be grateful to the first movie because without it, I would have never in a million years found the books simply because I’m not a big reader so the only way I ever learn about books is by watching an adaptation and deeming it to be my taste.

Now, things with PJatO were a little more complicated than that. Back before the movie hit theatres, I was checking out all the releases announced for the year and among them was this. The word “Thief” in the title caught my attention because I love a good con movie or show. I clicked it and back then the link only lead to the book and a section about it getting an adaptation, so that’s how I found out it was a book adaptation. Reading the synopsis of the book, I thought it sounded pretty cool. Next step was, of course, to check the character list. Because I love Greek mythology.

Main character a son of Poseidon. That’s cool. I love elementals, particularly those with water-powers. And there, not far down, was the name that got me hooked. Nico di Angelo, son of Hades. HOLY UNDERWORLD YES. Hades is my favorite male god. That his kid was listed as one of the main characters of the series - and NOT as a bad guy, because if modern adaptations taught me one thing, it’s that American authors love to paint everything in black and white and anything related to the underworld had to be the devil.

So Nico di Angelo was why I went to see the movie. Needless to say, Nico wasn’t in it because he only joins the series later on. But I did like the movie, Percy was cute, I was still curious to meet Nico, so when I found myself on a classtrip to Munich weeks later and was dragged from store to store and ended up in a bookstore where all six books (I do count The Demigod Files as part of the original series too) were on display at the time, I impulse-bought them.

I loved them. A lot. We’re not gonna talk about Heroes of Olympus here because that will take too many hours of my time. Let’s just say I don’t love them.

But yeah, the movies are not good adaptations of the books.

Then again, personally, I think that no movie can ever properly do a book justice. You can’t take a story that unfolds in like 500 pages of book and cram it into a two hour movie. You’re forced to cut sooo much out of it. It just doesn’t work.

That’s why I’m a huge fan of this new trend of adapting books as TV shows. It’s a very good way of covering more ground, taking things slow and giving the plot its due.

I’m desperately waiting for a good Percy Jackson adaptation. But I don’t want it to be live-action, to be honest. I mean, between Grover’s furry butt, Chiron’s horse-hide, the monsters and pegasi and demigodly powers, the show would need a huge special effects budget. And that’s just not gonna happen. So it’ll look cheap as fuck. Which would be an utter shame.

No.

I want a Percy Jackson cartoon show. I’d entrust DreamWorks with this. DreamWorks has done some amazing cartoon shows the last decade - Voltron, Dragons, Trollhunters. Particularly the cooperation with Netflix is working well for them. And with the team behind Avatar, like they’re doing with Voltron, I could REALLY envision a Percy Jackson cartoon. Imagine Percy water-bending like Katara or Korra, Nico looking like Keith in goth-clothes, I’d be dying to see that. Particularly considering that Avatar and Voltron use this beautiful 2D art style. I wouldn’t object to quality 3D like Trollhunters and Dragons, but I’d prefer 2D. I’m an old-fashioned gal like that.

To me, that would be the perfect way of adapting Percy Jackson.

Aaand I got a little lost in Percy Jackson. It happens. Oh well, I guess this is gonna be a long-ass entry then.

What I wanted to say was that I thoroughly approve of the TV show adaptation of books. I know I love Game of Thrones and Vampire Diaries and, of course as you may have noticed if you know me at all, Shadowhunters. All books I haven’t read (though I’m trying to read The Mortal Instruments. I’m just slow). I’ve just always been more of a TV-show kinda gal than a book-reader.

Now, if only they’d adapt the books that I actually love to read. That would be amazing. But somehow, I read stuff that doesn’t even get movies. Sure I read Percy Jackson and that got two failed movies, but we already covered that.

Because yes, I actually do read. Books that I haven’t met through their adaptations.

My all-time favorite book is Wicked, by Gregory Maguire.

