#it plays on these common tropes just to subvert them

[firstdove15]

Guess it's safe to say I'm back into regularly reading manga/comics for the time being XD

1) Reading Ichi the Witch (forgot there was a chapter and caught up in time for the next one coming in a few days)

2) Catching up on Dandadan (Currently on chapter 108)

3) Reading One Pound Gospel

4) Reading Webtoon's Wanna Be Friends

5) Started Firefly Wedding

[gemsalive]

re: that HEFTY siffrin sweep on id5’s isat favourite blorbos poll — this might sound silly but i do actually think it’s kinda fascinating that isat, as a game so inseparably steeped in (for lack of a better way to describe it) queer fandom culture, managed to so completely sidestep the common Fandom Phenomenon that i suspect was behind the poll in the first place by creating a main character that is also overwhelmingly the fan favourite character for once.

obviously there are any number of factors we could point at to explain the extent to which siffrin nomiddlenames nolastnames manages to grab people and absolutely not let go, but personally i think one of the most interesting ones to consider is the one specific to the medium — that is, how siffrin subverts the “silent blank slate video game protagonist” archetype in such a way that happens to be primo brainrot breeding grounds.

like, when a video game dev makes a silent protagonist it’s usually a bid to maximize immersion by closing the aesthetic distance between player and character as much as possible, right? which is especially true of rpg video games — players find connection in the generic, as that is what gives you the freedom of motion to insert yourself into the story in whatever unique shape suits you best. you are your character and your character is you.

(as ever, post ran long. yall know the drill. tossin in a quick header pic before thoughts on blank slates & blorboification continue under the cut)

and then you’ve got siffrin, who is expressly pointed out to be the taciturn type; who when initially giving the player exposition about their journey so far doesn’t seem to hint at a life or history or even really any motivations outside the journey; whose every thought and action is narrated in second person so as to keep tracing and re-tracing the connection between him and you.

even their design — all darkless and shapeless, bundled up in that big cloak, as if an invitation for you to fill it in with whatever lets you relate to them most! at this point they are their own character for sure, but they also have enough very clear parallels going on with the silent protagonist archetype to feel more than accidental.

of course, as you keep playing you start to recognize that his blankness is much, much more than just a grab at immersion; his apparent lack of backstory, itself a fundamental piece of backstory. this is where he flips dramatically in the player’s perception from “generic vessel for story delivery” to “thoroughly multidimensional character trapped within endless torment nexus custom-built to target and exacerbate all his very specific worst traits rooted in very specific traumas”.

yknow, the good stuff !

but by then you have also been playing enough to be feeling the effects of the thing isat’s design does best of all. i’m talkin bout that ludonarrative lockstep baby. every piece of isat’s gameplay is designed to make you feel what siffrin is feeling — you understand by now that he is not a stand-in for you, but all the same you share in his frustration, his grief, his rare moments of joy and the subsequent heart-in-your-shoes devastation when that joy is inevitably poisoned — and through it all, the desperate grasping for anything new — all as if they were every bit your own.

so in this way the connection is maintained, even if you were someone for whom siffrin’s particular traits & struggles might not otherwise cause you relate to them at all if you had encountered them elsewhere, in a setting where you weren’t actively controlling them as a player. siffrin still gets to carry all the “just like me fr” impact of the blank slate protagonist in the tropes he embodies and in the game mechanics’ design, while totally free to evolve completely into his own character and keep you relating to closely them all the same. now toss back in the fact that said traits & struggles very much ARE of a flavour that a great many people Would Tend To Relate To and just like that you’ve got a perfect storm cookin.

too individual and compellingly written to be an empty vessel for plot delivery. too closely connected with the player’s emotional state to be a story observed impassively from the outside. he has 92 mental illnesses and for the low low price of free u can give him yours to carry too. nobody is doin it like him. congratulations on your well-deserved nose sniffrin nomiddlenames nolastnames <3

[thealexchen]

On sapphic rep in "Lost Records: Bloom and Rage"

Online, I constantly see Lost Records and games like it getting dunked on for daring to represent anybody other than the cishet white man majority. People were clowning on the original LiS and calling it "SJW garbage" back in 2015, but between our recent global political climate and the rise of violent hate crimes against marginalized populations, it's not as easy nowadays to handwave them off as baseless complaints.

That's why it's still a big deal that we have Dontnod out here self-publishing a game about four unambiguously queer women who meet and spend an unforgettable summer together. A game that they want to turn into a new franchise, and they start with the supposedly "harder to market" demographics instead of playing it safe and diversifying after a successful first entry. It's a big deal that DN intentionally centered these four girls and their relationships with each other, away from school and judgmental eyes-- aka, away from the culture of '90s Midwestern homphobia, as much as possible. Their little paradise in the secluded, impossibly beautiful Michigan woods and talks of running away are clearly evoking common queer tropes of secrecy and escape, but the difference is they are so damn happy when they are alone together.

The romances are adorable, but it's obvious how much having genuine friends means to all of them, but Swann and Kat especially. This is a game that truly celebrates female friendship and subverts the cliched cattiness, gossip, and petty drama. If you choose to have Swann admit she's afraid of being unlovable, Kat will simply respond, "We love you." Their platonic bonds don't invalidate their possible romantic feelings, but provide a solid foundation of love and companionship for it instead. Their queerness feels believable because male characters are simply irrelevant to their personal lives. Even in BtS, with two women staff writers, Eliot was still shoehorned in as a Warren clone (except even creepier??) to convince Chloe that Rachel was manipulative.

In Lost Records, these girls are written like any other ordinary teenagers, not eye candy for the implicit male gamer gaze. When they ran down to the lake, I was actually worried we'd get some needless fanservice of the girls stripping to swim in their underwear like in LiS1 episode 3, but nope, there's a cut and the narrative just implies they went swimming offscreen in their swimsuits. They complain and chat openly about their periods, they make gross jokes, they giggle about "mating squirrels," they have acne and insecurities, they get excited about each other's ideas, they're ride or die-- because they're teenage girls.

I have to shout out the two women on DN Montreal's writing team-- Desiree Cifre and Nina Freeman, because I was so excited when I found out that women helped write this game. In short, DN deserves their flowers! Please support this game!

[omnybus]

“It’s too trope-y…” “Try not to be too trope-y…” “This one’s not as trope-y as the sequel…”

Cliché. The word you’re looking for is “cliché.” Literally every story in every genre and medium ever is made out of tropes. It’s impossible to tell a story without them. A cliché is when a trope is overused with little variance to the point it becomes a predictable, boring stereotype. Just because you can identify a trope being used in a book, movie, song, game, etc. doesn’t automatically make it a cliché, nor does playing a trope straight rather than subverting or deconstructing it; it just means you can recognize patterns. When executed in a creative or elegant fashion, even a very common trope can still entertain and inspire the audience.

Obviously what does or doesn’t count as a cliché is subjective, and even something widely regarded as cliché can be unironically enjoyed by someone; that’s usually why they persist in the first place. My point is that I keep seeing the words “trope” and “cliché” being used interchangeably, to the point where the word “trope” is spoken of with distain by artists who should know better. Complaining that a story has tropes is like complaining that your food has ingredients.

[bonefall]

When I was a kid, they had me dissecting owl pellets. It sounds gross, but it was actually pretty cool (and personally I'm glad my school never had us dissecting actual dead frogs). Just little balls of super compacted fur and bones, usually mouse fur and bones. The mouse bones were SOOO tiny and had so many intricate shapes, and you could find little broken pieces in there too. Maybe cats could gather owl pellets for bonus materials?

I have no idea where a school would get so many owl pellets for kids to dissect, or if they're still doing this, but in some context playing with mouse bones was a thing!

My school had a marine biology course where we got to dissect increasingly complex animals, bloodworms, starfish, goldfish, working our way up towards a shark for a whole year. The day before we were gonna do it, someone LEFT THE SHARKS OUT IN A BUCKET. Aaaaaalll night, had to be trashed in the morning.

it is my third or perhaps fourth villain origin story.

