#he's so weird and that is why he's my favourite

[by-gray]

whos your favourite doctor and why? also favourite episodes?

THIS NB BASTARD!

first of all, paul is just a fucking incredible actor. his voice acting specifically… some actors who have transitioned to big hit (not saying who) have this slightly jarring tinge to their voice where it sounds like they’re reading from a script (which they are). it’s such an underrated skill. i really don’t think people appreciate how hard it is to act out an emotionally intense script in front of your eyes and NOT sound like you’re reading from it…

but paul does it. and he does it incredibly.

eight also never gives you the chance to forget he’s alien. by that, i don’t mean he’s unhinged. yes, he does some unhinged things like most doctors, but with those, you can look at them and just rationalise that they’re just a very weird person. eight’s idiolect is so prosaic and otherworldly that even during normal conversation, there’s a feeling there’s something not right and non-human. he is fae-like ethereal, but also cool, aloof. he can, and has, disturbed and scare his companions off the tardis.

also plot-wise, eight is just such an interesting intermediate stage between his more ‘innocent’ youth and the ‘monster’ he becomes. it is eight who lives long enough to grow old, lives through a war, regresses – and while maintaining the same face, becomes a unrecognisable character. i’m always thinking about what could’ve happened between his youth and those last moments – what made him choose to become the war doctor.

because, in a way, he was the regeneration who destroyed gallifrey. he was the one that chose to live on, start fighting, and eventually destroy everything.

Now for episodes…

okay, i will pick tv ones and not audio dramas. but first of all, i do have to mention ONE audio drama because it’s the best doctor who story i’ve ever EVER come across. that is:

the natural history of fear.

it’s basically george orwell’s 1984 if the eighth doctor got mind wiped and thought he was one of the evil leaders in this totalitarian regime. he tortures people who rebel – including his companion charley, because he doesn’t realise who she is to start with…

well, it’s actually a lot more complicated than that, but that would be me giving away the plot twist ;)

OKAY now for actual episodes…

i’m gonna pick ones i think are actually amazing stories rather than ones i just like for the companion dynamics:

- 73 yards

- wild blue yonder

- the night of the doctor

- the doctor falls

- blink

- midnight

basically any slightly unexplainable storyline that diverges from the usual show formatting tends to be my favourite episodes ;)

thanks for entertaining me with this question, benji!

[iheartsophie]

Surprise!!

Harry Lewis (W2S) x Fem!Reader (3.6k words)

Summary: Reader surprises Harry during the Sidemen’s “$20,000 VS $200 HOLIDAY” after not seeing eachother for a month

Warnings: Swearing, PDA, small panic attack, NOT PROOF READ!!!!

Author note: i linked “I Got U” as a song because i feel like that is the most summer feeling song i know and im missing summer rn

So a bit of backstory, Josh has planned a $20,000 vs $200 holiday an he called me around two weeks ago asking if I would join in the video and surprise Harry as well as the other lads- of course I said yes! I’ve currently been away on a business trip for the past month and I haven’t been able to see Harry, the only way I’ve seen him is on FaceTime which isn’t the same as seeing and hearing his voice in person. Every week when the boys have been recording they’ve secretly been messaging me and sending me photos of Harry moping around and complaining about how he won’t see me for an extra week due to the holiday video. The only people who do know are Josh, Kon, Kirsty, Cal and Freezy. Cal and Freezy are also tagging along to surprise the boys.

As soon as my last business meeting was over I rushed out of the doors and directly onto the train home because I needed to pack as soon as possible because I would not have time to in the morning because Mr. Josh Zerkaa decided to book the earliest flight in existence, Cal and Freezy were fine with it; me on the other hand, I was fuming… because that means I’m missing out on my beauty sleep!

(The night before surprising Harry… )

After the excruciatingly long train ride from Manchester to London I was finally back home at mine and Harry’s shared apartment, it was weird walking in through the doors and not having Harry greet me at the door was a hug and a kiss.. but I reminded myself I would be in the same country as him in just short of 17 hours. I headed towards our bedroom and threw on some pjs which consisted of one of Harry’s t shirts and some shorts. Packing was a nightmare, let’s just put it that way. I had not been on holiday in so long and I had forgotten how stressful it is making sure you have enough necessities to last you the time you’re away and also making sure you have not forgotten anything… So I just grabbed all of my clothes that were in my “summer side” of the wardrobe and tried to stuff it into one suitcase and that did not work, so I ended up with two family sized suitcases almost bursting at the seams full of my things.

As soon as I had finished packing I went to make a quick pot noodle in the microwave as I knew I wouldn’t tend to the dishes in the morning and I don’t want to come back to messy dishes after the holiday and I definitely don’t think Harry would either. As I was eating my pot noodle my phone started buzzing, I looked at the contact “Bog 💙” - I answered straight away

(Italic- Harry)

“Hello (y/n/n)”

“Hiya babe you okay? How’s the trip so far?”