I started reading it back in 2010 when I was doing an internship at our cozy local little bookstore - a very homey little place that was specialized on fantasy and sci-fi books. And Wicked was relatively fresh out back then and stood there in the special display and drew me in because of the green-skinned lady. I have a thing for green-skinned ladies, but that’s between me and Shego. So I started reading it during my breaks, when I had nothing else to do. Ten pages here, twenty pages there. By the time my internship ended, I was too hooked to forget about it so I bought it.

I saw its musical adaptation twice. Once in Stuttgart, the German version, and then when I was in London for the first time, the English version.

I love that musical as much as I loathe it.

The same as The Lightning Thief movie. And I mean it. Literally the same. You can view it as live-action fanfiction, but you can not with half-a-mind view it as an adaptation. It has as much to do with the book as The Lightning Thief movie had to do with The Lightning Thief book. That is to say, the characters shared the same names, but neither their behavior nor their physical appearance actually fit. And the plot, if you cook it down to a very basic one sentence summary - “Percy Jackson has to find the Lightning Thief” and “Elphaba Thropp rebels against the wizard” - fits, but do not ever dig for actual details, because those do not cover what happens in the book.

As a musical lover and someone who can view an adaptation as a separate thing from the source-material, I thoroughly love the musical. But as someone who loves that book to bits and pieces, I hate that the majority of people have only ever heard about the musical and are most likely not even aware of the book or haven’t bothered reading it and are now actually under the impression that all it is is a cheesy love-story. Which it is not. The romance is a foot-note in this long masterpiece that is basically a metaphor for the holocaust. And I will never be able to forgive the stupid fix-it shit of “Oh, Fiyero was turned into the scarecrow and they lived happily ever after”. No. They don’t. Or the fact that they turned my favorite character into a vindictive piece of crap.

(Okay, so maybe I am not as able to separate the two as I like to think, but cut me some slack they turned Elphaba’s trusted friend into a literal heartless tin-man who wants to slaughter her. What the fuck is that even.)

And I got lost again.

So, yes, I want a Wicked adaptation done right. A TV-show. After all, this is a book that literally covers her entire life, from birth to death. It tells a pretty long  story and I’d like to see it done right, instead of turned into a high school musical love drama, as the musical did. Not to mention I want to see the polyamorous relationship between Elphaba’s parents and Turtle Heart, maybe if we take more time for her childhood, we’d get more feels for the threesome too. Her two gay friends Crope and Tibbett. Her own “maybe not quite just friends” with Glinda. Her bisexual son who was entirely cut out of the musical. I mean, maybe we cut the girl out who married the Cowardly Lion, but uh they never had sex because she was a rape survivor who had no interest of ever having sex again - perhaps was even asexual, though it was never explicitely stated in the books - and only married him for safety reasons and all that did connect them was deep friendship?

I’d also like to mention my favorite book-series - while Wicked is my favorite book and its direct sequel Son of a Witch might be the only book I ever read within a literal day because I couldn’t put it down, the third and fourth books were a little on the... drawn out and exhausting side of things.

The Bartimaeus-series by Jonathan Stroud.

Bartimaeus is my favorite book-series, because it is - from start to finish - perfection. And Bartimaeus himself is a sassy little shit. We’d definitely need voice-over narration to not forget his sass. Can’t decide if I’d want it as a cartoon or as a live-action show though. But either way, I’d kiss the feet of the person who would fucking finally decide to adapt that book-series. I mean, seriously, among all the many, many shows and all the many, many adaptations these days, how has no oneever thought about giving this book any form of adaptation? It deserves it. It really does deserve a good adaptation.

And then there’s just one more. My favorite childhood books.

The Woodland Folk, by Tony Wolf.

I don’t think many people have ever even heard of this. It’s from an Italian author and as a child, I only owned two out of the twelve books that existed. But they were my most often read books. I knew them by heart, literally.

I later on, as a teen, bought the missing ten books on the internet and devoured them.

