#hallucination!lestat is my favorite

[acesstark]

favorite thing ever is how Louis is hallucinating lestat having perfect hair. like, that man was walking around with a shoulder-length bob full of split ends and flyaways, but in Louis’s mind he has the perfect, fresh out the salon, sleeps in a satin lined bonnet, Brazilian blowout. hallucination!lestat discovered deep conditioner, thank god

[linipikk]

okay im way too deep enjoying iwtv secondhandly in twitter (because i lost all control over my life and that's the best i can do given current circumstances)

But, to all my dearies who are mad and shocked and just really enjoying the reloaded Claudia tragedy, I hope we get to meet Merrick 🫶

I just really can't with Louis, but Claudia actively haunting the narrative is chef'skiss, having in mind that y'all give that role to Lestat and that would summarise Claudia's entire life.

[desertfangs]

I haven't yet read the books (there's so many!) I've only watched the iwtv movie and TV show and I love Claudia in both but I've had people tell me in the books she's awful and considered to be one of the series villains. Idc about spoilers I just wanna know how true that is bc I dunno if I'd want to read that lol

Hi anon! I was excited to see your ask this morning because I'm gonna tell you something: Claudia was one of my first favorite characters in the series and her death devastated me. Louis was my first fav (understandable, he's literally the protagonist of the first book, we're meant to sympathize with him!) and when he lost Claudia and became numb in his grief, I related. I hated Armand for what happened to Claudia and I held a grudge for a long time.

Anyhow, I can't speak to the show so much as I've only seen season 1, but if you like the 94 movie, you will probably like the novel Interview with the Vampire. It's a pretty close adaptation.

To get to the heart of your question, no, Claudia not an awful villain. Anymore than Louis or Lestat are. If anyone is a villain in IwtV, it's Armand, and even he is not a mustache-twirling evil guy.* Everyone in this series in morally gray and does terrible stuff. I emphasize that because I've been in this fandom for a long time and I've seen all kinds of arguments about who is evil and who is not, and the fact is, all of our vampires do questionable things. That's sort of the point. So it's arguable how much there even is a villain in IwtV outside of Louis' own depression and grief, but Armand probably gets that honor.

Claudia in the books was turned around the age of 5. She is a very small, doll-like child who doesn't seem to retain much, if any, memory of her human life. She is more purely a vampire than Louis or Lestat can really fathom because she lacks that humanity and a connection to humans. She's a natural hunter and killer.

She doesn't understand Louis' sentimentality for humans, and resents Lestat for withholding information she knows he has about their kind. She is a complex and fascinating woman trapped in the body of a small child to the point where even Louis, who loves her dearly, cannot really see her as an adult and struggles to accept her agency. She does manipulate both her parents, in part because they don't often see her as a capable equal, which she very much is.

She does eventually rise up to kill to Lestat out of desperation. She believes he will not let Louis go and knows she can't travel around alone, given her appearance. Lestat himself is devastated by this and by her loss, and even says later he understands why she did it. That he probably deserved it for what he'd done to her, which was trap her forever in the body of a very young child, something he admits was selfish. (And something Marius had actually warned him against doing beforehand, LOL!!)

Like in the movie and the show, she does die at the Theatre des Vampires, and Armand is more responsible for that than I've heard he is on the show (he tells Louis he couldn't have stopped it, only to later reveal he orchestrated it, which Louis knew the whole time).

She appears later in The Tale of the Body Thief mocking Lestat and acting as a sort of voice for his subconscious, but she is just his hallucination in he book. He's dealing with a lot of trauma and grief and that manifests itself as Claudia's ghost.

Where you might be hearing she's a villain is from Merrick, where both her diary and spirit appear and are... not very nice. I gotta say, I am not convinced that is actually the spirit of Claudia that gets conjured, and even if it is, it's possible she's been warped somehow. But I also haven't read that book in decades and often tend to ignore it, so I am not an expert on that score.

I hope this helps! I'm always happy to answer questions about the books! (They are my special interest, if you cannot tell.)

But I do want to say that if you are a fan of the show and curious about the books--which are very different!--I highly recommend you read at least the first few yourself. The best way to judge if you'll like the book versions of the characters and story is to experience it yourself. There's a lot of misinformation that gets passed along about the books, and a lot of misinterpretation due to that because people just repeat what they've heard without having read them. And hey, they still may not be your cup of tea, and that's totally fine! But you won't know if you don't try, you know?

Anyhow, thank you so much for the ask! 💖 Claudia is awesome and deserves more love in the book fandom, but because she dies so early on, she doesn't get as much attention sadly.

*And even when he is, we love him.

[indelicateink]

tagged by @hereticaas -- thank you!

make a poll with five of your all time favourite characters and then tag five people to do the same. see which character is everyone's favourite.

okay so I have zero chill on EpisodeSevenWeekendEve and i'm going to kind of bend the rules here. they're five different characters, but they're all the same character--kind of. is he my fav characters of all time? HE IS/ARE TONIGHT, FRIENDS.

which lestat is your favorite lestat: lestat as recounted by louis, lestat as written about in claudia's diaries, lestat as relayed by armand, louis's 1940s dreamstat hallucinations, or the real lestat, whom we have yet to meet televised as of 21 june 2024?

(no sixth opt-out/nuanced/all-of-the-above/none-of-the-above option, you are brutally forced to choose)

if you are reading this, I am tagging *you* to do a five favs poll, too

[blacclotusss]

Do You Know What It Means to be Loved by Death?

My meta and analysis of my favorite scenes from IWTV s02e02

Louis and Claudia at the Cafe

Been a favorite of mine since the scene dropped way back in February. I've always loved Louis and Claudia moments where the two of them are just acting like the siblings they are. Claudia's question of who Louis is, I believe, implants something within him. Louis does dodge the question, of course, but I think we'll see what happens once he's without her. Now, the question is whether he will be without the hallucination of Lestat (I don't think so).

Claudia and Madeleine Meeting

Claudia and Madeleine's first meeting! Eep! There was more tension than I was expecting, but I liked the interaction. Claudia bursting in and demanding her wants is music to my ears.

Louis Cruising

Baby...I'm so glad Mr. du Lac is in Paris living it up and doing so freely. I do wish we could have seen him cruising more...explicitly; especially with the way Armand and Louis described their love lives. But, it's nice to know he was free and without judgement to do as he wanted.

Louis and Armand's First Meeting

Can we talk about legit love and first sight?! They're both so cute in this moment, it's the sweetest thing. The awkwardness of Louis against the smoothness of Armand meshed together beautifully. And the way the two looked at each other as they recounted the story was so magical. "I will not harm you" "And I never have." Such a tender moment and I hope and pray Armand has not hurt that man in any way, even indirectly. I can see it in the both of their faces that they wish to go back to that time, if only for a little while.

Introduction to the Theatre/Coven

I am such a sucker for all things camp and theater and this was both of those on steroids. The theatrics, the acting, the usage of both the projector and the blurred lines between real and fake was amazing. It felt like a show all on it's own. Louis and his facial expressions were hilarious and you can clearly tell it's not his thing, but Claudia wants to fully immerse herself in that. It was so sweet looking at how in awe and happy she was to see the production. Cannot wait to see her on the stage. I'm glad the show have each member of the coven a bit of backstory instead of just sticking them in the scene. We can already see on stage Santiago's personality and I'm intrigued with how he'll develop. I also noticed Armand seemed to be a bit distant when watching them interact. I believe he's already began to pivot his focus to Louis, which is confirmed in the murder mansion scene.

Lestat Reading His Letter to Louis

The only time we see Lestat in the episode and of course it's a tense moment. The first time we hear from de Lioncourt himself (will we have more of these moments?) and you can feel the tension and despair in the air. It probably made things worse for Louis for a couple of reasons. One, even in "death" Lestat, his first vampire love, loves and trusts him. "Know only this, mon cher, you are the only being I trust, and whom I love, above and beyond myself. All my love belongs to you. You are its keeper." That probably made Louis' heart swell. But, as much as it swelled, it hurt him beyond measure. The mention of treachery and seeking revenge probably made him feel as if he was choking. He knows he's the one that's going to have to let treachery eat away at him and let Lestat's face press up against his longing. I'm not sure if his hallucinations of him are longing, but the idea of killing him is still eating away at him.

Louis and Armand Toying with Daniel's Thoughts

Whew boy. This was a doozy, wasn't it? I was not expecting the flashback moment in that scene but I have a few theories. One: Armand is Alice. Yes, it's controversial but after this episode I don't think it's as far fetched as it was in season one. Armand popped up at that moment for a reason. And it's quite funny how no one has checked on the man, not even his daughters. I get strained relationships, but was it that bad? Now, I still don't fully believe this theory, but it's a thought. Another theory is that Armand's relationship with Daniel parallels his and Alice's. We don't know the full extent of what happened, but the two got divorced and no longer speak so it wasn't good. Third, Armand could have simply planted that in Daniel's head, which I think is the strongest one here. We all know Armand possesses the capabilities to do this and that flashback could have been him planting that in his mind. I saw someone say something about the editor messing with Daniel as well since they were the ones who pointed out flaws in his book (read by Louis in season one), which would be crazy, to say the least, because why?  And say what you want, that old bastard deserved it.

