#character: Phryne Fisher

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Number 2! Phryne Fisher requested by @mad-madam-m this one was fun c:

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athletic!phryne fisher

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[allpartofthejob]

🎉 Phryne movie polls

We start with an easy question as a warm up:

Explanation & questions:

[dontcallmebymyusername]

Dedicated to @perceptivehands 💖😍 Challenge accepted. 😉😁

No description necessary, just this:

Music in this video:

Jesse Frederick - Everywhere You Look (Full House Theme)

This is the scene that started it 😉:

[missfisherchallenges]

Hello my lovely MFMM fans!

Several of us have been discussing a new fandom event and are looking to gauge interest! If you could answer the simple three question survey below by April 24th, it would be an immense help!

TAKE THE SURVEY HERE

The ideas we are currently considering are:

Themed Event - People create works based off the events theme. This could be something like a monthly prompt, a trope Bingo game where you receive a card and mark off spaces when you create a work with it, or an event similar to the Whumptober or Smutuary events that have been run in the past. Exchange - Bring back the Phryne Ficathon! Participants sign up, giving 3-4 prompts and a list of likes and dislikes, and get prompts in return. Then you have a certain period of time to create and post a gift based off at least one of the prompts. Everyone creates, everyone gets a gift! Prompt Meme - Anyone can supply prompts, anyone can claim them. There's no real rules or deadlines, just the option to post to the collection. Finish Your WIPs Marathon - We all have a folder of shamefully unfinished WIPs. A Finish Your WIPs Marathon provides community and cheerleading as we try to wrap up those bad boys before the deadline. Fuck Festival - An expansion of the Phrack Fucking Fridays of yore. Post your smutty fics on a dedicated day/week

[miaqc1]

Phryne Fisher! Commissioned from @dynoissocool

[ruby-red-inky-blue]

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries really did a pretty spectacular job with their German characters - the conflict, while centred around a world war and everything, is tragic and nuanced and neither side is demonised! And the actress playing elderly Mrs. Vogt is doing a really solid accent, not at all over the top for once! And her son’s German is a valiant attempt, but miles away from a native speaker’s - and the show adresses that! He’s second-generation and “was always worse [at German] than [his] brother”! And the language is included as something not only worth learning, but in the context of poetry - love poetry at that! And Rilke! And *that* Rilke! Death on the Vine has my whole heart just for that.

But they also fall into that exact same trap that almost every anglo production falls into with German characters - the names are??? way too Scandinavian??? Like the father’s name is Michael, which is excellent! That is super common... but his wife pronounces it [ˈmîːkaɛl], “Mee-ka-ale”, which, no. No. That’s just... Swedish. Look, I get it, “ch” is hard for English speakers, but then just call him “Thomas” or “Johann” - they’re just as common, and have neither the difficult “ch” sound nor an “r” (which is usually a dead giveaway, I can count the native English speakers I know who can approximate a German “r”-sound on one hand). You can get away with “Oskar” and “Ida” just fine, they’re common enough - but also suspiciously common in Scandinavia. And then there’s “Erik”. I’d be perfectly willing to be generous and say his parents just anglicised the German variant “Erich” (which, again, would probably be a monster to pronounce for an Australian actor, even though the name would be *just* the ticket popularity-wise). They appear to have anglicised their last name from “Vogt” to “Voigt” (the mother introduces herself as “Ida Vogt”, even though she seems to be *listed* as “Ida Voigt”? Rather confusing). But then his name would be spelled “Eric”, right?

It’s not as egregious as “Dark” and “1899″ - I spent the first ep of Dark convinced the show was set in Sweden or Norway because the names were so off - but it just. It *bothers* me. (Largely because I instinctly always think that the popularity of Scandinavian names in Germany was a leftover Nazi thing - even though turns out that’s just one of those weird misconceptions that a lot of people have. There is apparently quite clear evidence that it’s not true.) But also in this case because it’s geographically off - these Nordic names are very common in *northern* Germany, but the Vogt family is from the Rhineland, which is emphatically not considered northern. It’s not impossible! But not the obvious choice nonetheless, and this keeps happening! It’s so unimaginative, we have so many stupid names to choose from! I get that “Heinrich” and “Friedrich” are dicey if you don’t have a native speaker on your hands, but... With a British accent, “Horst” seems quite doable, and it sounds kinda funny - at least a good bit more foreign than Eric. Same goes for “Dieter”, “Bernhard”, “Walther”, “Udo”, “Hermann”, “Josef”, all old-timey and strong 20th century vibes, and very common. (And honestly, just go with “Peter”, “Arnold” or “Martin”, they’re pronounced slightly differently than the English variant but you’d have absolutely no trouble teaching them to an actor.) Plus, Nathan Page did quite a beautiful job with Rilke’s first name, so for second generation, “Rainer” could be a contender! (And speaking of Rilke, if you want a northern German name so badly, go with “Malte” just once! Change it up!)