Those books are the reason I got hooked on fantasy, why I am obsessed with fairies and mermaids and witches. Tony Wolf’s illustrations in those books are the reason I always wanted to draw. They are beautiful and sweet and they would make for an amazing cartoon.

I know out of all of those books on this wish-list, this is the one that’s most far-out-there and will probably never happen, but I’d be ridiculously happy if it did.

[chocodeedee]

EDIT: so part 2 is here if anyone wants it?

So it’s hella late where I am right now and I need to get up at 5:30 tomorrow morning but I don’t care cuz @smosh-stuff has a musical theatre camp AU going right now and I HAVE NEVER FELT MORE ALIVE IN MY LIFE

But here’s the thing… I want them to be in a fine arts/performing arts school

Smosh High School for the Performing Arts

So I have some ideas…. Hear me out guys

And this is gonna be loooooooooooong

Lasercorn didn’t really want to be in shows or perform, he was into the technical aspects of theatre

He was very happy in the soundbooth

(actually he was really happy interrupting Joven’s monologues with fart noises and babies crying, or silencing the mics of people who were singing badly or over acting)

(oh and he loved shouting slightly degrading words of encouragement from the back when the directors weren’t looking)

His sound booth also served as a sanctuary during meal breaks as long as NO ONE GOT CRUMBS ON THE BOARD

But they reeeeeeaaaalllllllyyyyy needed some extra soldiers in their production of Aida

And he only had to be in Fortune Favors the Brave

So he agreed assuming that he would hate it… but it was actually really fun?

And their spring musical is going to be Sweeney Todd

He loves Sweeney Todd (maybe just for all the murdering and darkness but who cares)

So he’s sometimes is in the cast, sometimes is in the crew.  When he’s in the show, Joe takes care of sound and everything ends up fine

He;s over all the drama though

If the leads and/or basically anyone gets in a fight during rehearsal he’ll just slink back into the soundbooth and wait it out

But when he chooses to engage it’s intense

He can single handedly shut down a fight by yelling for a few minutes

And as much as everyone loves him, they’re scared to death of him too

Matt Sohinki has no idea what he’s doing at a fine arts school but his parents told him to “broaden his horizons” and suddenly he was enrolled

He liked and was pretty ok at standup comedy, but that was it

He auditioned because it was sort of expected of him

He didn’t expect to actually get in

And suddenly he was in the chorus of Hairspray and it was GREAT

He found that he really liked being in shows, but still likes his standup comedy more

So he doesn’t do every show, just the ones he particularly likes

He serves as an objective person to vent to when things get shitty

He also brings his friends coffee during hell week and makes sure they’re alive and keeping up with their academic school work

Also, he’s a decent dancer, but definitely not trained

He can fake his way through musical choreography but ask him to choreograph and/or dance for anything else? NOPE

Generally speaking he’s just really chill, but sometimes feels like he doesn’t belong with the theatre kids

But he loves performing and his friends and it’s worth it

But he still loves stand up comedy more, sorry y’all

Let’s talk about Joven who actually did music theatre in high school where his stage name was freaking Showtime

Joshua Showtime Ovenshire

This man loves theatre and loves performing with all of his soul

HIS DEDICATION IS OUTMATCHED BY NO ONE

But he’s never the leading man, just the supporting second

Important but doesn’t get the credit he deserves

He’s neve Jean Valjean but Thénardier, not Link Larken cut Corny Collins, not Fiyero but Boq and so on and so forth

This probably frustrates the hell outta him and during hell week the Jovenrage is REAL

But he’d put the good of the show first…. No matter how salty he is that Wes and Shane are the leads AGAIN

Oh Wes, my small child

He’s just really excited about performing

He gets really excited about all art, but music theatre just makes him so happy and excited

And he’s REALLY FREAKING GOOD AT IT

AND HE DOES EVERYTHING

He somehow is able to be in the school choir, show choir, take dance classes and private voice, be the lead in a good chunk of school musicals and pass all of his academic classes with flying colors too