Murder Mansion Scene

Another scene I've been obsessed with since we saw it last year. These two are just lost in each other as there's a whole murder party happening behind them. I did like how protective Louis was of Claudia when Armand mentioned her (Armand please don't piss me off), but I hope he takes lessons from Maitre about shutting off his thoughts because that could definitely be his downfall.

[v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e]

So! I watched it yesterday, so spoilers for the second season of Interview With The Vampire:

- I think Delainey Hayles is doing an incredible job as Claudia. Not easy when Bailey Bass already did such a great job last season, but Hayles has great presence in scene and she pairs up nicely with Jacob Anderson, the tension between Louis and Claudia is portrayed beautifully by them

- I love hallucination!Lestat lol how this is essentially a manifestation of Louis' guilty and grief, and how raw this grief still is even five years later

- Not a lot of Armand yet, but I love to see him out of the disguise

- The parts with the revenants (i think that it's how they are called? I forgot the term in English) were actually my favorite part of the episode, a huge surprise to me considering that this is the most boring part of the book for me lol but the desperation that poor Claudia showed in looking for them, the hope and how crushed she was in the aftermath... it was great

- Louis got much more openly cruel in how he sees humans now. It was already there last season but it's more visible now, like when he turned around ver coldly when they were going to kill Emilia. I wonder if it's the five years of war or is he being more open about the narrative now.

- Jacob Anderson was terrific this episode. Hoping this year he gets at least some awards nom, hopefully AMC will promote the show more this season

[comebackali]

so far my favorite part of ep 1 of s2 of iwtv is louis being SO BAD at romanian. okay wait that's a lie, my favorite part is armand and daniel's bitchfest. third favorite is louis hallucinating lestat nonstop for four years straight.

[platoapproved]

Top five favorite scenes from interview with the vampire!

Choosing just five is going to be AGONY. I may do a few lil extra ones, some are just moments and some full scenes...

2x05 The San Francisco fight. It's just so completely out of control and so absolutely rancid. Literally watched the whole thing with my hands over my mouth like I could not BELIEVE.

2x02 The first flash of misplaced Armand memory Daniel has, while Louis is mocking him about Alice. I had to pause the episode and get up and walk around a little. The filmmaking is just so good. It's so jarring the way they slip it in there and leave it as this discordant little mystery.

2x04 Armand's backstory monologue. It's like. So hard to watch and agonizing, but the writing is so careful and spare, and the acting is haunting. Does the thing I always wish I was better at with writing where it suggests so much with a few deliberate very evocative choices. The vacillating between first and third person pronouns, the shifting between Armand's face and the painting, the music. Just a great bit of filmmaking.

2x08 "For the nights in front of me, where I might learn to live honestly" still can't watch or think too hard about this scene without tearing up a little bit. Louis means so much to me. 😭

2x04 The slow zoom in on Armand as Louis is talking about hallucinating Lestat. It's just such a fantastic use of like... there is no dialogue here to communicate what is happening. It's all in the performance and the focus of the camera on Armand, getting closer and closer, looking at Louis as he's talking, so the focus isn't on his words but on the pain that is creeping out past Armand's mask. Brilliant stuff.

1x01 The church scene, specifically Lestat convincing Louis to accept the Dark Gift. This is like.... It. If I had to show someone just one scene to explain to them what IWTV is, it would be that one.

2x04 The jarring hard cut ending of Daniel listening to the mp3 of the argument. It's SO abrupt and violent and wonderful. What a fucking cliffhanger.

Okay, so I did a top 7, I'm restraining myself from any more although there are so many...

[valend]

* I got scared I thought that I skipped an episode or something because of how suddenly it started

* Armand is so fucking annoying oh my god like shut up

* Also Louis being visibly uncomfortable while Claudia is doing her performance knowing the song reflects her perfectly (wanting freedom, being pinned down, her infantilization, freedom only being momentary and only permanent in death) ALSO the repetition in her doing the performance over and over again reflecting on the repetitive cycle of Louis and his bullshit but also the way that even when they’re in a different place, she’s still are not happy and they eventually have to leave and start over again. You can also just tell she knows the cycle of Louis throwing himself at someone else and picking them over her is starting again

* Santiago is literally just twink death he reminds me of that old gay guy that shoved Britney broski at that Charlie XCX concert just to have his moment on camera

* I kind of find it interesting that Armand speaks over Louis cause it really seems like he’s projecting on Claudia. I think he sees himself in her as they both are stuck in their past that they can’t get away from. But at least Claudia is interesting so Idgaf about him

* The way everyone else is noticing Armand’s favoritism for Louis too like no wonder your coven is falling apart…

* I still think Lestat is funny but then I remember that there isn’t gonna be anything funny about the last few episodes

* “Louis are you schizophrenic?” “No🙂” the way he says it makes it so obvious that he doesn’t even believe what he’s saying💀

* Daniel having flash backs is stressing me out

* The two neurons in my mind connected, both Claudia and Armand share that same second choice feeling when it comes to Louis choosing someone else over them (Louis chooses Lestat over Armand and Louis chooses his love interests over Claudia) idk how I didn’t see that before I knew they were similar some how

* That scene where Santiago catches her writing in her diary lowkey makes a good point though cause Louis is not even making sure Claudia is being safe or cautious anymore cause he’s so busy with Armand and his Lestat hallucinations

* CLAUDIA AND MADELEINE❤️❤️❤️❤️

* The way they lowkey hate each other but know that they’re exactly what they’re looking for

* Armand stirring the pot by putting photos from other artists in Louis’s portfolio is so petty 😭 you can tell him and Louis are only together because they hate being alone like they disagree about everything. Also I don’t really get why Louis was so embarrassed about that he was being so extra.

* “You’re making love to me, and you think it’s wrong to look at me” AS THEY LOOK AT EACH OTHER IN THE MIRROR‼️

* Madeleine is kinda the opposite of Louis, she doesn’t really mind being alone and also doesn’t get overly attached easily which is probably so refreshing for claudia😭

* Armand better get the fuck away from Claudia. Also he doesn’t do shit like he wonders why the coven is falling apart like he isn’t forcing everyone to do everything while he messes around and does nothing (also sort of connected to his past of being enslaved and being controlled)

* The way Louis uses Claudia’s desire to find other vampires against her to put the blame on her for even wanting to find community while in reality it’s him that ruins everything,,,, is pissing me off bad…

* “That doesn’t sound like him” girl go kys you are literally the problem. “You picked the coven, You left me!” WHEN DID SHE LEAVE YOU??? Like am I missing something??? she never left him for a second but left her the second he saw a replacement for Lestat… please kill this man immediately.

* “The wilderness that is our daughter” reminds of the line “is there anything so undoing as a daughter” from arcane

* even before watching the first season, I just knew I was gonna hate everyone in season two except Claudia and madeleine😒

This is so long sorry💀

THE SANTIAGO COMMENT IS SO SPOT ON IM GAGGED

Louis is literally always busy with either Armand, Lestat (hallucination or not) or Daniel 😭😭😭

YOURE SO RIGHT CLAUDIA AND MADELEINE 🗣️🗣️

And tbhh yeah Louis was being soo pretentious with the photographs like who gives a fuckkk and Armand was just trolling or something

LITCHHH LOUIS WAS BEING SUCH A HYPOCRITE ITS CRAZY

[thelioncourts]

the absolutely amazing and lovely people over at @iwtvfanevents are hosting an event this weekend in which we share and discuss some of our favorite fics in the fandom. I know I'm going to miss some, but here are some fics that have utterly ruined me and make me so grateful to be part of this fandom 💕

reformation by verseau

we're gonna heal. we're gonna start again. you've brought the orchestra, synchronized swimmers. // It makes him speechless sometimes, how much he loves Lestat. He thought for years, a decade, that it was sickness. It’s not. It’s not. Even when Louis hated Lestat, nothing was more certain than that he loved him. Rating: E; Pairing: Lestat/Louis; Complete/WIP: WIP

bookmarked this months and months ago with the note, "the best louis and lestat characterization."

till forever falls apart by lesfleursrouges

"That night we met for the first time, I wanted to punch you in the face, you know," Louis mutters, "You were so infuriating. Getting on my nerves." Lestat scoffs. "You couldn’t even look away," he counters, "You liked it." Louis laughs and brushes a stray lock of blonde hair behind his ear. "Of course I did," he whispers, "You got me good, that night. You were on my mind all the time after." Set in episode 1x2. Rating: E; Pairing: Lestat/Louis; Complete/WIP: Complete

there is a line in this that I literally think about once a week

catacomb by @baberainbowao3

The ghost of Lestat follows Louis throughout Europe. Rating: E; Pairing: Lestat/Louis, Armand/Louis; Complete/WIP: Complete

posted just yesterday and I am....so unwell....babe never misses. e v e r.