Ida doesn’t nearly grate as much - old-timey female names in German are often hard to pronounce (”Hildegard”, “Annegret”, “Margarete” etc. have the bingo of the ‘r’ sound and the consonant clusters, “Ulrike”, “Irene” etc. have that really conspicuous “r” in the middle as well, and I feel like even easier names like “Louise” can be deceptively difficult to get right). But in the first half of the 20th century, you can get away *brilliantly* with short forms! “Anni”, “Emmi”, “Leni”, “Lene”, “Lotte”, “Hilde” - feels very lived-in, and simple enough to pronounce!

tldr; I love Death on the Vine but for the love of god stop naming every German character Erik.

[laurelwen]

I was tagged by @duckland to list 5 comfort characters of mine.

Galadriel, baby. All day, ery day. For as long as I live.

Anne Shirley, God's perfect redheaded Pisces/Aries cusp.

Nigel Colbie, babygirl murder boyfriend - but only WITH Alex Forbes. They are one for eternity, after all.

The Honorable Miss Phryne Fisher, an absolute icon.

Promethea (from Alan Moore's series of the same name)

Honorable Mentions: Leslie Knope, fem!Shepard, Princess Leia, Morgana/Morgan/Morgaine in all her incarnations, James "Sawyer" Ford, and so many more.

Can't think of who to tag, so if it tickles your fancy, DO IT. I want to know who you would pick!

[aurora-australis-tumbles]

Hellooo! 8, 16, and 23 for Phryne for the character ask game maybe? 🥰

8. Your favorite outfit of them Oh, wow, that is TOUGH. Starting out with the hard questions, I see. 😂  Well, while I am definitely partial to the blue dress in Death and Hysteria, I have to go with the last one in Queen of the Flowers. The color, the cut, the fascinator... it's just so lovely and Phryne. 😍

16. A childhood headcanon Phryne used to make up little games for Janey all the time — sometimes to distract her from their parents' arguing, sometimes to include her in the neighborhood shenanigans, but mostly just to make her smile.

23. Future headcanon Her conscience won't let her stay out of WWII, and she winds up working with British Intelligence for the majority of the war. She becomes a bit of a legend afterwards, but politely refuses to talk about it most of the time.

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Character Ask Game

[alder-saan]

I have to wait before reading fanfictions because I don't want to get spoiled the tv show >:(

[phryneluvbot]

Why Phryne Fisher is a great character

and why you should love her too:

She's hot

She's extremely athletic (have you ever seen her running in heels?! you should, asap)

The timeless bob cut

The cunty outfits... chef's miss

She's a polyglot

She's a feminist icon with a mindset far ahead for her times (Phryne is the textbook of "Fuck The Patriarchy" imo)

She's a survivor of abuse, constantly blamed herself for the death of her sister when she was younger, was an ambo driver during WWI and still uses all of those experiences as strength to help everyone she can reach out to

She knows how to drive a plane

She's an amazing dancer

Her best (and oldest) friend is a scottish butch doctor (mac would totally love he/him pronouns btw)

The two cab drivers she befriends after coming back to Melbourne are communists (I love my two red-raggers)

Her "butler" (because phryne always treats them like equals to her, so it's always assistant or friend, never any word/expression that creates an hierarchy) being named "Mr.Butler", who's also an expert in guns and always a good comedy relief

The shy girl that once dot was that she helped on growing into a strong lady, leading to her on finding love (they better name the kid phryne if it's a girl, or I'll do it myself)

Aunt P and Phryne interacting is always the hardest giggles you will ever get

Literally adopted a pickpocket girl she saw in a train station and never judged her. In fact, she understood her, her struggles and fears, and gave her a new life under her wing (now watch jane calling phryne and jack "mom and dad" whenever she sees them sharing a moment or two, lmfao)

Every single Phrack moment... They're a match in heaven (and nathan and essie's acting is sooo good)

Also about Phrack: Both characters being so similar morally, I love it

The adventuress club being formed by many strong and independent women from different backgrounds, with phryne on the wheel of the boat, to celebrate their achievements and goals (and how much they can do for feminism and social justice)

And many other aspects that I'd love to point out, but I don't want this post to be thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat long

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it's the same picture as-

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i was reading your thoughts on how fans felt about l&oha and while i concur it is a perfect piece of work in my head and have reread it 5x, i wonder if you think fans tend to be harsher/more critical of hermione and let draco slide? i see it a lot in fics where he's more of an alphahole type

Oh, man. Okay. The can is open, the worms are loose. Rant under the cut.

