#ouat king fergus

[dinneratgrannys]

ONCE UPON A TIME REWATCH: 5.09, THE BEAR KING You may not need a man to teach you how to fight, but you can learn a thing or two from me.

[kazoosandfannypacks]

🧿☀️🍓💺 for the ask game???

🧿: Which fandom would you like to live in?

I think it would be fun to live in the tangled fandom!

☀️: Kiss/Marry/Kill the last character you wrote, the last character you saw on a post and the last character in your camera roll

Kiss- Uhhh, I'mma go with the last character in my camera roll, which is Garfield. Putting a little forehead kiss on my favorite fat orange cat.

Marry- last character I wrote, which is Lord James Hubert John Fergus Saltyre, the fifteenth earl of Mount Dunstan. He is 10000000% goals and I would be very content with that setup.

Kill- Last character I saw on a post happened to be Neal Cassidy. Sorry. RIP Neal.

🍓: Dead character you want to bring back to life

Robin Hood from OUaT! His death was super unnecessary!!!!!!!

💺: Share an excerpt from your first story that you wrote

Here's the opening paragraphs from the first novel I ever finished drafting, The Prince and The Farmgirl, which many of you guys may know a little bit about from my post about effective situational comedy, and which features narrations by snarky teenage kazzy.

1. The First Chapter, About Stuff You Might Find Useful  Once upon a time, or perhaps never at all, in the castle of the kingdom of Royaume, the crown prince sat alone and invisible. Not invisible in the literal sense of the word, but invisible in the sense that you and I feel every day, deep within us, an invisible that echoed through the prince's bones.   Now, I imagine the first thing you're wondering, is why does this prince matter? Aren't these kinds of stories about princesses and knights who win their hands in battle, and ride off into the sunset? Honestly, I've noticed that trope in so many stories, the stories where the rich princess marries her poor farmboy- the girl gives up her status and rank and position for love- and while this is a truly noble cause, that's not what this story is about. This story is not intended to be one of those stories. This story is intended to turn those stories on their head. This is a story where things turn out exactly as they should, but never as you'd expect. This story may throw you for a loop or two, as any good story should, but never in a way you never could've seen coming. This is the story of an ordinarily extraordinary boy who meets an extraordinarily ordinary girl.  So, I assume by now, you'd like to get to know this prince. I imagine your mind, like mine, is racing with questions, questions like "What's his name?" "How does he view life?" "What's going on in his family?" "And what makes this nobody of a somebody important enough to get his own story told?" Well, I suppose I'll start to answer these questions, although you haven't bothered to ask them (and even if you had, I wouldn't've been obligated to tell you anyways, as we authors have the right to remain silent so the readership can figure it out for themselves.)  The Prince's name was Adar Griffith, which, if I did my research properly, is just two names that mean "prince." Yup, good ol' King Malik and Queen Regina must've thought long and hard before naming their son Prince Prince Prince. (I mean, it could also be that I'm a lazy author who can't be expected to come up with beautiful, inspirational names for each and every character.)

Mutuals ask game!

[leiandcharles]

100 days of once upon a time: day seventy-seven

[thelittlehansy]

Disney Kings Fancast (Part 2) 

*did not take in consideration the ages

Sebastien roche as king Fréderic (he played king stefan in one episode of ouat)

  Irrfan Khan as the king of maldonia ( saw that fancast one day so why not ?)

Edit : RIP :( 😓

Charles Dance as the king of the southern isles

Brian doyle murray as the king from cinderella

Billy Connolly as king fergus (He was nice in ouat )

[fcrgedstrcngth]

So... I have an idea for another sibling group of OCs, these are OUAT/Disney/fairy-tale muses. Eight or nine half-siblings who are each foundlings on the doorstep of various castles across the realms. Some are raised by the castle servants and have become servants themselves, others have been taken in by the royal families who inhabit the castles and are raised as royals adopted into said family. The mother of all the children is a half-crazed fairy, and all of her children have dormant magic abilities. Each child is named after a jewel, and when they’re left at the castle, it’s with a note that says their name and the location of the other siblings that have already been born. In this way, the siblings stay connected to each other while also maintaining positions as, essentially, a gossip central in each of their kingdoms.

