#possible clark/Mari

[marybatson]

cap marvel forgoing jla for jsa when given the choice, vehemently denying rejoining “jli”/maxwell lords new team, him having his most important fights alongside the dc magic guys/shadowpact members (& none even know him like that aside frm coolest coworker awardee zatanna) during his postcrisis era will never not be funny. he rly did not wanna fuck w the justice league sooo bad for that period of time

[child-of-the-sea-and-sky]

Reading Superman Smashes the Klan and it's so fucking good BUT

Are those the Graysons?!?!!!!

[neil-gaiman]

who came up with the idea of having a good omens episode in scotland and was it to give david is accent back and let him act as drunk as possible so no one can understand him?(as a scot i thank you BUT I MUST KNOW)

Once we knew that we were going to be filming in Scotland the idea of making a story set in Edinburgh seemed like an excellent idea: we were right there, after all. Cat Clarke had an idea for a story set in the time of Mary Queen of Scots, but it didn't really work for us, and we decided that the time of the Bodysnatchers might be a good way of exploring the moral questions involved in what was happening back then, which was really fun.

The many Scottish accents was my idea shortly before filming.

[spikewriter]

I actually rather enjoyed her character, as it was so different from the usual portrayal of Mary. Now, I realize Catherine d'Medici is definitely an unreliable narrator in this, and we're seeing everything through her filter, but the performance put me in mind of a draft of a report by John Sommer he had with Queen Mary while she was being moved from to Fotheringhay (Sommer was working for Ralph Sadler, who was then her jailer). The draft begins: "After recounting her grievances," then continues on. At some point, Sommer added the word "again" after "grievances."

Somehow, that fits very nicely with the character we see in The Serpent Queen.

Antonia Clarke as Mary, Queen of Scots in The Serpent Queen (TV Series, 2022-).

[demonic0angel]

DPxDC Next Generation Kids (click for clarity)

Continue reading for notes and introductions :)

1) Jove Bryce Wayne (11) - Steph and Cass’ adopted son. He trains under Cass and Bruce, and is widely admired by the other kids for creating his own fighting style with the dancing skills he gets from practicing with his mom (to his delight). Fun fact, he is albino!

2) Marillyn “Mari” Maddy Grayson-Nightingale (10) - Dick and Dan’s daughter. She was an accidental pregnancy, but both of her dads love her very much. Fun fact, she gained her baba’s personality and is rather rebellious and mischievous, which causes Dick to feel sympathetic for Bruce.

3) Elinor “Ellie” Catherine Nightingale (9) - Jason and Jazz’s eldest daughter. She, along with Mari, train under Dick, Jason, and Jazz in order to protect themselves. Fun fact, she looks and acts just like Jason when he was young.

4) Thomas “Tommy” Bruce Drake (5) - Tim, Dani, and Kon’s oldest son. He is an evil genius who uses his cuteness to take over the world. Fun fact, the entire PhantomBat family have given up on convincing him not to, so now they’re just trying to instill morals into him and stall for time (they still love him tho).

5) Marianne “Ann” Talia Nightingale (5) - Jason and Jazz’s youngest daughter. She is Alfie’s twin and is the fun and sunshine to Ellie’s seriousness and Alfie’s gloominess. Fun fact, she got her blonde hair from Sheila Haywood, but she doesn’t know that.

6) Alfonso “Alfie” B Nightingale (5) - Jason and Jazz’s youngest son. He is Ann’s twin and is rather gloomy and antisocial compared to his sisters. Fun fact, he supposedly looks like Bruce when he was young, so he gets away with a lot when dealing with Alfred.

7) Rain Axel Nightingale (4) - Danny and Valerie’s son. He is Misty’s twin and can be rather mischievous, often causing trouble and chaos for the fun of it. Fun fact, he often teams up with Mari to prank everyone in the most ridiculous ways possible.

8) Misty Lilith Nightingale (4) - Danny and Valerie’s daughter. She is Rain’s twin, and is even more shy than Alfie and can start crying when stressed. Fun fact, although she can be anxious easily, her temper is even worse than her mom’s.

9) Ken-el / Kenneth “Kenny” Clark Drake (1) - Tim, Dani, and Kon’s youngest son. Since he is the youngest, he is doted on the most. Fun fact, he has already unlocked most of his halfa abilities due to his Kryptonian heritage.

Notes:

+ Jove’s name relates back to Cassandra’s because they are both names of mythological characters. Jove is another name for Jupiter (AKA Zeus).

+ Both of Mari’s names are actually a weird, mashed up version of Madeline and Mary (and also inspired by Mar’i cough).

+ Jason and Jazz’s daughters are named after Elinor and Marianne from Sense and Sensibilities and their middle names are from Jason’s mother figures in life. I imagine that Jazz had a falling out with Jack and Maddie, so she didn’t really care.

+ Alfie’s name is inspired from Alfred and his middle name is only “B” because Tommy was born first and Tim took the “Bruce” middle name.

+ Alfie and Ann, and Misty and Rain are inspired by Misty and Jackson, the canon kid characters of Sam and Danny. Both pairs of twins have an 8 month difference of age.

+ Why so many twins?? I used the twin idea first for Jazz and Jason, but when I thought of Danny and Valerie, I kept switching between ideas, so I eventually settled on twins for them too. Trust, it was a weird coincidence for Danny and Jazz too when they had twins at nearly the same time.

+ Misty and Rain’s middle names come from Tucker and Sam (Axel Foley and the episode “Life Lessons”). Their first names are inspired by Misty Fenton and I just found another name for Rain to match the theme.

+ Tommy and Kenny technically have different dads, (Tommy is Tim and Dani’s, and Kenny is Kon and Dani’s), but it doesn’t really mean anything, since they don’t pay attention to it.

+ The idea of Tommy, who is like Tim’s clone and absolutely evil, was so funny to me. He’s prob my fav child OC. His entire family know about his manipulative tendencies but he loves them so they let it go. (Damian and Dan have already pledged their allegiance to their future overlord.)

+ The short period of time where Jazz, Dani, and Valerie were pregnant at the same time was hell on earth for everyone.

+ Technically, Bruce only has 7 grandchildren (he cries when he thinks about it a little too hard), but bc they’re so close to Rain and Misty, Bruce thinks of them as his grandchildren too, so he always says he has 9. Danny and Val are like ??? But Rain and Misty totally believe that he’s their grandpa (which he is delighted about).

+ Damian is married to Jon and they have no kids, unless you count the farm they inherited and all of the animals that Damian adopted as his fur babies. However, Damian was young when the kids kept coming, so he became the designated babysitter and then the favorite uncle, which all of the other Batboys despise and are jealous of.

+ Marillyn's age, as well as Misty and Rain's existences, might still be changed by me, just bc at times, it doesn't suit my headcanons or just doesn't make sense in the timeline. So those are susceptible to change.