“Could be better… The trip is alright , I’m on the good team so that’s good I guess, could be better if you were here”

“Aww I’m missing you too, don’t get yourself down love, only 5 more days left! Then you’ll be back home and we can go see that movie you wanted to see if you’re up for it”

“I know and of course I want to go to the movie are you mad! My all time favourite movie franchise ever”

(I giggled as I heard JJ, Tobi and Josh in the background telling harry to get off the phone and go to the sauna with them)

I shouted down the phone

“Oi you lot shut your mouth we are talking over here! Anyways, I best get going I need to call Cal and Freezy to make sure they’re up and ready early in the morning tomorrow”

Shit, I’ve slipped up…

Harry frowned at me through the phone

“What do you mean? Why do you need to do that?”

What do I say? Think y/n. Think!

“Oh! Did I not tell you? We’re going on a hike tomorrow, yeah! To the Lake District?”

“Ohhh okay, yeah best let you go then. Love you!”

“Love you too, bye!”

That was close… I can’t believe that just happened. How did I manage that? Anyways, I put my empty pot noodle in the bin and put the fork in the dishwasher to deal with later. I went into the bathroom and completed my night routine and got into bed, and quickly messaged Cal and Freezy to have their alarms set and where we will meet at the airport in the morning. Soon after that I dozed off…

(Time skip to the getting off the train)

As I was getting off the train I got a message from harry:

“Bog 💙: Have a nice day with the boys, please don’t push them off the mountain🙏, love you”

I sent a quick message back:

“I’ll try my hardest, love you too”

I somehow bumped into Cal and Freezy at the train station instead of at the airport, they both brought their cameras to get footage of us on the way their so the editors can put it in and we have our own little segments in the video. “Look who we have here…” Cal teased, “Mrs. Harry Lewis”. “Not a mrs yet, I’m still waiting” I corrected while holding up my left hand beholding my empty ring finger. After that small segment they put their cameras away and we caught a taxi and made our way to the airport. Getting out of the taxi was a struggle not for the boys, just for me, because of my two huge suitcases it was hard trying to pick them up and out of the boot of the taxi. And instead of the boys ,who are meant to be like brothers to me, helping me get them out they just filmed me while laughing in the background and caught a clip of my tripping over the suitcase which was behind me. “You’re both such dicks, wait till I tell Harry”, “What is Harry going to do? Cause I can bet you £100 right here that he will laugh too.”

We finally made track down the road to the airport and Freezy started filming a little bit with Cal next to him and me behind them still struggling with my suitcases, which you can imagine is causing me some unneeded anger. “As you can see y/n finally got her suitcases out and we are on the way to the best holiday, we are going to the best destination. Thank you sidemen for this holiday, we really appreciate it”, “Bro you’re such an arse licker, you just want to be on the good team if you’re invited again!” I pointed out, Cal turned around to me “Now, now, y/n don’t act like you wouldn’t do the same thing.” I stayed silent and they both laughed.

“We are on our way to meet- surprise them, they have no idea that we’re going I’ve been playing tricks with Harry all week, y/n told us that she nearly slipped up on the plan”, “I didn’t mean to! I feel so bad lying to him, he told me to have a good day in the Lake District and to message him when we get there.. he’s going to be so worried when I don’t message him.”

(Time skip to when we’re in the airport)

Poor Cal is not having a good time, he’s left his phone on the train and now his bag has been chosen for a search and I know this isn’t about me but I just want to get on that plane now, and all of this messing about is causing me to stress so bad and I can’t talk to harry about it because it will give away our secret so I just keep to myself and put my headphones on.

We’re finally on the plane, at last! But the only problem is I haven’t told the boys I’m scared because whenever I’m on a plane I’m usually with Harry and he can just sense my worry and comforts me without me having to tell him or ask him to. Though only Freezy is aware because of when I went skiing with him and Harry and started crying when that plane took off. When plane started to move my breathing started to pick up and I leat my elbows on my knees and looked down. Unbeknownst to me Cal and Freezy looked at each other over my body and mouthed to eachother “Is she alright?” Cal asked, “She’s terrified of flying” Freezy pointed out. Freezy tapped my shoulder for me to look at him and when I did he opened his arms for me to go into and he hugged me while I cried into his shoulder, and whilst I did he was rubbing my back and trying to soothe me the best he could.

It took me a few minutes to calm down and when I did Cal let me watch a movie on his laptop, which lasted almost the whole flight. We finally landed and all three of us made sure we turned out locations of for the boys, whilst we were doing that all the messages that didn’t send because we were on the plane we’re coming through, all of mine were from Harry and a few of the boys..

Bog💙: message me when you arrive so I know you got there safely x

Bog💙: and don’t forget to tell me if Cal slips up the hill again

Bog💙 hello? It’s been 3 hours now surely you’re almost there by now

Bog💙: why aren’t my messages going through are you okay?