I'm actually going to set men aside entirely. Just. To the side with you. I desperately need more realistically complicated men, too, but that's a whole separate discussion. Right now: women.

There must be whole dissertations out there on the phenomenon of readers hating female characters with negative traits. I'm a fandom old, so I didn't grow up identifying with Hermione, and wouldn't have even if I'd been young enough to. I did that "which character are you" test just now and my top three matches were Janis Ian from Mean Girls, Jughead from Riverdale and April from Parks and Rec, which, massive grain of salt, etc. BUT gives you an idea. I am not a Hermione and never was, so she's never been a comfort character or self-insert for me. Some of my favorite fictional women are Sophie Hatter (mean, irrational, petty, old and mostly loving it), Harrowhark Nonagesimus (evil stick), Phryne Fisher (zero fucks to give). What I like about Hermione is how imperfect she is. I'm a "cleverest witch of your age I've ever met" truther (book!Lupin is absolutely saying "you're the canniest 14 year-old child I have personally met, saying this as a guy who doesn't get out much," not "you are a once-in-a-century genius"), and from my perspective, she's often wrong and often a dick, and not in a fun and fiesty burn-down-the-world BAMF way. Which. Good for her! Be human.

And that's the thing. I personally don't want Hermione to be perfect, I want her to be what I think she is, textually, which is intelligent, hardworking, loyal, competitive, compassionate, controlling, belittling, rude, petty, insecure, vindictive, volatile. She has the right to be that way, because she's human. The desire for perfected women (or unapologetically and unstoppably awful ones, another brand of female power fantasy) is not limited to Dramione fandom. I think it's amplified in DHr by many readers who DO identify as former gifted children, books-as-coping-mechanism kids and Strong Female Personalities who felt marginalized in childhood and want to see Hermione have it all: she's slim, she's tiny, she's fragile as a bird, she'll break your neck, she'll step on your throat, she'll tear down the system, she'll heal all wounds, she does not need help, she holds all the knowledge, she holds all the cards, she is forever wronged, she can do no wrong, her vagina is tight, her nipples are hard, her hair is on point, her waist is tiny, her tits are bouncing, her ass is in the style of Now. And like. This isn't at all unique to DHr and Hermione. It's pervasive in fiction written by and for women. Female power fantasies are obviously feeding a massive hunger. It's just not what I personally want. Personally, I find it alienating and uncomfortable, which I know equates to, "That is wrong and shouldn't exist" to a lot of people, but that's its own tale as old as time.

There's a disconnect that happens too often where a reader wants one (1) thing from their fiction, and receives something else, even when the contents are clearly labeled on the tin. In this case, wanting a female power fantasy and encountering a woman who's written with flaws makes people upset. And maybe if we could be more honest with ourselves about what we're looking for when we read, work to accept that not everyone wants the same experience, and learn to close a book when it's not working for us and say, "No shade, this isn't for me," it would be less upsetting when we encounter a character who isn't written to meet our personal expectations. I will open a book, realize the FMC is a female power fantasy archetype and close it, because that's not what I show up for. I like my women gritty and weird and foolish and vulnerable and liable to hurt people and feel terrible about it. Give me all the exhausting chatterers and evil sticks and jocks with swords and their hearts on their sleeves (their hearts ripped out), give me shy Anne Elliot and her suitcase full of regrets and the ugly fuckup who never has a glow up, give me dirtbag stoners and Fleabag and Alicent Hightower apologetics and every role Natasha Lyon has ever played. It's not a moral high ground, it's about a preference for seeing actual, demeritus flaws on the page and on the screen. Blame that woman. It's her fault. She has so many faults. Then show me how to forgive her so I can figure out how to forgive myself.

The thing is, I love women. I love women so fucking much. I want to be around them, to get to know them, to read about them, to watch them on TV and see them in films. And personally, I like them ugly. Physically. Spiritually. Morally. Give a woman a Bad Personality and watch her succeed in the most self-injurious way possible, fuck you. Give her a gaping chest wound and line it with teeth. Stick a piece of grit in that girl's tightly sealed shell so that a pearl is her only option. Make her love other women, make her fuck it up, make her have to earn them back.