Though the muses are still in the earliest stages of development, here’s what I have so far:

Sardius, Liam Hemsworth fc, stableman in Snow White’s castle

Topaz, Victoria Justice fc, raised in Jasmine’s castle as her sister

Diamond, Abigail Breslin fc, servant in Cinderella’s castle

Beryl, Corbin Bleu fc, raised in Aurora’s castle as her brother

Onyx, Asa Butterfield fc, servant in the Evil Queen’s castle

Jasper, Cody Christian fc, raised in King Midas’ castle as the king’s son (and Princess Abigail’s brother)

Sapphire, Makenzie Foy fc, raised in the castle of King Maurice/Belle as family of the crown

Emerald, Adair Tishler fc, servant in the castle of Zelena/the WIzard of Oz

Carbuncle (Bunny), Belle Shouse, raised in King Fergus’s castle as younger sister to Merida and the triplets 

Honestly, I’m really tempted to make them regardless, but I’d like to know if it’d be a total waste of my time or not. So. Would any of you guys be interested in writing with muses like this? Feel free to comment, reply, etc. More info on the muses are sure to come!

[grcwingstrcng]

MOBILE MUSE LIST

AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.:

Andrew, Hunter

ANASTASIA:

Dimitri, Vlad

AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER:

Hakoda, Mai, Ty Lee, Ursa, Zuko

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST:

Adam, Cogsworth

BLEACH:

Gin, Izuru, Kiyone, Nanao, Rangiku, Ryuuken, Soifon, Shunsui, Ukitake, Urahara, Yumichika

BONES:

Arastoo, Booth

BRAVE:

Elinor, Fergus

CINDERELLA:

Prince Charming (Henry, based on the animated movies)

COCO: Ernesto, Felipe, Héctor, Óscar 

DAREDEVIL:

Foggy, Marci, Vanessa

DUCKTALES:

Della Duck

FANDOMLESS:

Benjamin Stuart (OC, bio pending)

FROZEN:

Agnarr, Anna, Elsa, Hans, Kristoff

GILMORE GIRLS:

Emily, Luke, Max, Richard

GREY’S ANATOMY / PRIVATE PRACTICE:

Arizona, Callie, Carina, Charlotte, Cooper, Dell, Derek, Henry, Jake, Mason, Sheldon, Teddy, Tom

HARRY POTTER:

Andromeda, Remus

HERCULES:

Hercules, Meg

HOUSE MD:

Amber, Chase, Cameron

INUYASHA:

Kagura, Sesshoumaru

IT:

Ben, Beverly, Eddie, Stan

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS:

Annie, Ashe, Rakan, Soraka, Varus

LEGEND OF KORRA:

Asami, Bolin, Lin, Tenzin

MALEFICENT:

Diaval, Philip

MCU:

Bruce, Loki, Mantis, Nebula, Pepper, Stephen, Tony, T'Challa,

MIRACULOUS LADYBUG:

Adrien, Gabriel/Hawkmoth, Emilie, Luka, Nathalie, Nooroo, Rose, Sabrina, Tom

NARUTO:

Asuma, Kurenai, Chouji, Konohamaru, Shikaku, Shino, Mirai, Ino

OUAT / OUAT IN WONDERLAND:

Anastasia, Emma, Neal, Nova, Tamara, Will

POWERPUFF GIRLS:

Professor Utonium

POWER RANGERS LIGHTSPEED RESCUE:

Miss Fairweather

POWER RANGERS TIME FORCE:

Eric, Jen, Wes

QUEST FOR CAMELOT:

Arthur, Juliana, Kayley

RWBY:

Atlas (BIO PENDING), Bartholomew, Blake, Brynja (BIO), Clover, Coco, Elm, Ghira, Glynda, Hazel, Ilia, James, Jaune, Klein, Li Ren, Mauve, Nicholas, Nora, Onyx (BIO PENDING), Ozpin, Penny, Pyrrha, Qrow. Raven, Ren, Roman, Ruby, Summer, Taiyang, Tyrian, Vernal, Vine, Weiss, Whitley, Willow, Winter, Yang 

