#he is canonically INCREDIBLY vicious in the takes I'm drawing on

[titleleaf]

@rocket-eighty-eight mentioned you on a post “The real saw trap is reading an incredibly wrong...”:

@titleleaf WHERE did you see this red dragon take?!?!!

​Why, here on Tumblr Dot Com, of course! I thought I had it screencapped but I managed to restrain myself from engaging with the original post -- the OP was all of 20 and God knows I made absolutely boneheaded Tumblr posts when I was 20, I make some pretty stupid ones now. Regardless, it had pretty hardcore "hasn't actually read Red Dragon" energy. As you might also expect it was a post gassing up the NBC Hannibal s3 finale, framing Will's participation in the killing of Dolarhyde as him embracing queerness and aligning himself with his true love, Hannibal, rather than his fake comphet love, Molly.

Paraphrased, their interpretation was: "the end of Red Dragon, the book, has Will triumphing over Dolarhyde and successfully saving his wife and child, reaffirming the integrity of heterosexual marriage and exorcising the queer threat that Lecter poses to Will's identity of himself as straight, while the show's s3 finale has the better and more affirming depiction: Will leaving behind his wife and child and going to be with Hannibal and embrace his nature as a killer, showing that he's accepted his true self and what he holds in common with Lecter." Which... all of that aside, that's not remotely what happens in the book Red Dragon!

The ending of the novel is so notoriously downbeat and ambivalent that I have read multiple pieces of academic writing commenting on it, and it's something both film adaptations have felt the need to change. It's a fucking downer. You can't even feel good about Molly killing Dolarhyde because you've seen enough of Dolarhyde as a sympathetic wounded beast to wish that outcome, however inevitable genre conventions make it, could be different. Will's relationship to his stepson is already fatally wounded before Dolarhyde shows up, and Will's marriage is fucking toast -- even as Will's lying in his hospital bed he knows this, that Molly will leave him because of what's happened, and by the time SOTL takes place it certainly seems to have come true. Will's physical and mental well-being have been burned through, and by the next time we hear about him he's a deeply traumatized alcoholic whose face looks like damn Picasso drew it, and, we can assume, very single. Heterosexual love is not enough in this book to save anybody! Not Dolarhyde and Reba, not Will and Molly, not the Leedses, not the Jacobis, not Dolarhyde's mother and her new husband, not even Freddy Lounds and Wendy. Will comes to a fuller understanding of the "vicious urges" within him that humanity more broadly struggles with, not just outliers like Dolarhyde and Lecter, but it's not a comfortable exorcism of the destabilizing threat of violence, the emotional tone remains uneasy and weird. It's a bummer. Nobody is living happily ever after and it's Lecter who gets the last word. (And he's such a bitch about it, too, I'm obsessed.)

My own feelings on how the show does the RD plotline with Dolarhyde in s3 aside (short version: badly) I think people have a tendency to back-project the show's framing of Will and Hannibal's relationship onto the first novel when it doesn't apply. Their relationship in the book is interesting and imo very fun but it's very different because the rest of the canon from which the show will draw to pad it out just does not exist yet -- the show sort of Frankensteins together parts of Clarice's plotlines to make up the difference and while I enjoy the results in isolation Will and Hannibal's relationship dynamic in the show isn't remotely a straightforward translation from book to screen or some kind of more correct, uncensored version of what the book was too timid to show. (Clarice's whole perverse union with Lecter in Hannibal the book follows its own different trajectory, and I can see how people read it as liberating and/or affirming, but uhhhh I'll get back to them on that later.) I don't think the show does the fusion of those two relationships particularly elegantly (or the distribution of other aspects of the Hannibal-Clarice relationship onto other characters' relationships to Hannibal, though it did bring me one of my favorite parts of s3 with Bedelia) but I think it's really muddied people's ability to talk about the actual books (and films) on the merits of what they actually contain versus what they assume they must contain or would like them to contain. It's a hot mess express.