Owl pellets are pretty common though! You get them in mass from almost any captive owl, since they don't chew. Come to think of it, I should totally make a divination practice for Clerics based off what they can find in a pellet.

Maybe call it something like "Omen Gralloching," in reference to cutting it open and pulling out bones like they're organs from prey. I love how an owl was used as a symbol of oncoming dark times in TPB and I'd like to subvert the "wise old owl" cultural trope in some way.

[befuddledcinnamonroll]

We Are and the evolution of Thai BL tropes

The QL discord started a rewatch of My Engineer a few weeks ago, and damn, has it been an interesting experience. At the time I originally watched My Engineer, there was little that stuck out to me, because so much of what happened felt so incredibly common in a lot of the (admittedly rather limited) number of BLs being produced. It felt like pretty standard fare.

But going back and watching it in juxtaposition with We Are airing has been so fascinating. This genre has been evolving, y'all.

As much as we all joke about always getting more university BLs, there is something to be said for a format that can be used as something of a metric for the genre. And though there's only four years between My Engineer and We Are, seeing them both at once gives me such an incredible appreciation for the direction the genre is going in, the impact of having more queer voices involved in the creation of QLs, and how there's a lot of good we can find in seemingly simple spaces.

Obligatory disclaimer: This is just my perspective and subjective interpretation of what I have seen as a BL viewer of some time; also I don't have time to go in and do a university deep dive, so this isn't a real analysis, but more of a brief writeup of observations.

Trends are not black and white, of course, there is a spectrum. I'm sure we'll suffer through more Dinosaur Loves. At the same time, having such predominant production companies as GMMTV putting effort into hiring queer creatives and subverting old cliche tropes is an encouraging thing. (Especially as they were the creators of the original university trendsetting BL with Sotus).

Note: For newer QL viewers, I highly recommend @absolutebl for brushing up on trope history. For university BLs in particular, this post and this post are great starting primers.

Let's talk tropes!

Ok, one more note - some tropes are being what I would consider subverted, some more adapted to a newer framework, and some just played with - I'm going to talk about how they appear to me, but I'm not going to be super pedantic over it, because this is just for fun.

Trope: Bullying/hazing behavior

This did not age well in My Engineer, and I would guess hasn't aged well in a number of BLs (and other media, because the whole "he's mean to you because he likes you" bullshit has been around forever). Not just because the behavior was shitty, but because it was played off in the script as cute, and implied that it was completely justified for the seme to do whatever he wanted in his pursuit of his uke.

(There was also quite a strong tone of internalized homophobia, with the lead feeling more comfortable in expressing his interest through harassment than honest emotion, but the show never actually engaged with that in any meaningful way.)

We Are sets up a very traditional enemies to lovers/bullying start to the story, with Phum taking advantage of Peem's economic situation to make him his "slave".

And yet... there's some important elements here that make this more than the standard use of the trope.

Phum keeps it pretty light in his bullying behavior, and clearly is using it more to keep Peem around as company, versus the kind of bullying in My Engineer, where Duen is literally hit by a car, and yet still expected to keep jumping to Bohn's whims.

As soon as Phum realizes he really upset Peem by leaving him waiting at the mall, he genuinely feels awful about it. It's clear that his intent is not to cause harm, and that he has a conscience. He wrestles with his feelings on it quite a bit, and it ends up being the thing that gets Phum to finally express an honest emotion with Peem.

And most importantly, the script does not let him off the hook. His behavior is bad, and is identified as such by the writing. Peem pushes back and is shown to be right to do so, Beer openly says he disapproves.

So instead of a cliche story beat that's used just to start the action, or a seme who's allowed to do whatever he wants because "passion" (blech), we're seeing it used for characterization, giving us important beats about who both Phum and Peem are in how they engage with each other through the use of the trope.

Trope: Obsessive/jealous behavior

Oh, this one was painful in My Engineer. Duen couldn't even talk to another human being without Bohn getting jealous and angry and dragging him away.

Phum gets jealous, particularly around Kluen, but what makes it feel so subversive here are two key things.

Phum's jealousy has a purpose here, it's not just for drama's sake. It's not the cliche seme doing whatever he wants and being treated as justified. It's deliberately being used to explore his insecurities, and give him a challenge to overcome. Phum doesn't stomp over and drag Peem away, he retreats, he hides. When his jealousy causes him to lash out at Peem, he is immediately aware he fucked up.

And again, the script is making it clear that this behavior is not ok. Peem chides Phum when he acts unkind to Kluen, and Beer makes it clear that the solution is not petty behavior, but actually figuring out a way to communicate his feelings with Peem before he misses his chance. This is portrayed as a barrier for Phum to overcome in order to be with Peem, not an expected part of a romantic relationship.

Trope: Friendship group

There are not enough words to express how much I love the friendship group in We Are. To be fair, this is one of the better historical tropes. We've gotten a lot of amazing friend groups, even in mediocre BLs.

But it's still different in We Are, for one simple reason. In most university BLs, the friend group is a supporting structure. But here?

The story lines may be about the romance, but the point of We Are is the friendship.

I will die on this hill, y'all.

I don't have enough time to go into it fully here, but this show is a love letter to friends. It's a tribute to finding the people who see the real you and have your back unconditionally. Who cheer your successes and commiserate over your defeats, who pick you up when the world knocks you down, who call you out when you make mistakes, and push you to be better.

And romance is lovely, but all of these budding relationships are about being friends first, and then lovers, because that friendship is just as important as everything else, if not more.

Trope: Pink milk

Lol, ok, kinda kidding, kinda not. I know we all got mad over the drink wastage, but also check out these visuals - it's about diversity baby!!

TanFang speed round

My two little trope-busting bebes. These two are already so beautifully non-traditional in their composition, but I love how frequently they are used to make fun of and play with tropes just on their own.

Introduced as pining crush/friend's older brother pair, but actually secret enemies to lovers.

Grumpy/sunshine pairing, where the sunshine used to be a fighter, and grumpy smiles when he thinks no one is watching.

Wound-tending where they keep poking each other instead of acting soft.

Openly mocking the jealous boyfriend trope.

Setting up the possessive trope when Tan doesn't pick up Fang's calls, only to immediately have Fang question if he's being unreasonable.

Setting up their own cute eating scene for kicks.

"First time" sex scene making it clear this is anything but their first time.

Tan holding Fang down in the cliche possessive pose, only for Fang to take the agency of kissing Tan. (And overall saying eff off at the cliche top/bottom roles old BLs were such a fan of).

In Summary

I'm sure there are more tropes that will come to me, and we do still have 5 episodes left of We Are, so there are some potential trope uses that I am keeping an eye on. This is by no means an all-inclusive list.

But I wanted to write this, because I was genuinely shocked to realize how different my My Engineer watching experience was this time compared to my first time. How over the last few years I'd come to expect more thoughtfulness in my QL media, even in the ones that seem shallow on the surface.

Considering how fast and furious the QLs are coming these days, it's easy to forget how recent it was that we were much more starved of content. And I think sometimes we forget to take in the big picture, of how far we've come in just a few years.

Critique is always going to be important, of course, it's part of what helps us make progress. At the same time, it doesn't hurt to take a moment to look around and see some good in where we are.

@sailorbryant thanks for the push to get this written! Feel free to add thoughts!

[thistlecatfics]

Drarry (and Drarry-adjacent) Recs

Drarry+ fics I've enjoyed this winter! I was going to do a general rec list of fics I've read and loved so far in 2025 but it turns out I've been on a serious Drarry kick (and intox kink/alcoholic Harry kick especially as I look forward to @hphedonismfest) so I'm just making this a Drarry+ rec list and will rec the other fics separately.

Reform by @fastbrother (T, 3.5k)

"Draco lets out a breathless laugh. Harry Potter is flirting with him. And all he had to do was change the course of history."

