#picked fences

[hoffmans-hoffman]

Was watching Picked Fences with my mom and she says “Is he just dumb?„ talking about Kenny/Costas and I said “The man said it himself, Bad at math good with guns„

[dizzybizz]

i rlly like him actually

[uponthebarricade]

ok but what's even the point of the olympics being in paris if we don't get some les mis olympics au fics out of it. ignore all prior commitments let's get those pens to paper stat.

[serpentface]

Extremely quick and dirty speedpaint of a dream I had last night

[agendercryptidlev]

One thing I'd love to see from the books in the Interview with the Vampire show is fencing prodigy Armand. Like give him a sword!!! Have him being very good at swords even as a little teenager!!! It's good for him it's enrichment

[canisalbus]

Following in the other anon’s question about Fast Machete… Healthy Machete AU where he’s a 100m dash Olympic runner, and Vasco is an equestrian Olympian. (Had to look up which Olympics had the 100m dash and learned that equestrian is a sport in the summer Olympics). Or maybe archery?

.

[applesandbannas747]

i wanna hear your thoughts on the fence challengers: long shot preview pages if you want to share!

oh mAN I have so many and they are all over the place!!

The first one is a little thing, but I bet Seiji had a crush on Marcus Washington when he was a kid--Nick's horror, Harvard's teasing, and Seiji's indignant blush imply as much.

And a fun fact, Jo posted a mini preview of baby Seiji to Patreon on February 14th...maybe I'm reading into it too much, but that's nothing new XD

Next couple of things are about the scene with the trophy case. It was really interesting and fun to see side-by-side redraws of Robert! It really illustrates the way the style has evolved, and also I gOTTA say it feels like Jo is more invested in Robert based on the level of detail she put in--like it's not just a style comparison, it's also just obvious a lot of attention was put into these shots when a) she could have just reused old shots (which she's done before, so I know it was an option), or kept it more simplified like she did when drawing the original shots.

I also think it's sweet that the redraws have Robert looking much more like Jesse than the originals.

And I am sure I will get flack for this, but I have incredible second-hand embarrassment from Nick leaving his newspaper clipping + note in the trophy case jfhdasl like bestieee noooo anyone can see that shit now oh my god please stooop

Onto some Nichoji thoughts! I love that Seiji's been confirmed as a before-bed reader! Him having a Kindle makes sense for the sheer efficiency of it too lmfao. Of course it's also adorable to see him in reading glasses <3 And then my favorite detail is Nick's stupid nightlight...notice where it is?

Rather than illuminating Nick's side of the room, it's peeking around the curtain and lighting up Seiji's reading, which is beyond adorable and sweet. I wonder whether Seiji stole it or Nick put it there knowing Seiji likes to read before bed, and I love both scenarios.

Also, it's fucking adorable that as soon as Nick mentions their date appointment, Seiji takes off his glasses and lowers his Kindle because it's got his full attention and investment.

And a quick pitstop to the locker rooms!

I like the visual metaphor here with Aiden and Bobby both very casual about changing and both literally having their shirts open; meanwhile, Seiji's straightening the cuffs on his button-down, which is already neatly tucked in and complete with his tie. It just highlights how Seiji's a lot more closed off than the others, and I think this was a neat trick to remind us of that.

In regards to plot, I'm still...really disappointed in the pacing. I know most people feel like it's a slowburn/it's taken a long time to develop, but if you waited to read Fence at all until it was complete and then read it all in one sitting, I think you'd see how unbalanced it is. Williams says that their first match will be in three weeks back right after tryouts:

which means everything between issue 12 and CHALLENGERS has happened in 3 weeks. Seiji and Nick's relationship is so sweet and cute, but it went from resentful rivalry to puppy love overnight with very little 'screen time' dedicated to the actual transition from resentment to friends (which I could write a whole essay on but this is not the post for that lmfao). Furthermore, the fact that it's the first match of State Championships rather than first match of the season is crazy to me. I'll admit, I didn't fence in high school--it wasn't even an option because we didn't have a team. And despite hours of research, the structure of high school team fencing is not entirely clear to me. However, I do know that typical high school sports go through the season, facing every other team in their division or whatever. Based on performance in those matches, they can qualify for state, and then their win ratio determines their seeding order for the state championships that happen in like 1-2 days. Seeding order is who you go up against in a bracket, so it's what this diagram is, basically:

(side note, but it appears there are 24 schools competing at state). Again, fencing could be different, but it kinda seems to me like we skipped over the season and went right to State Championships, which just cuts out so much development and build-up. It's like we're speed-running the entire story to get to the end faster. We cut out showing the development in the romance, and now we're cutting out the development of the plot. There's still plenty that we can do at state, of course, but imagine how much more it would mean to see Nick fencing in front of Robert if we'd built that up more. I just don't understand how we spent 12 issues on try outs, 4 on a practice match, 8 on camp, and none on the fencing season. It feels so abrupt and unbalanced. Tryouts and camp were my favorites arcs because they felt pretty well-paced as self-contained pieces of the story. I just feel like we needed waaaaay more relationship development between those two arcs to be satisfying, and I feel like there should be waaaaay more build up during the fencing season between camp and State Championships.