Bog💙: babe please tell me you’re okay

Tobi: Harry’s freaking out are you okay? Please let us know

JJ: Fam what are you playing at, are you alr??

(Time skip to getting to the harbour)

I quickly replied to them all reassuring them I’m okay and that I forgot about telling Harry I arrived. Josh messaged us to tell us to meet at the harbour with our suitcases because we can leave them on the yacht when we get to it. So while we were waiting for Josh to get here we found a British bar and we ordered a nice English breakfast each, though while we were waiting I went to the bathroom and got changed into a bikini and put some denim shorts over the top and some of my nice sandals on. We finished our breakfast and Josh arrived outside the bar.

Josh took us to the yacht they had rented and where we were going to surprise the boys, and we chose were we were hiding and a code word Josh will say for when we were to jump out which was “chips”, though they told me to come out a little bit later as an extra EXTRA surprise for harry. Cal and Freezy hid behind the seat were the wheel was and at the bottom of the stairs on the lower deck, enough to hear Josh but also enough so Tobi, JJ, and harry walk last and don’t suspect anything.

Everything was in place and ready to go. Now we were just waiting and anticipating the boys’ arrival. Josh mumbled that he could see the boys and I slightly looked over the steps to make sure Cal and Freezy were hidden and I couldn’t see them so I did I little nod to myself and ducked back down because they finally listened to something for once. I could started to hear the boys, I could hear Tobi repeating “you’re a king, you’re a king” to Josh and JJ saying “oh my god” and the nervous laugh I could recognise anywhere, harry. I started to get butterflies in my belly coming to terms that I’m seeing harry for the first time in a while.

“I’m buzzing to eat these chips”

All you could hear on the yacht was cheering and laughing. And Harry’s infamous screams. All the boys ran to hug each other and tackled each other. When it all calmed down Harry went silent as if piecing things together, “Whats the matter Harry?” Tobi questioned, “If Cal and Freezy are here, where’s y/n then?” and I took that as my queue to come up the stairs with a tray of drinks. “Hello? Special delivery” ( yes when I was in the lower deck I found the bar and made everyone drinks) Harry just stood up and stared at me, while Tobi and JJ ran up to me, I was quick to put the drinks on the closets surface to save them from being spilt everywhere. I welcomed Tobi and JJ with a hug. When they let go Harry had finally took it all in and realised I was here and ran towards me and tackled me onto the large sofa and gave me the biggest hug and repeating how much he had missed me.

The boys went up to the other side of the boat to give me and Harry some space to speak a bit and catch up, I told him about how my business meeting went well and how my brand is expanding and he was telling me about how the shoots were. We sat in comfortable silence after our conversation and I looked down at his legs and realised he was wearing sweat shorts and frowned, “You know I don’t think those are the best shorts to swim in”, “Don’t worry I’ve got some swim trunks with me”, “Where?”, He reached to his shoulder to prove that he has them and that they’re slung over his shoulder, I started laughing “I think you’ve flung them off the boat in excitement. We both looked over the side of the boat and low and behold there they were, bobbing along in the water. “Oh for fucks sake”

(Time skip)

It was soon time to have a bit of a feast on the boat me and harry sat next to eachother. Cal, Freezy and I weren’t that hungry considering about an hour and a half ago we had a full English, so we just stuck to some picky bits. There were many laughs and stories exchanged at the table mainly questions towards me cal and Freezy about how long we knew about this and how I managed to keep it a secret from harry.

Josh excused himself from the table to answer a phone call from Ethan which we all predicted was him complaint about the conditions he was currently in, we all told Josh to put it on speaker phone so we could hear his complaints and we were all creasing in laughter, at one point I wheezed which all the boys could recognise anywhere. Ethan picked up on it and shouted down the phone “Oi! Was that y/n? What the fuck, traitor! You said you would never go to the good team.” , “I fear you heard me wrong Behz, I said “I would never go to the good team if you were on it” “, my answers errupted in laughter and screams of shock from the boys. I then left and walked away to go a sunbathe and enjoy myself for a while.

With my headphones on and music playing I spent at least an hour sunbathing, unaware of the carnage going on around me. So when I took my headphones off and heard screaming and jet ski engines blaring I was very confused of how they did all this without disturbing me. I got up out of the deck chair and the whole top deck was soaked in wet foot prints and discarded towels, I watched over the side of the boat as the boys were jumping into the deep blue sea. Though all of a sudden I heard wet feet plodding behind me and I turned around to harry creeping up on me. “Harry, no!” “What are you talking about? I’m not going to do anything” I was then picked up and thrown into the water, harry still clinging onto me, “Harold! Why would you do that!” I scolded. “Just helping you cool off,” he shrugged. While all this happened the boys were looking down at us pointing and laughing.