There are some fics where you have to double check the word count because you could swear they were epic length when you finish them. This is one of them.

tell me by @s0lifuge (E, 3k)

“You want to tell me,” Harry murmured as he bore down onto his lover’s body, slowly rutting his cock against Draco’s. The two of them were rapidly stiffening as they felt their bodies rub together, the threat of forcing or being forced making them both needy. “Don’t you, Draco?” Harry whispered into his ear, taking the opportunity to press a slow kiss right where his lobe met his neck. Draco whimpered. “I do,” he admitted, heady with lust. “But I’m afraid you’ll think I’m gross, or mad,” he added, his voice a little more lucid. ~ Or, Draco fetishises his trauma and drags Harry along for the ride.

This was both so hot and so unsettling in an extraordinary way. like truly edge play in the sense of feeling balanced on a knife's edge the whole time as a reader. I just adore the layers of storytelling here: real life, the author writing, draco experiencing something, draco saying it, harry hearing it, harry participating with it, the audience reading it, somehow real life again but different, and then how it just feels like all of those layers are just spiraling around in my head. There's something so brilliantly meta here about how we often use fic to eroticize our own trauma, and I love it.

sweet nothings by solifuge (E, 18k)

Draco spends the night with a client with a pureblood fetish, Harry spends it watching.

this brilliant fic! wonderfully subverts down and out draco and harry tropes in a very clever way while also being just so hot. (again, alcoholic harry for the intox lovers.)

When You Unfold Me by hephaestiions (7k, E)

Harry’s high. He knows this because Draco Malfoy has stars in his eyes. — Or: a conversation in the common room takes a turn.

also for the intox kink lovers. gorgeous descriptions of harry high and trying to take in the world.

Behind Closed Doors by wolfpants (2k, E)

Draco proposes a game, and Harry is more than ready to join in. After all, what happens on a team-building weekend in Paris stays in Paris. Or does it?

Such extremely hot somewhat negotiated cnc.

An Odd (or Perfectly Sensible) Match by Akranes (11k, E)

“Oh,” Harry says, sounding breathless. His hand trails down Draco’s bare chest, coming to rest at the little mound of his tummy. “You have put on a bit of weight, haven’t you?” Draco bats his hand away, remembering all at once that he was irritated. “I told you,” he growls, squirming. “Oh, stop it, Draco,” Harry says, sitting back heavily onto Draco’s hips, and Draco tries to ignore the way his heart races at how firmly held in place he is.

Delightful, happy weight gain kink fic.

A Pain of Our Choosing by lq_traintracks (lumosed_quill) (6k, E)

It’s 8th year and everyone’s still a bit messed up. Harry and Draco fall into being messed up together.

I definitely read this ages ago but only remembered to bookmark it on my reread last month. Just the platonic ideal of 8th year fic. (and, again, harry with a bit of a drinking... thing.)

oxygen [Fic & Art] by MaesterChill (4k, T)

Draco doesn’t smoke. Except when he needs to breathe.

Just gorgeous, lovely flirtation.

Drarry+

The Roommates by @citrusses (4k, E, Drarry + Draco/Sirius)

Harry would later wonder if, that first time it happened, he hadn’t been meant to find out all along.

I LOVE these dynamics and the building heat and the sense of inevitability I adore with Drarry. and Sirius!! a jealous man who finds he always has to share!! this fic is hilariously close to the draco/harry/sirius/regulus roleplay I'm doing rn, and I'm obsessed for that reason too.

All of the Above by @lqtraintracks (3k, E, Drarry + Teddy)

After Teddy moves in with them and it becomes more than apparent Harry and Teddy want each other, it's up to Draco to actually do something about it. In which Draco is an utter cad but his heart's in the right place.

look I just adore utter cad Draco <3

Dark Room by @wolfpants (1.4k, E, Draco/Sirius)

The last person Sirius expects to run into at the sauna is Draco Malfoy.

SO HOT. Sirius/Draco is an obscenely underrated ship, and I'm determined to write and prompt more of it this year. The dynamic here and the threads of shame and guilt and genuine care?? delicious.

Long Fics

The Beauty of Thestrals and Other Unseen Things by @writcraft (63k, E)

Harry has terrific friends, an amazing girlfriend and his job as Head Auror enables him to work on challenging cases and Ministry reform. He just wishes he could work out why he’s been so out of sorts. When Draco Malfoy is arrested for gross indecency, Harry’s comfortable life begins to unravel. He’s forced to decide if it’s worth risking everything for love in a world where following his heart is a criminal offence.

I've already written a full rec post for this fic, but I want to rec it again!

Kept in Cages by ihopeyoubothstaysafefromharm, @sweet-s0rr0w (77k, E)

Deep in the heart of the Ministry lies the Beast Division: a hidden room where ancient beasts roam, and winged creatures soar, and grumpy giant ferrets eat all your biscuits unless you keep them well hidden. Draco Malfoy would know – he’s been working there for five years now, after all. Meanwhile, on Level One, ex-Golden Boy Harry Potter is stuck in another interminable policy meeting, completely unaware of the mysterious comings and goings just three floors below. But when a giant snake emergency requires the assistance of a Parselmouth, Harry finds himself thrust, unprepared, into Draco’s weird and wonderful world – and naturally, he can’t keep away…

I cannot possibly write a proper rec for this fic at this moment, but I'm need to try. One of the best depictions of depression I've ver read. The plot is exciting. It's character driven. It's got an earned happy ending. And the cast of animals! oh magical animals <3

[lurkingshan]

Helloooo, Shan! This is a bit out of left field but it’s something I’ve been wondering for a while. BL has developed more as a genre and shown itself to be increasingly sociopolitically aware (whether or not it effectively engages with that awareness beyond marketing is another thing), do you have thoughts on any sort of progression of how women and girls have been portrayed? Or observations on the general state of women and girls in BL? It seems to me their roles have become meatier, not just one-dimensional femme fatales or fujoshi. Or am I projecting a false narrative of genre evolution? 🤔

Hey Megan, thanks for sending! I love an out of left field ask. And I agree with you, I do think there has been a clear evolution in the way women characters are portrayed in BL, and I have been making note of it where I see it.

It used to be that female characters in BL were mostly just there to be antagonists, either as villainous femme fatales trying to break up the couple (like Plern Pleng in TWM) or fujoshis inserting themselves into the main couple's relationship in really inappropriate and fetishizing ways (like Pang in Love Sick). Even the precious few decent women characters from early BL (like Manow from UWMA) are still really only there as side characters who provide support to the boys and/or a bit of comic relief. Women in early BL were either problematic or kind of an afterthought in the narrative.

But more recently there have been BL dramas featuring women who are more fully fleshed out and actually a crucial part of the story. This is not linear and consistent, of course--there are BLs airing as we speak, like Knock Knock Boys and Blue Boys, that are still relying on women as primary antagonists--but there has been some growth. Here are some of the characters I find particularly notable in regards to the role they play in the narrative:

Ae Ri, The Eighth Sense

Ae Ri was a notable character because the narrative set us up to think she was going to be a typical femme fatale. She seemed to like Ji Hyun and we were naturally inclined to assume she would be an obstacle to him pursuing Jae Won, until the show completely turned that on its head and made her a knowing ally instead. It was a delightful surprise and she remained an important support and get a grip friend for Ji Hyun throughout the story.

Nara, La Pluie

Nara is another in the category of the subverted femme fatale trope, but this show took that much further by writing her with so much empathy and making her a fully fleshed out character with her own arc and even the start of a new romance by the end. It is still the best treatment of an ex-girlfriend character I have ever seen in a BL.

Fujisaki/Pai, Cherry Magic

Speaking of trope subversion, let's give a shoutout to these two corrective takes on the fujoshi archetype. Each version of this story did it a bit differently, but the common thread was that Fujisaki and Pai only wanted the best for their friends, and kept a firm line on how much to interfere in their relationship. Fujisaki is gentle and kind, offering small encouragements and nice gestures. Pai is much more of an enthusiastic fangirl so I was a bit weary at the start of her story, but the show used her fannish interests as an opportunity to model respectful fan behavior and I was quite pleased in the end.