[soleminisanction]

I've always really liked DC's in-house choice of referring to their various superhero groupings as "families," but it has gotten a little frustrating recently with people both in canon and in fandom seeming to forget that families aren't just a parental-unit-and-kids formation. They're complicated, and a lot of the DC families are too messy to fit into that neat little nuclear family mode.

Which is to say... here's some scattered thoughts/summaries about how these families are actually structured in canon, because I think it's interesting:

Supers -- The smaller, more traditional Superfamily (Clark, Lois, Kara, Kon, etc.) is a pretty traditional Midwestern nuclear family, with Jimmy Olsen filling the role of close family friend/goofy neighbor sidekick (in the Silver Age, he was Kara's would-be suitor) and Steel feeling more like part of Clark's personal circle of friends. The recent line up, though, with Jon, the twins, Kong and Nat? Starts to feel more like some old dynasty or noble house, complete with fostered foundlings and the Steels acting almost like knights under a noble's banner, possibly reflective of what the House of El would have been on Krypton.

Arrows -- Might currently be the closet to a traditional nuclear family structure. You've got Ollie and Dinah, their younger sisters, Ollie's adopted and biological children, and Ollie's granddaughter through Roy, plus by some counts Roy's co-parent and her sister as "in-laws." Bonnie and Cissie King-Jones are adjacent to but not technically "part" of the family, though I believe it's implied at one point that Ollie might also be Cissie's bio-dad. Pretty straightforward, these guys are actually family and they act like it, for good and ill.

Shazam Family -- Also a literal, actual family. Not originally, the original golden age "Marvel Family" was considerably more complicated and only Billy and Mary were full siblings, but nowadays the whole point of the modern Shazam family is that they're foster siblings united by familial love and that's fantastic. Meanwhile your average Black Adam story is 75% angsty family drama, 25% Egyptian mythology references.

Flashes -- Technically closer to three nuclear families (the Allens, the Wests and the Garricks; four if you include the Quicks), two of whom are united by marriage and all of whom are bound by the Speedforce, which, given its semi-spiritual connections to things like Speedster afterlives, can act almost like a religious force that connects them to the additional members like Avery, Circuit Breaker and Max as Bart's foster-dad. They're a big, sprawling tree with more cousins than siblings, the kind of family that functionally has a reunion every Christmas and Thanksgiving.

Lanterns -- Now these guys are the exception that proves my point about the whole 'family' thing not being straightforward. The lanterns aren't a family, they're a corps. Soldiers. Space cops. Comrades-in-arms. They respect each other, have each other's backs, might even like or care about each other, but those last two are optional, and they don't have the same kind of assumed obligations towards each other that a family would have. They're friends and co-workers, not family, but that doesn't mean their relationships are less significant, they're just different.

Wonders -- Roughly half of them are either one of Hippolyta's daughters (Diana, Donna, Nubia pre-Crisis) or related to them through the gods (Cassie), and the other half (Artemis, Yara, modern-age Nubia) use sister as a term of endearment more in a utopian lesbian commune kind of way. I think they brought Steve Trevor back recently? He's basically the Ken in this equation and perfectly fine with that role. None of which should be surprising if you've seen Professor Marston and the Wonder Women.

Bats -- This is the one that people get really wrong when they try to force it into a traditional family structure. Don't let WFA fool you, the Bats are and have always been way more a snarled mess of tangled interpersonal relationships than they've ever been a cohesive family. Whether Dick is Bruce's son or his brother depends on what era you're talking about, and the former reading is much more recent than you think -- as in "started cropping up in the early 2000s" recent. Barbara is both Cassandra's sister and her mother. Duke and Steph both have living parents and neither of them want or would ever dream of treating Bruce like their dad; Tim was the same way until his dad died. None of the Robins ever lived in the mansion together, nor did Cass. Babs considered Jean-Paul Valley her brother and Huntress is so close to Tim she once hallucinated him calling her Big Sister. They're a beautiful mess of people finding places where their broken edges fit together into something that works for them and trying to reduce it down to a cozy nuclear family is just so goddamn reductive and lazy.

Blue Beetles -- Are only tangentially related to each other. Seriously, they never even get direct mentoring, each one just takes over when the previous one dies and works on completely different rules from the other two. They're complete strangers bound by a legacy and that's honestly pretty fun.

Zataras -- There's only three of them and they're literally a father, daughter and cousin.

Martians -- Not really a family because there's only the two of them, but an interesting case where the two survivors of what was functionally a war of mutually assured destruction came together in an attempt to find some peace in the aftermath of what they'd lost.

Titans -- The JLA and JSA aren't really in the "family" category, but the Titans lean into it hard, mostly because they're a textbook found family. They don't mirror a nuclear family structure, they're simply a group of people who came together to form a mutual support network. They're the idealized college friends you grew into your own with, some of them childhood companions and others you only met once you leave home for the first time, but all of them friends that you manage to maintain contact with for life, with everyone coming back together even as you scatter and do your own things.

Young Justice -- Meanwhile, this team is the chaotic group of misfits you hung out with when you were a teenager, especially when you were just starting to be allowed to act without adult supervision. You drive each other crazy, none of you know you're all queer as fuck, and you'd fight a bear for any of them even if they asked you not to. They'd probably be insulted if you tried to call them a family. They come out here to get away from their families, thank you very much.

[reareaotaku]

Masterlist III | COMPLETED

Finished: June 7, 2024 [12:27 PM CDT] *= Slightly NSFW/NSFW Masterlist I Masterlist II Masterlist IV

I Am Not Okay with This

Stanley Barber

Stanley Barber Headcanons Late Night Calls Backseat Driving*

Stranger Things

Mike Wheeler

My Sweet Valentine I Loathe You [Mike's POV]* Mike Wheeler & Jane 'Eleven' Hopper Headcanons Jealous Mike Wheeler Headcanons Brother's Best Friend*

Lucas Sinclair

My Sweet Valentine

Jane 'Eleven' Hopper

My Sweet Valentine Mike Wheeler & Jane 'Eleven' Hopper Headcanons Jealous Eleven

Maxine 'Max' Mayfield

My Sweet Valentine

Billy Hargrove

My Sweet Valentine

Steve 'The Hair' Harrington

My Sweet Valentine Mean Little Boy I'm in Love with You

Nancy Wheeler

My Sweet Valentine Nancy Wheeler & Robin Buckley Headcanons

Robin Buckley

My Sweet Valentine Nancy Wheeler & Robin Buckley Headcanons

Johnathan Byers

Johnathan Byers Headcanons

IT

Richie Tozier

Richie Tozier Headcanons

Karate Kid

Daniel Larusso

Daniel Larusso Headcanons*

The Umbrella Academy

Five Hargreeves

I Can't Lose You Sick Reader

The Goldfinch

Boris Pavlikovsky

Run Away Boris NSFW Headcanons* Injured Reader Mean! Boris Headcanons You're so Drunk*