I stayed in the ocean for a while until they started circling me with jet skis and trying to peer pressure me into going on the surf board, which i declined straight away and also the fact I was getting tired from the travelling and then sun beaming down on me. So I climbed back up the ladder and propped a nice parasol up to give me some shade and I decided to have a nap. A couple of minutes later I was woken up by Harry sitting next to me, “Why aren’t you laying down?” I asked, “I didn’t want to wake you and get you wet because you’ve seemed to have dried off and caught the sun already!”, “Don’t be silly come here.” I told him and opened my arms for him to cuddle into, and I started to play with his wet and tousled hair which he hummed in reply to. We both dozed off in each others hold, I did hear a camera shutter near by though I thought nothing of it a just thought it was Kirsty taking pictures of the boys on the jet skis. I jolted awake when I felt this large weight on top of my body and opened my eyes to see all the boys piling on top of me and harry, “what are you doing!” I exclaimed, “we’re basking in the love!” One of them replied and started making kissing noises to eachother, which me and harry both laughed at.

(Time skip to the villa)

Freezy pulled out his camera and started speaking “Lux, y/n this is the first time we’re gonna see it [the villa], we know it’s sick though because we know we’re in the good team.”

We got out of the car and I held Harry’s hand and walked up to the gates, waiting for them to open. Me and harry stayed behind the group because we haven’t had much alone time together since I arrived so we just distanced ourselves a little. I yawned and rubbed my eyes, “You tired?” Harry asked me “oh my gosh yes, I can’t wait to go to bed.” I groaned. When the gates opened my jaw dropped, this place was stunning, I want to live here!

“One thing is though these aren’t filled with water,” harry pointed at the small fountain at the front door, “I may have to leave a four star review because if this.” I slapped Harry’s shoulder jokingly “Don’t even start!” We walked through the front doors and me and JJ looked at eachother and immediately knew what to do, and I let go of Harry’s hand i quickly stood next to JJ and we started to sing the halo theme tune together in the large foyer. As we finished the boys laughed and and Freezy said “Ayy that’s the halo soundtrack!”

The boys started to give us a tour round the place and I was shocked at the size of the kitchen and the the large living room that looks out into the garden and also there’s a lift! They took us to the garden and told Cal, Freezy and I to face away and then turn around. JJ counted us down from 3 and when we turned around my eyes widened- the view was breathtaking…”you’ve got a mountain, in your back garden!” I exclaimed. The tour lasted awhile which I wasn’t surprised about because look at the size of this place. When they mentioned the poker table, mini arcade and the sauna I decided to find mine and Harry’s shared room and unpack my things because those things don’t interest me at all.

I had to memorise the route to mine and Harry’s room and started to unpack and when i finished I plopped myself onto the bed and let out a large sigh out of exhaustion. I heard the bedroom door open and close ,but I was too tired to lift my head up, and I felt the bed sink next to me and someone started to play with my hair. I opened my eyes to see Harry smiling down at me, “Did you see Freezys instagram story?” Harry questioned, “No not yet why?”, “Look..”

Calfreezy posted an instagram story…

“Aww they’re so cute! - even though I’ve been here for half a day already I’ve had so much fun.” I told harry, “I’m glad, because I’m really happy you’re here because you don’t know how much I’ve missed you, it’s been so boring and lonely coming home to no one for a month!”, “Don’t worry I couldn’t handle it either, I even told them at my meeting that from now on I’m working from home, so I can be with you more often.” Harry smiled and kissed my forehead. “Shall we get a shower and into some pjs and chill downstairs or do you want to watch a movie up here?” He asked me. “I think I want to watch a movie with you!” We went and got our shower and into some pjs which mine -again- consisted of one of Harry’s shirts and some shorts. We got tucked into bed and chose a movie that we both enjoy and I laid back and cuddle into harry and laying my head on his chest. We both fell into a deep slumber, not without saying “I love you” to eachother.

[blueberry-bubbles130]

Thank you!

I feared in some places with Genevieve’s relationship with Preminger I was overthinking it. We don’t actually see them together much across the movie, at least from what I can remember. The most I remember from them two alone together, or them two mainly being in the same space is when he’s forcing her into marriage. Then when they’re at the altar. I’m going to dive deeper into their relationship when I finish the post on Genevieve. Because there I think I’ll be able to get closer to theories and personal interpretations of their relationship.

I’m glad you brought the first four books up. Out of the books I haven’t read books four and thirteen. I know book five is when the VFD stuff truly starts. But I wasn’t sure about book four. So it’s nice to get confirmation that book four doesn’t have much VFD stuff. I think it makes weird though that the first four books can exist in their own small context. it makes rereads of the series fun, but at the same time I think it makes it a little hard because not everything matches up perfectly. Like you said the questions raised of how much time book Josephine actually spent around Olaf. And then from book five onwards it become very VFD heavy. So the context changes creating more questions.