Yiwa, Wedding Plan

And of course, I have to mention the current title holder for best female character in a BL, Wedding Plan's Yiwa. She is not only a great character in terms of having a fully formed personality, clear motivations, and a great set of relationships, she is also the engine that drives the entire narrative. I am still kinda amazed she exists.

This is separate but related to the recent increase in GL content and GL side couples in BLs, which is also getting steadily better. And I want both! I want solid GL dramas where the girls own the narrative, and I want BLs to write women better when they choose to include them in the story. I'm encouraged by the progress we've already seen.

[starry-bi-sky]

The fic writer ask game looks fun!! I can't choose one, so can I ask about both 14 and 24?

- detectivedarling

yes you can!

14. What makes you happiest? New fic comments, kudos, bookmarks, user subscribers, story subscribers, or Tumblr asks?

Fic comments and tumblr asks for sure! For very similar reasons that they both feel like acknowledgements and confirmation that people are seeing my work and are interested in it. I am not immune to the validation beam so even though I like to post my writing for myself, I also want other people to see it and like it too. I love getting asks about my fics/aus, even if I don't respond to them! I see them and appreciate them greatly.

24. Which scene/theme was the inspiration for [insert fic]?

Since you didn't choose a fic, I'll pick one! 'Late at night when the nightingale sings', since I know you like that au.

For Nightingale, you probably can already expect what the answer is, but the inspiration for it was a burning desire to see a DPxDC au that focused on a relationship between Bruce and Danny specifically. And admittedly, like many of my aus, spitefully subverting common tropes in DPXDC.

See, we've got all these aus in the fandom where Danny is in some form or another friends or family to one of the batfam -- whether that be Damian's brother, a clone of one of the bats, or their kid, if you think it, we've got it! You can probably find at least one fic or post or au that's dedicated to Danny having a close relationship with them.

But one I've rarely seen at all are aus dedicated to a relationship between Bruce and Danny. Er, more accurately, I've rarely seen an au where they have a mutual appreciation and respect for one another.

More often than not, it's usually just Bruce distrusting Danny for being a 'meta' or Danny dunking on Bruce for being a bad father, a bad hero, or a billionaire. Which is fine, I'm not gonna like, harass anyone about it if they make those aus, that's not my business, but as someone who unironically enjoys Bruce when he's his best iteration, it's disheartening to see all the wasted potential.

Bruce is complex! He's one of the most gothic optimists i've ever met, with paranoia a galaxy wide and a bleeding heart big enough to fill a dam ten times over. When he's not being written as the punisher in a batsuit, he's really enjoyable as a character. And if we as a fandom can play paper dolls with the other DC Bats, and cherry pick their traits, whose to say I can't do the same to the one who started it all? He's a man without any powers who willingly chose to become Batman, because if not him, who else?

Danny is, if given the depth, also complex! He's a half-dead kid living with ghost hunter parents. He's canonically a pessimist, he's a kind heart. He wants nothing more than to be a normal kid and physically cannot because he was changed on the molecular level. He's a boy with strange powers who willingly chose to become Phantom, because if not him, who else?

Danny and Bruce have far more in common than Bruce and Vlad do. I think, if given the chance, they could get along.

I wanted to put them in a setting where neither of them had any pre-conceived notions of each other, and then see how they interact. And, of course, subvert a few tropes while I'm at it. One such being that Danny immediately dislikes or otherwise distrusts Batman for X Reason or another.

I have two other aus like this; unofficially, my changeling danny au, and my tales of the passerine au. I latched onto Blood Blossom so much compared to the others specifically because of the inclusion of the blood blossoms. It adds a set of stakes and tension that passerine and changeling lack, and thus allow me the ability to grow Bruce and Danny's relationship uniquely and more dynamically.

Overall, the theme and inspiration for Nightingale is found family.

[mirageofadesert]

Female Power Done Right: A closer look at Pian Ran from TTEOTM

The seductress: regulating sexual morality

Female characters have always been stereotyped in popular media. While this isn't limited to the portrayal of women, it has affected them disproportionately and usually in a negative way. There are a number of common stereotypes of how women are portrayed, such as the virtuous woman, the seductress/femme fatale, the Mary Sue and more. While I don't want to say that TTOETM doesn't rely on these kinds of stereotypes to tell its story, the show does get some things right when it comes to its female characters. Pian Ran is the best example of this.

Most temptress are villains, because female sexuality is often framed as something negative, something dangerous. Sexual morality serves to regulate gender relations, for example through various sexual taboos and prohibitions on premarital and extramarital sexuality or homosexuality. In the major religions and many cultures, sexuality is traditionally placed in the service of procreation. In the ascetic-monastic traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity, which are characterized by sexual renunciation, sexuality is equated with ignorance, desire, attachment or sin and is considered an obstacle to salvation. As women are identified more strongly with physicality than men, sexuality and instinctually in all the religions mentioned, the widely received stereotype of the sexual seductress emerges, which has been used to justify a wide range of discrimination.

Therefore, seductresses are not about female sexuality, they are (through the male gaze) objects of sexual desire for men, while also being a negation point of sexual morality. Virtuous women, especially protagonists, are often sexualised, but not portrayed as sexual beings. In contrast, sexual women are often the competition of the main character. They tend to use their physical attractiveness to attack or steal the main character's love interest, or to overpower the hero with their evil tricks. For this reason, they are often associated with animals that are seen as deceitful, cunning, poisonous or dangerous (e.g. snakes, scorpions, foxes).

At the first glance, Pian Ran fits this archetype well. She is a fox demon, who feeds on the life energy of men. She seduces them, using their sexuality for her own gain and entertainment. Pian Ran also dresses "provocatively" and doesn't conform to social conventions. When we first meet her, she is playing the historical version of strip poker, not just for the money, but because the desperate men amuse her. In the same episode, she forces Ye Qingyu to accompany her to the market and uses her sensuality to throw him off balance.

However, Pianran also subverts this trope. Her sexuality isn't portrayed as something negative, it's accepted by the people around her. Ye Qingyu never judges her for it, even though he is the polar opposite. Ye Xiwu never looks down on her either, instead she comes to him for advice and even flirts with her.

Sun Zhenni's performance deserves a lot of praise. Her sexiness doesn't feel "sticky" or "creepy" to me, like many other characters of similar type do. She has a natural sensuality that isn't over the top, more sassy than naughty. You can tell that she studied her character a lot and tried to portray her as nuanced as possible.

Pian Ran is also much more than just another fox demon and seductress. She is a complex character. But her main theme isn't really seduction - it's working life.

Pian Ran vs. work life

This theme runs throughout the drama, from Li Susu offering her a letter of recommendation for a particular sect when they first meet, to Pianran's work for Tantai Jin - and her resentment of it.

She has to work to survive - literally, as Tantai Jin tricks her into believing she has swallowed a pill that will give him control over her life. "Take the pill", which will change your life and take away your freedom, is also a reminder of how certain drugs and their side effects work. While she's not without a certain amount of freedom and has her own command within the Jing Kingdom, she's tied to Tantai Jin's command and rigorous work schedule.

Our girl is a for sure a regular on r/antiwork...

This theme makes her a relatable and likeable character. It also shows how her character is a comment on current social issues, beyond gender roles. This is one of the strengths of TTOETM, it’s strong social and moral message that goes beyond the plot of the drama.

Pian Ran vs. love life

As a character, Ye Qingyu is the opposite of Pian Ran: Virtuous, very righteous and rigid. But he never judges her for her behaviour, he always understands her and gives her space. And most importantly, neither of them changes who they are as their relationship progresses. She doesn't suddenly become a modest woman, he doesn't turn away from his ideals - except maybe in that cut arc in Jing Kingdom in the 3rd arc.