Theodore 'Theo' Decker

Run Away Theo Decker Headcanons

Celebrities/Influencers

Matt Sturniolo

Matt Headcanons

Blue Beetle

Jaime 'Blue Beetle' Reyes

Jaime 'Blue Beetle' Reyes Headcanons

The Turning

Miles Fairchild

Miles Fairchild SFW/NSFW Headcanons* No Where 2 Run* Reader is Sick School is a Bore [PT 2 of School Girls] Made into a Woman* [Pt 3 of School Girls & School is a Bore] She's the Only Girl I wanna Love* [Pt 2 of Mary is the Girl that I wanna Fuck] Soft Schoolboy Headcanons Maid of the Rich Kind Nanny! Reader* Stalker 2 Be

Ben 10

Ben Tennyson

Yandere! Ben Tennyson Headcanons

Clone High

I Am Not a Clone Series

Where the Fuck am I? [Part 1]

Fear Street

Christine 'Ziggy' Berman

Christine 'Ziggy' Berman Headcanons

Nick Goode

Nick Goode Headcanons

Rick & Morty

Morty Smith

Morth Smith Headcanons Evil Morty Headcanons

Scooby Doo

Fred Jones

Fred Jones Headcanons Fred Jones Mystery Inc Headcanons

Hex Girls

We're the Hex Girls & We're Going to Put a Spell on You

Corpse Bride

Emily the Corpse Bride

Yandere! Emily Headcanons

Young Sheldon

Georgie Cooper

Georgie Cooper Headcanons

When You Finish Saving the World

Ziggy Katz

Yandere! Ziggy Katz Headcanons Jealous! Headcanons

We Are Who We Are

Fraser Wilson

Fraser Wilson Headcanons

Shazam

Freddy Freeman

Freddy Freeman Headcanons

Game of Thrones

Daenerys Targeryan

Male! Daenerys Targeryan Headcanons

Ghostbusters

Trevor Spengler

Jealous Headcanons

Don’t Tell a Soul

Joey

Joey Headcanons

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Rodrick Heffley

Crazy Party What if Rodrick was Jealous?

Wednesday

Wednesday Addams

I Don't Love You Singing my Love [Pt 2 of I Don't Love You] I Know You Got Issues & I Do Too [Male! Wednesday Addams] Male Wednesday Headcanons +drabble

Spiderman

Gwen Stacy

Gwen Stacy Headcanons

Scream

Stu Macher

Stu Macher Headcanons*

Batman

Dick 'Richard' Grayson

Save Me, Baby

Damian Wayne

Superboy vs Robin Damian Wayne Headcanons Love in High Places [Pt 2 of Superboy vs Robin]

Barbara 'Batgirl' Gordon

Barbara Gordon Headcanons

Tim 'Red Robin' Drake

Tim Drake Headcanons

Superman

Jon Kent

Superboy vs Robin Love in High Places [Pt 2 of Superboy vs Robin]

Clark 'Superman' Kent

Superman Headcanons

Lolirock

Iris

Genderbend Iris Headcanons

Shrek

Arthur Pendragon

Arthur Pendragon Headcanons

Kim Possible

Kim Possible

Schoolboy Crush

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Jessica Rabbit

Jessica Rabbit Headcanons

Mario

Princess Peach

Princess Peach Headcanons

Princess Rosalina

Princess Rosalina Headcanons

OC

Prince Alexander

Yandere Prince Headcanons

Ace

Grumpy x Sunshine Headcanons

Nightmare on Elm Street

Glen Lantz

Touch Me

That's Not My Neighbor

Francis 'Milkman' Mosses

Milkman Headcanons*

Goofy Movie/ An Extremely Goofy Movie

Max Goof

Max Goof Headcanons He was a Skater Boy

The Lion King

Kovu

Kovu Headcanons

Beetlejuice

Astrid Deetz

Astrid Deetz Headcanons

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

'Leo' Leonardo

Leonardo Headcanons

'Donnie' Donatello

I Do Not Like You

[charminglygrouped]

The Search for Mrs. Bingley

By now many Austen fans are familiar with a letter the author wrote to her sister Cassandra, claiming to have discovered Mrs. Jane Bingley's exact likeness in an exhibition of portraits:

Monday, May 24, 1813 [...] Henry & I went to the exhibition in Spring Gardens. It is not thought a good collection, but I was very well pleased—particularly (pray tell Fanny) with a small portrait of Mrs. Bingley, excessively like her. I went in hopes of seeing one of her Sister, but there was no Mrs. Darcy;—perhaps however, I may find her in the Great Exhibition which we shall go to, if we have time;—I have no chance of her in the collection of Sir Joshua Reynolds’s Paintings which is now showing in Pall Mall, & which we are also to visit.—Mrs. Bingley’s is exactly herself, size, shaped face, features & sweetness; there never was a greater likeness. She is dressed in a white gown, with green ornaments, which convinces me of what I had always supposed, that green was a favourite colour with her.* I dare say Mrs. D. will be in Yellow. […] —Monday even—We have been both to the Exhibition & Sir J. Reynolds’,—and I am disappointed, for there was nothing like Mrs. D. at either.—I can only imagine that Mr. D. prizes any Picture of her too much to like it should be exposed to the public eye.—I can imagine he wd have that sort [of ommitted] feeling—that mixture of Love, Pride & Delicacy. Setting aside this disappointment, I had great amusement among the Pictures; & the Driving about, the Carriage been open, [sic] was very pleasant (Le Faye, pp. 212-3).

Of course Austen scholars have searched for this portrait. The first resource to check is of course the catalogue of this exhibition, which was The Exhibition of the Society of Painters in Oil and Water Colours at The Great Room, Spring Gardens in London.

In 1986, Lance Bertelson used this catalogue to narrow down the possibilities, as he saw them, to 5:

Huet-Villiers, "Portrait of Mrs. Crompton" (catalogue no. 3)

Huet-Villiers, "Portrait of a Lady" (no. 27)

C. J. Robertson, "Portrait of Lady Anderson" (no. 15)

C. J. Robertson, "Portrait of Mrs. Clarke, of Weston [listed as such in the catalogue: but it should be 'Welton'] Place" (no. 116)

C. J. Robertson, "Portrait of Lady Nelthorpe" (no. 246).

He writes, however, that his "inquiries to major public collections in Britain and the USA have failed to turn up any of the above paintings"; but they may still exist in private collections. He says we know the portrait of Lady Nelthorpe to have been in Mrs. C. B. Prowse's private collection as of 1929. It was described by Basil Long thusly:

It is on ivory, about 7 3/4 in. x 5 3/4 in., and is signed at the back C. J. Robertson, pinxit / Apr: 1813. It is a 3/4 length portrait of a lady seated on a rustic bench in a landscape, with her hat on her lap... The face is shaded with brown and gray.