I think the only indication that Josephine had money to me is the house in the book/movie. The house is old/rickety, but it’s still large and grand. Especially the library. In fact it’s one of only three criticisms I have with Netflix Josephine. The house is small and underwhelming compared to the other two (which is probably a budget issue, so I can understand why it isn’t as big)

Movie Josephine is probably my favourite, followed by the book, then the Netflix show. Like I say l find the house underwhelming. The second criticism is that the outfit is also underwhelming. I love how in the book and movie she has a big sweeping dark dress, it’s beautiful. It shows how’s she’s stuck in her grief. This leads to my third criticism, which I’ve seen other people make, and I agree with, is the acting. Netflix Josephine doesn’t give a depressed fearful atmosphere, more so a crazed atmosphere. it doesn’t give the fearfulness Aunt Josephine has in the movie and book. Her not having the dark mourning dress, gives me the impression that Netflix Josephine isn’t really grieving over Ike anymore. And considering how he died, and how that affected her view of the lake it just feels odd.

I’m probably just biased with the movie and book though since I’ve grown up with them. My hardback copy of The Wide Window was owned by my sisters first. And I watched the movie when I was young, so I prefer the aesthetic of that. It’s closer to what I see in the book illustrations.

I’m actually have plans for more posts like this I want to write! I’ve already started and am trying to finish my post on Genevieve now. Then I want to start my comparison post on Genevieve and Randolph. You can tell I really love Genevieve from the amount of times I talk about her. I have very strong opinions about her.

An analysis comparing Queen Genevieve and Aunt Josephine

While I do enjoy a lot of media, there’s a special group that I enjoy more. Said special group of media includes both Barbie Princess and the Pauper and A Series of Unfortunate Events. And by now, most of my followers will probably know my life pretty much focuses on obsessing over fictional parents. Especially ones that have very unfortunate events happen to them. So it’s only natural that I would obsess over Queen Genevieve and Aunt Josephine. Both have experienced some form of tragedy. So after some more thought, I realised they have quite a few similarities when you look into it. But also some interesting differences. Therefore I wanted to make a post comparing them. For this post I’ll specifically be comparing Queen Genevieve to the movie adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events, as well as the specific book Aunt Josephine is featured in. Of course this post will have spoilers for both Barbie Princess and the Pauper. As well as A Series of Unfortunate Events. Though only spoilers for the third book, The Wide Window.

As a disclaimer, I have not actually finished A Series of Unfortunate Events in its entirety. I have watched the movie and show, but I haven’t finished the books. Or read anything else in the Snicketverse. So some bits of information may be missing. Please if you have finished the books add any information you want to in the reblogs.

For those presumably very few who may be waiting, I swear I’m still writing my post about Queen Genevieve. I’ll finish it eventually, it’s only been almost over two years in the making. Though now I’ll probably start writing a post about Aunt Josephine. But I don't know when I’ll start that, let alone finish it.

Before I start I’d like to thank Karolina Żebrowska on YouTube, because she is the only reason I know what era Genevieve’s outfit comes from. I got to watch her videos again, which is so fun, although I should be doing work. The point is go check out her channel. I’d also like to thank @moldygreenblue for helping me actually somewhat understand how Josephine is actually related to the Baudelaires. As well as @magiquartz and their post that also helped me understand the family tree. I’m also giving a thank you to @simperingsimp for their theory/analysis of whether Preminger knew Annaliese’s opinion about marriage. I must also give thanks to the Preminger subreddit, specifically Present_Resource6405 and Inked_Catharsis. Present_Resource6405 posed the question of how tall Preminger is and Inked_Catharsis gave the measurements for nearly all the characters in the movie, which I’ll be using. A large thanks must also be given to @vexingcosmos and @sailorjade125 and @match-your-steps and @queerpiratebrainrot for their posts and contributions in regards to possible outcomes of Preminger’s plan.

Let’s start with a bit of background information. Because I haven’t made an actual essay style post about either of these characters specifically. Yes, I made the theory about Preminger killing the king, that did heavily talk about Genevieve. But she wasn’t the primary focus of that post. And I haven’t talked about Josephine at all in depth. For release dates both films were released in 2004. Princess and the Pauper came out on the 28th of September, 2004. A Series of Unfortunate Events came out a few months later on the 17th of December, 2004. Queen Genevieve is voiced by Ellen Kennedy and Aunt Josephine is played by Meryl Streep in the movie. In Princess and the Pauper, Queen Genevieve is the mother of Princess Annaliese. And in a Series of Unfortunate Events, Aunt Josephine is the aunt to the three Baudelaire orphans; Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire. I am not sure specifically how Josephine is related to them. I’ve looked at the family tree now multiple times and my brain just can’t comprehend it. After @moldygreenblue’s help, I think she may be related via marriage. Because apparently she may have a sibling I never knew about. I’ve also read @magiquartz’s post where they say that she’s their “second cousin’s sister in law.” I don’t know, the family tree is far too complicated and it’ll probably take me another few years to fully comprehend it.