[twitchesandstitches]

Isn't Grimlock being a bit hypcritical? I don't know his origin in this AU, but in G1, he and the other dinobots betrayed the autobots and didn't listen on multiple orcasions nor care about the innocent. Grimlock only cared about stopping the disasters because he was still on the planet. In animated were they born by Megatron, and tried to kill both the autobots and the humans multiple times. In IDW they were a part of Megatron's original gang before joining the Autobots.

THat’s true enough; Grimlock and the Dinobots in general are pretty much the exceptions to the rules of ‘the Autobots are straightforward paragons’, in that they are usually anti-heroes.

However, this version of Grimlock is inspired not on those interpretations of him save the IDW version (though some aspects of those might filter through) but on the versions of him that is characterized as a rough bruiser with a good heart but a nasty ruthless streak. For what it’s worth, Grimlock’s origin in this AU is that he was born into the Fleet with the other Autobots that are canonically his age in modern continuities (Optimus, Elita, Arcee, and so on), and struggled with feelings of being isolated and ashamed of his monstrous beast mode, and his understanding of history and personal struggles with robot discrimination gave him a very rough understanding of justice.

That character map is as thus:

Grimlock as written specfiically by Simon Furman; ruthless, far more pragmatic and violent than Optimus, but just as dedicated to stopping the Decepticons and despising those who bully those weaker than them.

The general IDW incarnation of Grimlock, again as written by Furman; this is by far one of the most heroic incarnations of the character, in that he does care for human life even if he complains about it or tries to act like he’s indifferent. He tried to exile himself from Cybertron for fear of his monstrous beast mode going on a rampage, longed to be a real hero, and for what its worth, he was only a part of Megatron’s gang before the ‘Cons turned into a genocidal band of robot supremacist planet looters. (His general speaking style and grumpy demeanor are also inspired from that.)

Fall of Cybertron Grimlock; a rougish and berserk brute who takes trophy heads, terrorizes his enemies, and weaponizes dread, but is nonetheless a hero where it counts, even if he’s not exactly keen on chain of command. And is a hothead even BEFORE he became a monstrous beastformer.

Dinobot from Beast Wars, who also codifies the general culture of Simfur, Grimlock’s homeland. A violent contrast to the other Maximals, with a code of honor unlike their’s and a vicious streak so notable that he ate a clone of his, possibly just to disgust the Maximals, and advocating for much harsher means than his teammates tolerate, but in the end, he won’t harm the innocent and he puts his life on the line for the good of all even though he would prersonally benefit from their suffering.

The Incredible Hulk, particularly in his incarnations as an embittered and intelligent antihero who regards himself as a monster and thinks that helping the puny humans is going to bite him in the ass, but he feels compelled to help anyway. Mostly akin to the Green Scar (Planet Hulk/World War Hulk incarnation), Earth’s Mightiest Heroes take on the character, and the accuser aspects of Devil Hulk from the Immortal Hulk run. (”When somebody hurts people smaller and weaker than them, I take it REAL personal.”)

Ultimately, this version of him is intended to be an antiheroic contrast to the likes of Sierra. Yes, he’s a disturbingly violent, vengeful, and deliberately cultivating an attitude of fear by their enemies. The Dinobots are terrifying; their foes dread the stomp of their feet, the snap of their jaws. When they come onto the fight, their foes run in utter horror, knowing that MAYBE dying in retreat is better than the absolute certainty of the unspeakable violence the Dinobots will visit upon them. It is largely an act, and he’s a solid ‘beat enemies by scaring them’ Batman-esque figure.

But at the same time, he’s a strong believer in restraint and protecting the weak. There’s nothing he hates more than bullies, and those who use their power to dominate the weak. Evil deserves to be punished, and he demands retribution for what the evil have done. This is why he wants to personally kill EVERYONE wearing the Megatronian Decepticon badge, for the tihngs they have done, and why he’s so hostile towards Spinel. Bear in mind, in this AU, she didn’t just ‘threaten’ to wipe out a planet, she devastated many worlds, including the use of Dark Energon, horrifically poisoning the planets in question and causing untold devastation and injury.

