Tale as Old as Time
A synopsis of a fic I'm working on:
When reader's father is taken by one of Namor's warriors, Reader offers herself in her father's place. Destined for servitude miles beneath the surface in exchange for her father's life, she doesn't exactly know what to expect from her new...imprisoners? Owners? Will they be cruel? Punish her for what they see as her father's wrong doings? She can't quite blame them, she too has been a victim of those on the surface, they treated even their own kind with cruelty, so she certainly understand where these people where coming from. But what she doesn't expect, is to meet the leader of this under water world. And even more so, to find a...friend in him.
Would y'all read this?
934 notes
·
View notes
Fairy Tale Retelling I'll Never Write: King Thrushbeard as 1930s screwball comedy
The "princess" is the daughter of a business magnate who has managed to hang onto his wealth in the midst of the Depression.
Girl has some kind of "coming-out" ball where she insults all the men with the best '30s zingers available.
Including our young, handsome, witty hero (son of an even richer business magnate) who can go toe-to-toe with her in arguments, until she slaps him with a Thrushbeard nickname that sticks.
Her outraged father declares he'll marry her off to the first tramp who shows up at their door.
Thrushbeard, who's really attracted to this difficult girl, learns of this from his cynical, sharp-tongued, somewhat-socialist journalist friend, and makes some remark about how he'd be willing to live as a hobo to have her. Journalist friend retorts that Thrushbeard couldn't last a day outside his life of luxury.
Because this is a rom-com, this leads to A Bet. If Thrushbeard can successfully wed this girl in the guise of a hobo, he has to live like one for a certain amount of time, without drawing on his father's resources or letting her on to his true identity.
Thrushbeard shows up in disguise, there is Witty Sparring between him and the princess, and the princess winds up marrying him mostly to spite her father--if he thought this threat would make her apologize for her behavior, he had another think coming. Now his family legacy's tied to a hobo and he's got to live with that.
Unfortunately, so does she. The newlyweds are out in the street within moments of the wedding.
There is Comedy about how the princess haa no clue how to function outside her clean and glamorous world, and Thrushbeard's not much better.
With some assist from Journalist Friend (who is not about to let the story of the century slip out of his grasp) they manage to hop a freight car and settle down in a shanty town.
More Comedy about her total inability to complete domestic tasks. So it's not Totally Sexist, she gets the upper hand when her husband also proves unable to complete these tasks he claims were child's play.
There are various attempts to Find Jobs and Make Money, which are all humorously thwarted by Comedy Shenanigans. Journalist Friend has his work cut out for him just to keep these two idiots alive. (He wants to win the bet, but he also doesn't want to be responsible for his buddy's death.)
At one point, the couple winds up in a boxcar again and share a heart-to-heart where they finally see each other as people instead of sparring partners.
Princess finally starts a sidewalk stand where she starts to make a bit of money. In an Unfortunate Coincidence, Thrushbeard's dad shows up in the area, and Thrushbeard has to meet him as himself to keep him from finding out about this cockamamie scheme. During this confrontation (with his father who thinks he's shirking his responsibilities), Thrushbeard is inadvertently responsible for destroying his wife's stand.
To Thrushbeard's horror, his wife responds by demanding a new job to replace the one she lost, and his father gives her a job working in one of his houses.
Now Thrushbeard has to live a double life as himself and as the hobo husband his wife knows.
At a Glittering Party, Thrushbeard as Wealthy Heir is the center of attention while his wife is working as a servant and frugally trying to swipe scraps for his supper.
He tries to avoid her, but Tangled Comedy Mishaps lead him to stumble over her, sending her scraps flying and causing her major embarrassment as some members of the press recognize her.
In trying to help her, he acts too much like her husband, and the secret slips.
His wife slaps him silly.
She subjects him to a scathing tirade about what a heartless nutcase he is, and how the worst part is that she had fallen in love with her hobo of a husband, but he's not even real, and you can die in a ditch for all I care.
She tries to storm out, but he catches her by the wrists and tries to explain that he did it all out of Love for Her, and he did everything wrong and she can have her divorce if she wants, but he loves her more than ever and he'll love her until the day he dies.
She just stares at him, and finally she's like, "You're worse than a nut. You're a sap. And I'm the nut who's falling for it."
(It's a screwball comedy rom-com. Emotional realism has no place here).
Kisses, reconciliation, big proper society wedding. Journalist Friend wins big with his inside scoop (which Mr. and Mrs. Thrushbeard allow him to publish because he did keep them alive (even though this is all his fault) and the story's public anyway so they may as well get the facts from a friendly source.)
Thrushbeard and his wife both take steps to improve their fathers' business practices and help out their hobo friends.
Journalist friend gives them a wedding present of an unpublished photo of them standing in front of their shanty looking all gooey-eyed at each other. The couple hangs it in a place of honor in their fancy house, and the story ends on that image.
232 notes
·
View notes
Hey, all!