Two years later, in 1988, Martha Rainbolt has more success: she writes that "[b]y searching through the art libraries in London and this country [the USA], I have found some of the portraits and information about some of the other ones" (very annoyingly, she does not say where). She lists out 11 possibilities for the painting of Jane Bennet Bingley—everything in the catalogue claiming to feature a "girl," "Miss," "Mrs.," or "Lady":

"Girl in a Wood," Thomas Uwins (sometimes spelled Unwins)

"Girl decorating her Hair with Hops," Thomas Uwins

"Girl Reading a Ballad," Thomas Uwins

"Portrait of a Lady in the Character of Hebe," Jean Francois Marie Huet-Villiers

"Portrait of Lady Nelthorpe," Charles John Robertson

"Portrait of Lady Anderson," Charles John Robertson

"Portrait of Mrs. Crompton," Jean Huet-Villiers

"Portrait of Miss Smirnove," James Stephanoff

"Portrait of a Young Lady," James Hewlett

"Portrait of Mrs. Clarke, of Weston [sic] Place," Charles John Robertson

"Portrait of a Lady," Jean Huet-Villiers

According to Rainbolt, paintings 1 and 2 can be eliminated because they are of children. Painting 3 "is a work in the Italian style, rather grand and quite romanticized. This woman with her dark hair and sentimental look could not be the likeness of Jane Bingley" (I can't say I understand why Rainbolt thinks that Jane mustn't have dark hair). Painting 4 is of "a bare bosomed, very voluptuous lady sharing the canvas with an eagle who is hovering over her cup," and Rainbolt feels that this, too, can be eliminated.

Painting 5 is a possibility which Bertelson also mentioned. However, Rainbolt points out that it is a miniature, and Austen described the picture of Mrs. Bingley as a "small portrait"; and that Lady Nelthorpe would have been middle-aged at this time, and so not a good candidate for 23-year-old Mrs. Bingley. Of painting 6, Rainbolt says that the subject would also be too old (as she had been middle-aged as of the late 1780s).

This leaves paintings 7 through 11. Rainbolt was only able to locate information about one of them: #11, Jean Huet-Villiers' "Portrait of a Lady."

We don't still have this portrait. We don't know whether it still exists, and we don't have any photographs taken of it. What we do have is what is likely a copy of the portrait, in the form of a tinted engraving by William Blake:

The title of the engraving ("Mrs. Q," referring to Harriet Quentin, mistress of the Prince of Wales) is different from what the exhibition catalogue lists as the title of the Huet-Villiers portrait, but Rainbolt doesn't see this as problematic: the title had likely been changed in the exhibition to maintain the subject's anonymity, as was common practice at the time.

Rainbolt felt that the colour of the gown and ornament, and the "sweetness" of the face depicted, made it very likely that this was the portrait in question—though she notes that "It would be helpful if the portraits of Mrs. Crompton, Miss Smirnove, Hewlett's 'Young Lady,' and Mrs. Clarke would surface to be examined."

There was also a small problem, in the fact that Austen wrote green ornaments, while this gown only has one: but Rainbolt thinks that "This discrepancy might be explained by the circumstances: Jane Austen was writing an informal letter to her sister recalling the exhibition; she did not have the portrait in front of her when she wrote."

Deirdre Le Faye, writing in 1997, feels the question to still be an open one:

[...] [T]he three miniatures by Charles John Robertson in the same exhibition, of Lady Nelthorpe (No. 246) and her sisters-in-law Lady Anderson (No. 15), and Mrs. Clark of Welton [not Weston] Place (No. 116), cannot be completely ruled out as alternatives. (Footnote 4, pp. 416-7)

However, in the years since Le Faye wrote, and apparently without anyone noticing (?), that first miniature has appeared on auction site Christie's:

I think we can rule out this portrait as a possibility, due to the lack of any green ornamentation to the gown.

Bibliography

The Exhibition of the Society of Painters in Oil and Water-Colours. The Ninth. (London, 1813), p. 3.

Lance Bertelson, "A Portrait of Mrs. Bingley." Persuasions no. 8, 1986, 37-8.

Martha Rainbolt, "The Likeness of Austen's Jane Bennet: Huet-Villiers' 'Portrait of Mrs. Q'." English Language Notes, Dec. 1988, 35-43.

Jane Austen's Letters, Deirdre Le Faye ed. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Portrait of Harriet Quentin, half-length, turned to left, with Eton College in the background; after Huet Villiers. 1820 Hand-coloured stipple. British Museum asset no. 1613230005.

"Portrait of Lady Nelthorpe," Charles John Robertson (b. c. 1779). Christie's. Lot no. 3103729. 2001.

[balioc]

BALIOC'S READING LIST, 2024 EDITION

This list counts only published books, consumed in published-book format, that I read for the first time and finished. No rereads, nothing abandoned halfway through, no Internet detritus of any kind, etc. Also no children’s picture books.

(There were still so many children's picture books.)

(I've relaxed my standards a bit for this year. I've counted two graphic novels, and one text so short that it's basically just an illustrated short story. This doesn't particularly feel like cheating, and it doesn't seem to be lowering my standards generally. Next year, I may decide to count texts read on the Internet, so long as they're genuinely substantive in some way; we'll see.)

The Pilgrim of Hate, Ellis Peters

Weavers, Scribes, and Kings: A New History of the Ancient Near East, Amanda H. Podany

