#The Mysterious Benedict Society

[mashpotatoequeen]

Ooooooh but I love this. I LOVE this. I remember when so much of the awesome fanart we got were little headshots like this, a small inspiration taken from the book art. It's always incredibly fun seeing people's own take on it, though, and your take is positively lovely.

My boy Reynie! Look at him!!! Look at his little sweater vest!!! Look at how kind his smile is, oh my goodness. I don't know how artists capture emotions with lines but every time it make me feel The Awe. I love how each of the kids has a little colour associated with them, and I LOVE how Reynie is green!! You chose so well. It's cool how the green colour isn't just his vest and the little clover decorations, but rather a part of his outline too!!! (And with the other kids as well, Reynie's just where I first noticed.)

Sticky is ADORABLE here. I love his shy smile and his big ol' glasses. His eyes are even a little bigger than the others because of the lenses! That's fantastic detail I'm so impressed! His outfit is also perfect and very much a Sticky look, which makes me grin. The little worry drops as his... symbol(?) is so fitting. I want to hug him. I want to hug The Boi.

Constance's little grumpy face is so charming, in the way that little grumpy kids are endlessly charming to me. They've got big personalities and Opinions and this is absolutely fantastic! Of course she's wearing her raincoat, but I like the little red clip in her hair too. Another perfect sign too with the red wrinkles!! She is grumpy! It's cool how cartoons and anime and comics have given us these codes to let us look at little lines and know exactly what they represent!

Kate! Look at her big grin and her little winky face! She's got such personality and you've captured it beautifully here. It's really cool how you managed to capture the difference between Kate and Constance's hair, one being whispy white/blonde and one golden! Sometimes it's a toss up with what colour Kate is - her red bucket is so iconic!- but I totally agree that she's a yellow. She's bright and cheery and excitable 95% of the time!

Anyways, these are so lovely @lotsofsq! I'd love to hear about your process or why yous specifically added any of those little details like the symbols if you have the time and energy and will, but not worries! I'm just happy I got to enjoy them. Thank you for sharing!

THE MYSTERIOUS BENEDICT SOCIETY!!!!!!

i’ll be posting most of my stuff chronologically so enjoy my journey

[ID copies from alt text: four headshots of the four society members: reynie is smiling calmly, his hair is sweeping left over his forehead. he is wearing a green sweater vest with a line of little sprouts on it over a button down. sticky has a nervous expression, he is fully bald. he is wearing a blue sweater over a button down. constance looks peeved and has wispy blonde hair with red hair clips. she is wearing a red coat over a yellow shirt. kate is excited and winking, her gold blonde hair is in a high ponytail. she is in a red and white striped t-shirt. all 4 have emphasized lines around them in their respective colors: reynie has green flowers, sticky has blue sweat beads, constance has red jagged lines, and kate has yellow radial lines around her. ]

[floorboardchompingfridays]

Some Advice For People Leaving Comments on Fanfics:

“I liked your fic”

Nice, but basic and easy to overlook

Doesn’t compel the author to do anything other than take the compliment

Sounds like you might be a bot (ew)

“I am going to eat your floorboards!”

Unique and attention grabbing

Makes me second guess whether I should have bought that insurance

Sounds like you might be a termite (how did a termite learn to type????)

[the-wise-mans-fear]

A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Mysterious Benedict Society, and the Secret Series by Pseudonymous Bosch were like superwholock for weird little autistic kids who liked to make up secret codes and write messages in invisible ink

[hoperays-song]

The funniest trope I’ve ever seen is found family, but it turns out said found family is insane and has way more questionable morals than the original family.

[mashpotatoequeen]

REMEMBER THE WHITE KNIGHT!!!!

This is.... my absolute favourite scene from the books, probably. It might be one of my favourite bits of writing of all time, if I am deeply honest with myself. I love it. I love how Trenton Lee Stewart utilizes the motif so effectively, from the initial test and how Reynie experiences doubt about his answer, to the conversation in the study, to the SCENE. The scene in the middle of the night when Reynie's at his lowest, his most doubtful, and he reaches out and almost gives up and-

Remember the white knight.

