#drusilla was right

[fluffyspuffy]

Not to like hate on Angel on main, but anyone who took the opportunity to beat the shit out of him was completely justified in doing so

[margareturtle]

Andrew Blackthorn was a pretty shit father

But I gotta give him some credit

For the fact that he had seven children

And didn’t name one of them Jonathan 👏

Rumor has it 1 in every 5 shadowhunters is named Jonathan

Andrew & Eleanor are rly out here beating the odds

Ya know who I know did think about the Roman Empire everday

Andrew Blackthorn

And bro wanted everyone to know it too

Thus his children’s names 😭

[joyfullywizard]

I admit I struggle with sexual liberation reading in new Nosferatu, but not because of morals. I have no problem with that narrative in other vampire movies, books and TV shows. I just don't understand how it works in the remake?? But people are so sure it works in the remake.

Hi!

Well, yeah, I actually can understand the criticism about that bit, if you subscribe to this whole "liberation" take. As criticism not about intention, but about execution. Because if we approach it solely from execution pov and especially in comparison with other vampire media  since you brought that up, then some questions inevitably arise. Namely, about the inner building of respective universe of vampire media when it deals with any themes of liberation via vampires. Almost every media which deals with such themes establishes that this so-called liberation is not only limited to "sex with vampires goes brrr", but there are other dimensions vampires can offer to humans as part of this so-called liberation. In  Interview with Vampire TV series (2022-) it’s directly and clearly established the rules that vampire Lestat can turn people into vampires, he wants to turn and turns Lois and they can co-exist as vampire couple for centuries, can travel, can see different countries and cultures through the ages, that Lois as a simply mortal human would never be able to see otherwise. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series (1997-2003), it is also directly and clearly established the rules that vampires can turn other people into vampires, we get to see vampire squad-couples of Angel/Darla, Spike/Drusilla hanging out all over the world through different time periods, while in relation to Buffy, who is superpowered human-slayer relationships with vampires are less about liberation, and more about  beneficial  equal relationships cause she gets someone on her physical level and abilities, understands her and her job, and she co-works with her vampires boyfriends during her slaying. In Dracula movies, which  deal with anything like this the rules are also clearly spelled out. In Dracula  (1979) and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), it’s directly and clearly established the rules that Dracula can turn people into vampires, he wants to turn and almost turns Lucy (who is simply renamed Mina character in 1979 movie) and Mina (in 1992 movie)  into vampires. Both Draculas  have clear dialogue about that and actions in the movies. If transformation of female heroine in each movie was completed they like Lois and Lestat would have co-existed as vampire couples for centuries, would travel, would see different countries and cultures through the ages, that Lucy and Mina as  simply mortal humans would never be able to see otherwise. Plus all that abovementioned media establishes vampire’s powers and limits and so what powers they can give to their human paramours when they turn them in one of their kind. Vampire media also dealt with some forms of liberation via vampires from other points, not necessary sexual ones. In Let the Right One In (2008)  the major theme is that vampire Eli teaches human boy Oskar to stand up for himself and gives him  some companionship, so their relationships are darkly liberating in whole another way, to certain degree, of course.  So long, so forth. Multiple other examples across different vampire media, where vampires did have something to offer to the humans.

While Nosferatu remake doesn’t have clearly in-built rules in its own universe to explore the whole "liberation angle", if you approach movie from it. There’s no direct plot framing of what exactly Orlok intended to do to Ellen, apart from feeding on her and some form of vampire sex. There’s no clear-cut plot point that he was going to make her into vampire. For example,  even in Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) remake, Nosferatu was able to turn people into vampires and he wanted to turn Ellen (renamed into Lucy) into his vampire companion, that was clear. 2024 remake  also doesn’t establish what other possible options were on the table, if turning Ellen into vampire wasn’t really one of them. It seems that apart from consuming Ellen’s blood which inevitably would have led to Ellen’s regular death anyway, nothing else was going on. So that’s understandable why people may  scratch their heads and go “ok, ok, sexual liberation via vampire is cool and all, yes, but also, how and that's it?” Not in some morality pearl-clutching way, but "the plot really doesn't elaborate much" way.

[witchlingcirce]

I don’t think y’all understand how excited I am for her.

LIKE I KNOW OUR LITTLE MISS MAIN CHARACTER WILL BE OUR SHINING LIGHT IN TWP!!!

Also y’all don’t UNDERSTAND how excited I am for the rest of this comic. Actually how excited I am for the first chapter!!! 100% sure it’s gonna focus on her.

I might do some Dru hopes / for my next blog hehe 🙂‍↕��🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

[probably-hyperfixated]

definitely not a hot take but if buffy was made today angelus, drusilla, and spike would be throuple 1000%

[winepresswrath]

Darla/Angelus is also great because the show has a competing designated OTP and they exist to serve as contrast and hateful competition to THE ship. they are soulless monsters even by the standards of soulless monsters, they literally make the other soulless monsters go "yikes... your relationship seems not good maybe." but they love each other so fucking much. the writers can't help it. they are constantly trying to find their way back to each other. the way she hits him over a head with a shovel and leaves him to an angry mob while he tries to say he doesn't mind dying if it's with her AND the way they coo about it to each other afterwards. the way she takes him back against her better judgement because she missed him so so much but then kicks him out again later because he still can't be who she needs him to be. that's just how they say i love you.