An Excellent Mystery, Ellis Peters

Moon Dark Smile, Tessa Gratton

The Raven in the Foregate, Ellis Peters

Demon Daughter, Lois McMaster Bujold

The Rose Rent, Ellis Peters

Bea Wolf, Zach Weinersmith

The Saint of Bright Doors, Vajra Chandasekera

The Hermit of Eyton Forest, Ellis Peters

Warlock, Oakley Hall

The Confession of Brother Haluin, Ellis Peters

The Heretic's Apprentice, Ellis Peters

Of Ghosts and Goblins, Lafcadio Hearn

The Potter's Field, Ellis Peters

Golden Hill, Francis Spufford

The Summer of the Danes, Ellis Peters

The Holy Thief, Ellis Peters

Ducks: Two Years In the Oil Sands, Kate Beaton

The Uncommon Reader, Alan Bennett

Brother Cadfael's Penance, Ellis Peters

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, Brandon Sanderson

Ballet Shoes, Noel Streatfeild

Emma, Jane Austen

Lyorn, Stephen Brust

Magus: The Art of Magic From Faustus to Agrippa, Anthony Grafton

The Tainted Cup, Robert Jackson Bennett

Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History, Bill Schutt

The Lion of Boaz-Jachin and Jachin-Boaz, Russell Hoban

The Familiar, Leigh Bardugo

Unraveller, Frances Hardinge

Pilgermann, Russell Hoban

Breaking Hel, Miles Cameron

The Emperor's Sword, Christian Cameron

Ink Blood Sister Scribe, Emma Törzs

Out of Tales: Or, January, Meg Moseman

Chinese Buddhism: A Thematic History, Chün-fang Yü

Tress of the Emerald Sea, Brandon Sanderson

Intelligence: All That Matters, Stuart Ritchie

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, Patrick Süskind

Ninefox Gambit, Yoon Ha Lee

Prince of the Godborn, Geraldine Harris

Children of the Wind, Geraldine Harris

The Dead Kingdom, Geraldine Harris

The Seventh Gate, Geraldine Harris

The Night Parade of 100 Demons, Marie Brennan

The Game of 100 Candles, Marie Brennan

The Market of 100 Fortunes, Marie Brennan

Aztecs: An Interpretation, Inga Clendinnen

Sand, Wolfgang Herrndorf

The Wood at Midwinter, Susanna Clarke

The Chains of the Earth, David Mealing

Plausible works of improving nonfiction consumed in 2024: 7

Balioc's Choice Award, Fiction Division: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, Patrick Süskind

>>>> Honorable Mention: Warlock, Oakley Hall

Balioc's Choice Award, Nonfiction Division: Weavers, Scribes, and Kings: A New History of the Ancient Near East, Amanda H. Podany

>>>> Honorable Mention: Chinese Buddhism: A Thematic History, Chün-fang Yü

The Celephaïs Award for Mythopoesy With Which I Would Have Been Absolutely Obsessed Had I Read It As a Teenager, and, Let's Be Honest, It's Not Like I'm Not Obsessed Now: the Seven Citadels books by Geraldine Harris [Prince of the Godborn, Children of the Wind, The Dead Kingdom, The Seventh Gate]

The Emerald Champion's Award for "I've Cared About This Setting Since I Was Twelve and This Story Can't Possibly Be Canon, Oh Shit, There Was a Total Reboot and Now You're One of the People In Charge of the Canon?!": Marie Brennan's L5R novels [Night Parade of 100 Demons, Game of 100 Candles, Market of 100 Fortunes]

The Pepsi-Cola Award for "We Have Brandon Sanderson At Home": the Ascension Cycle books by David Mealing [Chains of the Earth, plus two earlier books read in previous years]

The Dumott Schunard Award for Advanced Queerness In the Field of Metaphysics, No Seriously, You Did Not Know That Fantasy Worldbuilding Could Be So Fundamentally Queer: Moon Dark Smile by Tessa Gratton

The Glandeco-Angelinian Award for Real Goddamn Outsider Art Made By a Real Goddamn Outsider Artist Who Is Definitely Thinking Thoughts That Stretch Beyond Your Trifling Mundane World: Out of Tales: Or, January by Meg Moseman

**********

This year was a lot better than it looks. I swear.

...the numbers are real bad, I know. 52 is the absolute bottom edge of "respectable" for a year's total-books-read count, for me, and no fewer than 11 of those were part of the same silly historical-mystery series. 7 is well below the absolute bottom edge of "respectable" for the nonfiction count.

But, given how shamefully little reading there was overall, there was a surprising amount of serious high-quality stuff with lasting value. Chinese Buddhism, Aztecs, and Weavers, Scribes, and Kings are all exactly what I want nonfiction tomes to be: each one left me with a sense that I understood a particular chunk of the world much better than I had before. I think any one of those three probably caused me to feel more educated than some entire years' worth of nonfiction reading. And on the fiction front, there was just a lot of excellence. Books like Pilgermann and The Saint of Bright Doors are flawed but also possessed of genuine literary greatness. Books like Of Ghosts and Goblins and the Seven Citadels novels are light-weight, but light-weight in the way that a faerie-gossamer cloak is light-weight; they possess genuine beauty that moves them into the realm of the transcendent. Even the usual genre-fiction filler stuff had a lot of semiprecious gems.

I'm still alarmingly bad at getting any reading at all done when I'm working on a serious writing project. I should figure out what I can do about that. Possibly it's time to bite the bullet and start listening to audiobooks when I drive.

[theriddletrades]

SUNSET BOULEVARD - BROADWAY - OCTOBER, 2024

Sunset Boulevard | Broadway (2nd Revival) | 2024, October | MP4 (10.3 GB, 2160p) | The Riddle’s master Cast: Nicole Scherzinger (Norma Desmond), Tom Francis (Joe Gillies), David Thaxton (Max Von Mayerling), Grace Hodgett-Young (Betty Schaefer), Olivia Lacie Andrews (Nancy), Rixey Terry (s/w John), Shavey Brown (DeMille/Stan/Finance Man), Hannah Yun Chamberlain (Young Norma/Patsy), Cydney Clark (Joanna/Guard), Raúl Contreras (Finance Man/Frank), Tyler Davis (Sheldrake), E.J. Hamilton (Lisa), Abby Matsusaka (s/w Dorothy), Emma Lloyd (Mary/Heather), Pierre Marais (Sammy), Shayna McPherson (Camera Operator/Katherine), Jimin Moon (Morino/Hog Eye), Justice Moore (Jean), Drew Redington (Myron/Jones/Camera Operator), Diego Andrea Rodriguez (Artie)

Notes: Great 4k capture of this bold revival taken during previews.  Shot with a mix of mediums, wides, and closeups.  Some washout during wideshots, and occasionally very minor obstruction from a railing.  Captures the filmed aspect of the production whenever possible.  General warning for intense isolated flashing lights: timestamp (1:59:30-1:59:40).  Includes bows/credits.  Nicole is phenomenal. 

NFT DATE: MAY 1, 2025 Sales only until NFT date; price is $18

please fill out this form if interested! Screenshots: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBNERh

[iantimony]

hoo baby! hello first Tuesday of 2025!

listening: Usseewa (Ado) Aishite Aishite Aishite (Ado) bangers. girl can SING. and of course the anonymity is very sexy.

Middle Eastern Grooves (Selected by DJ Kobayashi): was tempted by the cool cover art, stayed for the funky jams. this led me to:

Kokoro (Sababa 5 & Yurika): vibey. citypop if it was in MENA.

reading: so I am in the middle of a two week visit home in which I am staying in my childhood bedroom. and I went. man. there sure is a lot of stuff in here that I simply have not thought about or missed since moving out. so I reread Marie Kondo's "Tidying Up" book and went to town. it's been really nice to do! found a few things that I forgot I had and actually am excited to keep and use! mostly got rid of things! her goofy little "thank inanimate objects" thing is unfortunately the exact flavor of personification of objects that my sentimental ass needs, so. yippee. her book has some . interesting. comments on people's weight and etc things which is very weird but also probably of its time and her specific cultural background baggage. I did some poking about her and found this article ("Marie Kondo’s life is messier now — and she’s fine with it" by Jura Koncius, web archive version linked to bypass paywall) which definitely tracks. I can't imagine having kids and following her [gestures] Whole Thing to a tee.