Man. I love it. Love it, love it, love it. I reread it all the time. I have cried over that passage before and I will again.

You art captures it so beautifully. I love Reynie's expression here, how soft and downcast he looks, the way it almost seems like he's trying to judge his own hands and hold them steady. I love the highlights in his hair, the way your art style shows definition and shadow on skin. I love the colours, that soft, almost sad blue. They mesh beautifully with the text behind it, and when you first glance at the art you almost don't notice the writing but take a second longer and-

Oh.

Remember the white knight.

Lovely. Lovely, lovely, lovely. @magic-swords-art, this is absolutely fantastic. Thank you so, so much for sharing and bringing one of my favourite anythings to life in some small way. This art is one of my favourite anythings, too. <3

[s-che]

Parasitic Games

So I've been rewatching Gravity Falls, right? And reading the Book of Bill, of course. And also playing a lot of Cultist Simulator? Which is a weird one but also a very specific combination of vibes.

Anyway I blacked out and finally wrote a twin pair of journaling games, A CALAMITOUS COINCIDENCE and THE ALCHEMIST. I wrote them in my dark basement research center (apartment) while remembering only occasionally to fulfill my obligations to the outside world (still going to work, I guess) while attempting to string together the clues and assemble, at last, my magnum opus (get them on the actual page, or screen I guess).

Anyway, let's do some normal ad copy.

Calamitous Coincidence is based on stories of lonely investigators, clever children, and inescapable tragedy (like A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Mysterious Benedict Society, and Gravity Falls) while The Alchemist lets you jump right in to bullshit esoteric thinking inspired by absolute freaks like John Dee and Aleister Crowley (or Cultist Simulator and Susanna Clarke's Piranesi, which are the reasons I actually wrote it).

I'm really putting that religion degree to good work, huh?

Both games give you the tools you need to figure out who you are in the world, what you're looking for, and where you think you'll find it -- neither give you the answers you're looking for. You'll have to find those yourself.

Both games are prototypes, currently available on Patreon for anyone paying $3 or more. As always with my patreon stuff, I extremely, extremely encourage you to sign up for a month, download the stuff you're interested interested in, and then cancel. It still means a lot.

Both games have been setting my brain on fire for the last month and a half, and I'm glad to get them out into the world (even if they are still a little broken).

I hope you like them:)

[gertstarlight]

south asian sapphics in media <3

[fandom-queen-13]

rank the fanfic websites (part 1)

PLEASE REBLOG THIS, I WANT A LARGER AUDIENCE

[wintersgalaxies]

Look, say what you will about kids books being silly or whatever, but genuinely one of the most important lessons I’ve learned and used in academics is the concept of “use the test to take the test” from The Mysterious Benedict Society.

There’s a scene in the beginning of that book with an intentionally wildly difficult test for the kids, but the trick of the test is that the answers are “hidden” in different questions (the answer for one question is in the introduction/description of another question).

Now, I haven’t had any trick tests like that, but the principle absolutely works in normal tests. Every single time I am not sure of an answer, I go through the rest of the test to see if there are any other questions that hold hints that I can (at least try to) logic out the answer to the initial question. This is why I always double-check my answers.

I am in university and I am pretty sure that extra time to compare information between questions just saved me a couple of points. It sure has countless times in the past.

Thank you reading! thank you lessons from kid’s books! thank you Mysterious Benedict Society!

[kaleb-is-definitely-sane]

Trenton Lee Stewart was like: Neurodivegence is a superpower. Fuck capitalism. Killing people is wrong when there are alternatives. Immigrants are heroes. Women are awesome. Black people are freaking gorgeous. People are good at heart.

And then turned that into a book series. And succeeded.

[tenmillionthfirefly]

[myfairkatiecat]

TMBS POST FOR FANDOM FIGHT EVENT!