SAILOR MOON:

Michiru, Rei

SAVING HOPE:

Shahir, Zach

SCREAM:

Dewey, Gale, Mark

SHE-RA AND THE PRINCESSES OF POWER:

Adora, Angella, George, Glimmer, Entrapta, Lance, Mermista, Micah, Perfuma, Scorpia, Sea Hawk

SUPERGIRL:

Cat

TANGLED:

Captain of the Guard (Alexander), Cassandra, King Frederic, Lance Strongbow, Quirin, Rapunzel

TARZAN:

Tarzan

THE BALLERINA/LEAP!:

Louis, Odette, Felicie

THE DRAGON PRINCE:

Aanya, Amaya, Claudia, Gren, Harrow, Rayla, Sarai, Soren

THE FLASH:

Harrison Wells (Earth 2), Marlize DeVoe

THE HOUSE WITH A CLOCK IN ITS WALLS:

Jonathan

THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME:

Phoebus

THE HUNGER GAMES:

Effie, Cinna

THE INCREDIBLES:

Helen (Elastigirl), Lucius (Frozone)

THE LION KING:

Simba

THE LITTLE MERMAID:

Ariel, Eric, Sebastian

THE MUMMY:

Jonathan, Rick

THE ROAD TO EL DORADO:

Miguel, Tulio

TREASURE PLANET:

Delbert, Sarah

TALES OF ARCADIA:

Barbara, Blinky, Diana Strickler (OC - bio here), Douxie, Eli, Claire, Jim, James Sr., Morgana, Strickler

UNTIL DAWN:

Chris, Mike

YU-GI-OH:

Mai Kujaku

ZOOTOPIA:

Nick Wilde

[emospritelet]

At what point in OUAT did you realise no established fairytale/Disney character is safe, as individuals & couples? 1x01 commentary said they were originally going to kill David but changed it because he's Snow's HE. They briefly killed Prince Phillip, Rumple (BatB) & David but brought them back because they're one half of TL Disney couples. Then they kill Robin Hood & Marion. A&E's treatment of Rumbelle speaks for itself. Monte Cristo, Auntie Em, King Fergus etc. And this is a show about Hope.

It’s not something I ever gave much thought to in those terms.  I would say the moment I realised no OUAT character was safe was when they killed Neal.  

It hasn’t been a show about hope for a long time.

[woodelf68]

At what point in OUAT did you realise no established fairytale/Disney character is safe, as individuals & couples? 1x01 commentary said they were originally going to kill David but changed it because he's Snow's HE. They briefly killed Prince Phillip, Rumple (BatB) & David but brought them back because they're one half of TL Disney couples. Then they kill Robin Hood & Marion. A&E's treatment of Rumbelle speaks for itself. Monte Cristo, Auntie Em, King Fergus etc. And this is a show about Hope.

It’s not something that I’ve thought much about overall, probably because I I never was into all the Disney “Princess” movies and so I didn’t have a lot of emotional attachments to the characters previously. It’s been more of a case-by-case basis. Like being at first surprised at how little screentime they were giving Belle, and then being utterly shocked that they wrote her at her most unlikeable just when the new movie was coming up and a popular Belle on the show would have, one would think, cause even more people to want to go see the movie. I really hope the idea of killing Snow’s Prince Charming was just an early stage idea, when they were batting around different possibilities for ‘what happened next after the ending you know?’, but honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if it was something that A & E seriously considered. Marion was especially sad because they gave her and Robin a son, but there are no tales about her and Robin growing old together happily, and her or any one of the Merry Men dying young is completely realistic for the life they were leading. In the original ballads Robin is treacherously killed by the Prioress of Kirklees Abbey, so at least OUAT’s Robin got a more heroic death. Fergus was also sad, but again – he was a warrior chieftain, so it’s believable, at least. Auntie Em was a huge shock, and felt like a casualty of ‘we’ve decided Dorothy’s going to be Ruby’s TL, but that means we have to kill Dorothy’s family to get her to leave Kansas’. Mercenary and not particularly good storytelling. 

