#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:

@crystal-isalive

@nikoisalsoalive

@reallycoolcatking

@montyisntacrow

@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!

[edwinpayne-deadboy]

@biconcharlesrowland

...Charles?

this one's for you, edwin paine

[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!

[stark-lord]

Side A

[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.

[edwinpayne-deadboy]

I wasn't saying I wanted to get out of it-

Edwin: If I got send back to Hell, would you miss me?

Charles: It’s cute you think Hell can get you out of this friendship.

[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.

[fairandfatalasfair]

One of the things I'm missing the most when I think about not getting a season 2 (and, by the same token, one of the things I love seeing in fanfic) is getting to see more of Crystal and Edwin growing into a relationship.

I think their back-and-forth would start to be a real point of entertainment for both of them, still with sharp edges but with a thread of warmth underlying it that belies the snippy tones. I think Crystal would start to keep a mental list of all the things that she can tweak Edwin's tail about that will genuinely annoy him, but not cause any real harm (and a parallel list of things that aren't funny, that make him shut down for real or retreat into stiff formality or foist her off on Charles until he can get himself together.) I think they would slip effortlessly back and forth between snarking at each other and ganging up on the rest of the world (Charles and Niko excepted) while Charles watches with stars in his eyes.

I want to see them showing up for each other, defending each other with words and with magic and with the right piece of information at the right time. I want to see them looking to each other for honesty, because they both know how to be cruel when they have to, and sometimes you need someone to just tell you the truth. I want to see them both understanding what it's like to be someone who doesn't think of themself as kind, or likeable, or good, but is trying.

I have so much love for snarky characters who are kind and generous and caring, but not necessarily nice or comfortable. I adore the kind of complicated friendship where you know you can trust their kindness because you've seen them at their most ruthless. They make me crazy. They could be so good for each other. They are so good for each other. I want to see where it goes.

[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.

[edwinpayne-deadboy]

Why, do you guys not carry some spare cocaine for emergencies?

quick comic i needed out of my brain

[fan-a-tink]

time to appreciate the hell out of George Rexstrew for Cast Appreciation Week through these gifs

Every single one of the gifs up there shows a tiny fraction of the genius of George's performance. In every scene, every movement, every small gesture and expression we can see how much George loves playing Edwin and that he gave everything to this role and more. George captured Edwin's curiosity and confidence, his strength and vulnerability, his sassiness and his insecurities, but most importantly his incredible kindness. I first fell in love with this show because I fell in love with Edwin. He felt incredibly real to me from the beginning, and I felt for him and with him through his entire journey. There's no one else, no one else who could have been our Edwin Payne.

I also want to give a shout out to gameo week, and what an absolute highlight that was for me within this fandom. George managed to raise over £10.000 for a cause close to his heart, and the fact that it was so successful makes me so incredibly happy! And just as a bonus we got to learn so much new stuff about the show, got the Edwin playlist, found out that ghosts can feel each other, and learned the backstories to all the agency's past cases! Every single video was such a joy and I appreciate George so much for taking everyone's requests and questions so seriously and giving so much of his time for this. My favourite thing about gameo week though was that George got to feel the love from the fans for a week and we got the chance to tell him how much we appreciate him and the show. He got to see both how unhinged we are and how deeply we care about this wonderful show.

George Rexstrew, wherever you are, I hope you know how much we all appreciate you. Please look after yourself and know that we will all be there to cheer you on for whatever you do next.

[hannaloony]

What if?..

Day 7

SIMON APPRECIATION WEEK

@simonappreciation

[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! :)

[edwinpayne-deadboy]

@biconcharlesrowland

We haven't had a proper goodbye kiss after the Port Townsend events.

it's tradition crystal

[edwinspaynes]

Reasons George Rexstrew is an Absolutely Amazing Actor and Human: DBDA Cast Appreciation Week

He did a lot of independent research on the Edwardian era to ensure that his portrayal of Edwin was authentic.

He took ballet lessons to get a feel for Edwin's graceful movements so that he could portray him as well as possible.

He chose Edwin's iconic outfit based on his Edwardian-era research in collaboration with the costumes department.

His facial expressions as Edwin are on point. Like, this man is so incredibly expressive and I love to see it.

The little movements that he does, the stims and the adjustments and the posture, all served as excellent unscripted character building. He clearly put a lot into this.

He, along with Jayden, would correct little inconsistencies in the script and actions because of their knowledge on their characters. For example, they wanted them to trip over a stump in episode 6; George pointed out that they could just walk through it. The attention to detail is on point.

He was constantly thinking about and assessing Edwin's physical form in each scene, including his pain levels while in Esther's torture machine in episode 8.

That little tear during the love confession.

Edwin's more moderated screams while being tortured vs the bloodcurdling screams when Niko dies.

His sense of humour is absolutely iconic.

The way that he picks on Jayden in cast interviews is so adorable and funny. Clearly a very strong bond there.

He gave a long-form interview with In Creative Company and offered up so much insight into Edwin and his performance. That was 100% on him, Netflix had nothing to do with it.

He was so insanely generous with his time during Gameo week and made people videos between 2-6 minutes. Most celebrities only give people like 30 seconds! But not him. He spent hours every day giving us thoughtful answers to questions.

We all love him so much that he raised well over $10,000 for charity!

[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