#bughead food

[bughead-in-the-comics]

From Trick Schtick, PEP Comics #354 (1979).

[philtatosbuck]

i did remember your url used to be bugvarchie but i kind of thought it was more of a joke i didn't know you shipped all four of them together

to be clear i don't ship betty and archie if we're being technical my endgames were specifically bughead & varchie but i do support the ot4 ending even though i stopped watching that shit at some point in season five lmao

[purplespacekitty]

just wanna formally apologize to anyone i've been INTENSE about Riverdale to. not because i love Riverdale. because Jughead Jones is canonically touch-averse and aroace and i will never, EVER, evereverevereverever forgive Riverdale for willfully ignoring that.

also, they barely showed our boy with any burgers or fries or milkshakes or gummy worms or any kind of food throughout the whole show. a travesty. dude held a PC controller maybe once. and uh, i don't think they ever had him playing his drum set. ...they tried to do the whole music thing, but The Archies never happened on Riverdale. could have been a great way to keep Josie and the Pussycats in the picture as crossovers between the two comic lines (and additionally, with Sabrina The Teenage Witch) have commonly been used to keep stories going, but it just dissolved before it could even start. anyway, Jughead Jones was born to eat burgers, dispense witty remarks on his friends’ social drama, wage prank wars and play drums, it's literally his destiny (and so is being Archie's best bud).

and like.

here's the thing.

i know, i know, i know that Riverdale isn't the Archie Comics. it's "edgy" or whatever. but like, have you ever read the Archie Comics?????? there are hundreds of storylines more edgy than Riverdale's and in (probably) every single one of them, Jughead eats more net burgers than he eats in all 7 seasons of Riverdale. he has his little angsty plots and crazy nonsensical adventures and is never as deprived of food and games as he is in Riverdale.

he's been this way since 1939, when the Archie Comics first came about. granted, video games didn't exist then, but his whole deal has always been eating burgers and being Archie's best pal. he's a breath of fresh air, a glass of cold water to the face for Archie and the gang to snap them out of their various problems (mostly love- and dating-related, but sometimes friendship- or science or general-good-time-adventure-related). he is often the voice of reason, which is why Riverdale!Jughead doesn't really work. original Jughead has a unique perspective, being primarily preoccupied with food and video games and avoiding all potentially romantic/sexual situations that might involve him: he can observe everything without getting (too) mixed up in all of it. and the more wisdom he imparts to his friends; the more jokes and witty comments he concocts during a given meet-up at Pop's; the more he goofs off and plays pranks on his friends and enemies, the more secure their collective friendship is. and he's perfectly happy with the state of things. he doesn't yearn for romance or sex, all he truly yearns for is a day spent eating burgers with his friends. as long as he has a snack readily available, he's happy to be alone or on an adventure. his natural state is in solitude, which is a state he sometimes has to seek out, but he never has to go far in any quest for company. it's exactly where he wants to be. he would rather have his cake and eat it, too. Riverdale!Jughead inserts himself into the chaos, which original Jughead would rather play a game of football against Reggie than willfully do.

i think Riverdale tried to play into Jughead's comfortability with and preference for his general nonconformism with that whole "i’m a weirdo" speech, but ultimately failed because in the end, they still had him conforming to norms the original Jughead scoffs at. and Bughead, as the literal 85 years of Archie Comics and 7 seasons of Riverdale (in which Bughead basically become kinda-sorta-maybe-almost-pseudo step-siblings??? idk the whole thing between FP and Alice just makes it too weird for me) clearly demonstrate, added nothing to either Jughead’s or Betty’s characters and only contributed to the erasure of one of the longest running aroace characters there is. when the comics did try to give Jughead love interests, it was either extremely out of character, played for laughs as a way to shame him for not being interested in romance or just simply…didn’t work. usually some combination of all of the above. because Jughead is fundamentally aroace and has no desire to be with anyone in a romantic or sexual way. plus it kinda messes up the whole premise of the Archie Comics? teenage boy can’t choose between best friends Girl Next Door and Uptown Girl, who both care for him and each other equally, so he dates them both? it would have been way more refreshing to see them explore the complex open/polyamorous relationship that Archie, Betty and Veronica have been negotiating for 85 years through a more queer and empathetic lens than what Riverdale actually turned out to be. maybe they wouldn’t have erased Jughead’s queerness or sidelined other canonically queer characters (i.e. Kevin, Toni, Fangs, etc.) if they’d taken that route. it would be cool to see a plot within the Archie universe constructively centering queerness as a main element of its characters as storyline.