part of your world by @weather-mood

When Crown Prince Louis de Pointe du Lac’s ship is attacked by a siren, all crew are lost at sea and Louis washes up ashore, uncertain if he hallucinated the monster. Until that monster shows up, seemingly human, in the lead up to his coronation. The Little Mermaid but make it Fairytale Horror. Rating: E; Pairing: Lestat/Louis; Complete/WIP: Complete

You all should have a general idea as to how I feel about this fic, but it 1) changed the chemistry of my brain 2) legit had me dropping EVERYTHING to see read the newest chapter.

a potentiality for corruption by @vampdf

It was a good story for the rumour mill: the de Pointe du Lac boy flees under the cover of night without a word to his parents and at the same time that strange European returns home across the Atlantic. In spite of all of the gossip about that morning of extortion and intimidation, Louis had gone willingly. or: God, the château de lioncourt and a fistful of poison. Rating: E; Pairing: Lestat/Louis, Lestat/Armand, Armand/Louis, Lestat/Louis/Armand; Complete/WIP: Complete

words will not do this justice...............they simply won't. read it.

alluvium by serpentskirts

Armand sinks down to squat in the water, sets himself at level with Louis' dull eyes. Under the cradle of his fingers the blood is caked and brittle. "If I may, Mr. Du Lac." With a piece of soft cloth soaked in clear water the stranger's blood is wiped away. Brown to red the crust dissolves in the stream, swirls for a moment before it is carried away, inconsequential. Rating: E; Pairing: Armand/Louis; Complete/WIP: WIP

chapter 5. chapter. 5.

good to love/ruthless in love by @brightfelon

Lestat and Armand's decade-long rivalry has finally come to a head, leading to an affair neither of them planned for, but that both feel powerless to stop. Louis and Daniel are friendly neighbors, nothing more, until they find out their husbands are having an affair with one another. Revenge has them carrying out an affair of their own. But it may be becoming more than revenge. Maybe it always was. and It had been nearly four years since Lestat lost his husband, his best friend, and his ambition, leading him to sell the family company and leave the city. Louis, Armand, and Daniel are still caught in the riptide Lestat believed he managed to escape. But when he attempts to sever his ties to them permanently, he may get drawn back in. Ratings: M; Pairing: ~in general~ Lestat/Louis, Lestat/Armand, Armand/Louis, Lestat/Louis/Armand (??!), Armand/Daniel, Daniel/Louis, Armand/Louis/Daniel; Complete/WIP: GTL - Complete, RiL - WIP

Listen..............I don't do poly and yet I found myself (and still do find myself) literally salivating for the next update. truly revolutionary.

roadkill by @baberainbowao3 and nlbv

A family trip to the circus ends with a satisfying supper and an attempt to fill Louis' belly. Rating: E; Pairing: Lestat/Louis; Complete/WIP: Complete

would give babe and nlbv anything in the world......would destroy the world for them if they asked

rosary by flowerplots

Alternate ways to pray the Rosary. “It is best to be on your knees for worship and repentance, I believe.” Rating: E; Pairing: Armand/Louis; Complete/WIP: Complete

*thousand yard stare*

rumplestiltskin by @weather-mood

Louis wakes up in a tower. Rating: E; Pairing: Armand/Louis; Complete/WIP: Complete

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wish I could be coherent about this, idk idk, there's no coping with it.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

there are. so many for fics. I'll try to do a post tomorrow too because I want to praise everyone. truly such a talented fandom. go give these fics and their authors all the love ❤

[zodiacsea]

my favorite activity lately has been piecing the iwtv show together via out of order gifsets on my dash and i think so far my favorite change between the book and the show is the lestat louis is apparently hallucinating all the time in season 2. honestly he should have been hallucinating a lestat in the book too i think it would have been so much more entertaining to have his constantly depressed narration in the second half of the book occasionally broken up with like. lestat saying something cunty and extremely inappropriate every few pages

[runningwithfangs]

Vampire Chronicles Book Review/Rant #4

The Tale of the Body Thief

Things take a turn once again! We got into silly Lestat adventures, met new vampires, the world was a bit changed after Akasha’s murder spree, the vamps who are left have to stick together now so we must get another chapter of this new coven right? WRONG.

Anne said it’s time for The Most Special Boy to have a turn in the spotlight again! 

I mean, it was still fun and I liked it overall, don’t get me wrong, but I think this is where The Vampire Chronicles start to get unhinged. It was a bit like watching a slow train crash, you know The Body Thief is lying, everyone warns Lestat not to do it, you know everything is going to go wrong, and you watch Lestat do it anyway. 

Overall I liked David and Lestat’s relationship, learning about David’s life and how he was unsatisfied that after devoting his life to studying mysteries he didn’t feel like he gained any more purpose or understanding in life. I didn’t get much out of Lestat’s hallucinations/memories of Claudia however. 

It was interesting how every vampire, even Louis, turns on Lestat in the human body, we know Marius lets him get away with everything, Louis will always be loyal despite himself, and the other vampires all love him, but once he’s renounced vampirism he’s dead to them all, even though Lestat could be turned again! Sure, Louis won’t do it, but I thought someone would offer! So it’s very convenient Lestat has made one human friend to save his ass.

Favorites:

Lestat laying naked face down ass up on David’s rug for days 😂

Lestat immediately screws up having a body, he’s getting knocked out, he’s pratfalling, he’s injuring himself, getting himself horribly sick. Hilarious! I did get worried when he almost died at the hospital though.

Lestat and other vampires are always describing Louis as “the most human” at best, and like a sickly, weak piece of shit vampire that can’t begin to keep up with the rest at worst. But when Lestat as a human visits him, he’s immediately like, oh shit why did I ever think that?! Louis is so obviously not a human! 

Mojo 💗

Least Favorites:

Anne didn’t let Lestat fuck that old man!! (Link fanfics if you got them 😛)

It’s not an immediate dislike, but disappointment? David, an old white man, takes over the already stolen body of a brown man. The death of this mechanic is not David’s fault, his taking over was the only way to save his own life. However, the old white man becomes a young hot brown man. . . it’s giving Get Out 😣 

There is a missed opportunity in not having David experience not being white in the world, giving that old man a moment to reflect on his past privilege and to grow as a person in the few months before he’s turned. Idk, it’s not that big of a deal but I would have liked to see it. 

And where’s @noncontextlestat at with the list of his crimes? Pretty sure they got SA on there already. 

Smutt:

Lestat gets to fuck a nun, a nun who just happens to be on nun sabbatical where she’s free to sin a little, as a treat. Wowowowow.

Nonsense Meter:

Automatic 9/10 nonsense, I think the reasons are clear.

Gross limp human dick < vampire permaboner. ANNE!!

Misc:

Ok, I must have been reading wrong because it wasn’t until this book that I realized Anne Rice vampires don’t have sex. I thought the sex was implied this whole time 😂

Hear me out, when Daniel and Armand are snuggling in bed and then showering, I’m not supposed to think sex happened at some point? Lestat and Akasha rolling around in bed in some Greek Villa, I’m not supposed to think sex happened?! 

When Claudia asks Louis what sex was like before, I thought she meant it like, “before you and my other dad started hating each other” and not “when you were human because you don’t do that as a vampire.” I’m not crazy, right? 

Chapter 7 (Lestat talking to Louis): “You described my weeping in your miserable memoir in a scene which we both know did not take place!” WHAT SCENE?!

[lioncunt]

i love hearing your opinions on all the characters!!

what do you think about claudia?

thank you so much!!! 🥹🥰

and ohhhhh my. my daughter my GIRL

first impression: kirsten dunst claudia (again when i was 15) and i loved her INSTANTLY she played the fuck out of that part, i loved how gleefully evil she was and her rage and torment and just the LOOK and concept of her was so fucking cool to me!!!!! i was devastated when she died, it broke me to pieces. her and tomstat were my favorite parts of the movie and i think they’re the reason i have such a deep love for claudia’s relationship with lestat, because you could just feel all the complicated love and hate between them in the film. when i read the book, i felt much the same way, but i understood her hatred of lestat even more and i was further enthralled by her predicament. i loved her reasoning for killing him, how it was for HER, how it was revenge for dooming her, for not seeing her beyond anything but a dress-up doll who will never change, for not taking her seriously, for this selfish act of creating her for his and louis’ sake. i loved how she took back her ownership of herself, how she’s the truest vampire because she has no memory of being a human, and how she’s always the smartest person in the room. i also was touched when i read the history behind her character and the tragedy of michele rice, so claudia holds a lot of meaning for me in that way as well.