In many ways, Ye Qingyu and Pian Ran embody the classic trope of the seductive and virtuous hero: she affects men in a certain way that causes them to stray from the straight and narrow or interferes with their domestic arrangements. For example, when he spends the first night with her and thus neglects his duties as head of the family, or when she contributes to his changing sides and joining Tantai Jin. In short, she is disruptive.

When she advises Ye Xiwu/Li Susu on how to seduce Tantai Jin, she suggests various manipulation tactics to gain his attention and favour, but Pian Ran also gives genuine advice - to both of them, actually (although sometimes it's my accident).

One could make the argument, that they were aiming to frame her initial strong sexuality as a coping mechanism due to the loss of her husband and love threads. The absence of her love threads manifests quite different to Tantai Jin, mainly in form of attachment issues.

However, the show doesn't try to make a point about female sexuality by emphasizing a change in Pianran's behavior based on finding the right man. If anything, it's Ye Qingyue who meets her halfway by having a premarital affair. What I like most about their relationship is that they are each other's equals. They both have high ranks in Tantai Jin's kingdom and army, and he listens to their advice and treats them equally. Moreover, Pian Ran is never a damsel in distress. Even when Ye Qingyue dies for her, it is because she was blindsided by the attack while she was winning her own duel. In the end, she shares the fate of most seductresses who disrupt the social order - she dies (if they don't join a convent). The difference is that her death is a tragedy and not framed as a regulation of sexual morality and gender relations.

Female Friendship

Before I dive into the relationship of Li Susu and Pianran, I want to comment on the common dualism of the sensuous vs. the virtuous woman. Li Susu (or Ye Xiwu) is not the virtuous heroine, it’s (again) Ye Bingchang mirroring Pian Ran. This is something that subverts the whole trope! It's the virtuous woman who become disruptive and falls from grace, while Pianran becomes a righteous heroine. However, while Pianran doesn't become virtuous, Ye Bingchang tries and fails to use seduction to manipulate Tantai Jin. She also has an additional set of love threads that make her seductive to men without using her sensuality or sexuality. It's a fascinating dynamic. As I said, TTEOTM is not a perfect show with a feminist message, but it certainly tries to subvert gender stereotypes - and not just with its women, but that's another issue.

Pian Ran's third important role in TTOETM is that of Li Susu's friend, who supports and guides her. What makes their dynamic so interesting is that while Pian Ran looks younger than Li Susu, she is considerably older (well, if you count age by years lived, not by date of birth). They are flirtatious, they share a horse and a bed, and they pass the Bechtel test! Li Susu even risks her health to cure Pian Ran of Tantai Jin's blood curse.

Both subvert gender expectations in their own way. They are strong characters without abandoning their femininity. The empowerment and the feminist ideas, they are embodying, also come natural to the storyline and are not just tropes. Therefore, they are relatable characters for a modern audience (except when they are not).

Edit: Got rid of some spelling mistakes!

[moliathh]

Oh i was the anon who asked for tentacle sex alutegra… just bringing that up again 🤧

Anyway what are your thoughts on Dracula (the BBC 2020 version) and dragatha in general?

oops.. hehe I had a wip on a slight nsfw tentacle actions between girlucard and integra even before the question was brought up but im ermm not very comfortable with sharing wips yet so i guess it would need to be finished before i post it uh hihi!!!

About BBC Dracula! I LOVE IT!! AS WELL AS DRAGATHA!!! Let's get into details!!!

One, I am very intrigued by the way they reinterpreted the Dracula novel, let’s go by chronological order. Episode 1. Shifting Dracula’s lusting towards a human from Mina Harker to Jonathan Harker. A nod to various papers and discussions about the homoerotic of the original novel! I LOVE LOVE LOVE!!! And it makes lots of sense! I definitely prefer that more than the F.F Coppola’s reincarnation romance plot between Dracula and Mina. The story telling method of ep1 was VERY good too. They got us hooked from the start by introducing the reinterpretation of Abraham Van Helsing! GENDERSWAP!!! I could NEVER say no to genderswap especially with genderswap reinterpretations that subvert the common tropes! The quick-witted, eccentric, no nonsense intellectual scholar role is often a man! Especially a role such as a Van Helsing. The way Agatha established her character as a very proactive character, practically leading the conversation and playing into the “intellectual/competent” archtype was so cool! Personally, I find the series had written their female characters really WELL! Mina Harker looks like a naïve and fumbling girl, classic damsel archtype, but at the same time she was written with much agency, actively making wrong choices, driving the plot forward and established herself as a character with her own personality and agency rather than just being there. Agatha’s wittiness and arrogance also lead to consequences instead of just being a quirk of her personality. She is not a one dimensional caricature, not just a “girlboss” type, but she was actually written with much depth and nuanced too!

Let’s round back to the story telling method Im sorry I got off track with talking about Agatha. I love Agatha a lot. Anyway, the story telling method. In ep1, it was in the form of a testimony. Ep1 carries us in with the reminiscence of F.F Coppola’s Dracula, by starting from the pov of Jonathan Harker, switching between it and the monastery, smoothly transitioning us between the record of the past with the present and from then lead us into the current present of the characters. They managed to convey the gothic and Dracula-esque vibe EXTREMELY well with this method. Placing Agatha into this was a difficult task that somehow, they nailed spectacularly. She is a presence that could be seen as out of place. Her archtype was not commonly present in medias such as this, her demeanours seem almost too “modern” for it. She also distant herself from other characters’ theatrical, not being carried away by Jonathan’s testimony. She’s almost too aware. But she successfully immersed herself into the overall theme through her interactions with Dracula. She turned out to be as much of a drama queen as any character of a gothic horror. Theatrical flair is a MUST in gothic fictions!!!

And in ep2, it was a multi-pov story, an entirely different vibe. A retelling of the Dmitri’s voyage!!! LOVE it!!! I am very fond of anthologies and series switching their vibe and story telling vibe between episodes. The best highlights were the plot twist like damn.. I did NAWT see that coming. And since the story already started with the push and pull between Dragatha since ep1, I KNOW people expected to see more of them in ep2, if they did not make enough appearance in the beginning of ep2, people WILL lose interest. This is the downside of anthology, if you drop the bait that had audience hooked from the previous ep, it’s easy to lose their concentrations. But there was no dull moment because, the mystery surrounding room 9. That was VERY interesting, such a good plot twist too!! That combined with the little chess game between Dragatha and the way the story was retold through his word, i ADORE stories where the narration is from a character themselves. And that helps connect the previous ep with current ep smoothly! Agatha was as much of a main character as Dracula to just be used in One part of the anthology. Dare I say this is a story about their relationship development instead just a Dracula retelling. As most of the events followed tightly behind them.

Ep2 and ep 3 BOTH carry reminiscent of detective stories. Just different era. Ep2 was channeling gothic horror from head to toe. Ep3 serves thriller murder. i Love both! One of my FAVOURITE Dracula retelling. The other one being Hellsing.. not exactly by plot but by how they interpret and convey vampirism.