Rumple having to sacrifice himself is still something I’m a bit unclear over; couldn’t he have killed Pan any other way? But at least it was part of a decent, major storyline. Not knowing if a main character is really truly gone forever dead is how to keep audience interest during a hiatus, I have to say. Even if we were pretty sure he’d have to come back – contracts and so on – we had no idea how or in what form. 

I think, to answer your original question…despite him being an original character, maybe it was when they killed Neal. He was the cornerstone of the show, the link that held all the stories together. He had ties to Rumple, and Emma, and Henry (and by extension, Belle and Regina and anyone else who was linked to Henry); he was the character who shared Emma’s outsider view from having lived in the LWM but had his own experience of growing up in the EF as well to balance that out. He just had SO much potential. If the writers wanted to go with CS, there’s a ton of storylines that could have resulted from that. How to step back gracefully and be just a friend and co-parent. The possibility of forming a new romantic relationship, and strengthening his bond with his son and father. (Which is what the show seemed to be about? Parents and children?)  I’d say that’s when I stopped expecting logical storytelling and that things would make sense eventually, and that everything and everyone was at risk of a bad storytelling decision. 

*Laugh-cries hysterically about it being a show about hope* I don’t think A & E know what that word means. 

[psyga315]

Theory Time: Unfinished Businesses

Okay, so Pooh’s Adventures will eventually crossover with the show Once Upon A Time. I’ve made peace with that. But, I noticed something about it.

The author added a section delving into characters that might have unfinished business.

To explain for those who don’t know, the second half of Season 5 delves into worldbuilding the afterlife. In particular, the Underworld. I love its world building. You can haunt people via pay phone, there’s different rivers that affect you in different matters, gravestones tell you how a person moved on (if they have) and, the focus for this story, how they’d move on to its version of Heaven.

See, the Underworld acts as Purgatory. A sort of waiting station for those with unfinished businesses. They fulfill the business? They get to move on to a better place. Though chances are they’ll either be dragged into the River of Lost Souls or be damned to a place that’s even worse than the Underworld long before they could even figure out what their unfinished business is.

Thus, the heroes find it to make sure they find out what their fallen friends and family’s unfinished businesses are and make sure they get to a better place. Likewise, I’ll be making guesses as to which character has unfinished business. Some characters have unfinished business already, but I’ll probably add to the theory.

Just a disclaimer, these are just my ideas of what might happen. I’m not doing this for critique reasons or to suggest things, but because I enjoy making theories and incorporating the lore to see how they’d fit. Also, obvious spoilers ahead so...

Marvin Acme, from Who Framed Roger Rabbit. His major role in the movie was that he owned Toontown and died at the hands of Judge Doom, leaving his will to be in the hands of the Toons. Perhaps his unfinished business has something to do with said Will, or perhaps a dealing made with Maroon, who might also be in the Underworld.

Mufasa is an odd case. We managed to see him make an appearance in the Lion King as a ghost and the Lion King has established its own lore of the afterlife. Even if we took the idea that what he did was a payphone haunting, his unfinished business would definitely have to do with Scar and Simba and he’d manage to fix that by the end of his movie. Perhaps, he doesn’t have unfinished business and makes his appearance in a manner similar to Neal, where he appears to warn the characters of the Underworld.

King William is one of the few characters whose unfinished business is established, being that Odette and Derek are happy (since he died after the wedding was called off and wasn’t around to see them reunite) so perhaps just seeing them is enough to make him be able to move on. It might be too easy for them to achieve, so I’m guessing Hades would probably go “lol nope” like he did with Auntie Em.

Sirius Black died fighting the Death Eaters and died a member of the Order of the Phoenix, so perhaps his unfinished business has to do with fighting the Death Eathers, as he died before ever knowing that the war would be over, unlike later deaths like Tonks and Lupin who died knowing full well that their battle will decide the fate of Hogwarts and the Wizarding World. So maybe his unfinished business is confirmation that Voldemort is finally dead. Perhaps Hades approaches Voldemort (assuming he isn’t in his fetal baby form underneath the train station’s bench) and hires him to take out the heroes, but his appearance causes him to reveal that, yes, he is indeed dead.