impression now: just like with louis, the show took this character and elevated her to new heights. i again loved her instantaneously on the show, she was so DELIGHTFUL in episode 4 i fell completely in love with her all over again. the change to her age and backstory adds a whole new dimension to her character, and the acknowledgement of how her predicament affects her love life is soooo horrifying and tragic. episode 4 remains my favorite of the series, i feel like it’s such a complete arc contained in a single episode for her and i love it so much. i adore how bailey played her, her acting is phenomenal ESPECIALLY in her “who am i supposed to love” monologue, the change from her innocent childlike personality to the angst-driven teen to the bitter adult is fucking exquisite, i want everyone to award her for her work it’s better than 90% of performances i’ve seen this year. the relationship between her and louis in this adaptation is sacred, this complicated dynamic from parent-child to brother-sister and then even further where she ends up almost parenting him is so fascinating and disturbing and bittersweet and i tear up if i think about them too hard. my only qualm is i feel she deserved to stab lestat 90000 times more in this version but alas it was not to be. as for book claudia my impression is pretty much the same except that i LOVE her ghost hallucination appearance in body thief i think she should haunt lestat every day of his life and in hell too!

favorite moment: like i said above “who am i supposed to love” brings me to tears every time. also when she mocks lestat choking on his blood fjdksk and in the book “i’ll put you in your coffin father” is the most iconic line i WISH they kept it in

idea for a story: madeleine being the same age and them having a romance is something i’ve wanted for a year now, it’s probably not going to happen in the show given the actress playing maddie’s age but i’d still love to see it in a fic

unpopular opinion: in the book, i feel people get caught up in whether claudia was morally right in killing lestat, and to me, it’s more about how it was an act for HER. she did it for Herself, no one else. it doesn’t matter whether she was right or wrong to do it. she needed to be free of him. in the show, i think she should have killed even more innocent people :)))))) fill up the river with bodies babe drown out the pain ur doing great

favorite relationship: non romantic relationship in the book is her and lestat, and in the show it’s her and louis!

favorite headcanon: she is a LESBIAN

[theplanetcafe]

how dare they use the 2nd mvt of the ravel piano concerto during louis’ lestat hallucinations 😡 that’s my favorite slow movement ever bitches got me emotional

[jazuthevulcanprincess]

im so angry and im privileged to be mad abt something that so doesnt matter

but man. why.

the show does so many cool things i love like the lestat hallucination and the weird mind fuckery daniel is having and the weird relationship with armand and louis and claudias new lesbian paramour

but then they mae lestat and louis relationship

m u c h worse

and now they are fucking with marius? where is bianca gonna fit in?

man the vampire armand was my favorite as a child i will go postal if its mistreated

[dashboarddiaries]

Dashboard Diaries is a production of Atypical Artists, hosted by Lauren Shippen (@thelaurenshippen) and Cher McAnelly (@overchers). Our theme was composed by Lauren Shippen and mixed by Brandon Grugle. Art by Shae McMullin. Transcription by Laudable.

For bonus clips, ad-free episodes, and more, become a patron at atypicalartists.co/support.

[intro music]

Cher: Hello, Dashboard Dungeon Dwellers. I’m Cher McAnelly, Head of Entertainment at Tumblr. And tag explorer.

Lauren: And I’m Lauren Shippen, professional writer, who would try dragon if that was on a menu somewhere.

Cher: Oh, interesting. 

And this is Dashboard Diaries, a podcast for you – the folks who are in this internet bunker with us. We talk about what’s going on in our favorite hell site, get into what we like to call “tumbl-lore,” do fandom deep dives, and share the times when we’ve gone feral over a new ship.

So, Lauren, what has your last month on Tumblr been like?

 Lauren: Well, I have been deeply enjoying being able to finally look at the Interview With A Vampire tag because I finally caught up on season two. So, I’ve very much enjoyed both just catching up with the fandom and also the hype around season three already in which ... spoilers for the upcoming season of Interview With A Vampire ... Lestat is going to be a pop star. 

Cher, I don’t know how familiar you are with the Interview With A Vampire fandom and the drama that has come out of the season three announcement?

Cher: I’m so glad that you asked, Lauren, because I had a question for you that I think ties perfectly into this. I have not yet finished season two. I’m a couple of episodes in. So, I definitely have not looked at much of the tag or discord. So, I’m not spoiled. But I did just come across on my dashboard a post about how there’s a feud between Lestat and Swifties??? 

Lauren: Yep.

Cher: Taylor Swift!? And (laughs) I just would love to know more, Lauren. Could you take us on this journey?

Lauren: I would LOVE to tell you. Yes. Yeah, this really isn’t a spoiler. I saw this, too, before I finished the season. This doesn’t really spoil anything for the season itself because it’s sort of unrelated to what actually happens in season two. 

Cher: Okay.

Lauren: I guess the spoiler being that there’s going to be a season three and LeStat is in season three. But I think that’s a pretty good guess anyway. I think that’s pretty safe to assume. 

Cher: I’m not surprised, even though he ... spoiler ahead for people who haven’t watched season one ... he is ostensibly killed in season one ... ish. Right? 

Lauren: But even at the end of season one we kind of have the implication of him maybe not being dead.

Cher: Right. Did he get ... it’s been so long since I watched season one. Did he get in a coffin to go across the sea or something? Did I hallucinate that? 

Lauren: No, that’s I think what I’m thinking of, too. Or they were in coffins going across the sea. 

Cher: And he was also ...

Lauren: Yeah, and Louie left him something that he knew would be able to heal himself.

Cher: Okay. Got it. Yeah.

Lauren: This is from my memory of season one. I don’t think that this particular bit of fandom drama affects watching season two at all, but AMC ... after season two was complete released a teaser basically of what season three was going to be. And it is an interview clip with LeStat that is sort of presented in like a music documentary kind of way. Where he is doing these series of interviews and also intercut with that is a song, a pop song, that LeStat is singing. 

They’ve since actually released the music video for the pop song. So, the implication being that in the next season LeStat is some sort of pop star who is successful. And some Interview With A Vampire fans took screenshots of various stills from the interview and it’s classic LeStat, right? He’s being super dramatic. He’s crying, yelling, smiling. It’s all over the place. And somebody put those photos on Twitter with the caption along the lines of ... alongside with screenshots or screencaps of Blank Space, by Taylor Swift – that music video in which there’s all the same kinds of expressions, right? Mascara running down her face. LeStat’s mascara is smeared and all that kind of stuff.

And it was basically like a fan being like, “Oh my god, he would love Blank Space. This is so about him.” Kind of being like, look, he is Taylor Swift. And for whatever reason, the Swifties took this very seriously. And then a bunch of other people who are Interview With A Vampire fans sort of started having fun with comparing LeStat to Taylor Swift lyrics or various eras, things like that. And some Swifties just took great offense to their Taylor Swift being compared to, in their eyes, a random White guy. 

(laughter)

It was just one of those classic internet things where one whole side of the thing is in on the joke and the other side is not in on the joke at all. They just were very seriously thinking that it was some sort of stepping up to Taylor Swift ... and trying to claim Taylor Swift’s success for LeStat or something.

Cher: Nooo.

Lauren: And of course then all the Interview With A Vampire fans are like, this is exactly ... LeStat would love this. 

Cher: This is canon.

Lauren: This is canon. And I just so, yeah ... I had a lot of fun with that. And then the other thing in the last week on Tumblr is ... I was talking to my friend Briggon the other day, who you know of course, and who probably a lot of our listeners are familiar with, and somehow we ended up on the subject of when you’re in school, middle, high school, having binders, folders, notebooks that are specific colors for specific classes. Did you do this? 

Cher: Oh, 100%. 

Lauren: Okay. Yeah. So, this is a fairly universal thing, I think. And anyway, Briggon and I were talking about it and we found out ... we have a lot of twin brain stuff. We have the same birthday and we’re very, very close. We found out that we have all of the exact same colors for all of our subjects. And so of course I was like, “I wonder how common these colors are for people.” And so I made a poll asking peoples what their subject colors were. 

Cher: Incredible.

Lauren: Currently, there’s three days ... so by the time that this episode comes out this poll will be expired. But the current front runners are: What color is math – red. Which is my personal color. I feel good about that.

Cher: Yep.

Lauren: Were you red for math?

Cher: I was red for math. Yes.

Lauren: Amazing. Okay. For English or Language Arts, literature, whatever, what color did you have?

Cher: Blue.

Lauren: Okay, so blue is what’s currently winning. I had green. So, a little bit of a difference there. This one is particularly fascinating to me.

Social Studies or History – what color do you have?

Cher: I have green for Social Studies or History. Oh, actually, no, no, no. Because Science is obviously green. So ...

Lauren: Ohhhhh. Okay. 

Cher: Well, I say obviously everyone is using green for science but I’m trying to ... I think Social Studies or History would have been like purple for me probably. I’m trying to remember ... gosh, it’s been so long. Yeah, I think purple.

Lauren: Yeah, I mean, 12% of people so far have chosen purple. Blue was Social Studies/History for me. But yellow is actually the most popular for that, which I thought was interesting. But you do say, of course, green is science. That is the most agreed upon answer of any of the polls. 63% of people so far say that green is science. I’m a yellow is science person. 