Talking about vampirism, its such a loose definition. Each interpretations have their own way to explain the fantasy power. That is a highlight of BBC Dracula, which is a close similarity Hellsing also have. That willpower was the factor at play. Why does Dracula repels sunlight or Christianity. Certainly its not a vampire thing, its just Dracula himself because that is what he known of, Christianity i mean. I doubt Buddhism works like that on him (the Dracula of the BBC remake) since he didnt know Buddha like that. It was all about mentality. Skill issue honestly. But willpower isnt a thing to be taken lightly. Of course it was "Rule of the Beast", because it wasnt a rule on humans, or anything else, it was his own rule applied on himself. Similar to Alucard, who limited himself on his own accord. These self loathing lil shits wield humour, nonchalance and monstrosity like a shield to hide their insecurity, what do one do with them.... Agatha and Integra saw allat and still think yeah this is what i would wanted to hold in my arms

I dont feel like Zoe and Agatha is the same person but its an interesting touch and a nod to Coppola's reincarnation plot? With Zoe later starts recalling Agatha memory like Mina recalling Elizabeth's memory in the 1992. But it doesnt pmo as much as the 1992 alterations, i feel like there are still some certain pushes and pull between Zoe and Dracula. They give so many personal agency to female characters in this remake its honestly very refreshing! I barely have any commentary on the gender disparations, if there was any. Of course we have to mention Lucy Westenra, oh I LOVE this character. Definitely better than whatever Coppola was doing (i dont hold 1992 version on high regards much.. there was too many ick for me). Here is how you write a hypersexual female characters. Both 1992 and 2020 established Lucy Westenra as an flirtatious party girl, not the naive sweetie like the book. But while i ICKKKKKKKKK with the 1992 interpretation, the 2020 Lucy Westenra have all of my heart. Yes she is playfully seductive, she is vain, seemingly the cliche of playgirl who disregard sweet nerdy boys (Jack Seward). but God strike me down if i could find anything in me to hate her. Her demeanour is the type of character very easily hated, and some of the reasons behind the hate is inspired by misogyny. She reminds me of Sansa Stark. In the sense that she was comfortable with her femininity and use it to her advantage, but at the same time shes deeply insecure and her outward demeanour was just a facade. She is kind of like Dracula, they are both vain, hoarding and indulging in physical pleasure in an attempt to compensate for their emotional needs. Both Drac and Lucy in this used each other as a cope, fulfilling only each other's physical needs. They both wished to be loved and accepted. But they couldnt and wouldnt understand each other. I dont ship them but I can see how their interactions brought out their characters. They reflected a part of themselves in each other. Agatha saw that part and she couldnt hate them. I could not hate them too ☹️💔

I also really adore her relationship with Jack Seward and Jack's character. I'm specifically invested in the relationship between Seward and Van Helsing throughout adaptations. The argumentative teacher and the less confrontational protege. They're cute. Dragatha witnessing first is Johnmina, and then Jacklucy, choosing love, doing the things they predecessors failed to do until the last moment. It's poetic. The double suicide was really something. I love that trope, where both held the mean to the other's destruction. That's what made them Dracula and Van Helsing. The hunter and the prey, predator in between. The character of Van Helsing works like wonder when the interpretations are women. Commonly regarded as the victim in these genres, a prey, but at the same time a Van Helsing, a hunter. It's such interesting to think about. And then there's Dracula, predator of women, prey of Van Helsing. So good. Love that trope. The scorpion can sting the frog when theyre carrying the scorpion through the river, but at the same time, the frog can dive down, drowning the scorpion. The nature of their relationship can destroy one another, nothing is fair in love and war unless it's between a Dracula and a Van Helsing. They can choose to kill one another and both are capable to. But will they? Or wont they? It is what appealing about a Dracula/Helsing relationship, without that aspect it wouldnt be half as enticing. So yes, i Love LOVE Dragatha. They did not forget the core of the Dracula/Helsing relationship, that they are dangerous to each other. Natural enemy. In Vietnamese we have a word "thiên địch" to call the species that in nature hunts a specific species. Cat is that to a mouse. The word roughly translated into "natural enemy" but while the word "enemy-địch" was accurate in translation, the word "natural" wasnt half as close. "Thiên" is not only "nature", but also means "sky" or "divine". A fated thing. They are born this way, but what will they choose to do with it. The impact of willpower is a strong theme in these matters. Especially in vampirism. And more than that, Van Helsing characters aren't just hunters, they're doctors, scholars, scientists. And they study Dracula, that is such an intimate aspect of their relationship too.

He could kill her. She too could kill him. A mutual relationship.

I feel like, both Jonathan and Lucy was considered a marriage prospect by Dracula, but both of them are not someone he couldve loved or couldve loved him. It's about the understanding that was nonexistence between all of them. And it's what Agatha seeks with him, she wished to know him. It was heartfelt. Not just to know what he can do, that's biological, but to know why he do that too. Again, Dracula and Van Helsing characters are bound together beyond biology, they chose to be in close vicinity, either to kill or just to prod. The obssession of the other one's presence is there regardless.

Another thing, right before I watched that remake I just recently watched Renfield (2023) too, a bit of whiplash seeing Renfield in 2020 and the Reinfield in 2023. It was such a fun and refreshing movie, I HIGHLY recommend. I am not too fond of Awkwafina but Nicholas Cage nailed down his role so GOOD. I am fond of the homoerotic toxic codependency thing Ren and Drac set up in that movie too it was very entertaining.

Oh I almost forget, there was a part where Zoe mentioned their organisation received money from a source they aren't comfortable disclosing. I am delusional and want to think Integra is a distant cousin of them and she slides them pocket money from her evaded tax share. Please take a look at this amazing fic No Life Beasts by oomf!!! I LOVE THE IDEA THAT THEY'RE BOTH CONNECTED SO MUCH!!!! Much MUCH to think about! especially with how Dracula was fixated on trying to procreate. If he see Alucard already acquired a fledgeling, hes gonna seeth with jealousy and baby fever at that sight hehe.

Uh and below would be nsfw, just a heads up!

Okay i spent almost a week to wrote this out chipping away at it little by little and during that time i sketched out tentacle sex alutegra!!! I would consider drawing more when i have the time or finished my old works... i kinda dont understand how tf does Alucard's tentacle worked it was definitely not just octopus-liked, it was sorts of shadow tendrils uhhh so i was just drawing it out randomly ... I had so much fun drawing Integra i really enjoy drawing her

[fantasy-anatomy-analyst]

Did I should do anything I want in my world even when its not original as long as I make sure it doesn't have any racist homophobic etc accidental implications ? Or I should focus on originality? How make me more original and see beyond standard things ? I strungle with making original and unique things. Any advices?

With any creative project, things tend to work out better if you're enjoying the process. That means you do what makes you feel good. Whatever keeps you excited about the project, focus on that.

Originality comes with time. I started out with very humanoid elves and gradually made them more unique. My bird people used to look more humanoid too. There's still a post series on this blog where my orcs have human-like noses instead of a pig snout. And frankly, pig orcs have really become more common in recent years, so that's also not that "original" anymore. Pretty sure I'm still doing something unique by making my gnomes into mini orcs though lol.

And you know, as long as you're not outright copying anyone specific and taking their ideas instead of doing your own creative work, it doesn't really matter if your ideas follow some common tropes and expectations.

Like, you can make griffins with any combination of bird and feline, maybe even switch the back half to a canine, and it's still recognizable as a griffin, but it wouldn't be a griffin anymore if you turned it into, say, a bat with goat legs. That's just not a griffin. It's a bat version of a hippogriff, maybe. Or it's a whole new thing.

Because words mean stuff, and people expect certain traits to show up in fictional creatures and people species. Elves have pointy ears and live a long time and tend to have a connection to forests. Dwarves live around mountains and have a lot of hair and do a lot of crafting. Orcs are big and beefy, and it's become common to depict them with large tusks or fangs, because that's how they've developed in pop culture. Tolkien never actually described them with visble tusks, or green skin for that matter. They took on new tropes through media like DnD, and now that's the expectation for how they'll look in any new media too.

Originality does not have to mean a total abandonment of common tropes and expectations. Playing into those expectations the right way can even lead to some interesting and original trope subversions.

Basically, don't just throw yourself into the deep end of worldbuilding and drown in the overwhelming struggle to make the most detailed and original things. Start where you're comfortable and the details and originality will come to you as you work. Find a friend or community to bounce ideas off of. I've got a friend who's way more educated on environmental sciences than me, so I get a lot of fresh ideas from her. Not all of her ideas or suggestions make it into my work, but I still appreciate them! I'm the only person who gets to decide what details will actually end up in my work, but I enjoy having friends who can lend me some new ideas to chew on and think over.

And, yes, of course you should do your best to understand and avoid things that would make your work seem bigoted. Sometimes things slip through because you just don't know everything. I don't think there's a single person in the world who actually knows every single possible offensive stereotype or caricature or slur that has ever been used against every marginalized group. And if you're not aware of it, it's hard to research it and know how to avoid it. So just do what you can, avoid the things you know for sure are bad, double check the history of any fictional creature or people species you're using, and write with nuance and you'll probably be fine.