I decided to do a Magical Girl version of my own DC OC, Penelope Todd - Jason's sister.
I was super inspired by the Magical Girl Batfamily AU by @bloomeng - if you haven't seen it already, you should absolutely check it out and like it and share it and love it forever!
However, to make it things little closer to my own version of canon events (aka "Earth 860"), I came up with some of my own ideas, too.
In this AU, Martha Wayne wasn't murdered beside her husband in an act of random violence but in an effort to get control of a magical string of pearls that she created with each bead bestowing its user with a unique magical ability.
Now the pearls have passed down to Bruce and he gives one away to each of his children when they're ready to wield their power, both as an act of unity and as a way of him letting go of his traumatic past.
When the children first come into their power, they're named "Robin" and are given a collapsable staff that houses their pearl. The intention is that each Robin will pass down this staff to the next as a family tradition.
But after Jason's death, Penelope stole both his pearl and the staff for herself and set out to become her own hero, "Red Phoenix".
⌞ ° • 🦇 • ° ⌟
Designing a magical girl for a character like Penelope was a really fun challenge because she's more sporty and practical, she wouldn't wear all the lace and ruffles and ribbons and miniskirts usually associated with the genre.
So it was fun to think about what kind of "extras" I could add onto her costume without it getting in her way.
Now I'm just resisting the urge to add lil' wings to the boots of her actual superhero suit... which I'll definitely get around to drawing one day!
31 notes
·
View notes
I know that much of the “journey to the west” novel is made up of episodic adventures, but I was curious if they ever tried to adapt the story to a linear/serialized format?
(I don't remember where I read it, but there was a play(?) that tied two arcs together, in which White Bone Spirit and a demon from another arc were sworn brothers, I think?).
Oh wow! I guess if you mean by linear format you mean like an entire series was made then yes this has happened dozens of times! There are many TV shows that cover the entirety of the journey!
1964 Son Goku Goes West (孫悟空西へ行く) Live Action
1971 New Journey to the West (布袋戲 新西遊記) Puppets
1974 Journey to the West / Sai Yau Gei (西遊記 西游记) Live Action
1978 Monkey (Saiyūki) (西遊記, 西遊記系列) Live Action
1983 The Handsome Monkey King (美猴王) Puppets
1986 Journey to the West (西游记) Live Action
1987 The Monkey King of Heaven (齊天美猴王)
1989 Journey to the West (西游记) Live Action
1994 Journey to the West (西行漫记) Live Action
1995 Monkey King (美猴王) Animation
1996 Journey to the West (西遊記 (貳) 西游记2) Live Action
1999 Legends of the Monkey King (西游记) Animation
1999 Monkey Magic (モンキーマジック) 西游记
2000 Monkey King (齊天大聖孫悟空) Live Action
2002 The Monkey King: Quest for the Sutra (齐天大圣孙悟空 / 齊天���聖孫悟空) Live Action
2005 Treasure Lucky Star (夺宝幸运星) Animation
2006 Saiyūki (JTTW 1) (西游记 西遊記) Live Action
2009 Monkey King (美猴王) Animation
2010 The Monkey, Monk, and Monsters go west (西游记) Animation
2010 Journey to the West (西遊記 / 西游记) Live Action
2010 Journey to the West New Field History (西遊記新野史) Puppets
2010 Journey to the West at Shuimu Theater (水木剧场西游记) Animation
2010Journey to the West Documentary (袋戲預告片之西遊記錄片)
2011 Journey to the West (西遊記 / 西游记) Live Action
2013 Radio Play Puppet Show "Journey to the West" (廣播劇布袋戲《西遊記》) Puppets
2014 I Go Westward Journey (我去西游) CGI
2015 Westward Journey: Monsters Don't Run! (西游之妖怪别跑)!Live Action
2015 Monkey King's Three-Tune Banana Fan (孙悟空三借芭蕉扇) Live Action
2018 Past Journey to the West (西游记之八戒与沙僧 西遊之八戒與沙僧) Live Action
2018 Classic Journey to the West
2020 Journey to the West: Conquer the Demons (西游降魔篇) Live Action
2020 Sanmiao Children's Journey to the West (西游记 动画版三淼)Animation
33. 2020 The Legends of Monkey King (大泼猴)
34. 2020 Journey to the West (西游记: 中国经典名著)
35. 2021 Journey to the West God of War (西游战神诀) Live Action
36. 2022 Saber Theater - Journey to the West with Saber (马刀剧场 马刀西游) Animation
37. 2022 Legend of Wukong TV series (悟空传 / 悟空传电视剧版)Live Action
38. 2024 The Legend of Wukong (悟空传) Animation
That is the recent list of Journey to the West FOCUSED shows, there are plenty of other shows that are more alternative universe, continuations, or just crossover depending on what you are looking for!
If you ever do remember the series where White Bone Spirit has a sworn brother please let me know! That sounds super interesting!
24 notes
·
View notes