Cher: Which I could see that. I can see that. 

Lauren: And then for what was your sort of elective or other – I did purple for mine. Which actually is the most popular. 54% of people say purple.

Cher: Yeah. Oh my gosh. This is such important discourse, Lauren.

Lauren: Right!? I’m really collecting the important data.

Cher: This is the data that people need. Also, I love this as just a concept. Something that you don’t even think about but has such universality. 

Lauren: Yeah!

Cher: Oh my gosh. 

Lauren: I thought it was really interesting. Yeah, green of course does make sense for science, right? But for me green is English because green is my favorite color and English was my favorite subject. And I don’t really like the color red and Math was my least favorite subject, so it was red. Whereas other people would be like, “Oh, red is my favorite color and I hated Math and so I chose red to make it better.” It’s always ... diving into the tags is a really interesting way to sort of see how people think about assigning colors to things. 

Cher: Yeah, and this is just one of the many things that I feel like in day to day life we assign colors to as well. I have a whiteboard and I do different colors for different types of notes that I’m taking on the board. Like, here’s the list of groceries I need versus things I need to do.

Lauren: Oh, I love that.

Cher: And all that kind of stuff. Or like yeah beyond ... I feel like the adult version or the grown-up working version of having tabs for your notebook is in an Excel doc how do you highlight stuff. 

Lauren: Totally. TOTALLY.

Cher: When you’re making some kind of a spreadsheet, what are the colors, how are they highlighted? Meetings I highlight in my to do list as a light yellow to highlight that they’re meetings. Or therapy is purple for me. And I list the days of the week in a blue. I feel like those little ... yeah. Oh my gosh. And red similarly felt like an aggressive color and that’s how I felt about Math, a little scared of it. 

Lauren: Exactly. We have come full circle into color theory, which is one of Tumblr’s favorite ongoing memes. 

Cher: Oh my gosh.

Lauren: What about you? How has your last month on Tumblr been? 

Cher: My last month on Tumblr has been great. I have been not on Tumblr a ton because I was traveling for a couple of weeks. I went on a fun little vacation to Barcelona and London, which was great. And then I immediately went on a work trip. So, I haven’t been scrolling the dashboard a lot but there have been two things that have really taken over my last month on Tumblr, both from a work POV and just from a fandom POV. The Umbrella Academy. I am sure no one is surprised to hear it.

Lauren: Ohh, yeah. 

Cher: Lots of takes, lots of opinions. Did a fun little answer time Q&A with the cast, which was fantastic. Definitely seeing a lot of positive fandom response around just ... the fandom loves the cast. And so that has been really wonderful to see. Especially given some of the other discourse around The Umbrella Academy. 

Lauren: I am excited to dive into it. I haven’t watched the final season yet. So, I’ve been avoiding the tag. But I still have gotten a whiff of some discontent, to say the least.

Cher: Yes. Folks have had some notes ... 

(laughter)

Yeah ... so, that’s definitely been interesting to see. And then in addition to that, which also has me in my feels, so I’ll bring it up later for the Feels Corner. But I feel like it’s also relevant for last month on Tumblr just because I feel like this is the most recent show I’ve gotten obsessed with and been looking at the Tumblr conversation around it – is My Lady Jane. Which thank YOU very much for getting me into it. I was distraught to see that it was not renewed for a second season. And I’m not giving up, Lauren.

I want this show to be renewed and I feel like we can do a Save My Lady Jane campaign!

Lauren: Please! I mean, yeah, I’m completely with you. I think it’s such a shame. I saw that news today. And it’s just like, yeah, that show had so many more legs to it. I thought it was delightful. Such a bummer. 

Cher: I completely agree. I think this is a wider/larger conversation that we can have but I just think more time needs to be given to shows to get a following. I mean, back in the day when most shows were on network TV and cable they were airing weekly. So, My Lady Jane would have had two plus months to get a following, a conversation around it. When you drop in a new show with eight episodes and just give it a month to really get its footing before deciding to cancel it or not, I don’t think it’s enough time to really give fans a chance to sink their teeth into it. There’s other stuff going on. There are things people are watching.

I think shows on streaming, especially for season one, need a good three to six months to establish a fan base before you can say that, “Hey, this show is not connecting.” 

Lauren: Absolutely. And I think that from sort of Hollywood at-large there is this feeling, this real desire to have the next big hit thing and so often you’re in meetings with people and they’re like, “Oh, the success of such-and-such shows ... we need more stories about this type of thing.” And I think that sometimes the wrong lessons are taken away from that. But I think the biggest thing within that is that oftentimes I’ll be in a meeting with someone or I’ll hear from a friend about a conversation that they had with an exec of some kind and there’s this idea that whatever successful show, whatever rabid fandom that is sort of taking over the discourse around culture is instantaneous. Right? 

And almost always the thing that happened is, for instance, The Bear. Right? The Bear is such a huge cultural phenomenon. It didn’t really become the thing that people were talking about until that episode that was one take in season one, which is episode six or seven. And it’s like, yeah! I had been hearing about it from a couple of people that whose newsletters I read because they’re people who are in TV and stuff and were really enjoying watching it week to week. But the cultural at-large wasn’t talking about it until the show had been airing for two months. Right?

But I think that from sort of Hollywood’s perspective it’s like, “Oh, this thing was such a surprise – instant hit!” And it’s like, no, it’s not like it all dropped on one weekend and became a huge thing. That hasn’t really happened since Stranger Things. Stranger Things is sort of ... I guess Squid Game, too, actually. It kind of just dropped and people became obsessed with it. But that is the outlier, right? For the most part, any show that eventually gets really popular is one that was sort of a little bit in obscurity until people found it and streaming sites just aren’t giving people enough time to even find the things that are languishing in obscurity. 

Cher: Exactly. And there’s so much content. It feels like the odds are already stacked against you to find the perfect show. How many shows that I’m sure you and I would both love have we just not hear of? Or never seen? 

Lauren: Totally!

Cher: Yeah. So, I couldn’t agree with you more and I just think of other shows like Yellow Jackets where season one, it really wasn’t hitting until near the end of season one. I feel like we were at the penultimate episode when the viewers and the conversation really started streaming in. And even on Tumblr I don’t really think I saw much conversation around it until season one had wrapped and season two was filming and then people were going back and watching this entire show and getting excited for this new season.

Lauren: Totally. Yeah.

Cher: Definitely hoping it’s not the end of the road for My Lady Jane. 

Lauren: Yes.

Cher: And I found this post about it that described My Lady Jane as the best kind of fan fiction that you could make into a TV show. 

Lauren: Yes!

Cher: And it’s just so good. It’s from user:dancinbutterly and they said, “Here to report that My Lady Jane is just the best kind of fan fiction that you could make into a TV show. It’s a shifter AU, arranged marriage, friends-to-lovers, 100 case slow burn, canon major character death fix-it fic, but with a big budget and a soundtrack and excellent costumes where everyone committed to the bit. I do recommend.” 

Lauren: That is such a good description, oh my god!

Cher: So good. And it’s just such a great fun show in so many different ways. I am also partially convinced it’s Shrek fan fic. I mean, they did ...

Lauren: Oh my god! You’re not wrong! (laughs)

Cher: Right!?

Lauren: That’s amazing.

Cher: I don’t think it’s the end of the road for My Lady Jane. I think there’s some hope yet. 

Lauren: For sure. I mean, yeah. From your lips to God’s ears. I would love [crosstalk 00:17:03].

[game show trill]

On the subject of art that built a fandom because it was released over a significant period of time ... that has been very much my impression of our main topic today, “Dungeon Meshi.” And Cher, I’m curious, what your first encounter with Dungeon Meshi was and what you thought it was? I have my thoughts ... (laughs)

Cher: My first encounter with Dungeon Meshi was seeing it on our fandom list, it has consistently been in Week In Review. One of the most talked about topics on Tumblr for the past few months. So, I have been seeing it pop up, even re-blogged, hopped into the tag to re-blog some stuff to entertainment – did not, though ... it is embarrassing to admit ... did not dive in and research exactly what it was. So, this is my assumption of what Dungeon Meshi is based on what I’ve seen. A manga turned anime series about a rag-tag group of elves, dwarves, a human and a part human part dragon chicken trapped in a dungeon and/or trying to rescue someone trapped in a dungeon. There’s magic, there’s romance, and there’s potentially no main character.

Lauren: I think that seems pretty accurate to me. Yeah. 

Cher: What do you think?

Lauren: I think we should say neither of us have read or seen Dungeon Meshi. We both have been curious about what it is. So, I feel like I have been seeing ... one of the main characters, because yeah you’re right, there may not be a main character. There’s sort of like a rag-tag gang of these mixed species people. But one of them is ... and who knows if I’m going to pronounce any of this right ... Laios.

Cher: Yes.