Bruton. Had to double check who he was. Perhaps his Unfinished Business is a wholely original plotline or perhaps it’d be similar to Gaston and he would like some revenge against Kron. 

Ray the Firefly has established his business is to reunite with Louis the Alligator. Another easy feat, yes, but because he’d be with Evangeline, he might be one of the few who get to move on unscathed by Hades.

Stoick the Vast. Easy. He died before Hiccup could prove to him that he’s chieftain material and his unfinished business could just be that he needs to see him do just that. Bonus points if he’s drinking buddies with Fergus (who’s also dead as far as OUAT lore is concerned) at the Rabbit Hole.

Han Solo‘s pretty obvious considering who killed him. Kylo Ren is gonna be a huge deciding factor in whether or not he’s able to move on, since it involves the one thing he failed to do: turn Kylo to the light. If he manages to, he’s able to move on... But if Kylo truly wants to snuff out the light he has in him, then he could definitely send him to the Worst Place. Though, it’s established that he wants Kylo Ren’s forgiveness to him and that he’ll be with Henry Sr., who is the first person to move on in the show’s arc. This all greatly depends on Kylo’s fate, so this is up in the air until the next two episodes come out.

Littlefoot's mother’s unfinished business? She died telling Littlefoot to go to the Great Valley without her. So, yeah, her unfinished business is “Hey, did you get to there?” “Yeah! And I’ve spent so many movies there!” “Peeeerfeeect...” ... Unless the Great Valley is the afterlife... Start screaming.

Padme Amidala’s unfinished business, as stated by the wikia, is Anakin's love in return. She died in despair seeing Anakin be a monster and him as Darth Vader might have her be distraught. Perhaps he needs to prove to her that he’s no longer the Sith she saw.

Sitka is said to be with Hercules. Sitka is actually someone who makes sense with the person he’s with. Both died fighting a monster. Sitka’s unfinished business might be one last hunt. The problem is that, like Mufasa, Brother Bear has its own lore on the afterlife. Hell, Sitka becomes an eagle. So... Perhaps the same situation with Neal and Mufasa, but he’s able to stay in the underworld just for one last hunt.

Tadashi is also with Herc, but I can definitely see his unfinished business being to see Baymax do great things.

And with that, that’s all the unfinished business theories I have. What are your thoughts? Whose unfinished businesses do you think need fulfilling? Until then, adios amigos.

[weasley-detectives]

Brave and Merida in a Trumped up world

It's a little surprising to me that the Disney fandom went absolutely apeshit over the "Disneyfication" of Merida in their merchandise - something Brenda Chapman even spoke out against, calling it a cheap ploy to sell merchandise - yet there hasn't been any commentary on other Brave spin-offs.

Merida's a Disney/Pixar heroine who, in Chapman’s own words, was created to be a different kind of Princess. Now, I don’t think it makes me a good feminist to sit here and pit Disney Princess against Disney Princess; I think popular perception of the “Disney Princess” is a different beast altogether when compared with the actual source material, which has both positive and negative aspects. But when it comes to Merida the writers intentionally set out from the start to try something new. She has a fuller, rounded figure, a nuanced relationship with her mother, and romance plays no part in her story. You could argue there’s evidence of a romantic interest, but that’s not the same thing as a romantic subplot, and it’s not overt enough that you can say with any certainty. The writers admit the original idea was to have Merida walk off into the sunset with Young MacGuffin, the suitor who briefly catches her attention early in the film, but that epilogue thankfully only exists in the artbook and deleted scenes.

And let me be clear, there's nothing wrong with Merida having a romantic interest. In fact, I came to love that Merida is subtly shown to be a little interested in Young MacGuffin. 