Moving on, I’ll begin with the design similarities, because there’s a few. Plus it’s the easiest place to start. My first point is that you can see both women wear dresses that are historical. Genevieve’s dress style is the oldest; and from Karolina’s video we know Genevieve’s dress is a mixture of different aspects of historical dresses around the 16th century. And she does specifically state the collar of her dress is from the 16th century. On the other hand, Josephine’s dress is from a much later time period than Genevieve’s. I know for definite that it's from the Victorian Era, specifically the late Victorian era. I’ve seen a few people say it’s from the 1890s, so we’ll go with that. Both are floor length dresses and pretty much cover every part of their body. They are also different colours. Genevieve’s dress is a pinkish purple colour. However Josephine’s is black. With both colours of their dresses linking to their character in some aspect. Though we’ll discuss that later.

Another similar thing they share is their hairstyles, as they both wear updo’s. Though the hairstyles are still a little different. Josephine’s bun sits atop her head, that may line a little more the time period her dress comes from. Although I don’t know much about historical hairstyles, just the fashion itself. So please if you know anything about historical hairstyles and if I’m wrong please say so. Genevieve, who I think has a bun, has her hair more so just to the back of her head. And both of them are blonde. I still don’t know how they still have any colour left in their hair though. Josephine is a nervous wreck most of the time; she’s under stress 24/7. However it’s important to remember that in the book, Josephine is explicitly explained as having white hair. And if I had Preminger as my royal advisor for 10 years, and went through what Genevieve went through, I’d definitely have grey hair by now. So hats off to Genevieve for still being dedicated after that time. She’s got more dedication than I ever will.

Although I think the largest physical similarities appear when you look at their faces, are the glasses. Their glasses are very close to being the exact same. Both pairs have the bridge go in a higher curve above the rims and lenses. The lenses and rims are almost perfectly round. Said glasses rest entirely on their noses with no temples. (Temples are the parts that go around your ears to hold them in place) And both pairs are fucking silver! The only visible difference is that there’s an extra bridge and a small chain on Josephine’s glasses.

The last physical similarity that also is something I might discuss later is their age. It isn’t story important, but I just want to point it out. Both are middle aged women. While we don’t have exact ages for either of them, the common opinion across different internet spaces is that they’re most likely in their late 40s to early 50s. They’ve been through a lot in their lives by this point. And I like how you can tell they are middle aged women. Obviously it’s easier with A Series of Unfortunate Events, because Meryl Streep is 75 now. Meaning she was middle aged in 2004. But even with Genevieve, her model has been created in a way that reflects how a middle aged woman would look. Or at least most women look around that age. I just think it’s really neat.

But there are also physical differences I want to explore.

Obviously in Barbie Princess and the Pauper, Genevieve has a pretty healthy complexion. She probably works a hell of a lot, but it doesn’t seem to be taking that much of a toll on her physically. And any emotional effects she’s experiencing aren't really explored. Unlike Josephine who is pretty pale, and is again explicitly described as being pale when she’s first introduced. It’s specifically when they’re talking about the radiator and how she’s scared it’ll explode. This makes a lot of sense for Josephine seeing as she’s probably never out of her house. Or at least very limited contact with the outside world. So being pale would be an effect of not being out of her home and not getting a lot of sunlight.

One thing I can’t place as a similarity or a difference is their height. I’m not sure about how tall they are, and I can’t really compare it. The closest I’ve been able to get is finding Present_Resource6405’s Reddit post where they asked what Preminger’s height was. From Inked_Catharsis’s reply, I learned that Annaliese is about 5ft 9, and that Genevieve is 5ft 10 because she isn’t that much taller than Annaliese. But as of this post being published, I can’t actually find anything on Josephine’s height in the books. Meryl Streep is apparently 5ft 6, so that’s how tall Josephine is in the movie. But for the book, I can’t tell you anything about that.

While not a physical similarity, difference or something I can link in relation to their characters, I’d like to very quickly talk about their names. Both Genevieve’s and Josephine share a similarity in their names because they both have three syllables in them. Again not an important point, just another small similarity I can point out.

Now this is where things start to get more detailed as I try to do more analysis here. So bear with me, because I’m not actually that good at in-depth, critical analysis. It’s been a common critique of my school and college work and I’ve still not improved. Getting back on track, I’d like to discuss how the events they go through before and after the story are similar. But this is also where the major differences appear in their characters. It’s why I believe their characters are reflective of each other. As well as being similar. Especially seeing as they react differently and end up at different positions by the end of the story.

Of course I’ll start with a similarity in terms of their character. Both Genevieve and Josephine are widows, having lost their husbands sometime before the stories take place.