Lauren: And he is this blonde guy who is wearing classic medieval armor, who as far as I can tell is an autistic crypto zoologist who is maybe also eating the monsters!? I’m sure we’ll get into that ... But I feel like I’ve been seeing frames – what are they called? Panels ... I feel like I’ve been seeing panels from the manga of his face for like two years. 

Cher: Yeah.

Lauren: That can’t ... To me, Dungeon Meshi is something that a few years ago I started seeing this man’s face, because he has lots of expressions that are very meme reaction expressions. And I would see these panels and sometimes it would be without any context, it would just be a reaction image and sometimes it would be about Dungeon Meshi. And I just thought it was a web comic. Not “just” a web comic, web comics are amazing, but I thought that it was a short little web comic that people took reaction images from and then there was a small fandom but the reaction images sort of were bigger than the fandom itself. 

And then, in my head and in my experience, there was an actual anime TV show that premiered a couple months ago that then all of a sudden made the whole property very popular. And so as a result I don’t know if the manga is still going. (laughs) Or not!? Because I’m like this thing feels like it’s been around for a really long time. But I thought it was just a small thing in the beginning but it turns out it’s actually been releasing this whole time. And now there’s this anime, but I don’t know if the manga is still going on. 

And also somehow it’s about recipes and it’s about cooking!

Cher: Yeah ... there is a character who feeds ... Senchi, a character who will definitely remind you to eat and who always has food and lots of opinions around food. I’ve noticed that. And also, yeah, I think that perhaps a recent edition, maybe the 23rd edition of this story or chapter was recently released, the manage itself, so a lot of people are now binge reading all of the manga after watching the first season of the anime. And same as you – I don’t know if it’s now finished or if it’s just the most recent chapter has ended and now people are waiting for season two and the next part of the manga as well?

Lauren: Right ...

Cher: How did you approach researching Dungeon Meshi for this episode without looking up exactly what Dungeon Meshi is? Because we are going to do that together at some point in this episode. 

Lauren: Way, WAY back in the day I used to do a YouTube series called According To Tumblr where I’d look into a Tumblr tag and try to explain what a thing was based on the Tumblr tag. So, I just did that. I just went into the Tumblr tag and scrolled through a bunch of posts and added that on top of what I’d already organically gleaned. And yeah. It’s this found family story about these ... I want to say seven characters? The manga is created by someone named Ryoko Kui, who the fandom seems to love. She seems very cool. And the six characters are, as I mentioned, Laios who as far as I can tell is going through this dungeon to find monsters to understand them. I can’t tell if he’s canonically autistic or if the fandom just head cannoned him as autistic, but monsters are his hyper fixation. And he wants to understand them, which also involves perhaps eating them. 

And then, yeah, Senchi is this older guy who is taking care of the whole sort of rag-tag gang and also maybe cooking a lot. And recipes seem to be a significant part of the manga, or at least the food that they’re making is a significant part of what happens in the manga. And then Laios as a sister named Falin. And there’s another girl, Marcille who is in love with Falin, and Falin is as you said a large chicken, essentially. A shape shifting chicken. (laughs) And then there’s Chilchuck who is a young boy who is a divorced dad of four. (laughs) He looks like a young boy but he is a dad. And then there’s Kabru who I couldn’t quite get a read on but people shift with Laios. And then there Izutsumi who is a cat girl and may now actually just be a straight up cat, because I think all of them somehow got transformed recently. 

What is ... and beyond that, beyond the characters, I could not figure out what actually happens in this story. I could not tell you the genre of this thing if I had a gun to my head. (laughs) 

So, yeah, where did you end up?

Cher: Very similar journey to you, Lauren. I kind of wrote out ... I liked a bunch of Dungeon Meshi posts, all of which I will re-blog to the Dashboard Diaries Tumblr as kind of a visualization of the journey that I went on researching for this episode. But yeah, I wrote out the characters. Marcille, an elf, Falin may or may not be part dragon or bird, gets resurrected potentially – I don’t know?

Lauren: Yes.

Cher: Yeah? Okay.

Lauren: I mean, definitely got a necromancy vibe going on.

Cher: Yeah. Definitely a little. Yes, there’s magic for sure and romance. And it’s kind of ... I feel like I’m getting kind of medieval setting vibes.

Lauren: Yeah.

Cher: Maybe Lord of the Rings adjacent in terms of setting and species or types of characters. 

Lauren: Yeah, or involved in that kind of setting.

Cher: Yeah. And for Chilchuck I wrote, “Little hipster dude, smokes a pipe.” For Senchi I just wrote, “Will remind you to eat.” And for Kabru I also could not get a read. It’s one of the bullet points that there is Kabru in the story. And one of the top tags was “delicious in dungeon.” Is this an edition? A segment of the story that is popular? I’m not sure, but I saw a lot of things also tagged “delicious” and “dungeon.” Which I guess ties in with the food angle. Is there an entire food focused sub story involved? Is delicious and dungeon a recipe book that is also a story kind of like a food blog? If you will...

Lauren: I have a theory about what delicious and dungeon is. 

Cher: I would LOVE to hear it.

Lauren: I think it’s the English translation of Dungeon Meshi. 

Cher: Ohhhhh! 

Lauren: I think it’s the English title.

Cher: Okay.

Lauren: I don’t know, though.

Cher: That makes sense.

Lauren: But yeah. If that’s the case then ... is the story them finding ingredients in this dungeon and making meals? Because that’s kind of what I feel like this story ... and also romance and necromancy. (laughs) 

Cher: Necro-romancy. 

Lauren: Necro-romancy! Should we look up what this actually is together?

Cher: Yes, I think that’s a logical next step and also that makes so much sense for why one of the posts about this I liked was a fan art done in the style of the Hungry Hungry Caterpillar, or the Very Hungry Caterpillar but it’s one of the characters ... it’s Laios and it says, “The very hungry adventurer.” 

Lauren: That’s very good. 

Cher: Yeah, a lot of the things ... okay, I also liked a post that said, “Final chapter – delicious and dungeon.” And it appears to be all the characters at a feast. 

Lauren: Interesting. Maybe you’re right. Maybe it is an installment or a sub plot of the thing.

Cher: Oh yeah, and the tag is “volume 14, chapter 97.” 

Lauren: Jesus Christ. 

Cher: Oh my.

Lauren: How long is this thing!? How long has it been running?

Cher: It’s always been Dungeon Meshi. The dungeon was here before we were. 

(laughter)

Okay, yeah. Let’s look up Dungeon Meshi ... yep, so delicious and dungeon. Yeah.

Lauren: Uh huh! 

Cher: Yep.

Lauren: Okay. 

Cher: Okay. 

Lauren: Dungeon MEAL. Okay, so meshi is meal. 

Cher: Okay.

Lauren: But for some reason the English version is delicious and dungeon. 

Cher: This is such a journey. We’re going to have to watch this anime now.

Lauren: Oh my god. It was serialized in manga magazine Harta from February 2014 to September 2023‼ Okay, so it seems like it over now. But it ran for nine years! 

Cher: WOW.

Lauren: That’s crazy!

Cher: And that makes sense why there were so many different volumes of it and chapters. Wow. Which means there’s so much subject matter for the animated series, which is called delicious and dungeon. And is on Netflix. Premiered in January. Again, so this started, yeah, it’s a Japanese ... it’s in Japanese. It’s a Japanese series, premiered on January 4th of this year. So, it’s really been kicking off since the series came out being introduced to new fans and the existing fans are definitely having a lot of fun watching people discover the show and then read all of the source material.

Lauren: Yeah. 

Cher: Sounds like a great show. Also, where is the Dungeon Meshi associated cookbook or recipe book? I’m sure it exists. 

Lauren: Truly. I did like a post that I’m going to re-blog that somebody did a Dungeon Meshi themed party at their house and they made a bunch of food from it. It’s awesome! Should one of us read the summary on the Wikipedia plot to find out what actually happens? 

Cher: Yes. “In a fantasy world of dungeon exploration, adventuring parties set out on expeditions to raid dungeons with many hoping to find the mysterious golden kingdom which is said to be the treasure of an island dungeon. The story begins as a group of adventurers unsuccessfully attempt to slay a red dragon and are forced to escape as it consumes the leader’s sister, Falin Touden, a tallman (human) spell caster. Wanting to rescue Falin who used magic to teleport them to safety, the remaining members of the party, Laios, Touden (a tallman swordsman), Chilchuck Tims (Halfling locksmith), and Marcille Donato (an elven spell caster), brainstorm how to get back to the dungeon level with the dragon in time to save Falin from digestion. With most of their supplies left behind in the dungeon their mission seems impossible until Laios who secretly wants to eat dungeon monsters suggests they sustain themselves by finding food inside to which Chilchuck and Marcille reluctantly agree. Inside, they encounter Senshi, a dwarf with many years of experience surviving in the dungeon by cooking monsters and harvesting food. The story details their travels through the dungeon, the environments, traps, and monsters they encounter and the meals they create.”