People almost certainly have died because Spinel wanted to hurt Rose out of resentment. The fact that the death tolls weren’t higher were the result of sheer dumb luck and heroic action, and he’s incensed that she wasn’t executed or sealed away for her crimes. She caused a horrific amount of suffering, purely out of spite, and he is pissed over this.

Granted, Spinel’s situation is extraordinary and she certainly wasn’t really in a clear state of mind at the time, but he’s too vengeful and angry to really care about that.

He’s not so much poking a bear with Spinel though, as keeping her on the straight and narrow with fear of him coming for her if she goes bad again. Sure, she MIGHT gain some success and vindication if she becomes a full fledged villain, but that’s nothign compared to the absolutely certain and memorably horrible death Grimlock and his Dinobots will definitely visit on her if she does that.

[my-whumpy-little-heart]

▶Hey there Floyd why don'tcha burn yourself and ruin that lovely brand Percival gave you. I'm *sure* he won't give you another one. Yeah :)

Ohh boy, thank you so much for this ask Nemi. The response got out of hand, as always, but it was a ton of fun to write. This is completely non-canon, but linking the masterlist for the rest of Persistence for context.

Content warnings: forced self-harm and general discussion of/brief loss of autonomy due to outside forces, burning/branding, creepy/intimate whumper, mild gore (some description of blood, cuts, burns), and the narrator is played as a character in the story.

Specific warning that you are in the point of view of the person who gave the command here. They are remorseless and actively help the whumper for a brief period. Proceed with caution if that could be upsetting to you. ————————————

Floyd’s eyes go wider with every word you say.

“Nhh- no. No. That’s- you’re…” He looks down at you in complete disbelief and denial. The mere thought of doing what you commanded sends his heart racing with immeasurable fear, intense hatred, and the tiniest shred of forbidden desire.

“You can’t possibly mean that. Please, you don’t-” You cut him off, knowing he’ll keep prattling on if you don’t, and insist that you do very much mean what you said. Every single word of it. Floyd doesn’t listen- can’t listen to you.

“You don’t know how he is. What he would do if I- if I- I can’t,” he throws his hands down resolutely, but his voice is shaking and his expression is uncertain. Floyd feels the immense power radiating from you. The air is thick with it, making it difficult to breathe with the command incessantly weighing on him. On some level, he understands the luxury of declining an order and knows he will not have it here. 

He’s silent for a few seconds, held back as your words take root in him and control wiggles another inch out of his grasp. Floyd moves as the command urges him to, if only out of the desire to maintain some desperate authority over his own actions. He reaches up to the collar with his shackled hands first, feeling along the back of it in hopes that the locking mechanism has come undone and he’ll simply be able to slip it off. It’s... not. 

A few tugs on the leather does nothing but chafe against constantly irritated sores: a sharp pain dulled by repetition. Floyd looks to you as if he’s going to make some half-hearted comment about how he can’t do this with the magic restrictor on, or ask what you think he should do, but his mind has already plotted out his options for him, is already gathering magic within him that makes the collar buzz in anticipation. 

He’s staring at the metal shackles, now. The length of chain between them that stretches just far enough to reach both sides of his chest. He recognizes their untapped potential, as much as he wishes he didn’t. A bare hand of fire could surely do the trick, but a flame on its own is far too unwieldy. He’d have to hold it longer, reign in flickering tendrils, potentially move it across the brand…

As excruciating as the metal branding had been, replicating that scenario would be the easiest choice. 

“What did I ever do to you?” Floyd’s voice cracks as he pushes against Percival’s seal, letting the heat of his magic spill and flow to his hands, clutching the chain between the shackles. “I- I’ve never even met you, you aren’t a member of his crew… why are you doing this to me? I can’t usually sense magic but I feel your power, it’s- it’s incredible, I’m sure you could choose to do anything with it. So why this? Why- aAAH-!” He doubles over, unable to speak as a scream forces its way out.