We pretty much don’t know anything about Genevieve’s husband, which makes sense. As I realised while writing this, Genevieve being widowed is a plot device for much later in the movie, where Preminger tries to marry her to become king. Which again after thought, even if Preminger did marry Genevieve, it wouldn’t work for multiple reasons. I’ll be dedicating a small section to it for my essay on Queen Genevieve. As well as linking and talking about other people’s posts about his plan, because they bring some really good points that I never thought about before. Anyway, the most we ever see of him is in the beginning stills, where we can see he wore blue. His hair seems to be a reddish-brown. And that’s it.

However Josephine’s husband is expanded on in much more depth. We are explicitly told quite a bit about her husband. Josephine’s husband was named Ike Anwhistle. He could whistle with crackers in his teeth. And most depressingly of all, we learn absolutely how he died. Ike was literally torn apart by man-eating leeches. And she probably saw that. So this definitely explains a large part of her paranoia and extreme anxiety. Apart from all the VFD stuff. It also explains why her dress is black, she’s still in mourning and hasn’t been able to move on with her husband's death. Alongside everyone else involved in VFD dying during the story. It’s shown to take a toll on her mentally.

Here we come back to discussing their clothing! With the different colours While Genevieve’s dress isn’t black, the colour of her dress still does show at least a part of her character. Out of the main/supporting cast the only people that wear an outfit with a darker pink-purple colour scheme are Preminger and Genevieve. Preminger’s outfit is a full, deep purple. Which does make sense as at the time purple was super expensive to have. And Preminger has been stealing gold for 10 years, so he’d have the money to do so. Genevieve is presumably still rich in some regards, she is the queen after all, so her dress also has a purple shade. I’m guessing the reason her dress isn’t fully purple like Preminger’s, is to set him apart from the rest of the cast. He’s vain and egotistical and must stand out in every way. From his mannerisms, to his hair and obviously his clothes. He’s got the wealth for such extravagance and wants everyone to know it.

Another difference is between what exact roles they have. Genevieve is obviously the Queen of the kingdom in Princess and the Pauper. So she’s making decisions about ruling. Legislation and trading, stuff like that. We’re not shown much apart from her making decisions about Annaliese’s marriage to Dominic, and her marrying Preminger. I am pretty confident in my knowledge regarding the monarchy and their roles historically though, because I study history. So I do know what her role would be outside of the whole marriage plot. I’m not exactly sure what type of job Josephine had though. I know she did a lot of stuff that was extreme and dangerous. But I’m unaware if she had a paying job. Though she does have some sort of money, maybe a widows pension. Do widows pensions even exist in the Lemony Snicket universe? An inheritance perhaps. Either way this particular comparison of them is just another small one, like their names.

And with all those elements of their characters explored to the best of my current abilities. Let’s discuss the main reason I started to compare them and wanted to write this. That main similarity being how they were both betrayed by a man they thought they could trust.

With Josephine, we’re clearly shown that she’s rarely ever outside and with her anxiety it’s made it hard for her to trust people. When Count Olaf comes to Lake Lachrymose as Captain Sham, he recognises that and jumps onto the chance to manipulate her. Manipulating by flattering her, so she grows to trust and listen to him, as she has lost her husband. So having that type of attention in a positive way Therefore when he does reveal to her that he is Count Olaf, her anxiety combined with him manipulating her, she does what he says very easily. Despite this she does manage to get away and the Baudelaire’s do find her. Though she does eat the banana and doesn’t tell them, which……yeah, that was a bad move Josephine. I can understand that she might’ve not wanted to worry them, because of the whole Count Olaf situation. Still a bit of a bad move. She does make another bad move that leads to Count Olaf becoming angered when his grammar is corrected. So he does leave her to die, which he may have done anyway, even if she hadn’t corrected his grammar. And to my knowledge, that's the last we ever see of Aunt Josephine in A Series of Unfortunate Events.

On the opposite end of things, Preminger’s manipulation of Genevieve is a much slower process. I’d also say it's a bit more malicious in how he manipulates her. One reason I say this being that he’s known her for a lot longer. He’s worked for her for 10 years, which we know from his first song “How can I refuse?”. In those 10 years she’s grown to trust him, presumably seeing him as a friend and someone she can talk to. The evidence for this inference is that he is stated to be her Royal Advisor. It’s literally his job to talk to her and advise her on decisions to make for the benefit of the kingdom! And what does he do with that knowledge? He starts stealing the gold from the kingdom and plotting to take over the throne. All the while she's probably still grieving and trying to figure out what is going on with the mines. Then when she tries to fix the bankruptcy problem by marrying Annaliese to Dominic, what’s Preminger’s response? He kidnaps Annaliese and plans to become king by bringing her back with the gold he stole, intending to marry Annaliese. I'm not sure what logic he was using to try that, because Genevieve was probably never going to let Annaliese marry him. So I don’t know what he was thinking with that. And as many people have rightfully pointed out, Genevieve has been widowed for probably a few years by now, so she was always an option for him. If anything, as bad as it may sound, Genevieve was probably the easier option to take for Preminger to become king. She only has him to talk to, and while she doesn’t have a full dependency upon him, because she makes decisions without him. I’d say there may be some emotional dependency, as she’s the main male her age she talks to. @simperingsimp put this really well their post here, how Genevieve wouldn’t think twice with what she tells Preminger. Hence he could have just manipulated her into marriage, and then went from there. Though that does show how good he is as a villain as he had so many options to try and get the throne. In fact Preminger’s plan has a lot of problems, which for now, I’ll just link @vexingcosmos and @match-your-steps posts here and here. The posts themselves do a great job at showing problems with his plans and @sailorjade125 and @queerpiratebrainrot have added some great theories and information. With said information further explaining problems in his plans. So I heavily recommend you check those out.