and now, the moment you've all been waiting for: my devastation over Eugene's role (???) in the story. I honestly question why he's in the story at all--at this point, it would have made more sense to have him flat-out not make the team. Except that keeping him this long lowkey backs up the theory I've had on his role since Striking Distance/RIVALS: Eugene is here to make everyone else look better/cooler/more impressive. The very first thing that struck me when reading the first look was this:

The dialogue here suggests that only one reserve actually gets to be on the team in the end, and the reserve is Nick. And, worse, everyone expected it to be Nick. Sure, it's sweet that Seiji thinks Nick's the better fencer, but all I can think about is how hard Eugene's worked for ten years trying to make the team as opposed to Nick's three months of fencing. Now, I love an underdog story. But it's interesting because Pacat stated in an interview (I'd have to go find where for the specific quote) that he always feels bad for the person who's been working to be #1 their whole lives only to be knocked out of the running by an upstart underdog--which I've always assumed would influence the path taken in Fence...and it seems like we may well let Seiji and Jesse remain above Nick in skill (or at least it seems like we won't be dethroning Seiji, even if we go for Jesse), but Nick's overcoming smaller obstacles. And those smaller obstacles hurt worse to see crushed because Eugene almost made the team in a way that mattered, only to have that taken away. It would have been less cruel to him and his fans to let Nick take the reserve slot back in issue 12, but instead we brought Eugene along to serve as a means to make Nick out 'secret weapon' and elevate his story.

I will say though, this page is one of my favorite Eugene moments because I see the character I selfishly want Eugene to be in it. From the context of the panels above, this page is likely Williams telling them that only one will be fencing in State Championships, and this is their reaction. Eugene's immediate concern for Nick and the comforting hand on his shoulder followed by a bright smile and a thumbs up--he just cares so much about other people and it so used to smiling through his own pain/disappointment and comforts Nick through being positive (and as seen back in issue 12, up playing his competitiveness) and acting like it's no big deal.

Eugene deserved better, but if this is where he goes out, I think I can live with it. Better to see him go now than continue to be a means to uplift the rest of team by being less than. but, man, I was really hoping we were turning it around after his moment in REDEMPTION being the only KR boy not to lose his bout

anyway, thank you sm for listening to my rambles!!! <33

[xshrimpcake]

the platnearl beebo

[automatonknight]

here's the prick i was talking about^ i have so many thoughts and notes about him but they're mostly incomprehensible so when i organize maybe them i'll post them who knows

[hoffmans-hoffman]

He may be dumb but he's my Kenny 😘

[1nt3rnalpu7ref4ct10n]

s3e3

[smitten-miqitten]

Because I'm evil, a little headcanon for my Lavellan and Cullen:

Throughout Inquisiton Cullywully is down bad for Lavellan, but she's into Solas. No prob, he knows how to be respectful and professional and keep his crushes to himself. They still grow close, she helps him through lyrium withdrawal, he looks up to her, they play chess together frequently, etc etc.

Solas 'dumps' Lavellan for reasons unknown and baffling to everyone, given how very obviously he still cares for her. Lavellan is extremely sad and angry and embarrassed and emotionally closed off. Cullen doesn't touch this situation with a ten foot pole because he's not a moron. He's supportive but not stupid.

But then Solas is gone.

A year goes by.

Then two.

Lavellan and Cullen still play chess frequently. They talk about their families. His siblings are teasing him about settling down. Maybe Leliana and Josie are wink wink nudge nudging the pair, hoping Curly could fix what Chuckles broke.

Cullen caves and makes the ask. Can there be something here? Can they be more?

Lavellan politely declines. There's not nothing reciprocated. She thinks that, maybe, if any number of things had gone differently she could have said yes. But she's still hopelessly in love with Solas, which only gets reinforced in the most heartbreaking way in Trespasser. She can't in good conscience accept Cullen's heart when her own heart is outside her chest, off doing nefarious things to the Veil.

But because it's a 'No' tinged with the slightest bit of 'Yes', Cullen has in his secretest heart of hearts the littlest bit of hope that her mind might one day change. And this hope persists for ten years as she occasionally helps with his ex-Templar rehab center and they chat and play chess and his siblings like her oh so much. She's never anything but friendly, and he never asks again, but the hope remains like an ember.

Until one day, Inquisitor Lavellan goes to Minrathous and never returns. She goes to Minrathous and leaves Thedas forever and finally finally that tiny bit of what could be dies on the vine.

[capn-twitchery]

i wanted a tiny colour ref grace to match twitch but the art styles didn't end up matching, oops!!! but they can still hang out on the canvas. it's fine

[y4k4mi]

so awesome

alt \/

[hypokeimena]

those like white republican woman security theatre tiktoks also get me bc like you can see their houses and. lock that front door all you want but it is NOT going to keep out a determined someone with an axe or perhaps a man door hand hook.

[abirdnamedbirdie]

SAY HI TO OAKLEY! shes my Wallmark fankid oc!

Her name is Oakley Fence Mannequin Wall /j

more doodles below— some are old excuse that