You stand silently, watching the magic restrictor finally kick in at full force. Floyd tenses up, muscles in his arms and shoulders twitching as he rides out waves of uncontrollable pain, still pouring magic into the shackles which are now glowing a faint red. It’s a vicious cycle, but eventually the pain stagnates and Floyd peels his eyes back open to glare at you. They’re crazed and glassy. They’re beautiful.

“Well?! Please, if you won’t let me stop, if you’re really going to let this happen to me, just tell me why!” Every word shakes, wet with tears in his throat. A sheen of sweat coats his skin. The metal is almost orange, and you can feel the heat from where you’re standing only a few feet away.

You shrug and grin, thoroughly enjoying yourself by this point. You may not be affiliated with Percival, you explain, but you admire his work. And it’s not your fault that Floyd happens to be such a perfect subject to display it on.

“You, you’re… hhhhnnh- you’re sick,” Floyd spits, crying out again when the pain ramps up. 

Yeah, you nod, holding back a laugh. That just about sums it up. 

Floyd is panting audibly now, his efforts exhausting him completely. You see his own magical power draining, only supported by the sheer willpower and necessity of your command. The metal was hot enough long ago, which both Floyd and you had recognized, but he hadn’t been able to press it against his own skin. With nowhere else to go, the magic heated it more and more.

Two feet separate Floyd’s brand and the bright orange shackles trying to singe his hands as he lets go of his magic, the restrictor finally settling as well. Any pain left is a penetrating soreness, but far more pleasant than what he’d endured for the better part of a few minutes. 

You tease him, ask him what he’s waiting for now, and are seriously considering just burning him yourself when someone else bursts into the room. It’s sudden and loud, and Floyd startles, losing his focus on resistance for just long enough that the command takes a secure hold, shoving his hands against his chest, stretching the chain across the brand, and keeping it there. 

Floyd wails, crashing down to his knees. Percival is standing by the door, disbelief quickly melting away in favor of rage. He stalks over, tears Floyd’s hands away from the brand as he only screams louder, and shoves him down on his front. Percival either can’t see you or didn’t care to take note of your presence, and you continue to watch as he berates his captive.

“What the hell was that?! Hm? Care to fucking explain yourself, Benedict?”

Floyd writhes under him, trying to get heavy pressure off of the fresh burn as Percival’s heel grinds him into the ground. He can’t even seem to form words yet, so soon after the burn. Hysterical laughter bubbles up in Percival’s throat, not quite quashed by the fury still radiating off of him. 

“You had better have a damn good reason for this,” he says, flipping Floyd to lay on his back and straddling his waist instead. One arm pins Floyd’s wrists above his head, keeping the hot metal far away from the rest of his vulnerable body, and exposing the damage done.Torn skin is already beginning to welt up, and the original brand is almost completely ruined. 

“Not only did you use your magic, but you used it to put yourself in danger and mutilate the mark I so lovingly bestowed upon you,” he sneers, tracing fingers over the pale, irritated skin. Floyd jerks away at every touch, shaking his head and sobbing.

“No, p-please- AAAAH! Please! I didn’t ha-ave a choice! I promise I didn’t- I didn’t want this, I would never want this!” Tears spill down his cheeks and he can’t bear to look Percival in the eye as he pleads, squeezing his shut instead. 

“You can’t lie to me, Benedict. I see how you look at my mark. How you cover it, try to pretend it’s not even there... It was only a matter of time before you tried to get rid of it, wasn’t it?” 

“Not like this…” Floyd pants, “It hu-urts, it hurts so much, I- I can’t, I couldn’t-”

“But you did. You’re just regretting it, as you should.” Percival shrugs and Floyd shakes his head again, sobbing harder. “No sense in crying over it now, darling; you’ll need to save a few tears for when I can fix this proper.”

Floyd’s eyes fly open wide. He’d expected it, of course. He should have been ready to hear those words and brace for that pain all over again. But he wasn’t.

“Nhh…” He can’t even force out a word before Percival presses especially hard on the burn and he shrieks. 