Even when you're actively trying to subvert certain tropes, there will also always be people who read it with bias because they're used to things being a certain way.

Got someone in an irl writing group who keeps looking past what I've actually said about my orcs because they're just so used to orcs being portrayed as uncivilized warmongering brutes that they make certain assumptions while reading my drafts and I have to correct them. And it just reminds me that I have to add more detail to my writing to help readers see the difference between their expectations of how orcs work vs how I'm choosing to portray them. Because readers do go into books with their own preconceived ideas and expectations, so I can't just hope they'll understand what I'm doing. I have to kinda push them into letting go of those expectations so they can see my work for what it actually is.

Here are some general tropes you can avoid to keep from stumbling into classic fantasy racism:

- don't do the evil race/good race thing.

- don't make villain groups mostly darker skinned and good guy groups mostly paler skinned, and this also applies to things like fur and scales if they're covered in em. I will also add, don't make all your good guys human colored and all your bad guys more multicolored. Making the good guys tan or brown does not fix the skin color problem if the villains are all blue or bright red or green or whatever. Just avoid making body color connected to good and evil.

- don't rely on animalistic traits to show villainy or mark a people group as "less civilized". And on that note, also just don't do the "less civilized" or "primitive" thing. You can have people species with different levels of technology or different access to resources and not portray any of them as objectively less civilized or less intelligent.

- And if you want them to speak differently in the common language of your setting to show that their own language is very different, don't just make them sound stupid. Put some actual logic into how their language works vs how the common language works and have them speak in a way that reflects those differences.

- you can give your fictional people groups their own history of bigotry and interspecies conflicts. Just try to avoid making any of it a direct comparison to real life history. Like maybe don't do a fantasy version of the trans Atlantic slave trade or the Irish potato famine. And if you do have humans, especially humans who are not white, please don't make some fantasy people an allegory for humans of a particular ethnicity. It's pretty much always going to come across the wrong way.

Hope that's all helpful! The important thing is to have fun!

[ranticore]

answering an ask from @coyoteworks under a readmore because it's mildly spoilery for said the black horse :)

Coyoteworks asks: ive been sitting on this one for a while because its so in my head.. i really like how you write the werewolves in mvf. it really taps into my love for examinations of human and animal behavior, because as much as i love when a character goes 'berserk' in some way like a werewolf or monster transformation of any kind, i often feel like the execution of it being a result of a well of hidden evil is a bit too 'easy'... when bowman first turned i genuinely sat forward because i was so fascinated & delighted by his behaviors. the idea that these werewolves, with their reputation for being cruel and vicious, known for having the intelligence of man and the bloodthirst of a predator animal... arent actually all that vicious the first time they turn... it's just a really lovely take on what our "base" instincts actually are, and that cruelty is a learned/taught trait rather than an inherent one... same goes for jean's first transformation, and his fear, and bowman willingly turning to ease that fear and communicate as wolves... aughhg i just love it so much... the boys are playinggggggg

---

Answer:

I have to confess to being a little bit spiteful when I formulated those werewolf portrayals... I find that the idea of what a werewolf IS has been turned into almost a fandom in the sense that if you go against their established rules, it's decried as not REALLY a werewolf or a dilution of werewolves etc. And I find that really interesting; once I saw an entire rec list of werewolf media by a fan of werewolves who was deeply dismissive and disgusted by works which didn't have the werewolf being a rampaging beast every full moon because, to them, that was the whole point of a werewolf. To not have it be that way would be like making a vampire that doesn't drink blood. The narrative is that it's always about the fear of some primal bestial anger or energy inside oneself and that this is a struggle of man vs evil primal nature.

But it also strays close to something i also don't like about a lot of 'fae' tropes which is that it becomes played out, tired, predictable, and let's all be so honest with ourselves a lot of werewolves are the way they are because the writers find it hot as well in the same way vampires are hot - some kind of surrender to a raw bestial nature (often extremely masculine.. u can't tell me there's no reason ppl keep making lumberjack werewolves). it's part of a power fantasy when approached from that angle, the fantasy of being dominated/being dominating

So those are the metaphorical seeds inside most werewolf portrayals in media. To me, I was interested more in the former stuff than the latter, but the latter interests me too. 'Man vs evil wild nature' is a common theme in fairy stories as well, with wild spaces representing a threat. On the one hand I did want to subvert an expectation, but it's also part of a long-running main plot point in the series which will become obvious soon (sorry). For the werewolves, what they represent isn't the fear of the animal inside (a human is already an animal) but just the space to be the animal that you already are. I also want to refute the evil wild nature thing too - animals don't rampage about for no reason, there's no evil inherent inside a wolf. There's no mindless violence or attacking - the werewolf rampaging on the first full moon in Inver is doing it because they are frightened. It's not a harmless animal by any means and you still need to avoid provoking it, but it has no malicious intent.

The playing scene was really important to me also as a pivotal point in Bowman's arc but also Jean's and the book in general. If we're going to look at a werewolf as an externalisation of baser nature or a glimpse into what might go on inside the soul of a person (such as any exists), why is it necessarily violent... in Jean's own words, he often wanted to play with Bowman when he was younger, but could never bring himself to approach due to the constraints of society around him. playing is more fundamental to animals (both canine and human) than being a scary monster. so in this version of monstrosity, the monster is unbound from societal convention, finally free to play

Also wanted it to be quite clear that the avatars do not rampage without reason, either; they're scared, too.

[butchjesus]

I find it fascinating that in the 2015 film instead of naming victor's brother after one of his two brothers from the novel, they call him henry. they have not one but two brother names to choose from, they could have easily called him william or ernest, but they didn't. they also could have had the character be a sister and named her elizabeth, but they didn't. however, the name they picked wasn't out of thin air, either—they named him henry, like henry clerval. I know this film was by no means faithful to its source material, nor is it required to be, but this is just such a strange point in the writing to me. this was an intentional decision. why would they do that?

the way I'm choosing to spin it is that they wanted the inciting incident, the death that haunts the narrative and drives victor's cause, to be (at least inspired by) the person who victor loved most (and of course with this particular victor that couldn't possibly be a woman), and so they chose henry, victor's very best friend and character foil, with whom many have expounded upon the queer subtext present in the novel. but why make them brothers? could be a handful of reasons, maybe what kept them from leaning into the other queer themes obvious in the film. the likely culprit (if any) by my guess is that they wanted to solidify motivation for the relationship with victor and his father as "the family disappointment," a position sharpened by the loss of his older brother for which victor takes the blame. narratively I understand this choice, it's cleaner and a recognizable trope foothold, and also it sets up the brother/other motif with the creature*, but I think they could have just as easily done the same if henry was the child of close family friends or something to that extent, closer to the setup of the novel, because then his death could tarnish the whole family's reputation and relationships in addition to the internal turmoil, etcetc, thereby underlining the themes of the main story with victor and igor.