I also rented and started reading "The Sentimental Person's Guide to Decluttering", which opens with a bible quote so I am already a little wary. anyways.

I haven't followed the prescribed konmari order exactly - I left books til towards the end because they are already pretty contained, for example - so I have a few loose ends to finish up with that but we're basically there. sorry Stephen King but I really don't care to hang on to your work Just Because, except for maybe "on writing" because I could see myself rereading that. I have a shitload of old scifi paperbacks that likely do Not spark joy necessarily so if anyone wants a random paperback mailed to them just let me know :b

related to that: I'm reading "Earthlight" by Arthur C. Clark. it's good! slim volume so I'm hoping to finish it before next Tuesdaypost/when I leave town. the setup feels very common - Earth people vs federation of solar system settlers politicking - but there's some fun tidbits that have made me go HUH??? like the moon having an atmosphere (technically true, I guess, but definitely not in the way it's described here), for some reason the sun sets in the east on the moon (???), and MOON PLANTS???? cool moon cacti that are specially adapted to absorb as many gas/water molecules as possible? they have a little window in them??? and at first I was like damn is this meant to be an alternate universe? when I realized that this was written in 1955. so. maybe he did sincerely think there could be moon cacti. some really delicious descriptions in here that I'm enjoying:

"They were moving along a ridge that the sun had already left, but the track of the monorail, scarcely a meter above it, still caught the last rays. It seemed as if they were rushing along an unsupported ribbon of light, a filament of flame built by sorcery rather than human engineering."

caught up on Witch Hat Atelier! it's good! I'm very excited for the next volume to come out next week!

watching: a handful of Leah's Fieldnotes videos as background while I did some cleaning, re-stuffing a pillow, etc. we're the same age which is interesting to me. I have thoughts on her style of content and general vibes that are still cooking in my brain so maybe next time I will elaborate. more Caroline Winkler. some Sorry Girls (there is a theme here clearly). some Kurtis Connor/Danny Gonzalez/Drew Gooden-verse. nothing super notable. oh LegalEagle suing honey! that whips ass definitely. I'm going to avoid linking specific videos each week unless I have Something to say about them.

playing: mostly fallow BUT I am leaving this section in this year out of optimism! my boyfriend commented, and I agreed, that I am definitely missing out on some rich Media Experiences by neglecting the Gamez. this year I really want to play Nier: Automata (which he got me as a gift a while ago), Disco Elysium, and Hades 2. I own the first two already so that's def where I'll start. I'd also like to read umineko but that can go 50/50 as to playing or reading lol

however I DID look at Do you PASS MUSTER?, a solo rpg by @spikekat! it's a vibe!

making: finished One of my mom's fingerless gloves! onto the second! I'm trying to decide if I want to block it or not…probably, just because I did the cabling with a needle half a size too small by accident so there are a few gaps, although maybe using a smaller needle minimized gaps? who knows.

eating: some good New York staples while I'm home but I haven't done much cooking.

moving: new section!! it is mostly empty this week beyond walking the dogs with my mom every day. I am hoping to populate this section with general notes on what worked/didn't work for me each week in the gym, outdoors activities, and so on.

misc: decluttering feels good but I also feel the albatross of the Dead Dad Bins in the basement looming over me. I'm thinking that's a summer activity where I can take breaks to be outside, lol. the goal is basically to have everything such that when I move after my PhD to wherever I'm going next, I can take what's left in my childhood room (books, some of the quality furniture that we scavenged from my dad's apartment, etc) without it being a big deal or strain. I'm definitely approaching that point with my own belongings! I have a few things that should be sold rather than donated but overall I've really pared it down pretty well so I'm pretty pleased about that. I'll probably do a pass over my apartment when I get back too - definitely some clothes come to mind that can be let go without any regret, and I definitely want to pare down some of my craft supplies that are getting a little out of hand. yayyy fresh start to a new year :)

[dreammakcr]

( most wanted ships! warning - this is an extensive list )

bellatrix black/tom riddle

george weasley/hermione granger

george weasley/angelina johnson

ginny weasely/draco malfoy

ginny weasley/harry potter

hermione granger/ron weasley

hermione granger/draco malfoy

lily evans/james potter

lily evans/remus lupin

narcissa black/lucius malfoy

neville longbottom/hannah abbot

neville longbottom/luna lovegood

rose weasley/teddy lupin

rose weasley/scorpius malfoy

alice cullen/jasper hale

alice cullen/bella swan

bella swan/edward cullen

carlisle cullen/esme cullen

charlie swan/sue clearwater

emmett cullen/rosalie hale

katrina denali/garrett

tanya denali/edward cullen

winona uley/renesmee cullen

alicent hightower/rhaenyra targaryen

sansa stark/theon greyjoy

myrcella baratheon/robb stark

adam auradon/belle

amelia thermopolis/nicholas devereaux

anastasia romanov/dimitri

ariel triton/eric

charlotte la bouff/tiana

flynn ryder/rapunzel

jasmine shah/aladdin

kim possible/shego

kim possible/ron stopable

megara/hercules

tiana maladonia/naveen

amarantha/tamlin

azriel/elain archeron

azriel/gwyneth berdara

cassian/nesta archeron

feyre archeron/tamlin

feyre archeron/rhysand

lucien vanserra/elain archeron

morrigan/emerie

blossom sungaze/nyx

tamlin sungaze/elain archeron

anne boleyn/catherine of aragon

anne boleyn/katherine howard

katherine howard/thomas culpeper

elphaba thropp/glinda upland

elphaba thropp/fiyero tigelaar

maureen johnson/joanne jefferson

mimi marquez/roger davis

dean winchester/jo harvelle

mary winchester/john winchester

aphrodite/ares

hades/persephone

bruce wayne/selina kyle

clark kent/lois lane

diana prince/bruce wayne

diana prince/steve trevor

harleen quinzel/pamela isley

phoebe halliwell/coop

phoebe halliwell/cole

piper halliwell/leo wyatt

inuyasha/kagome

mamoru chiba/usagi tsukino

amy santiago/jake peralta

bo dennis/dyson thornwood 

bo dennis/lauren lewis

david nolan/mary margaret blanchard

hale santiago/kenzi malikov

olivia benson/elliot stabler

regina mills/robin hood

veronica mars/logan echolls

elizabeth bennett/mr. darcy

elle woods/emmett forest

elle woods/vivian kensington

ian o'shea/wanderer

alessandra stathos/kallias

cardan greenbriar/jude duarte

elizabeth comstock/booker dewitt

karlach cliffgate/wyll ravengard

lou le blanc/reid diggory

wrath/emilia di carlo

[paladin-of-nerd-fandom65]