[kitty-gray]

No, you don't understand. "Love means you see someone, that's all" is such an important quote. For both, Dru and Ty.

Like, throughout TDA Dru felt invisible. Too young to fight but old enough to feel left aside. She's resolved to put herself in danger on her own if that means she can help in any way that matters. Even in TWP she hides her panic attacks, and probably so many other ways her trauma affected her.

And Ty, he dreams of being a detective and solving mysteries. He's always been the one trying to understand the world, but the only people who ever tried to understand him were his family.

They both see. They both are comfortable and used to it. But to be seen? I bet it's gonna be pretty epic.

[faustiandevil]

Boy, you wanna come to my motel, honey? Boy, you wanna hold me down, tell me that you love me? Boy, you know that I have really never loved nobody, but you?

René Vincent next to drawing a lot of vehicles was also knows for drawing some very nice lanky dames, so I’m taking notes. While I’m taking a break from writing for the AU (please read the prologue until then, it’s good), I’m doing some character explorations with Dick/Drusilla. A lot of her mannerisms will be based off the big name stars like Garbo and Dietrich (the Modiano cigarette one kind of gives off Dietrich vibes even with the hat)… well mostly when Dick is sober, otherwise she acts like Tallulah Bankhead. I think everyone has heard that one quote from Bankhead that goes a little like “My father warned me about men and booze but he never said anything about women and cocaine.”, which is questionable if she ever said that, but it’s the vibes that I’m going for here. She was still known for being wild at parties and I need that for my queen.

I did keep Dick’s mustache in some of the drawings just for the sake of the character being recognizable in some way. I also generally kept to his signature colors of blue, red and black. Ignore Max in the second one this is not about him. Btw if anyone is wondering where the name Drusilla came from, it’s from the comics, and to me it’s canon. I wrote a whole essay about Dick in drag I’m an expert on this subject, I know my lore.

[wolframpant]

You're afraid. Well, we're all afraid.

[aflawedfashion]

I'm listening the the new Buffy Audible drama and I love that in this AU Cordelia is the slayer and Tara and Anya are her scooby gang

[windupaidoneus]

really funny to me that ppl perceive emets solus body at like 60s. he looks blatantly younger than varis or like, the same age. varis is 46

[johnystorm]

livia & agrippa being so proud their bf just conquered rome

[flovverworks]

thought again how overwhelmingly lonely akira would become after everything while time does its healing. u go from having a twenty-something ppl around u at all times to being alone. no one to knock on ur door in the morning, no ppl going in & out, no chaos of sudden fights. even in the (more likely) case where akira forgets its like. this haunting feeling of having forgotten something u shouldnt have. guy who goes to every social gathering ever to have that chaotic energetic experience of having so many ppl around again

[lesbianboyfriend]

my toxic trait is when i run lines with people i put on weird accents. and also i’m bad at accents so it’s not even consistent

[lightdancer1]

This chapter has this AU's equivalent of the Wishverse:

Which is also a thing I will use to lay out one meta-point on writing and that this reinforces one of the key points of what this AU actually does with Tara. First, the Wishverse is very direct foreshadowing of later plot points. Given this story's framing the question that Willow's powers have destructive elements and of Dark Willow are there in the forefront for someone already consumed by self-loathing before she gets the news she's going to destroy the world.

Canon Vampires Willow and Xander deal with their potential bi aspects, which were established differently for Willow in this AU and will be built in with Xander in a collegiate aspect as well as showcasing that the heroes have dark sides. Here the AU Wishverse shows that the hero with the darkness theme is in fact actually heroic....and that brings me to the other point.

As I've said before at that meta sense Tara Maclay was meant to be replacement Willow because Whedon's writing approach meant there was a 'niche' here and she was selected to fill it. Tara's meta-aspects with this pervade the story at multiple levels and shape her arc well beyond the love interest factor, where her being the product of a physically abusive background with complicated feelings with Willow and around from the start also make her a feminine and less creepy Xander equivalent to a point, which is one reason they get along so well (that and he does accept she's gay without any problems).

Wishverse Tara as such is a nod to this, with her taking on aspects of the canon Vampire Willow's role in one way and demonstrating that in the right circumstances Tara very much can enjoy having demony dark magic things, which is also a thing that, lest people forget, Amber Benson wrote into her own take on the character in that recent Audible series. She's also the nod to a proper version of Book Dracula, where Buffyverse Drac is very different to the Count.

Like in the book she's a vampire who's had a great deal of mystical studying and aspires to be a vampire-ruler....and like in the book she's developed the capacity to daywalk which book Drac not only did, but does so more than once.

Also unlike the canon it's point blank established that the Wishverse is an existing alternate universe whether or not it was always that way or sprang into being (which is a separate question entirely and gets way too Sandman-ish for me to decide to concretely answer or not) and that the undoing of the wish did not, in fact, end life in that world.

[juliatheelderapologist]

y’all: what about all the people livia (allegedly) murdered?

me: what murduhhhh