@crumpetsandbiscuits organized this little event hehe

SO HELLO

REBLOG IF YOU LIKE THE MYSTERIOUS BENEDICT SOCIETY

Also reblog if you DON’T like the mysterious Benedict society, because it’s an awesome story and therefore deserves a reblog anyway

Don’t reblog more than three times as per the rules but. Do put a little reblog on this post. Because the mysterious Benedict society is sooooo fun and deserves to win!

[mvshortcut]

Martina Crowe is literally the og hater. You will never be as iconic of a hater as her. She is so committed to hating that she stopped the narrative at a climatic moment while our heroes our captured to list all of the things she hates, categorized in order of how much she hates them and with reasons, for a full two pages. Have you ever stopped the narrative at a climatic moment to list all the things YOU hate in order? No? That's because Martina Crowe is the GOAT at hating. In the Olympics of hating she takes the gold every time. Her competitors aren't even on the podium. You can try to be a hater but you're just embarrassing yourself. Give up <3

[tyrramint]

I’m sorry, what shows over the past two years have actually been renewed? I legitimately don’t care any more if the show is “good” or if it’s “bad” because they’re all cancelled. I can go on and on with a list just off the top of my head with shows that have been cancelled recently, and maybe one? two? maybe? that have been renewed? Like. what is the point. I’m scared to start any new show because in all likelihood it’s going to be cancelled. And all the more power to campaigns to save shows; I have so much respect for the perseverance and dedication that takes, and I’m not trying to bring them down in the slightest, but I’m more saying to the point of that there shouldn’t. have to be. a new campaign to save x show every two weeks BECAUSE SHOWS SHOULD BE ABLE TO BE RENEWED. Fans should be able to have some *semblance* of hope that their show will be renewed, and the fact that we’re not even able to have that is ridiculous and speaks volumes about the landscape of show production right now. Every time I see that a new show was cancelled, it doesn’t even matter if I was a fan of it or not, I just still hurt for that fandom. It’s so draining, even if it’s not firsthand. There’s not even really a point to this post, I’m just tired of it. I’m so sorry for all of the shows you love that have been cancelled.

[thewickedbohemian]

Yet another idea poll regarding my projects, this time it's for stuff I'd want to make into stage musicals if I could (but stuff slightly B-list enough that people might not think to adapt it)

Some clarifications

a MLP: FIM stage musical would adapt the pilot or something else that could stand on its own yet still be adequate character introduction and characters would be conveyed in a similarly symbolic way to how Spongebob's musical does it with appropriate-color hair (YMMV on if they'd also need body paint) and a tail the same color on their tush, horns for the unicorns and wings for the pegasi, and evocative-of-character outfits (like what they wear in Equestria Girls) with their cutie mark displayed prominently)

making a stage musical out of the Luke Cage or Jessica Jones shows wouldn't necessitate speedrunning the whole plot but finding an adequately standalone piece of it

Unlike my ideas for MLP: FIM and Little Bear, a A Bug's Life musical wouldn't try to convey character through entirely symbolic-clothing-and-relevant-animal-parts a la Spongebob (unless this initial idea is impractical) but would have costumes that can actually more clearly convey what kind of bug everyone is (and my ideas have taken some cues from The Masked Singer in order to not make things look too theme-park-show)

A Little Bear musical would adapt a handful of episodes of the show that have a common theme and/or featured-side-character and just like my vision for A Bug's Life the music would be kinda country-folk-bluegrass-y to convey the rustic setting

Sure Psych would need some lengthening to make up for the commercial breaks but some of the songs could stand to be longer anyway

no I'm not sure how the spider-robot-hat-thing would work in Meet The Robinsons, yes I still think it'd make a cool musical

If Broadway can handle Sweeney Todd it can handle Midsommar (which would be another folk musical) or The Menu

[deeskip]

one of my most favorite things is the absolute tackling hugs that kate gives milligan when he comes back from missions