“Yes. But I think you’ve done quite enough damage yourself for one day, don’t you agree?” Percival sits back as Floyd nods, reaching into his pocket. 

“You there,” Percival says without turning his head, and it takes you a moment to realize he’s talking to you. You swallow hard, greeting him when Percival finally looks you over. “Hold him down.”

You nod and do so gladly as he draws a small, sturdy knife from his boot. The wooden handle is beautifully engraved, and you can’t help but admire it as you settle your hands on Floyd’s shoulders, leaning your weight against his frantic struggles. He’s trembling and breathing hard as the tip of the knife approaches his skin. 

“What- what are you- please don’t, please please please...” Floyd’s voice fades to a reedy whisper.

“This is just a temporary solution,” Percival says as he dips the knife into the middle of his marred insignia, carving out along the figure eight. 

Floyd screams, voice breaking off in intervals, and he pulls against you in a weak effort to get away. Blood drips down from the wound, only serving to dirty his chest further. Percival is efficient, carving beautiful curves through ruined skin, and when he drags the finishing lines down Floyd’s chest, the man finally goes limp. 

With the command finally fulfilled, you fade away, saluting Percival and smiling wide as you go.

[djarins-riduur]

I have so much to say about this story and I'm absolutely going to go back and reblog/comment on all the other chapters, because holy shit you deserve it so much for creating such a visceral and beautiful world. This is pretty much a big ass essay so I'm tossing it under the cut cause wow i'm about to ramble.

This is possibly one of the absolute greatest fics I've ever had the pleasure of reading in my entire life. The way you have created a love story that is so realistic and so gut wrenchingly painful is just insane. I feel like I was watching a movie while reading this and that this should now be canon in the star wars universe.

I fell utterly in love with Maul and reader's love story and the way they went from being silent and secretive around one another to just openly speaking the truth. The way you write Maul is nothing short of divine perfection. I can hear his voice with everything he said and see his actions and the way you describe the part of him that surrenders to the dark side is INCREDIBLE. I am just floored by the sheer talent.

Not only do you bring to life their love and write smut that had me BLUSHING like a mad woman, but I was practically inhaling this like an actual novel. I swear if this was printed I'd pay for it, because it is just THAT GOOD. Just when I think things can't possibly get better than this, you introduce two characters that you not only made me fall for in such a short span of time, but had me actually crying for when they died. I had to pause because I couldn't see the screen anymore I was crying so hard.

Avona is so realistic that I could explicitly see her in my head as an actual person. Also the way you describe her power and connection to the force is beautiful and once again you're just a brilliant writer. I love her so much already and feel heartbroken that she's dead. Somehow you managed to make me want to strangle Maul to actually feeling empathy towards him and supportive of their love in the end. Like woah the way you write about the balance is true but also the turmoil surrounding it within Maul. The line in chapter 11:

Yes, life is cheap. But you are rich in heart, despite it all.

Is possibly the greatest way to describe Maul's point of view about life as a whole. It's so BRILLIANT.

Lastly this section of chapter 14 shot me in the heart, killed me where i stood, by all means i am completely gone from reading it.

It is then, in that moment, that he commits part of himself to her. Because he decides that he is going to get her out of here: out of this vicious, violent storm. He will free her from her confinement, from this prison of a planet. He will take her far away, and he will show her the galaxy. He will take her to every world that she wishes to visit, he will show her everything, until she has filled thousands of pages of hundreds of books with her words and her drawings. 

She will know him. She will know it all, she will know everything that she wishes to. She will never again feel the regret of not seeing what lies beyond the Great Wood, what is past the moons and the stars of this system. He swears it.

By the Force, he swears it.

Maul's love for her is just so tragically beautiful, because it's so clear he wants to just love her but he also has to give into the dark side. Which just makes me love the story even more.

This was A LOT. Apologies for rambling so much, but I've been obsessively reading this for hours and I feel like I just found my new favorite novel in a bookstore. You're such an amazing writer and I can't wait to find out what happens between the two of them! Thank you for the incredible story!!

