#edmond wells

[fisheito]

rereading the nuca pink doujin and seeing yakumo tear himself apart re: his snake form vs his human form all this agony and self-doubt and silent suffering and fear of rejection like "if i looked less human would u hate me" , "if u saw me in my true form wouldn't that be horrible. terrifying. disgusting" , "if i admitted i want to swallow you whole would you think worse of me"

and i imagine him asking something like this to the crowd of clan members , who are , undeniably,, a group of Kinky Fuckers

they all smile with the serenity and carefully masked excitement of a horny olivine. masterful beautiful reassuring expressions (errr..... masked to different degrees depending on the clan member)

[fangemorose]

The fandom of Count of Monte Cristo be like

[winterdesu]

presenting nu🦀 (or: nu crabnival)

[unhinged-girls-stan]

le comte de monte cristo 2024

today i saw the new adaptation of the Count of Monte Cristo and it Slaps. Hard. Pierre Niney slays the boots down in this role. yes the acting is pompous. yes the dialogues are grandiloquent and super cheesy. yes the plot has been reworked in a kinda "casa de papel" "ocean's 11" thriller way. yes some of it is ridiculous. AND it's so much FUN !!!!!!

bonus:

laurent lafitte is extremely good (as always) as was pierfrancesco favino as faria who was just the absolute best.

the scenery is gorgeous (c'est marseille bébé)

anaïs demoustier be my wife challenge

bonus content cute lesbians

the only thing i'm meh about is the absolute absence of any poc in any roles even though some of the characters were def written as such by dumas (like the casting of a romanian actress for an arab role ?) / also some period-typical misogyny, orientalism and racism which was kinda expected but still was a bit much.

[hanakihan]

to continue rider!dantes brainrot

I Like the idea of him being his cheerful sweet self but he also has that same dantes unhinged-ness that makes him equally terrifying as his avenger counterparts

man be really nice and sweet and next moment he’s pulling some insane jack sparrow shit on ship that works in long run while having zero self preservation skills because he’s gonna end up in château d’If anyway so why hold back lmao

[lucaway]

Have some doodles while I get my ass kicked by life :)

[oldfoxyaoi]

I love that Eiden is also a maid, and that the intimacy scenes seem to be taking place in the break room(s?) of the cafe like. imagine being a customer there. you and your buddy decide to check out a maid cafe because they're popular and for some reason father olivine is working there as a bunny maid? okay. wait actually. that's the grand sorcerer. and this guy looks a lot like the pictures you've seen of solaria's leader !? you don't know who the other guy is but you swear you've seen him with the grand sorcerer before so he must be important. why the hell are they working here!? it takes you a while to adjust but now you're enjoying a delicious sundae (and the bromides sitting in your pockets are going to become family heirlooms) and then you notice the grand sorcerer taking one of the other maids through a door marked staff only. you hear some banging noises and yep, those are definitely muffled moans. a while later they come out looking slightly disheveled but very blissed out. you get so horny imagining what went on in that room that you pass out. when you come to you're convinced you've died and gone to heaven because you're resting on father olivine's lap and his tits are inches from your face while he looks at you like an angel. with bunny ears. a few weeks later a trader proudly displays an image of DanDan on the market in solaria and the black market price for DanDan merch reaches exorbitant levels.

that maid cafe is going to have casualties.

[unusualmuffin-art]

Anyone likes Mr Blobby 💕✨️?

[artthatgivesmefeelings]

Edmond Jean de Pury (Swiss, 1845-1911) At the Well, n.d.

[raspberryusagi]

Help. I’m not okay.

That interlude hit like a truck and I’m not just talking about the fights…

How am I gonna deal when OC2 drops?

[alligaytorswamp]

auuughhagaghhhhh???

hfewkdalsjdhkjakjelqJkdl jkdlaj skld !??!????????

[kashilascorner]

Okay!! Done with The Count of Monte Cristo. That was a ride. I did not enjoy the ending in itself much. The final chapter felt a bit disjointed and while I can understand Edmond was trying to teach Morrel and Valentine a lesson that's more important than any treasure, I think keeping them apart was unnecessarily convoluted and, frankly, cruel, especially keeping Valentine in the dark about her family's demise.

That being said, compared to the 2024 movie, which was my gateway into the book (spoilers for the movie ahead):

I still think it was very well adapted and I generally enjoy the changes made.

In particular, Benedetto/Cavalcanti's storyline in the movie works wonderfully and his relationship to both Eugénie and Haydée was cute. I do prefer this Cavalcanti over book!Cavalcanti because he feels more rounded. However, the movie cannot top Villefort's demise in the book. It's extremely good and heart wrenching.

The movie utilizes Albert and Haydée in the end in a vaguely similar way to Morrels and Valentine in the book, which was appreciated. They close the circle their literal or adoptive parents started and Edmond sails off on his own and I think there's a lot of beauty in that too.

I disagree that the changes made to Haydée's character in the movie reinforce the orientalism. The movie did not even try suppressing (or addressing) the orientalism, I do agree with that, and believe things could have been handled better. But Haydée's seduction game is entirely premeditated. She's not alluring as a walking oriental femme fatale, she is rather explicitly made to look that way. She and the count play with that as part of the trap they are laying for Albert. This mirrors Cavalcanti's trap too. It is similar to the way "Sinbad the Sailor" metaphorically seduces Franz d'Épinay in the book when they first met. I'm not saying it was perfect though. I'd say the orientalism in regards to Haydee has more to do with casting choices, costumes and treatment of her background than with the narrative use made of her in the movie. Sorry, but revenge-seeking willing to seduce her way to her goals movie!Haydée that still has a filialish role to the Count is definitely more appealing to me than submissive (literally a slave), love-sick book!Haydée who most of the time only waits and pines. She does testify against Fernando on her own accord and free will and shows an absolutely amazing strength and I love book!Haydée for that but it's not often that she gets to shine like she deserves.

Making Edmond and Fernando childhood friends is actually good, I loved that! But making the Mondegos an already affluent and well positioned family by the beginning and making Mercedes/Edmond lowkey forbidden because of class difference was not so good. One of the most interesting things in the book is getting to see just how much their status improves -with Edmond being the price to pay.

The movie does go much easier on Mercedes, WHICH SHE DESERVES. The aspect of her being "unfaithful" is moderately prominent in Edmond's discourse in the book, even if Edmond tells her to her face she's a saint. Given her ending, I think the book narratively does punish her for that so-called infidelity which I personally believe to be absolutely unfair but. 19th century right.

Other book things I prefer over the movie: Fernando's ending. The final battle was super fun to watch but sorry. Fernando offing himself because his family left him adds a whole other layer of tragedy and gives him a sort of redeeming quality (even if in the book they don't really put it this way). In the movie he has no redeeming quality lol

Also. I get why Noirtier was not much there. Same happens with the Morrels and Valentine. But Noirtier is one of the characters from the book that fascinate me the most so I'll miss him

[doodledstars]

Okay I was prepared for Edmond.

I was NOT prepared for Kuya… and I swear that fox man gives me so many heart attacks. Why WHY do you have to show up, don’t make me pick between you two...! ;~;

[fayevalcntine]

Another reason why the possibility of a potential romance plot between Albert and Haydée (from the book story) annoys me is because it doesn't really work without at the very least changing up the characters in some way and therefore losing out on the complexities of the story itself.

Albert is, despite his naivety and kindness to his friends and the Count, also very sheltered and spoiled. His immediate reaction to finding out about his father's war crimes and the fact that Haydée was talking about him when she was recounting her life story to Albert isn't disgust towards his father, or even worry about the people that were wronged. It's anger towards the Count for 'tricking him' and shedding light on his father's crimes. It's only once Mercedes tells him about Edmond Dantes that he even begins to realize the depth of his father's corruption, but Haydée's experiences as a girl sold into slavery have little to no bearing on Albert.

Haydée has no interest in going after Fernand's family, even when he not only killed her father but also made sure she and her mother suffered a horrible fate in order for there to be no one to come after him for his wrongdoings. But Haydée is also not naive or just a limited sheltered girl that has no say in her household or is just there for the Count's bidding. She simply chooses to become involved when she wants to, and that is namely Fernand's trial. I get that it's easy to dismiss how little we get of her as a character in the book and that meaning that she's an underdeveloped one, but the tone in which she talks about the Count and anyone else can easily tell you that she loves him because he respects her. She's able to have the life she has now because of him; he speaks her language and honors her affinity for her own culture, and never tells her to leave it behind once they're in France. Just for her to learn the customs in case she decides to stay in the country for whatever reason she chooses.

Compare that to Albert's subtly objectifying view of her before he even meets her or not knowing her language. I'm not saying this to make Albert seem disrespectful on purpose, but it's clear why the only reason Haydée even gives him the time of day is because the Count speaks on his behalf and calls him a friend of his.

[fumiruku]

Well excuuuuUUUUUuuuUUUUuuse me, Vice Captain!

[carica-ficus]

Review: "Evil Roots: Killer Tales of the Botanical Gothic"

Authors: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Arthur Conan Doyle, Lucy H. Hooper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, H. G. Wells, Edmond Nolcini, M. R. James, Ambrose Bierce, Howard R. Garis, William Hope Hodgson, Edith Nesbit, H. C. McNeile, Abraham Meritt, Emma Vane

Editor: Daisy Butcher

Date: 03/01/2023

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

________________________________________________________

I think I ordered this book some time during summer, after I accidentally stumbled upon it on an online bookstore. I love anthologies and I love plants, so this title definitely intrigued me enough to order it. I finally decided to read it around Christmas and finished it during a recent trip, so it's officially my first finished book of the year.

"Evil Roots: Killer Tales of the Botanical Gothic" is an interesting anthology of short horror stories by quite a few well-known authors. From the creator of Sherlock Holmes, to the acclaimed writer of "The Yellow Wallpaper", all the way to the legendary H. G. Wells, this collections features some hidden gems of the late 19th and early 20th century. While the stories are certainly old-school, they could still be regarded as timeless classics and masterful creations.

Most stories revolve around the fascination of the exotic - of unknown plants that are in some way dangerous to humans (or other organisms) and which originate from far away places, like South America. There's mentions of exquisite poisonous flowers, murderous liana, mysterious wisteria, and the weirdest of them all - carnivorous plants.

It is interesting just how much the writers and, by default, the general public were fascinated by exotic flora which, in one way or another, transcended the known laws of nature. Plants were considered sedentary, passive, and at the bottom of the food chain, but as new discoveries were being presented and as more people, professionals and amateurs alike, from the western civilization started their expeditions in new places, society was being introduced with oddities that seemingly didn't follow any established rules. So while the horror in this collection is displayed through various flora, the true horror is derived from the simple fact that humans fear what they cannot understand. One of the most frightening things a person, especially a scientist, can experience is realizing that they will never be able to fully predict nature's capability to adapt and to evolve.

Of course, this theme goes hand in hand with the understanding that it is dangerous altering the natural order of things. While this could also be understood as criticism to the human tendency to play god, there isn't much religious commentary throughout the collection. The stories are centered around ecology, evolution, and biology, highlighting how humans shouldn't meddle with something as powerful as nature - which they will never fully understand, let alone be able to control. Even though the writers do create a feeling of dread through the fear of nature, the horror is actually realized through characters that underestimate its abilities and that have the need to disfigure nature in order to measure their own capabilities.

Furthermore, this collection highlights the uncomfortable fascination western civilization had with other cultures. The urge to study new exotic phenomena on their own accord, to test the limits of human science on something they don't fully understand with little to no regard of the laws of nature and the test subject's true needs, is somewhat perverse. These scientists are conducting experiments in uncontrolled environments, and playing with their test-subjects in order to test their own abilities and knowledge. It is a portrayal of poor research. They're acting out of curiosity with little to no regard of the consequences. It is not their subjects that are evil, for they have been brought up and mistreated in an environment completely unnatural to their habitat, but their tormentor, who butchers them through extreme studies. This is usually evident through a secondary character, most often a colleague, who tries to stop the scientist in their mad experiment before it's too late. The horror is, therefore, found in the abuse executed by the brazen oppressor, not in their vicious, abnormal creations.

The fact that the aforementioned themes barely scratch the surface of all the ideas featured in this collection, prove how layered and compelling all the featured stories are. The editor also did a marvelous job with a lovely foreword and an intriguing introduction to each of the authors and their respective work. Of course, as with every short story collection, not all works are equally strong, but "Evil Roots: Killer Tales of the Botanical Gothic" is still a gorgeous anthology and a noteworthy testament to a relatively overlooked category of horror.