Overall both Queen Genevieve and Aunt Josephine share a lot of similarities. Not only in their physical appearance but in their personalities and do reflect/compliment each other in a really nice way. Also they both need a break and deserve some happiness in their lives. So I headcanon that they’d be really good friends. I’ll make some art related to it someday. I just hope someone understands this bout of my ramblings. I’d like to say thank you all for reading and I’ll make another art post or essay when I can.

Bye everyone!

[tanasha-not-yet]

i am okay with greylock's design but obviously they didn't give him more than one outfit. i mean it's not wrong, giving him another suit for the conference wouldn't help the recognizability, and he's not important enough to give him several clothes sets anyway

but he's important for me okay! i felt like this man would want to appear flashy and get all the attention on some important occasions, he needs cool clothes! and not cool ones too, i won't let him run around in same robes both in summer and winter wtf

all in all here they are - the alternative clothes i thought of

the top one, the second row and the middle one are for special occasions, the rest is for everyday work in castle and home

[charmac]

Genuine question. Do you like or dislike Rob? Your posts tend to imply both feelings hahaha

Do I like Rob?

[zuzu-romeave]

big fan of the moments where jo n brad show zero regard for other people/beings

[bisexualmultifandommess]

I’ve seen angst posts about the idea of in a fic or in the show someone tells Tommy that Buck doesn’t really like being called Evan and Tommy feels so bad so he tries calling him Buck (even though it sounds so strange to him) and Buck is upset thinking he’s done something wrong or Tommy isn’t really interested anymore even though he very much is he just didn’t want to make Buck feel uncomfortable.

But the comedy element instead where he still tries to call him Buck but Buck is like yo wtf and is like “why are you calling me that? You call me Evan” and Tommy is just like “oh the others said you don’t like that name I’m so sorry” and so Buck is half heartedly annoyed now because he had a mini heart attack and goes to tell the others he’s fine with it and like jokingly tell them off.

Meanwhile Chimney is just chilling in the firehouse and is like why do I hear boss music? Buck just comes in like wtf did you do???

[hyp3rfixation-h3ll]

tfw you get saved by some weird strong guy that glows and you mistake him for an angel and accidentally imprint on him like a duck so now you're brothers and also you have separation anxiety about him (thinking about little hedgehogs covered in blood again (feat. SD/Sunky-D @destinestuff and xhouse!Fleetway) :o)

[pardonmydelays]

ok, so i just listened to "loom" by imagine dragons, and i'm sorry but i only like three and a half song

[notasapleasure]

every day I wish tumblr culture had glommed onto any fucking ballad other than tam lin

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

two of my friends keep egging me on to finish Akechi’s social link like “glove? have you got glove yet? glove???” and I’m just like “I’LL LET YOU KNOW WHEN I GET THERE DAMN”

[thecoolerliauditore]

oh this is one of those. we're trying to not be weird about women and that makes us even weirder about women things. cool

[lilcathsmith]

Greg in every episode of CSI (41/328) • Revenge is Best Served Cold •

[oifaaa]

I love people who also think that Jason calling Tim "replacement" is dumb. It's not even an insult. It's so stupid. Give me actual insults and hurting each other (and then give me forgiveness and understanding because that's what I came to the fan work for)

Its so so stupid I don't know why it's so popular it doesn't even sound right when you say it and not insulting at all like Jason you are the second Robin you replaced Dick it's the thing side kicks do - but it's also part of that whole stupid thing were people make it out that Jason was more angry at Tim then he actually was that was stupidly amplified by the idiotic titans tower fight - my favourite thing about utrh is that tims just not mentioned in that story at all it will always be hilarious to me

[www-pinkhearse]

I’m sorry

[ratatatastic]

its such a gem thing to think about taking someones idea for yourself but never going through with it until theyve personally pissed you off so bad and you want to twist the knife in a bit more

its a june gem thing to do think about it, rationalise it, realise they havent pissed you off and doing it anyways

ergo june gems are genuine maniacs and a hazard to society