I was watching Mulan the other night with a @pale-silver-comb​ (who is 100% responsible for my newfound love of Disney- well, that and the fact I need bright happy escapist animation as the rest of my time is spent neck deep in miserable politics). We were cackling over the scene where Mulan ogles a shirtless Shang and later wound up ranting over how rare it is to see women checking out guys in films. When women do make their attraction known, they tend to run the risk of being framed or labelled as shameless, or worse, sluts. On the flipside, how often do we see guys ogling girls in media? Yeah, exactly. It's a shitty myth that women don't own their sexuality in the same ways men do. That's one of the things I love about Mulan and Merida as heroines - they're not "strong female characters" (god I hate that term, can we please kill it?) just because they kick large hairy man arse. They're great characters because they are so relatable. They're funny, they're giant dorks, they stuff their gobs, they check guys out, they can be crass, proud, and make mistakes. These are all things women do, but aren't shown to do nearly as often as men are in mainstream media.

I’m glad the Brave epilogue with Merida and Young MacGuffin didn't make the final cut, because the story wasn't about Merida finding romance - it was about Merida's relationship with her mother, and the two of them confronting their pride, opening their minds to new ways of thinking, and admitting their mistakes. The epilogue had no place in Brave’s narrative. To have included it would have harmed the message of the story by adding romance for the sake of romance, rather than for any narrative purpose. But at the same time I don't want to downplay Merida showing even a subtle interest because yay women owning their own sexuality. One of the things that has driven me crazy since I was a kid myself is the patronising infantilization of girls. A crush is normal, you can pretty much get them at any age, it does not mean you’re not enjoying your childhood to the fullest. Fuck that noise. I had massive crushes from the age of 4 and still managed to climb trees, get into fights and battle Captain Hook and Shredder on my T-Rex with imaginary best friend Gollum at my side (what? fuck you we had a bond). That Merida might have had a bit of a crush on Young MacGuffin reinforces for me the fact she’s a character who doesn't want to get married because she doesn’t bloody want to, not because the suitors are conveniently horrible people she vehemently dislikes. I actually find that even more inspiring. So yes, Brave is a great film with a pretty amazing heroine.

Which is why it pisses me off when spin-off writers take something so progressive and shaft it.

This isn't a ship shaming post at all - fandom is a ship & let ship space, ship Merida with her bow for all I care, it's all good. This critique is aimed at crappy spin-offs and I’m taking Once Upon a Time as an example. Now, OUAT isn’t all bad. Sometimes it takes Disney canon and transforms it into something really interesting, progressive and original. Or, well, it used to. Recent seasons not so much. The actress who plays Merida is the only good thing about OUAT's Brave arc. The rest is unbearably lazy (HA! pun.) writing. The gravest injustice has to be King Fergus, who looks like he's wearing a wig knitted from a highland cow's pubes.

Don't get me started on his accent. I’m scottish. No Scotsman sounds like that. Not unless they’re squeedging out an enormous post-curry-hangover shit. I love Fergus, but honestly I was relieved OUAT!Fergus was bumped off before my ears could go on strike.

The suitors are also sexist pigs. Dingwall and MacGuffin don't even say anything, they just play the lazy mindless followers/minions to MacIntosh who’s probably the most unlikeable aspect of the arc. Really says something about OUAT when the original animation, aimed at a younger audience, portrays its characters as more nuanced. In Brave, Young MacIntosh is all bluff- he’s a show off, a sore loser and generally a bit of a prick, but there are also glimpses of genuine empathy. He's also the suitor Merida is openly put off by in the film. So yeah, in Brave, Young MacIntosh is a bit of a lanky fucktrumpet, but he's not anywhere close to being the scabby sexist cockwomble he is in OUAT. This would be fine if it had some sort of clever narrative purpose, but who am I kidding, it’s OUAT. OUAT!MacIntosh is a proper dickhead and there’s no reason for Merida to like any of the suitors, because unlike in Brave, they’re all fucking assholes. And yet the OUAT arc still ends with Merida giving him the smitten googley eyes. Because romance or something. cool.

Another Brave novelisation published by Disney Random House ends with Merida confirming to the reader that yes, she did eventually marry. Well thank fuck for that! My frail girlish heart couldn't possibly entertain the idea of Merida never marrying. Thank you book, you've reassured conservative parents everywhere.