(*though by victor's own admission, he isn't trying to replace or bring back henry, but rather even a scale of life and death, so the connection of the creature to his literal brother also seems like something that could be effectively subverted to the story's benefit)

it could also potentially be that they did pick a name at random that just happened to be another novel character's—henry is a common name for the context, after all. but what a coincidence that would be (and far less fun than the alternative).

all this to say imo they could have left the rest of the origin story the same with henry filling the clerval role as victor's childhood best friend and still had his death play out as it did, and the rest of the story would be equally supported, but with stronger queer themes and overall narrative reinforcement in terms of the character relationships.

so, here's my rework:

victor and henry are teenagers, best friends since childhood, from two close and wealthy families, the frankensteins and the clervals. victor's parents adore henry, and so does victor (the latter in ways he cannot fully process, but he loves him differently than he loves his siblings, a way he's never loved anyone before). the two of them were always finding excitement and adventure, always together, and henry inspires so much wonder and ambition in victor, always eager to combat the bouts of malaise and despair that take victor every so often. his bright side, his sunlight.

one night when henry is staying with the frankensteins (a frequent occurrence), victor convinces henry to sneak out with him to play, giddy kids of maybe fifteen always looking for adventure. henry agrees, they go out, the storm hits. they get stuck. there's nothing to do but try to stay warm. they cling together, terrified. time scrapes on at an agonising crawl. victor gives up hope, sure they are to die there, and laments it being all his fault. even then, henry wants to comfort and cheer victor up, and so he gives up a piece of his clothes, maybe a housecoat or something, and wraps himself around his friend, despite victor's concerns and protests. henry insists they keep hope that someone will find and rescue them.

finally, someone does—but it's too late. henry is already dead, his cold body stiff and frozen, still shielding victor from the wind and cold of the calming storm. victor is bad off, barely still breathing, but alive, only because of henry's sacrifice. they have to pry henry's clinging corpse off of victor to get them both home. when they're back and the families get victor to explain what happened, they are shocked to hear that it was victor's idea to go out, and both parents blame him for henry's death, the clervals in grief and the frankensteins in shame (though all are grieving the loss of such a sweet and promising lad).

victor is understandably devestated. he not only lost his truest friend in the world, his first love that never got to fully blossom, in such a traumatic way, but now his parents were disgusted and angry with him, leading his siblings to keep their distance; the clervals have shut him out; and everyone else they know has heard the news from the adults that victor frankenstein killed the clerval lad with those crazy whims of his. victor lost everything in that storm, and now he is alone and disgraced.

the film is a love story already. what better way to drive home the turmoil of victor and igor's relationship and victor's character arc in general than having the big reveal be that victor feels responsible for killing his best friend and first love, and having the physical manifestation of his guilt and unresolved feelings and relentless obsession with overcoming death (the creature) drive him away from and literally try to kill his new love?

anyway, the sketches at the top are reworks of my novel clerval design to have him be about fifteen or sixteen when he died. if you read all this I'm giving you a very smooth river rock or a piece of seaglass

[imbecominggayer]

How To Write A Deconstruction!

And a subversion. And aversions as well since I am here to get clicks baby!

Hi, Small-Time Tumblr User™ here to tell you how to write different types of twists and turns in your tropes. Remember, just because it's new doesn't mean it's interesting or compelling. Tropes are exceedingly important so don't get all arrogant and pretentious here

Formatting wise, i'm going to go from aversion to subversion and then to deconstruction!

Aversion

Aversions are exceedingly simple so that's what we are starting with first!

The definition of aversion is when a writer makes the conscious decision to not include an expectation of the genre within a story.

A subversion is where the writer literally "subverts our expectations," while an aversion is where the writer completely avoids them from the get-go .

Aversions are rarely ever mentioned because there are thousands of tropes within a genre that just avoiding one is rarely unique. For example, romance without enemies to lovers is an aversion but not a notable one.

It also doesn't count when the expectation for a trope isn't there. A sci-fi story lacking in magic isn't an aversion because magic isn't expected in a sci-fi story!

Aversions tends to be only mentioned when the trope is so ubiquitous in a genre that's lack is a huge surprise. For example, a sci-fi work in space where there is genuinely no noise in space.

This section, as you can guess, was less about writing advice and more about dismissing buzzwords you hear

Subversion

A subversion is where the expectation for a trope is set up within the actual story but is avoided.

Subversions are a common tool in comedic scenarios since comedy is all about the playing with expectations! You can't have a joke if everything that happens was expected to happen.

For example, a "violent" horror movie where nobody dies is a subversion because all the attacking sets up the belief that one of these characters are gonna die BUT they don't!

Deconstruction

Deconstruction is the entire foundation of a story involving a close analysis of a concept to reveal the inherent instability and contradictorary subjectivity of itself.

A common and "easy" way to deconstruction is to ask how the trope would fare in the real world and the consequences associated with the trope. Think about the politics of weird fantasy cultures! Actually try to understand how being the depressed girl hiding her despression with pluckiness isn't just an interesting reveal but an actually serious thing

Despite the belief that deconstructions are inherently cynical, darker, edgier, and sadder overall, there is no reason they have to be. Stories can also be explored with an idealistic worldview with neither the cynical or the idealistic perspective being incorrect or worse than the other.

The most important part of a deconstruction is the reconstruction. The ability to take apart a story is meaningless if you are unable to offer realistic advice for improvement. This improvement could be applying more nuance to character development, diversifying in terms of perspective and who gets to tell their story, or by giving more gravity to a character's traits.

[hephaestiions]

Inspired by your Drarry fic recs and your amazing Flintwood fic, do you have any Flintwood recs or personal favorites?

ah! fantastic ask, anon! flintwood was, incidentally, my earliest hp ship & maintains a soft spot after all these years. their functions in canon (quidditch captains of rival houses, pinnacles of a certain kind of obsessive, single-minded, aggressive athletic masculinity) conduce some of the most raw and gritty characterisations— kind of like if tracing your tongue along the jagged, broken end of a tooth was a ship. flintwood encapsulates a very specific kind of mood— a foregrounded physicality, a delicious emotional dimension balancing both subtlety and brashness. this ship is especially delightful when you're in the mood for some deferred emotional payoff, a little out of reach and more satisfying for it.

(tw for some discussions of queerphobia & masculinity!)

flintwood also works with and subverts some common stereotypes & tropes associated with sports as a site of exalted & amplified masculinity. oliver and marcus are both, in fic, often representations of what a popular (largely homophobic & patriarchal) culture understands as 'masculine ideal stereotypes'— physically hulking, emotionally repressed, narrow-focused, a little dangerous. and flintwood, as a ship, is crucially also about these 'ideal men' making the choice to step away from the hallowed halls of homosociality towards explicit queer desire, dynamics and love.

i'm getting into this because a large selection of flintwood fics i've loved deal (overtly or covertly) with coming to terms with queer awakenings, reckoning with being queer men in sports and similar explorations. my flintwood fic (thank you for reading it, anon!), addictive tendencies (~4k, T, tw for internalised homophobia) also grapples with this fairly significantly. in fact, even when the central tension isn’t explicitly about a queer reckoning, and the worldbuilding has little/no queerphobia, many excellent flintwood fics have some of the themes, ideas and tropes you find in literature accounting for our society’s (often disparaging) attitude towards queerness: a desire both intense and grudging, a sense of “i can’t have this person” justified through rivalry and/or jealousy, poignant internal conflicts, etc.

anyway, enough talk, here's a selection of flintwood fics i've dearly enjoyed, hope you do too! mind the tags & notes & remember to send some love the authors' way :)

best kept secrets by slyther_ing (M, 1.8k)

Marcus Flint is leaning up by the metal chainlink fence - gum popping, grin flashing white, and Oliver has the urge to run away because everything in the taller boy’s stature screams trouble, trouble, trouble.

twenty gauge by provocative_envy (T, 3k)

It takes Marcus less than ninety seconds to determine that his four o'clock is an aggressively annoying piece of shit.

wake up, get up, shut up by provocative_envy (E, 4.2k)

Marcus is twenty-three and half-concussed when it finally occurs to him that he might actually kind of sort of be really into dudes.

rugby boys, they play 15s by thistlecat (M, 4.5k)

Fifteen significant moments in Oliver Wood’s collegiate rugby career that did not make his highlight tape.

no vacancy by provocative_envy (M, 10.1k)

The dreams are frightening, at first.

true but not nice by v (E, 10.2k)

Marcus found out about it from Warrington, who heard it from Montague, who heard it from Derrick, who heard it from Nott, who heard it from Zabini, who heard it from Malfoy, who they said heard from the Quidditch dressing room, which really just meant that Marcus was going to fucking kill him.

self preservation by al-the-remix (E, 17.8k)

Outside the night had grown dark, and at some point Oliver had moved to perch on the edge of Marcus' bed, thigh pressed against his and tray settled between them. As if they had some sort of understanding. As if they were friends.