This is incredible.

Lauren: Outstanding. I love how Laios is ... this is his secret, he’s down here to eat dungeon monsters. That’s amazing! 

(laughter)

Cher: He’s like, “Finally, my time has arrived!” “Hey guys, you know, we can just probably find food in there. I don’t know ... just a thought!?” Just throwing it out there. I don’t know. Could work!

Lauren: Yeah, “Let’s rescue my sister and stuff but like ... uh, yeah, let’s try to find some food.” 

Cher: Just don’t forget the salt. 

(laughter)

That is hilarious and incredible. I cannot wait to watch this show. Definitely going to have to watch a couple episodes at least before our next episode. I also found this post about it that I feel like really sums it up and I feel like take that with the hugest grain of salt, given as our listeners and I hope you know I have no idea what I’m talking about ... this post is from @thestuffedaligator and they said, “I’m loving Dungeon Meshi’s mix of quasi probably speculative magical biology and it’s magic, fuck you. Red dragons swallow their prey whole and use the indigestible remains as fuel for their fire breath, which is lit by creating a spark with their tongue. Living armors are colonies of mollusks who expand and contract to mimic muscle movement. Actually, man-eating plants is a misnomer. They catch small animals with a filament that retracts when touched and they use their decomposing prey as compost. These mushrooms can turn you into a gnome, it’s magic, fuck you.” 

Excellent.

Lauren: I love that. That sounds like a great magic system to me.

Cher: Yeah. The rules do not all need to make sense. It’s actually a little better when they don’t.

Lauren: Yeah, exactly. What would you say is sort of your biggest take away from the fandom in terms of like what people love about this manga/anime?

Cher: I think people love and really connect with Senshi and the nurturing providing food kind of aspect of it. I have really noticed as a theme throughout the fandom. I also just think ... in the same way that earlier in the episode I read the post about My Lady Jane and how it has so many excellent elements of fan fiction and just some of fandom favorite things like tied up into one. I think Dungeon Meshi seems to really have the kind of same elements. It has this found family component. This adventure component. This group of characters that all have such specific personality traits, especially the one who just was there to eat the dragons, or there to eat the monsters. Very much ... it’s giving “you’re just here for the zip line” vibes.

(laughter)

Which I think Tumblr users really connect with. And it seems that people are quite thirsty for Laios and Marcille. And again, I’m assuming Falin because it’s Tumblr. So, yeah.

Lauren: Yeah.

Cher: I feel like there’s a lot of thirst happening. It’s good to know that Marcille and Laios are brother and sister, because I was going to say that I thought that they were being ... Falin and Laios are brother and sister. Okay, that makes sense. Marcille and Laios – are they shipped? 

Lauren: I don’t know. I couldn’t ... I mean, it’s Tumblr, everything is shipped by somebody, right? 

Cher: True.

Lauren: As far as I can tell, I think Marcille and Falin is a canon ship. I got the impression that those two were together. But maybe that’s just because a lot of people were really shipping them. But I don’t know.

Cher: Okay, good to know. And what are YOUR takeaways from Dungeon Meshi so far and the glimpse of the fandom that you have had?

Lauren: I think the same, right? I think the found family thing, the sort of nurturing – even in the midst of danger and darkness – still making time to make a meal and share it with people that you love. That just being such a lovely sentiment. And people being thirsty for ... I mean, I saw thirst for all of the characters. I saw plenty of thirst for Senshi and some people shipping Senshi and Chilchuck which at first I was like ... Chilchuck seems like he’s 12 years old. I’m not entirely sure what’s going on here but, no, apparently he’s a grown man. I think it might be a Fives from Umbrella Academy situation??

Cher: Got it. Got it. 

Lauren: As far as I can tell he legitimately is a father. I’m not entirely sure. But I got that impression. And I think also people relating to the specificity of the characters and sort of them all having these weird little quirks that people can relate to and that people really like and it just being a fun found family romp. Which we all love! It’s a Tumblr favorite.

Cher: Yeah. It looks fantastic. It feels like it checks every essential Tumblr fandom box.

Lauren: Totally. 

Cher: So, with that journey through the dungeon. Should we journey back into our archives for Dashboard Confessionals? AKA Dungeon Confessionals today ... 

[guitar riff]

Lauren: Dungeon Confessionals does sound like something slightly different.

Cher: Definitely sounds like something a little more ominous! 

(laughter)

Maybe we’ll keep it Dashboard Confessionals! Keep the dungeon over with Meshi.

Lauren: Exactly. Exactly. Okay, I just have one post today because I think it’s an all timer. This is a post that I re-blogged in 2017. I have no idea when the post was originally made because the original poster @truckhole has deactivated and it looks like they deactivated in 2018. So, I mean, who knows. 

Cher: We miss @truckhole so much.

Lauren: Yeah, so much.

Cher: There’s a truck hole sized hole in our heart. 

Lauren: Absolutely. So, @truckhole posts, “God, today I ID’d an old dude buying booze and he pulled out a fake ID with an Elvis pic. Then laughed and pulled out a matching one but with Curly from Three Stooges on it. And I’m like, okay, please. And he finally pulled out his real license and his legal name was Steve Sinner.” And then someone re-blogged that and said, “That was the Devil.” And I was like ...

Cher: Literally.

Lauren: This is just one of those posts where it’s like – the story ... I have no idea. This is probably not true. Right? This probably did not happen to somebody, but also working customer service jobs – this kind of shit does happen. Right? I love the idea of this impish old dude having two fake IDs and then his real name is Steve Sinner. 

(laughter)

It just brings me a lot of joy. 

Cher: Is this just Lucifer fan fic? 

Lauren: Yeah, exactly. 

Cher: Incredible. Makes me want to have a secondary fake ID. 

Lauren: Absolutely. Just for the bit. You got to commit to the bit. 

Cher: Commit to the bit. 

Lauren: What about you, Cher? What do you have today?

Cher: So, I saved two posts. I dropped in two posts – I couldn’t decide between the two. They’re both chaotic in different but the same way. Both I re-blogged in 2016. And the first one is from ... I cannot read the ... @mgsotacon posted it. And it’s a screenshot of what looks like a Tumblr post or a screenshot of a fake Tumblr post with a tiny little dog that looks like kind of a ... one of those whippets or ... 

Lauren: Yeah.

Cher: It looks like a little whippet in a turtleneck with a pair of glasses on and the caption on the screen shot is “For your consideration.” And @mgsotacon posted the screenshot and then below captioned it, “Okay, I will consider this.” 

Lauren: It’s very good. 

Cher: Emmy season, award season is coming up. So, just wanted to submit this for consideration. 

Lauren: It is being considered. 

Cher: It is being considered. And then the other post that I put in is from @hellotaylor and it’s a fake ad that has a photo of a spherical corn and the caption or the image itself says, “New! Corn on the orb! It’s round now!” 

Lauren: This is exactly the kind of shit that I love. (laughs) Because it’s so good.

Cher: I feel like it’s Dungeon Meshi canon. 

Lauren: Oh my god. Incredible. Also, I recognize the person you re-blogged this from - @hellotaylor – because they are co-editor of the REC Center, which is a wonderful newsletter for fan fic recs. 

Cher: Oh my gosh!

Lauren: They’re Tumblr famous to me. 

Cher: Oh my god. Incredible. Well, they have taste.

Lauren: Corn on the orb. 

Cher: Corn on the orb. It’s round now!

Lauren: It’s round now!

(laughter)

This is my favorite post. 

Cher: Corb is a part of a balanced diet. It is no longer the food pyramid. It is just the corb.

Lauren: It’s just corb. 

Cher: Other than the corb, Lauren, what has you in your Feels Corber?

Lauren: (laughs)

[gentle music]

Oh my god! (laughs) Oh god, that was good. In my Feels Corber ... 

So, by the time this episode comes out Evil, the TV show on CBS and now Paramount+, will be over. (sighs) The finale is on Thursday. This is a show that, yeah, I’ve been watching week to week since I think season two is when we sort of got onto it and watched the first season. And it’s all on Netflix now. You absolutely should watch it and it has unfortunately been cancelled. This show is just so good. I think I probably talked about it on here before. But it just ... we do not have, even now, in this year of our lord 2024, we do not have enough truly unhinged women as lead characters in shows. 

Kristen Bouchard, the lead character of Evil, is a disaster of a human being, perfect angel baby. I love her so much. And she helps this priest and this scientist exorcise demons basically for the Catholic Church. And the three of them are OT3 to end all OT3’s for me. I want them to move into together on Thursday’s finale. And I’m really ... on a slightly more serious, earnest note, I genuinely am very sad to see this show go. It’s made by the King’s, this married couple that made The Good Wife and The Good Fight, and have been making great dramas for a long time. 