In addition to that bollocks is.. probably one of the worst offenders. I recently picked up a couple of the Merida chapter books by Sudipta Bardham-Quallen, again published by Disney Random House. They're for wee kids, but I wanted to see more of @gurihiru​​ 's lovely art which I’m fully smitten with. The writing isn’t great, but the stories involve challenging enough themes for very young readers. To the author's credit there's a bit of an effort made to retain a Scottish feel to them and there’s a nice focus on female friendships as Merida encounters new characters. It’s a bit cutesy-poo BFFs!!, the kind of thing I hated as a kid, but hey, we need more female friendship stories. The new characters are even quite likeable, so thumbs up there.

Then I picked up the second book, The Fire Falls (also written by Sudipta Bardham-Quallen), and cringed. Basically bad Merida and Young MacIntosh fanfic involving some classic tropes like: 'I'm not jealous, I’m just better than all those shameless slags flirting with him' and 'arg he's such an asshole but i'm inexplicably attracted to him though there's nothing to show in the story why I should be!' and my favourite - ‘He’s a bad guy but I can change him!’

Here's my main issue: why is it when a female character shows or says she’s not interested in a guy's advances this all too often becomes a springboard for their romance? Why do these stories have such an obsession with positioning the sexist hyper-masculine asshole as the romantic lead? (I'm sure that couldn’t have any dire implications for the worl-oh fuck). And in Brave's case, when the source material and original epilogue show Merida taking an interest in the big fat guy, why don’t any of the spin-offs build on that? Young MacGuffin also happens to be the only one in the entire film to vocally stand up for Merida’s rights. That’s pretty cool! So why don’t spin-offs celebrate that? The cynic in me says we all know the answer - much like Merida had to be “sexed up” to sell Disney merchandise, the fat suitor had to be swapped out for the skinny. 

Really, in a film that revolves around Merida's frustration that people aren't listening to her, it sort of amazes me that these spin-offs don't realise they AREN'T LISTENING TO HER.

And yeah, obviously I know it seems really silly picking on kids books and OUAT, neither of which are ever going to win awards for great progressive writing, but considering America just elected a vile celebrity as President and populism is on the rise, maybe it’s time we all said screw that academic snobbery and paid more attention to popular media. This stuff is common, these tropes are common, and it’s consumed mostly by young kids who internalise these crappy messages.

I make a big deal of it because these coded messages have a profound effect on us as we grow. These messages tell us to ignore a girl's decision and choice: that when she says 'I'm not interested' what we hear is 'I am'; that the most "attractive" and most "masculine" guy will always be the “natural” choice; that being fat or shy or awkward are inherently negative qualities and will always be overlooked by the loud wanker distracting everyone by waving his tiny hands around.

I'm now a published historian and I plan on publishing children's books in the near future; I work part-time in a bookshop, so I talk to kids about the stories they read, the stories they want to read, and their frustrations with the stories they HAVE read, all the time; I studied child psychology as part of my degree in Social Anthropology: this is why it matters to me and why I know all too well how much these coded messages affect us. I know it from my own experiences as a half-Moroccan kid with a dead father, growing up in a classroom of white kids who all came from middle-class households with two parents. This was all brought back to me when I rediscovered some of my old journals and stories I had written for class where I portrayed myself as being blonde/white and talked as if my dad was still alive, because I desperately wanted to be *normal*. I never got to encounter a character like Merida growing up, and I wish to god I had.

Children's authors and publishing houses have an enormous responsibility to make their readers feel included and heard. They also have a responsibility to challenge toxic ideas - not reinforce them. We have to keep pushing boundaries, not limit them.

[wolfdaddyalphasworld]

OUAT vs Disney final part: •The Queen/Snow White's Mother •Hades •Hercules •Megara •Zeus •Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde •The Sheriff of Nottingham •Remy •Tiger Lily •King Fergus and Queen Elinor (Let me know if I missed any)

[dinneratgrannys]

Once Upon a Time rewatch: 5x09, The Bear King “You may not need a man to teach you how to fight, but you can learn a thing or two from me.”

[leiandcharles]

Top 5 ouat parent and child duos

1. knightrook

2. daddy charming

3. swan believer

4. captain cobra

5. merida and king fergus

5.2. henry, jacinda and lucy

5.3. granny and ruby

Ask me my Top 5____