The man just does it all

And he’s so humble that you can’t even hate him for it

He’s funny and gives really good speeches in the green room during circle

But when he gets frustrated it really sucks

He sometimes just shuts people out and tries to memorize lines for hours

He’ll dance himself to exhaustion because he doesn’t think it’s good enough yet

Everyone thinks he’s amazing, and he thinks he has to keep it up at all times

Joven has to remind him that it’s ok to take a break sometimes, and he’s human, he’s not perfect

Shayne freaking Topp love of my life is the other “leading man” of the squad

He’d rather act than sing, but he can do both just fine

He makes a beautiful Link Larken

Just sayin

He’s dedicated to the shows he does, but can’t help but goof off if he thinks no one is looking

And dear lord when Damien transfers in they never get anything done

EVER

But he knows how to get serious when he needs to

He plays all the stereotypical pretty boy roles

He was Warner in Legally Blonde, Link Larkin in Hairspray, Sky in Mamma Mia, Danny Zuko in Grease etc.

He gets frustrated at the real lack of character development and character in his roles

But sometimes it’s fun being shallow, and he does straight shows a lot so he gets to be deep and full of emotions there

His best friends Damien transferred in their sophomore year

It was the worst/best thing to ever happen to the theatre and music theatre departments

Like Shayne, Damien has a set of pipes but he prefers acting

But he’ll do musicals

Those two have incredible onstage chemistry as well as off-stage chemistry

Demien is incredible at physical comedy

He can do any stunt that you can think of for any show that you ask him

If the directors need a character with a great physical presence and comical, they ask Damien to audition

He and Shayne never get anything done together in rehearsal

But somehow they make it work in the end

No one knows how they do it but they’re really glad that they do

Damien just kind of integrated himself into the theatre department and is here to stay now

Also if Shayne won’t play a pretty boy, Damien sure as heck will

Let's talk about Mari

We all know Mari’s home is in the dance studio

Dance is her passion and no one will deny it

And SHE CHOREOGRAPHS FOR ALL THEIR SHOWS

Sometimes she choreographs whole shows and sometimes she just fills in the gaps where she’s needed

But everyone loves and hates her at the same time

Her choreographer looks amazing but everything hurts and you regret your life while doing it

She comes in close to performance time and cleans and if she doesn't like what she sees everyone will die

But when she’s not choreographing she is one of the music theatre departments favorite non-theatre kids

Flitz comes in as a close second though

I don’t think Flitz would want to be in shows at all, but he’s a number one fan

He’s very happy in the dance studio and supports all of his friends and go to all of the performances

He, along with Sohinki, tries to make sure everyone stays alive when things get stressful

He always has a joke to cheer everyone up and acts as another objective person to scream to about the show

He also helps people learn their lines, even if he’s a really bad actor

And that’s all my brain can spill out for now but I have a zillion idea and Noah, Keith, Courtney and Olivia all fit in there somewhere

I’ll be back with more, promise

[lesbiten]

THAT REMINDS ME. FIYERO SAYING “BUT WE DID” WAS ABSOLUTELY MALICIOUS. WHAT DID HE HAVE AGAINST GLINDA??? SHE LITERALLY DID NOT DESERVE THAT??? LIKE.

I just hate what they’ve done to Fiyero and it’s just.