By The Light Of The Second Moon

A Darth Maul x AFAB!Reader Fanfiction

“You dream all night long. You dream of the sun, of the stars and the moons, of war-torn, far away worlds. You dream of fruit and water and light. You dream of the unknown galaxy. You dream of Maul. And finally, you dream of a place that lies beneath the deepest part of the most violent ocean, at the centre of the universe, and how freeing it would be, to be trapped there with him.”

SUMMARY: You have spent your entire life on a quiet planet, leading a safe yet unfulfilling life as the daughter of a surgeon. The arrival of a mysterious ship threatens that safety, and you soon find yourself befriending a dark and dangerous soul. As your attachment deepens, events more monumental and complex than you could ever know unravel around you. You soon learn that the only solace you can find is in the hours spent with your dark lover, by the light of the second moon.

Female/AFAB!Reader x Darth Maul romance. Set before the events of TPM. No use of y/n. Includes smut.

RATING/WARNINGS: EXPLICIT.  This fic is strictly 18+ due to sexual content.

There is absolutely no graphic/gratuitous depictions of violence or non-con elements. The 18+ rating is for the smut! However, please see the beginning of each chapter for specific CW/TWs in case of your own personal squicks. Please take care of yourself.

WORD COUNT (SO FAR): 97k

A/N: This is a multi-part, (currently) work in progress/incomplete fanfiction - an f!reader!insert x Darth Maul romance, that includes a lot of smut. Chapters are updated as frequently as possible - this fic does have a full plan and will eventually be completed. The art featured in the above graphic was drawn by the ever wonderful @elledjarin. Thank you my darling!

Moodboards (made by me): The Woods / The Ship

MINORS, DO NOT INTERACT.

{Read all chapters on AO3}

Each chapter will be individually uploaded on Tumblr at the same time that it goes live on AO3. I do my best to update every 2-4 weeks. All are linked below ↓

Chapters:

Summer and the Moon

The Shadow of The Woods

Beautiful, Cruel Man

In The Trees, An Electric Feel

Devastatingly Wicked

Inside Your Mind

Of The Rains and Of The Dreams

Me, Only Me

Life In The Dark, It’s Who You Are

The Broken, The Damned

You Know, You Always Knew

A Force of Truth

Fear of the Water

Never Let Me Go

Your Power

tba

tba

tba

tba

tba

By The Light of The Second Moon Playlist:

check out some incredible art and edits inspired by this fic!:

stunning artwork created by the wonderful @elledjarin:

Darth Maul / Secret Sketchpad

beautiful birthday gifts by the lovely @kimageddon:

BTLOTSM Moodboard & Maul and Reader Art

a NSFW swoon-worthy birthday art gift by the amazing @the-chains-are-the-easy-part:

NSFW - BTLOTSM

incredibly beautiful edits made by the darling @stardustbee:

BTLOTSM Edit / Feeling

such a gorgeous and fantastic aesthetic board made by @gods-and-monsterss:

BTLOTSM Aesthetic Board

huge shout-out to my gorgeous friends for these pieces!!!! thank you so much for the time and effort you spent on your fanart/edits/gifts. they are beautiful and you mean the world to me! ✨💜🌜

[arkhamcitysirens]

I'm bad at comic writer names... What did they do :O I'm curious

ah okay so amanda conner and jimmy palmiotti are a married couple who have been the writers of the harley quinn solo comic series since its launch in late 2013. now they’re leaving the series and personally i am REJOICING to see  them gone. there are a LOT of problems with harley’s series but i’ll try to cover whatever i have the energy and understanding of to discuss.

-the main issue with harley’s current solo series is simply that this is not harley quinn. nothing about her resonates as the harley we know and love from anything that comes before it. she is reimagined as an anti-hero living in coney island as a landlord, trying to help clean up her city whilst holding on to absolutely none of her most defining traits. her dialogue is painful (her catchphrase is “holee _-eriolee!”), she has no clear motives, and she is no longer the funny, ditzy, cute and playful jester girl we’ve come to love. this harley is crazy, sure, but otherwise she really has no resemblance to our harley quinn.