(Whistles innocently)

My Own Personal Local DC Comics Multiverse

Earth 4080 (my own central Earth of this local multiverse; contains the Starburst Duo, my ocs and most if not all the ideas of my pinned post on my blog. In basic terms, largely adapting from the Teen Titans Animated Universe, The Original DCAU aka the Timmverse, Pre Flashpoint, Rebirth, Kingdom Come, Nightwing New Order, and even some Pre Crisis with tiny touches of New 52 (mainly the Court of Owls), Infinite Frontier, and possibly The Absolute Universe)

Earth 8415 (A sort of Earth 2 which is the world my pinned post points too; very much similar to the Entry above only in this one Dick and Kory are barely getting married and haven’t had their kids just yet)

Earth 1715 (Co Created with @pin-crusher2000 , Similar to both Earth 4080 and Pin’s Earth 66, major point of divergence being Jon and Jake being the best of buddies instead)

Earth 3273 (Co created with @spider-jaysart ,Dark Adventure Monster Universe; Basically DCU reimagined as Classic Horror monsters, mainly the Kents except for Chris being a werewolf pack, and the Waynes plus Kory and the kids imagined as Vampires, Chris is a ghost. Seen here: https://www.tumblr.com/paladin-of-nerd-fandom65/733406235080212480/if-chris-and-jake-were-halloween )

Earth 8040 (The Justice Lord equivalent to Earth 4080; The House of Zod, Court of Owls and Empire of Tamaran are allies of the Justice Lords; Christopher, or rather Lor-Zod El since he’s still adopted by this world’s Lois and Lord Clark, is in control of a partially Talonizaed Jake Grayson. Kory rules Tamaran with a kind yet iron fist as Empress Starfire the Terrible with Mar’i as Crown Princess. Dick himself is married to Kory as a Prince Consort and also the Gray Son of the Owls, Bruce and him keeping the Court in check similar to how Clark keeps in check Zod)

Earth 4011 (Snow Owl AU; Premise being “What if Mary and Dick had both survived the fall and Mary became a crime fighter called Snow Owl so Robin!Dick is her sidekick and they patrol Bludhaven together?” I have two and a half fanfics based on that)

Earth 6116 (Premise of “What if John Grayson survived the fall instead of Mary or Dick and after leaving the circus, joined the Marines and later returned to Gotham being a shotgun toting vigilante called the Red Owl?” One fanfic based on that one)

Earth 9412 (Co created alongside @pin-crusher2000 , Premise being “What if Calvin Rose (in another timeline a Talon surviving the Court of Owls and escaping them) was more or less adopted by the Flying Graysons, becoming a big brother figure for their son,therefore after they fell, he accompanied Dick to the Youth/Detention Center and later is also adopted by Bruce? And further, what if he joins the Dynamic Duo in their crime fighter as his own hero identity?”)

[broadwaydivastournament]

And the Tony Award Goes to...

Six-Time Tony Winner Audra McDonald, reigning Queen of Broadway

In honor of the Tony nomination announcement today, it's about time I published this post I've had waiting for almost two months now. With 64 Divas in our tournament, they're practically drowning in Tonys. Collectively, 53 Divas have received one or more nominations across four eligible acting categories, and 31 have taken home the prize. And you'll never believe what tumblr's image limit is. 30.

As luck would have it, two Divas won Tonys in the same year and despite what might be the most dramatic height difference possible, Bebe Neuwirth and Janet McTeer were photographed together specifically so I could make this post work 27 years later. (Bebe in heels and Janet in flats, and still...)

Pictured (L to R): Andrea Martin (2013), Anika Noni Rose (2004), Bebe Neuwirth and Janet McTeer (1997)

Pictured (L to R): Bernadette Peters (2012), Beth Leavel (2006), Betty Buckley (1983)

Nominations: (excluding wins)

Nominations Overall: 125 Best Leading Actress in a Musical: 56 Best Featured Actress in a Musical: 36 Best Leading Actress in a Play: 13 Best Featured Actress in a Musical: 19 Producer: 1

Pictured (L to R): Cherry Jones (2004), Christine Baranski (1989), Debra Monk (1993)

Pictured (L to R): Donna Murphy (1996), Harriet Sansom Harris (2002), Heather Headley (2000)

Nominations: (including wins)

Nominations Overall: 175 Best Leading Actress in a Musical: 75 Best Featured Actress in a Musical: 50 Best Leading Actress in a Play: 18 Best Featured Actress in a Musical: 29 Producer: 3

Pictured (L to R): Jayne Houdyshell (2016), Joanna Gleason (1988), Judith Light (2012)

Pictured (L to R): Julie White (2007), Karen Ziemba (2000), Katie Finneran (2002)

Wins: (2024 pending)

Wins Overall: 50 Best Leading Actress in a Musical: 19 Best Featured Actress in a Musical: 14 Best Leading Actress in a Play: 5 Best Featured Actress in a Musical: 10 Producer: 2

Pictured (L to R): Katrina Lenk (2018), Kelli O'Hara (2015), LaChanze (2023)

Pictured (L to R): Laurie Metcalf (2018), Lea Salonga (1991), Lillias White (1997)

Special Tony Awards (non-competitive):

Special Tony Award (posthumous): Marin Mazzie (my beloved) Isabelle Stevenson Award: Bernadette Peters, Judith Light

Pictured (L to R): Patti LuPone (2008), Stephanie J. Block (2019), Tonya Pinkins (1992)

Pictured (L to R): Tyne Daly (1990), Victoria Clark (2023)

Most Frequent Nominee: (including wins)

Leading Actress in a Musical: Kelli O'Hara (7) Featured Actress in a Musical: Andrea Martin (5) Leading Actress in a Play: Cherry Jones/Laura Linney (5) Featured Actress in a Play: Jayne Houdyshell/Judith Light/Julie White (3)

No Diva has won more than twice in any performance category. This will not change with the current nominees this year.

Oldest Winners:

Leading Actress in a Musical: Victoria Clark (63) Featured Actress in a Musical: Patti LuPone (72) Leading Actress in a Play: Laurie Metcalf (62) Featured Actress in a Play: Judith Light (64)

Oldest Nominee: Mary Beth Peil (76)

[storiesofsvu]

This isn't a request, just a thought. Canonically several SVU lawyers go to Harvard (Rita, Barba, Casey, Alex etc). We know that Rita and Rafas went to law achool together, do you think there's any possibility that anybody else time in law school coincided/overlapped with others?