Riverdale refused to keep the most essential parts of the original Jughead's character: aversion to physical touch, romance and sex, an aggressive adoration for burgers, rhythm and musicality and his ability to separate himself from tense situations in order to problem-solve. what the other characters often sneer at or find frustrating about him are actually the things that solidify his importance in their lives. he balances them out. and there are moments when his friends recognize and celebrate that. and him being this essential, inextricable part of an iconic friend group in the comics is an extremely heartwarming thing to see as an arospec/acespec person, myself.

this was supposed to be an apology, wasn't it...oops? sorry?

Riverdale just kinda missed the whole point of Jughead Jones. and i WILL be salty about it forever.

[imreallyloveleee]

multiple friends tagged me in multiple ask thingies that overlapped so i'm combining them into one mega-ask! thanks @stonerbughead & @onlyalittlebookworm & @sullypants <3 <3 <3

last song I listened to: all-american bitch, i've been having an olivia rodrigo moment lately

currently watching: mr & mrs smith. my husband loves this show. i think it's fine? the first episode was very promising and there have been highlights along the way (parker posey!!) but they've been speed-running the relationship in a way i don't find very believable or compelling. the last ep we watched was the one set in italy and i won't spoil anything here but the ending of that one made me very WTF in a way i don't think they intended?

currently obsessed with: take a WILD guess what i'm obsessed with rn

three ships: mcwexler, bughead, everlark. the holy trinity.

favorite color: red

currently consuming: nothing, but we will be ordering mexican food for dinner shortly

first ship: maria & michael on the og roswell. (sidenote: NO ONE in this world was as excited as i was when brendan fehr showed up in two episodes of bcs. no one)

relationship status: married <3

last movie: american fiction. liked it, didn't love it, REALLY wished it had more tracee ellis ross.

currently working on: a "five times" fic centered around kim wexler's 40th birthday. i will probably have a very long author's note about this when i finally finish it, but for now i will say: i find it really difficult to think up canon AUs from better call saul because pretty much all of the key turning points come from decisions the characters make, and not circumstance. and they are just so well-written and in-character that it's really hard for me to imagine them making different ones. (especially different ones that lead to the specific scenarios i want to explore.)

so, it's an interesting challenge i've given myself, to figure out how kim might still be living in nebraska at age 40, or stuck it out to finally become a partner at HHM, or still sharing an office with her ex at Wexler-McGilll, or...or...

[lovedinapastlife]

Bughead fic: The Taste of a Soulmate

The Taste of a Soulmate

SunlitGarden

Summary/Sample:

Whenever Betty eats Pop’s burgers, she thinks of him. Or her. Whomever her soulmate happens to be. “He” is just how Alice refers to Betty’s “taste bud,” so it’s kind of her mental default setting. The greasy food inspires joy in him. Betty can taste it. Only when he’s truly ecstatic, of course. And her soulmate seems to be excited, almost desperately eager when it comes to food.

~~~

Jughead runs his tongue across his teeth. He could’ve sworn he tasted the pull of curiosity and whipped cream. But the blonde at the counter is definitely…preppy. Probably not willing to slip past the town border for more than a tryst. A “taste.”

From the delicate way she samples the whipped cream from her shake, he’s pretty sure he’d want to feast on her for days. Read here on AO3 [many thanks to @daphnesvieira​ and @bughead-in-the-comics​ for helping me find a good comic panel for this story!] [heathen graphic below bc both tones fit]

[bughead-in-the-comics]

From The Rivalry, Betty and Veronica #20 (1989).

[bughead-in-the-comics]

From The Belly Whoppers, Life with Archie #94 (1970).

[bughead-in-the-comics]

From The Jughead Jones Comics Digest #71 (1991).

[bughead-in-the-comics]

From Archie by Bob Montana, newspaper strip from July 12, 1948.

[bughead-in-the-comics]

From Some Changes Made, Archie’s Pals ‘n’ Gals #54 (1969).

[bughead-in-the-comics]

From Who Ate the Donuts?, Archie’s Weird Mysteries #29 (2003).

[bughead-in-the-comics]

From This Girl for Hire, Betty and Me #97 (1978).

[bughead-in-the-comics]

From That's a Lot of Dough, Betty #126 (2003).

[bughead-in-the-comics]

From Applause for Paws, Betty #181 (2009).

[bughead-in-the-comics]

From The Jughead Jones Comics Digest #60 (1989).

[bughead-in-the-comics]

From Boss Toss, Archie Milestones #24 (2024).