-a big draw for most readers was initially the palmiottis promising harley and ivy would be “girlfriends without the jealousy of monogamy”. sounds cool in theory, but this is basically code for the fact they decided harley would be with a man throughout the series, then ivy would pop up now and then for a steamy shower scene or make out session, speaking in nothing but sexual inneundos. it’s not progressive in any way, it’s just an excuse to exploit wlw relationships and fetishize lgbt relationships for sales. and these tactics obviously work. this is the only canon harlivy content we have… so we take what we can get, and the cycle continues, never making their relationship anything more than a repeated booty call to remind us harley’s PROMISCOUS and HOT!!! (take for example hq rebirth #7. we were promised a romantic harlivy issue in which the girls were supposedly taking a romantic vacation together to a tropical island! everyone got so excited, only to find out this vacation was set at a nudist camp. yep. turned out every harlivy interaction in our special issue was nothing but sex jokes.)

-every single character in this series gets ruined by their inconsistent writing. poison ivy is present, but she shares nothing in common with the real poison ivy, instead only existing in this series to be out of character, kiss harley, and then mutter something about plants before vanishing. joker shows up for harley to beat the crap out of him, but instead of showing how cunning and sneaky he can be in convincing her to fall back into his arms again, he just straight out beats her up and calls her names… i mean yes he would absolutely do that because he’s a gross abusive douchebag but he wouldn’t be so blatant. the whole point of their relationship is that he’s smart and always manages to convince harley he loves her, and then turns on her when she’s too far gone to leave. also, harley’s pet hyenas bud and lou were replaced with a grotesque stuffed beaver called bernie that nobody cares about. and harley’s new supporting cast is a bizarre collection of new characters, including a blatant deadpool rip-off, a gross jewish stereotype, a bland white guy who’s apparently her boyfriend and some dude who is literally half-man, half-egg. we don’t want any of these characters,,, i mean really,,, who asked?

-making harley an anti-hero goes against everything people like about her character! the palmiottis write her as this gold star new york hero, who’s all about doing good and helping others, and although harley often has good intentions and doesn’t go out of her way to be vicious, we all know there’s no way in hell she’d be a hero. she’s all about chaos and destruction. yet the palmiottis are currently writing her as a new york vigilante who shuts down gangs, stops fires and burglaries, and is LITERALLY RUNNING FOR MAYOR in the most recent arc. what the fuck.

-the series is just… bad. like it’s all such surface level shit. most of it is sex jokes and harley bashing random people with lots of blood and gore and there’s nothing deep or interesting about it. it’s funny (well… debatable) and action-packed and that’s about it. of course any harley series is ultimately just a cashgrab at this point but they don’t even try to make buying these comics worth the reader’s while

-there was major controversy at the launch of the series because of the contest they ran called “break into comics with harley quinn!” any artist was invited to draw a specific four panel page of harley, ad the winner would be featured in the series’ debut issue. sounds cool, until you learn that one of the panels was “harley naked in a bathtub, with a toaster above her head, ready to commit suicide”. yeah, and it gets worse, because this competition started during suicide awareness week. jimmy palmiotti later explained that it was supposed to be a “funny joke about the suicide squad” and he “should have worded it differently” but really… how can you word something like that differently to make it better… it’s insensitive and problematic no matter how you look at it…

-recently they claimed they were the ones who made harley as big as she is today which is complete and utter bullshit. the arkham games brought her into the mainstream and then her popularity within the arkhamverse led to her introduction to the dceu, which is without a doubt the reason she’s so incredibly popular. how deluded do you have to be to think your shitty series, that makes no sense, is constantly fucking up the new 52/rebirth continuity, and never even makes the top ten comics in a month, is what brought harley quinn in her red and black booty shorts to international fame? the general public doesn’t care at all about the palmiottis and now they’re gone, neither do i.

overall i guess the palmiottis are just bad writers. their stories are uninteresting and unfunny, they fetishize lgbt characters to make money off their exploits, and they take way too much credit for writing a series that only achieves because it’s harley. they seem to know harley will make money no matter what, and so they put no effort in, resulting in comics that cause the reader more pain than enjoyment. well hey, now the demons are dead, we can fucking party yo. bring on frank tieri and the new harley quinn team!