Thankfully I do feel like we're getting more ugly women in fiction, especially BIPOC, queer and marginalized women who deserve gross, weird, nasty representation and not just didactic moralism, patronization and misguided sainthood. Some readers won't want that, and that's fine. Again, personally (it's all so personal, please, please remember that when you hit that comment button), I'm here for it. If you write about women like this, know that you have a thirsty reader here. I'm swallowing them up. I'm smacking my lips. I'm smashing my mug on the cafeteria floor and calling for another.

[detectivejay]

Detective/Mystery Media List

Open to more recommendations if I’m missing any favorites I should check out, let me know! Particularly any other good Sherlock adaptations, but also interested in finding more female, PoC and/or queer-led detective media.

Watched/read/played/etc:

Sherlock Holmes (ACD canon)

Sherlock - Basil Rathbone adaptation film series

Sherlock - Granada, Jeremy Brett adaptation TV series (some episodes, need to rewatch) - shoutout to @thegreatandlovablespacedorito for reminding me to revisit this one

BBC Sherlock TV series

Sherlock - Robert Downey Jr movies

Enola Holmes (movies)

Moriarty the Patriot/Yuumori (manga and anime)

Ron Kamanohashi: Deranged Detective/Forbidden Deductions aka RKDD (anime, need to read the manga)

Hercule Poirot novels (not all but a large portion) - need to watch more of the TV show Spenser novels by Robert B Parker (not all but a large portion)

Auguste C Dupin - The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe (short story)

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett (book)

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler (book)

Case Closed / Detective Conan (anime, some episodes/seasons)

Knives Out movies

Psych TV series

Only Murders in the Building TV series

The Dresden Files books

Brookyln 99 TV series

House MD TV series

Monk TV series (watched some episodes)

Murder She Wrote (a few scattered episodes)

The Clue movie

Anita Blake book series (up to book 10)

Some Nancy Drew books

Ace Attorney video games

Professor Layton video games (not all but I believe at least the first 3)

Sherlock Hound

The Great Mouse Detective

Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century

Inspector Gadget cartoon

Scooby Doo cartoons

The Boxcar Children

Detective Pikachu movie

The Case Study of Vanitas (anime/manga)

The Millionaire Detective - Balance: Unlimited (anime) - @prapo237 got me into this one x3 so silly

Currently watching/reading/playing/etc:

Sherlock - Elementary TV series (on 2nd season)

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (video game series, includes Herlock Sholmes)

Persona 5 recommended by friends on the JR Discord

To watch/read/play/etc:

Detective L - Chinese Sherlock-inspired TV series on Youtube recommended by @meg-pond

Miss Sherlock - Japanese series also suggested by @meg-pond

Bodkin TV series on Netflix - Irish, female-led, recommended by @rubycountess

Sherlock Holmes and Co - podcast (seen a lot of posts about this, but I’m terrible at following podcasts so TBD, going to try some suggestions from @wasabitheweirdo to help with this)

Columbo tv series

Murder on the Orient Express movie

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes film

Bonnie MacBird Sherlock Holmes books recommended by @romanathree

Soviet made Sherlock Holmes film recommended by @imlostatau on Youtube

Baskerville play by Ken Ludwig suggested by @wolfyraged

Without a Clue suggested by @helloliriels

Young Sherlock suggested by @helloliriels

Charlotte Holmes books by Sherry Thomas suggested by @lej418

Miss Marple novels by Agatha Christie

Any other Agatha Christie novels I haven’t read (Sad Cypress recommended by @romanathree )

AJ Raffles books by William Hornung recommended by @romanathree

Dead Boy Detectives on Netflix

Elemental Masters by Mercedes Lackey

Holmes, Marple and Poe by James Patterson - curious to see how this book treats these original characters inspired by the greats, the new characters are Brendan Holmes, Margaret Marple (maybe related to Jane Marple?) and Auguste Poe (takes his first name from Poe’s detective, Auguste Dupin)

The rest of the Dupin stories

The rest of the Raymond Chandler books

More Arsene Lupin stories (including ones vs Herlock Sholmes)

Nero Wolfe novels by Rex Stout

Pet Shop of Horrors anime/manga recommended by @eden-falls

Otherside Picnic recommended by @eden-falls

Lonely Castle in the Mirror recommended by @eden-falls

Phryne Fisher's murder mysteries books and TV show recommended by @milenathebrave

The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison, saw this one posted recently by @seeingteacupsindragons and I'm curious so added it to the list

Magnus Archives horror/thriller mystery podcast recommended by @writingandwritten