I love this! While obviously not all of the svu lawyers went to Harvard, we can pretend/ at least talk about which ones would likely be closer to knowing each other from school.

I had to compile a list and this is roughly oldest to youngest based on actor's ages. (i'm pretty sure both casey and alex are supposed to be older than diane/steph were, esp alex considering she was already pretty established and cocky by the time we met her in s2 lol).

Mary Clark Lena Petrovsky Elizabeth Donnelly Sophie Devere Sonya Paxton Bayard Ellis John Buchanan Nikki Staines Trevor Langan Rafael Barba Rita Calhoun Sherri West Pippa Cox Peter Stone Casey Novak Alex Cabot Kim Greylek Sam Maroun

Rita & Raf obvi were at Harvard at the same time. (i'm pretty sure it's canon he went to harvard and we've made everything else fanon, even if it is obvious lol). They were in the same year, Raf on scholarship and immediately saw something in each other. whether that was a formidable opponent, an attraction or just another very big brain that they admired and wanted to know more about, we'll never really know lol. They were likely fast friends, and quickly started helping each other out in the ways they couldn't help themselves. It's up to you whether they were both queer and wanted nothing to do with each other or were fucking every single night. I also HIGHLY support them making a drunk agreement while at harvard that they would get married if they were still single by ___age.

Lena and Liz are pretty far apart in age if you go by actors but let's pretend they aren't for the show lol. I like to think Lena was in 3rd year while Liz was in first. Liz can learn from her, and they help each other out and become friends. Donnelly is a big name in nyc so they stay connected after and are thankful to have a friend in such a man run field/career. These are another two that it's up to you to decide if they were just friends or if they fucked, cause personally, i think they fucked.

Langan and Alex obviously have some kind of connection. While he appears to be 10 or so years older, I don't think they would have been at school together, but similar to Barhoun, when they met there was an instant appeal about the other person. I don't think they ever hooked up, Alex is a full lesbian imo. That little "date" they went on in s2/3 was simply as friends or as a cover, or it was just a work thing and Alex likes to dress up. I think they've likely known each other for years prior to being lawyers, growing up in the city and the Cabot's likely appearing at lots of charity events and galas and the like over the years. We also know that Alex has family higher up in the legal world and that she originally had political aspirations, so she would have been networking and making connections likely all the way back in high school.

Sticking with Alex, now her and Casey. I honestly don't think they were at school together. Alex was very career oriented and had the connections/money she needed to dive right in. I always canon Casey taking at least a year off between high school and college and at least another year after college before law school. Partially to work her ass off and save money to help pay for school (it is literal canon she waited tables during law school) and partially to have some fun and travel. She's just a little bit more green than Alex when we meet her on svu. They *might* have been 1st year vs 3rd year. or like, Alex is 3rd year guiding tours for prospective students or something like that, and potentially crossed paths that way but I don't think they knew each other prior to Ghost.

Kim and Sam (OG l&o) are both babies and it's no wonder Kim couldn't handle the svu job lol. They likely were at school at the same time, unclear if they would have known each other. I like to think that Kim stepped away from law after leaving svu, it was too much for her and she wanted something easier, whereas Sam takes on everything and fights the battle daily. If they crossed paths or were in classes together I don't think they would have even really been on each other's radar.

There's also obviously the connections of Casey with Liz, Sophie and Mary, but they all come after graduating, starting with Mary. She likely meets Sophie somewhere while working for Mary and that's where their friendship starts and why Casey doesn't have a stigma about her working defence. Liz is obviously introduced when she's BC and she sees a lot of her younger self in Casey and takes her under her wing.

Alex has more of a connection with Lena, and I do truly believe that Lena has known her since she was a kid. She's one of the only characters to call her Alexandra (and Alex not get annoyed by it. As someone who goes by a nickname but occasionally gets full-named, i hate it unless it's specific people lol). I think Lena always has an eye out for Alex and helped nudge her in the right direction when she needed it.

Peter and Casey would be besties simply because they would finally have a good baseball opponent in each other lol.

And work wise I think Pippa and Bayard Ellis would end up crossing over on a lot of cases/working together super well.

When it comes to post suspension Casey and her returning to SVU I like to think there's something lacking for her, she wants more. She ends up quitting and is unsure of what she wants/where she belongs and ends up working with Rita. I don't think she ever works criminal defence, and leans to taking more specific type of cases that make her feel like she's doing the right thing, ya know?

okay that was a lot more than expected or you asked for but yeah, that's what i got lol!

there's likely more where that came from and y'all can feel free to ask for more! <3

[cayenne-twilight]

Luke design mini-analysis

I’m a little late to the party so people have been talking a lot about this already, but I wanted to look into Luke’s new design.

First of all, he’s significantly taller! Luke had already grown between 10 and 13, but not this much. And he’s switched from his classic shorts to long pants and from his weird Mary Jane shoes to normal ones. He’s lost his cheek blushes of childhood innocence, which many people are complaining about.

Whether or not they’re retconning the events of the anime, it looks like Luke’s 15 y/o and young adult designs are canon. His eyebrows appear to be slightly thicker than before, but not nearly as thick as they will be. Plus, he has three bangs in his hair instead of one, also consistent with his older design. Not to mention the reddish vest and shoes which are similar to the ones we see on adult Luke.

The first thing you notice in this new design is the bright red bow tie. The first association is that this is in reference to Emmy’s design during the prequels. The red color looks the same as the ribbon on Layton’s hat and could serve to tie their designs together visually. Red ribbon bows are also associated with Flora’s design as she has one in her ponytail and one as a belt. All in all, the bow tie might be an amalgamation of references symbolic of past adventures which Luke wears to remind himself of his life back in England.

Back when the anime came out, people were surprised by how different Luke’s design was, and theorized that he changed his appearance to disassociate himself from Clive after the end of Lost Future. It made sense at the time, and we noticed that he slowly started looking more and more like Clark instead of a bigger version of his past self. But now, interestingly, he looks even more like Clive than he did last year. His hair is in a similar style, he still has his old hat, and that thinking pose is reminiscent of Clive’s puzzle animations. The blazer and vest combo is very similar.

It’s possible that Luke still has respect for Clive, or something happened after LS that made him forgive him. Conversely, it’s also possible that he wants to be better than him. This is kind of stupid, but little Luke has one bang in his hair, Clive has two, and from this point forward Luke has three. It’s also possible that Luke has just been continuing on with his old style, but something happens during or after NWOS that makes Luke want to emulate Clark more.

Either way, the connections Luke built over the last two trilogies shaped him into who he is in his new life in America, and his design reflects that. I do hope we get more explicit reference to this, preferably the characters actually showing up. I expect to see his parents for sure, and hopefully Marina, but surely they have to reference what’s going on back in London after a year and have someone make an appearance. Right?