[welshscotsmanandlife]

Since you reblogged one of these AUs, and I really like your meta, maybe you can answer this one. Why is Laurent so frequently portrayed as a vicious bastard to Damen in AUs when Damen had nothing to do with Auguste's death? Or, even more strange to me, as a vicious bastard in AUs with Auguste alive? I thought it was pretty clear that Laurent's viciousness in CP was triggered by Damen killing Auguste and being raised in the court of his abuser, but maybe I'm missing the obvious.

That’s something I’ve noticedas well!

First of all, I should startwith a disclaimer. I absolutely adore AUs and think some of them have been socleverly done so the following is in no way an attack on any specific author/AU/ idea.

This question has severalelements that I think interlock. Firstly, the extent to which a character canretain their character if they did not grow up or live in their canoncircumstances; secondly, what the reader wants to see, and thirdly, what thewriter is capable of.

Firstly, characterisation. Astrong character is one who will only work in the specific circumstances of thebook they’re in. This is because the character has been moulded specifically bytheir setting and their experiences. If you’ve got a character whom you canjust transplant from an historical novel about Ancient Greece to a modern romcom with nothing changing, you’ve got a weak character. That is basic writer’scraft. Whilst it is possible to transplant Damen to an extent into othersettings because you can replace deposed royal with deposed business heir orman whose girlfriend has cheated on him with his brother, you cannot do thatwith Laurent. He is the strongest and most multi-faceted character of thetrilogy. As you say, Laurent’s character comes directly from Auguste’s deathand his uncle’s abuse. Had either of those events not happened, he would not bethe person he is in the books.

Moreover, he is horrific toDamen specifically because Damen killed his brother and he blames him for hissubsequent abuse. They acknowledge this in canon – ‘If I had been anyone else,you would have freed me the first night.’ Laurent and Damen’s relationship isso captivating because they surmount these barriers. On paper, it seems soimprobable that this frigid ‘cast iron bitch’ who has every reason to killDamen – and tries to – would fall in love with him to the extent that he iswilling to give up his own life for him and yet it works because of the journeythe characters go on, and it’s that that the readers enjoy.

If you remove the context,Laurent’s background and Damen’s role in it, you end up with a generic lovestory of two men falling in love with no apparent reason not to be together.Nothing wrong with that, but there’s no tension to draw the readers in. This iswhere making Laurent hostile comes in. It’s an attempt to create tension thatwould otherwise not be there and create interest.

You also need to rememberthat for a lot of writers, fanfic is often their first avenue of writing on anysort of large scale. It’s a way for them to work out characterisation and plotand setting but with ready made characters. Of course, if you do an AU ofLaurent and Damen without their backgrounds, you are essentially writing anoriginal fic with characters who just so happen to have the same names as thoseof Captive Prince but it’s a way ofpracticing. 

As mentioned, Laurent is an incredibly complex character to writebecause there is an inherent tension in what he wishes to portray himself as (cast-ironbitch) and what he actually is (warm, sweet, loving), but to write that isdifficult so they write him as bitchy, thinking it’s his character withoutrealising that he’s not an inherently hostile character and they have to counterbalancethis with scenes of kindness and warmth as Pacat does with how Laurentinteracts with Nicaise and Erasmus. Even with Torveld and the Prince’s Guard.All of these scenes show that Laurent has another side. You have to includesimilar scenes in an AU where Laurent is hostile to Damen or else you are justwriting one character being hostile to another for apparently no reason and theother character just accepting it. However, it takes experience to be able tobalance these facets of character, and experience will only be gained withwriting more.

Hopefully that answered your question and I didn’t ramble too much!