I read a really interesting interview with them in I think the Hollywood Reporter a couple of weeks ago. The interview is a little bit older than that. But about sort of the cancelation and kind of how they were feeling about it. And these are two people who have been in TV for decades. And to hear them talk about things like they’ve also been having a hard time kind of selling stuff or keeping stuff alive or moving things forward. And I think that Evil just represents a particular era of television sensibility that is slowly disappearing from our screens. And obviously there’s a lot of absolutely incredible television being made right now. Right? The Bear, Severance, stuff that is breaking what TV can be. But also there’s something to be said for the monster of the week, expertly plotted, incredibly well paced drama, right? And we don’t have those things quite as much anymore. And I think that Evil sort of represents some of the best of that kind of writing. 

So, I’m just really sad to see it go. Because I think that those shows are becoming fewer and further between. And I think that Evil was just an incredibly strong showing of that kind of TV.

Cher: Yeah. I agree with you. It’s sad to see kind of the distinct shift in the industry that we’ve seen over the past few years. I mean, going back as well to My Lady Jane, this great show that just premiered. You get everyone attached to it and then it was cancelled. Evil, which is a procedural that’s been running for quite a few seasons now. How many seasons has it had?

Lauren: This is the fourth. And they’re each 13 episodes.

Cher: Fourth season!?

Lauren: So, yeah. 

Cher: Evil ... I’ve only seen a few episodes of Evil and I need to ... I feel like it’s very much my kind of show, I need to dive in. 

Lauren: Yes, totally.

Cher: But it feels like it’s the type of show that could fill the void that Supernatural left. 

Lauren: Exactly! Yeah!

Cher: And as a lot of these great shows are being cancelled and again they’re such great prestige television but there’s a big difference between these shows that have such short seasons because they’re almost every episode is like a film versus these procedurals where as you said they’re really well plotted out but there’s longer seasons, they go on for years, they’re kind of ... they become these comfort shows and these stories that you get enmeshed in, you have the overarching story, but you have the fun ... you can dive in at any point and still enjoy the episode and kind of catch up the lore quite quickly type ... 

And I have also been wondering what does this recalibration mean? What is next for the television and entertainment industry as a whole when it comes to the titles that are getting made and invested in and watched and loved? Because I feel like we’re kind of seeing a similar thing in film where so many movie theaters used to be kept alive by these lower budget rom coms or like smaller films that were consistently coming out. And then there were a few obviously every year of those huge blockbusters and the award bait ones. But now it feels like all those kinds of in-between titles that generally are what you spend a lot of your time watching just because a lot of this prestige television by nature of it there’s longer times between seasons ... the seasons are shorter ... are kind of disappearing. 

I feel like we’ve definitely come to this place where you’re sitting here, like there’s got to be a new season of one of my shows coming out – what is it? And it kind of feels a little empty despite being so oversaturated as a market. Yeah.

Lauren: I completely agree. It’s funny, I had the thought the other day – 911 behind the scenes content has started to kick up on Tumblr. Because they’re filming actively. I was like, as Seattle starts to get some more storms and be a little bit grayer and cooling off a little bit more and you can kind of feel fall coming slowly on the air, it’s sort of like, oh, goodbye to summer. And then I sort of had the thought of, “Ooh, but that means that 911 comes back soon.” Because 911 kicks up sometime in September/October. It runs for nine episodes, it takes a midseason hiatus, it comes back February/March, runs for another nine episodes, takes the summer off. It’s a TV show. (laughs)

When I had that thought I was like, “Man, I remember ...” not to get too serious about things, but I remember being a teenager and I did not have the best time in middle and high school, as I think I’ve mentioned before, and so sort of going back to school was always a very complicated time for me. But the thing that would always usher in is, “But I get all my stories back,” and now I can get into the rhythm of the year with these stories that are happening week to week and it sort of keeps things moving forward in a really nice way.

Obviously, it’s like you should not base your mental health around the ability to watch a TV show. (laughs) We all get through our teenage years as best we can. But I don’t know, I really think that we’re losing something in losing that. I think that having a rhythm to the year should not be under appreciated. And I think that TV gave us that for a while in a really positive way. And I realize that some of this is just nostalgia of the time when specifically we were young. But I do think it was good. Anyway ... I clearly have a lot of feels about this. And as do you – but what else has you in your feels this week?

Cher: I mean, pretty much I covered it with My Lady Jane. Yeah, I very much binged all of that, have a lot of thoughts about it. I also ... this is something that I think is less a show or series that hits within the Tumblr fan base or Tumblr fandom, but I am obsessed with it and I’ve definitely talked about my love for dating reality shows before. There was a UK season of Love is Blind.

Lauren: Ooh!

Cher: The first UK season. And I binge watched it this past weekend. 

Lauren: Nice.

Cher: And it is SO good. Like, again, in the context of these dating reality dating shows, I feel like Love is Blind is one of the ones that feels pretty real as they go. Generally the first few seasons the cast members were I think as young as I think 23. And especially for a show where you get engaged and married at the end of it, it feels ... I feel like when you’re 22 that can feel like a lot. And this season the cast members are between the ages of I think 27 and 41. And I noticed such a distinct difference in the way that people ... the couples panned out and it’s definitely already, there’s already some great mess of course, it’s still a reality show, but there’s also just some really sweet earnest moments and just what feels like real people finding connection in this kind of unlikely place, though likely place. I don’t know it was a very sweet season. There was a lot of good intros of families and it just felt like I was watching an actual reality show that felt a little bit more like ... I also watched Love Island and I am not watching it to see who falls in love. 

Lauren: Right. Yeah, totally. That’s nice!

Cher: Yeah, it was really sweet. And so yeah I think the weddings episode is this Wednesday the 21st. So, we’ll see who is getting married. So, I’m definitely excited about that. And also one of the funny things about these types of reality shows where they’re featuring a few couples, the couples who get the least air time tend to be the ones who are the strongest. And there is this one couple-

Lauren: That makes perfect sense.

Cher: ... who got engaged pretty much immediately. They were the first engaged couple. And they have gotten no air time and all the discourse online is, “What’s happening with these two people?” And the replies are like, “They’re picking out china patterns.” They are locked and loaded. They’re in.

Lauren: Yeah, they’re going to be married for the next five decades. 

Cher: Yep, exactly. 

Lauren: That’s awesome.

Cher: So, the season, it felt like season one of Love is Blind, actually, which similarly was a show that very much ... there were couples from it that are still together. It’s just very pure. Aw, look at these people finding their person or someone they connect with in this ridiculous situation. So, that very much has me in my feels. 

And then the Answer Time that I got to do with the cast of The Umbrella Academy, which is a show I really like and a cast I really enjoy, was one of the most chaotic interviews of my life in the best possible way. It was so, so good. I’ll re-blog a couple posts to the Dashboard Diaries. To highlight a couple of my favorite moments of the questions was – what is something you learned from your character? And Justin H. Min said that he learned the meaning of the word “taint.” 

(laugher)

Lauren: He said that in an interview!?

Cher: He said that in an interview and then it was about a good 30 seconds of Justin, Elliot, and David saying “taint” in different phrases.

Lauren: Oh my god. Wow, you are not kidding.

Cher: It hit so much. 

Lauren: That’s so good. 

Cher: The answer ends with David going, “That’s rimmin’!” And Justin goes, “No.” 

Lauren: Oh, I can’t wait to watch this. 

Cher: So, that is just one. My other favorite one was also just David and Justin really. I mean, everyone in this interview was just so funny in so many ways. But there was another question where it was – if you had the powers of your character would you want to keep them? And David said, “Oh, 100%.” And Justin asked, “Oh, really? The knives?” And David goes, “Yeah, for cooking.” (laughs) And Justin was like, “Just because you’re good with knives doesn’t mean you’re good at cooking.” And David was like, “You can chop a lot of stuff.” Duh.

Yeah, just a beautifully chaotic interview, chaotic said in the most affectionate and positive possible way. 

Lauren: Amazing.

Cher: So, yeah, we’ll send some moments from it to you. I’m so glad that I was able to publish this interview. 

Lauren: I cannot wait to watch it. It sounds amazing. 

Cher: And with that ... I’m Cher McAnelly and you can find me at OverChers.Tumblr.com. 

Lauren: And I’m Lauren Shippen, and you can find me at TheLaurenShippen.Tumblr.com.

Cher: This has been Dashboard Diaries. And ... 

[outtro music]

Lauren: May your anons always be loving.

Cher: Your dash always refreshed.

Lauren: Your gifs always be loading.

Cher: And your ships always canon.

Lauren: May the fics you’re reading always be finished.

Cher: And the answers you seek always in the re-blogs.

Lauren: Thanks for scrolling with us!

This month, Cher and Lauren go deep underneath the castle (?) to explore the dungeon (?) and fight monsters (?), which they'll then try to cook and eat (?). They try to figure out what Dungeon Meshi is. Plus: your life is never going to be the same once you've heard about the corb. WE ARE C O R B.

Credits and transcript in our reblog. You can find transcripts for this, and every other episode, here.

Find the posts discussed in this episode in this tag!