What if instead of… Musical!Fiyero, he was instead like. A himbo who was only there to progress the plot, almost like a Manic Pixie Dream Boy but not really, and then he becomes an Animal Rights person who like. Commits crimes and stuff, which would make the only song worth removing ALAYM, and also, Elphaba and Fiyero solidarity in a way that isn’t creepy and unnerving, and like. I don’t know I just think that would make the love triangle a lot more compelling??? Especially since it was framed as Fiyero choosing between Elphaba and Glinda, when I personally think that it would’ve been better framed as Elphaba choosing Fiyero or Glinda??? AND ALSO LIKE. I FEEL LIKE IF FIYERO BECOMES A MARTYR AND WAY MORE EXTREME THAN ELPHABA THAT WOULD’VE BEEN A REALLY GOOD CONTRAST IN A WAY WHERE IT’S LIKE. Instead of Fiyero being the worst qualities of Elphaba and Glinda, it’d be like. Fiyero and Glinda being on opposing sides politically, and Elphaba has to like. Choose between the two??? I don’t know I feel like making Fiyero the literal opposite of Gale Force would be better??? Also, that would make No Good Deed make a lot more sense imo??? Like. Fiyero becoming a martyr for the cause of Animals and becoming a staunch supporter, and it’s like. Not only would Elphaba lose a close friend (and possible love interest but I don’t really care much for that perspective tbh) she would also lose like. A confidante and someone who she could trust to do the right thing??? Also, making Act 2!Fiyero’s character more than literally just “Obsessed with Elphaba”????

I feel like it made no sense for Fiyero to be a Gale Force person when like. Animal Rights Revolutionary was RIGHT THERE

But also I think that was somewhat already in the books if the fanfic I’ve read says anything but like. Idk, if they’re gonna completely rewrite Wicked, might as well do it in a way that’s compelling????

Like. They had it with Glinda and having a complete arc but like. I feel like if instead of pitting them against each other making it like. Irreconcilable differences in execution would’ve been better??? But also like. I feel like the contrast would’ve been really interesting because somehow, I think that both Fiyero and Glinda, if they were on opposite sides, they would operate in nearly the same way??? Like. I feel like it would be intensely strategy driven in an almost cold way, while Elphaba would provide a contrast of being intensely emotion driven??? tl;dr there was so much potential

FIRST OF ALL YEAH it just feels like an extra punch in the face that she did not need or deserve and the fact that it was SO EASY for him to say it is just like. worrying. upsetting. screaming and crying. fiyero why do u need to be mean to glinda WHAT HAS SHE EVEN DONE TO DESERVE IT? NOTHING.

anyways yeah the whole concept of fiyero and glinda being on the opposing end of the political spectrum, with glinda working for the wizard [albeit against her will] and fiyero actively working to overthrow him. i think that fiyero becoming an animal rights activist because in the short amount of time he spent with elphaba, he realized he didn't have to dumb himself down and he SHOULD fight for what he believes in, i think that would've been some fun character development that created a natural connection between his character in act 1 and his character in act 2.

the fact that fiyero helps elphaba with the lion cub in the first act and kind of has an "oh shit" moment would lead you to believe he'd have dropped the silly rich boy persona, especially after elphaba went missing, but...no? he still does keep up at least part of that persona in public, even if begrudgingly, and has quite literally joined the very system that elphaba was fighting so hard to destroy. it kind of just leaves you wondering what the hell happened between acts for fiyero to have decided not only to stay with glinda despite clearly being unhappy, but also why he would have joined the gale force to look for elphaba when he could've been spending that time fighting for her cause. idk!

but yeah it also definitely would've added more to his character than being obsessed with elphaba because as it stands that's kind of all he reads as. he's a walking red flag he quite literally loses all of his personality traits from act 1 and becomes unbearably weird. why.

and also agreed that it would add some substance behind no good deed. because look. i love that song it fucks severely but the fact that it's centered almost entirely around fiyero meanwhile elphaba hardly knows him and has just seen him for the first time in YEARS makes it feel......very empty. when she mentions nessa and dillamond it makes sense to me because well. nessa is her sister (fun fact) and dillamond was the only adult who showed her kindness and also she worked with him constantly. but then when it gets to the Big One and its fiyero........? like. i don't know. their relationship just didn't Exist enough prior to that moment for fiyero to BE the focus of that song. y'know. just strange to me

tl;dr there was so much potential :pensive: