#edwin appreciation

[edwinpayne-deadboy]

Welcome to the Dead Boy Detective Agency.

I am Edwin Payne, and this is my partner @biconcharlesrowland. Some other people that are associated with us are @crystal-isalive, @nikoisalsoalive, @reallycoolcatking, @montyisntacrow, and @jennys-meat-cleaver

What brings you here?

This blog is unfortunately run by two other versions of me. I will have blue text and run the cases and regular interactions.

I'm a dark, "villainized" version of the Edwin you know. I'll use red text and run the more aggressive asks and discuss, darker themes.

And I'm a demon. I find it fun to mess with Edwin and get him to engage in more explicit acts. I'm using bold text and I'll occasionally take up cases and questions about Hell.

OOC: Hello again, Mae here from @mystic-mae. With, well, a third rp blog. Don't worry, this is my last one. I hope.

× ALL EDWIN TAGS ×

#magnifying glass - Looks like Edwin and Charles are on a case! Did you hire them for it?

#charles no - Edwin's just looking out for him.

#cat bracelet - Whenever the Cat King is mentioned or Edwin's just having a gay panic.

#soppingwetcat - Poor guy needs a break. Probably give him one?

#edwin appreciation - Edwin reblogging posts about what people say about him or when they draw art of him. 'Cause this community loves him and he needs to know that.

× REGULAR!EDWIN TAGS ×

#edwardian detective - Casual conversation with Edwin.

#hell's babydoll spider - Super angsty moments with Edwin. Possibly includes Hell.

#what's [blank]? - He's trying to learn all about the Internet and slang. Charles was the reason why he has a Tumblr in the first place.

#ball of sass - Edwin being a sassy, cunty Edwardian ghost.

#oh you love this don't you? - Well, it looks like Edwin's a little jealous...

× VILLAIN!EDWIN TAGS ×

#one little spell - Casual conversation with villain!Edwin.

#runes and curses - villain!Edwin causing some mischief. Maybe something bad happens, no one knows.

#colder to touch - Oops, you angered villain!Edwin. Try and survive... (the angst tag.)

× DEMON!EDWIN TAGS ×

#paradise or limbo - Casual conversation with demon!Edwin.

#spider's den - demon!Edwin's angst tag. He remembers a lot of what happened to the original Edwin, seeing as Hell altered him so much that he became a demon himself.

#infernal deeds - It's just demon!Edwin being a flirty little shit. Only ones affected are Charles, Cat King, Monty, and Simon. And probably any gay man in the area...

× RULES & REGULATION ×

NSFW is allowed! Just no heavily sexualized actions or super gorey stuff that the Edwins (or I, the mod) tell you is uncomfortable.

Heavy gore is to be directed towards villain!Edwin and demon!Edwin. However, regular!Edwin can and does experience gore from time to time. I, the mod, will tell you when to stop with the gore.

Failiure to comply results in being blocked, sorry.

No racist, transphobic, homophobic, or ableist shit here. I'm not gonna deal with your asses, and neither will any of the Edwins.

I suppose you can be rude to Edwin, but why would you do that?

Have fun!

[hagstoned]

So much love for dbda fics that don’t make manga Niko’s entire personality. She is SO intelligent - fluent in a second language, smart enough to go to a boarding school in a foreign country to study in her second language, able to read, retain and recall vast amounts of complex new information in a relatively short amount of time. Let her shine!

[hannaloony]

What if?..

Day 7

SIMON APPRECIATION WEEK

@simonappreciation

[stark-lord]

Side A

[pandorem]

Genuinely find it fascinating from a writing perspective that Edwin’s propensity for playing trauma olympics is a well established trait of his that plays so interestingly into his relationships with Crystal and Charles and Simon especially, and how it works in his character arc and how it both plays into and CONTRASTS his incredible capacity for forgiveness. How it’s a flaw that makes so much sense with how much he’s suffered that it’s hard not to be sympathetic towards it or even agree with him sometimes, but that it IS a flaw and comes up at times that are less fair as well. Im not sure I have a real point to this yet, it’s just something I want to chew on for a while.

for one: Edwin’s tendency to put his trauma as worse than others’ (no matter how literally correct he might be) is set up directly to parallel Crystal’s own self centered tendencies and her character arc. They BOTH have a tendency to not consider other people’s feelings and pain until someone points out to them that they are being dismissive. They are mirrors of each other and I love them so much. I also wanted to push back a bit on some things I’ve seen about how Edwin’s reaction to her yelling at him in episode one was completely justified (“what she’s been through? I spent 70 years in hell!”) because of how their traumas interact and how she let David in the first time that feel too dismissive of Crystal’s trauma. Yes, their trauma’s with demons interact in ways that it makes PERFECT SENSE that Edwin reacted the way he did, and I even sympathize with him, but something being sympathetic does not mean it’s justified. Taking away the metaphor of the Demonic nature of it all, Crystal was just cornered and threatened by her abusive ex boyfriend who has succeeded in isolating her from her entire social circle/any safety net she might have had before the boys. And uh. We don’t say about people getting out of abusive relationships that it’s justified that people were mad at them for getting into the relationship willingly. So.

Also. While Edwin’s measuring of their traumas is more sympathetic in the first episode, the moment in a later episode where Edwin (nearly lightheartedly) dismisses Crystal’s nightmare about her abusive demon ex because “the living know nothing about true nightmares” is less so, and I think is there to confirm that this is a genuine, deliberately written character flaw that he needs to grow out of, just like Crystal needs to grow.

And that brings us to Simon. The character who Edwin is THE MOST justified to be angry at, to blame and to compare their punishments. When he rages that Simon damned him to decades of being ripped apart while Simon sits quietly crying in a room, getting paper cuts from tearing pages out of books, it’s honestly difficult not to agree with him, to not feel that same righteous indignation. But then despair lays it out for him: he was about to gloat over another’s torture. And even without yet knowing more about Simon, Edwin is horrified by the idea. I think it says so much about Edwin’s GOODNESS that the time this character flaw of his feels the most justified and right is also the time he works through and past it to empathize with the pain of the real person on the other side of that. It is after he comes back, needing Simon to know that he didn’t mean to gloat, that he is then able to see Simon as a real person, as someone he shares pain with, the pain of being closeted and terrified in the 1910s. Simon was a kid, same as Edwin, who was terrified of his own nature and let that fear and humiliation lead him to cruelty that ended in consequences that he never intended. And it says so, so much about Edwin’s goodness that once he is able to see past his own pain and empathize with someone else’s, he feels for and maybe even forgives the one person that he would be most justified in NOT forgiving. That connecting with him is literally what saved Simon’s soul in the end.

(It’s also worth noting- Simon thinks that Edwin is “another trick” when he first sees him. He says that “the headmaster will be angry”. In keeping with the theme that we shouldn’t compare traumas or decide that we know what other people are going through, it seems clear to me that what we saw- sitting alone and getting paper cuts- was NOT the entirety of Simon’s hell.)

And then there’s Charles. Now. Edwin has a lot of 1910s sensibilities that make him connecting the dots on what Charles went through a bit difficult for him. But Edwin never, ever suggests that his trauma is less or isn’t worth getting upset about. Because it’s Charles, and Charles deserves no amount of pain ever, in the world. I don’t think it would ever occur to Edwin if I’m honest. Of course it’s because he loves him and Charles is his favourite person in the universe, but also I wonder at the fact that their very first meeting, so soon after Edwin had escaped hell, was one of complete empathy and compassion. Maybe seeing the bullies made him see himself in Charles but it sort of circles the point I think I’m making- Edwin’s very real flaws contrast against and thus highlight his INCREDIBLE kindness and goodness.

[staticair]

[I Was Nervous]

Day 3 of Simon Appreciation Week! @simonappreciation

Simon and Edwin's story is so heartbreaking to me. They could've been the ones that understood each other the most. Every time I watch Simon's smile fade as Edwin rushes out is painful.

[finleycannotdraw]

I just want to acknowledge how well-crafted dead boy detectives is, in terms of how each shot is framed and colored. it's such a visually satisfying show, and as an artist i am feral about at least one frame in every single scene. i could go on for paragraphs about the execution of this but i'll just grab a few frames for examples, because. it's so good. (not super crisp images, sorry about that. best i can do with taking screenshots directly from netflix.)

this is obviously nowhere close to all of the frames i'm obsessed with, but it goes to show how much thought was clearly put into blocking and coloring!!! each scene has a color scheme or a theme, and the characters are very often dressed in a complementary way. (Maren's dark outfit, when we see her in episode 5, looks very good with her yellow and maroon front porch, for example.) there's a lot of orange/blue contrast, or brown/green, and altogether every scene has shadow and highlight, and isn't afraid of either one. (respect.)

it's just so refreshing to have such a gorgeous show to enjoy. everyone who worked on the framing and lighting in this show knew very well what they were doing, and I hope we get a second season so they can keep doing it!!!

(if anyone wants me to go in depth about why i love any of these frames, let me know. because i WILL.)

EDIT: In-Depth Post! :)

[daggerofthemind]

any marvellous light fans here? i just read freya marske’s ( @fahye ) the last binding trilogy and completely adored it, so i had to draw edwin and robin

[edmcmayonnaise]

Simon Appreciation Week Day 2 - "The Same"

Could it be that Simon also has an interest in mystery series like Max Carrados or Sherlock Holmes? Until he remembers it's not cool to be the same as Edwin Payne, who he definitely does not think is a smart and clever boy himself.

[plutosheaven]

do you think Edwin's fixation with the neon sign in Jenny's shop has anything to do with the fact that it's a map of meat

does anyone appreciate a good map more than Edwin Payne?

[edwinpayne-deadboy]

Hi! I'm from the 70 questions game.

15 (including the past, we all want to know what the infamous puppy debacle was)

57

And 62

(OOC: sorry for the late response!!)

15? Well, officially, the Dead Boy Detectives Agency has owned no pets. Charles tried to get a ghost dog back then, but, they're quite unruly at times.

As for 57, I myself have never focused on love, let alone true love. Port Townsend was the first time I was able to, figure that aspect of my life out. I do not have a concrete answer, but right now it's no.

62 is an interesting one to answer. I'd say taking up cases, helping other ghosts move on, Niko, and Charles.

[unpigeonable]

rewatching dead boy detectives and noticing all the little moments where george rexstrew adds some stimming in and i love it so much. like when charles disappears in episode 3 and edwin is trying to figure out what could've happened

[hannaloony]

Day 3

SIMON APPRECIATION WEEK (@simonappreciation)

x

PART 14 Everybody’s alive AU, where Niko is a friend of Edwin and Charles is a friend of Crystal

and where Simon and Edwin are roommates

[thatbeeagain]

I find it kind of funny that Edwin got annoyed at Charles for his being immediately obsessed with Crystal but then he meets Niko and he suddenly becomes the platonic equivalent, and has the same amount of adoration and wanting to be with her as Charles does with Crystal. I love this so much as someone who's aroace because seeing them put a friendship comparable to a (somewhat) romantic relationship in a show means SO MUCH TO ME.

Edwin and Niko are forever my fave dynamic they are perfect.

Also I don't have screenshots but I just wanted to say that in episode 8, Edwin tells Niko she "doesn't want to catch her death" when they're on the rooftop and then she kinda doesn't later. He warned her! Not when she needed it the most but the fact it's in the same episode has to mean something! It means something to me!

[calypso-mbk]

Edwin is just. Such an interesting character to think about. Like. This boy is such a kind soul, so kind that his bully fell in love with him, so kind that immediately after escaping hell he comforts a dying boy he'd never met before, so kind that he devotes the rest of his eternal afterlife to giving souls the closure that he never got, so kind that he forgave the person that sacrificed him to a demon - and yet, he sees himself as selfish; only doing good deeds to help himself, to further his own goal of leaving hell behind.

The juxtaposition is somewhat poetic; he gives himself no praise or credit - but hundreds of souls in the afterlife see him as some sort of saviour (like the Devlin girls, for example).

And Charles. Charles. Probably the first person he saw after escaping. A boy just like him, life endangered because a group of boys went too far. Immediately he comforts him, distracts him, and makes the last few hours of his life his best, expecting absolutely nothing in return. And in him, he finds a companion, a loyal partner in crime.

And he falls in love, too.

As soon as he realises, he has to tell Charles - he deserves to know this, that he is not just a friend to Edwin, but something more, someone Edwin once thought impossible, maybe even unspeakable.

Nothing changes, after all of it, but everything changes. Their friendship is stronger than ever, and things they never used to speak about now hang out in the open. They no longer need to hide from Death, and the work they do is finally acknowledged.

Edwin is forced to confront his demons, both literally and figuratively, and we get to see his character grow so much in the span of 8 episodes. Imagine what we could have with another season!

In the end, I simply had a lot of Feelings about our favourite Edwardian twink, and just needed to get it out somehow. If you've read this entire mess of words, congrats. Have a cookie 🍪

[shaylogic]

I think one of my favorite things about Charles and Crystal is that daydream fantasy fulfilment of the feeling of having a supportive friend with you, even though other people aren't aware of it.

The scenes in The Case of the Devlin House when Crystal goes to ask Jenny about the Devlin murders and she's feeling nervous and he helps guide her through it.

"Aces, you're doing great."

And then he gives little nods, agreeing with Crystal, even though he knows neither Jenny nor Crystal in that moment will see it. (Possibly just to feel more involved and alive.)

I can't express how much I love this quick setup to exposition scene.

Who doesn't want a secret pretty boy by your side when you're going through a difficult day?

It's something about the Crystal/Charles dynamic vs Edwin/Charles dynamic that I really love.