#redeemed Smurfette

[chocochurrozz]

Time to yap @coolboynick I present to you my redeemed Smurfette au

So basically, in this au, Smurfette still served the same purpose she did when she was created, but when the others started avoiding her, she started to have second thoughts infact she was actually scared to flood the village but she wanted to please her father. Once the others found her from the water, she immediately started crying, thinking that they'd hate her for trying to kill them and that Gargamel would hate her for failing. Thankfully for her, Papa and Hefty saw some good in her, so they decided to let her stay, but they had her do tasks around the village to prove herself. Unfortunately for her, the others were pretty skeptical of her, knowing how she acted previously

To make it short, Smurfette wasn't turned into a real Smurf, but she still gets to live with the other Smurfs and some of them don't trust her after how she acted (also they don't know she was created by Gargamel)

[jamieisamess]

Rewatching Smurfs 2 for the first time in a long while and I just wanna say, which asswipe wrote Victor? Hm??? Which peace of shit wrote him in, and made him look like the good guy??? Cuz he’s a terrible fucking character, and all the other characters made Patrick out to be a dick when HE WAS RIGHT.

Victor, in the first few minutes of his introduction: hugged a bunch of people he doesn’t know, insisted that Patrick and Blue use his last name which is INCREDIBLY disrespectful for a step parent to do especially considering he knows Patrick hates him, HUGS PATRICK WHEN HE TELLS HIM NOT TO, AND gives a kid an allergic reaction, which sends the kid to the hospital, then says the PARENTS WERE OVERREACTING.

And you want me to believe this guy is lovable??? What the FUCK. And Grace keeps invalidating Patricks feelings because “hEs yOUr dAd.” NO HE ISNT. SUPPORT YOUR HUSBAND??? And Victor repeatedly makes things harder and disrespects boundaries, and technically put Blue in danger???? I swear some deadbeat must’ve written this in.

And then they try to turn it around and make him the “good guy” with “oH I toOk ThE bLaME fOr thE BIrd GoiNg aWay.” WHAT was preventing Patricks mom and Victor from just telling him he was allergic to birds???? Or at least telling him when he was a little bit older????? Huh????? That shit doesn’t redeem Victor at all. This is absolutely bullshit. But of COURSE, by the end of the movie, Patrick accepts him as his dad right???? Fuck off

I love the Smurfs, and the movie is GREAT, EXCEPT, for the Victor sideplot. It didn’t need to exist. They could’ve put all that wasted time into furthering Papa Smurfs and Smurfettes relationship. It was a similar concept, because technically Papa is also Smurfettes step-papa, and he loves her. Like if you wanted to do the “step-parents are real/good parents too” narrtive justice, then it SHOULDVE been about Smurfette, since you know, the MOVIES ABOUT HER???? They could’ve made the whole movie stronger by removing Victor entirely, OR AT LEAST BY MAKING HIM LIKABLE.

Anyway this came out in 2013 so it doesn’t even matter anymore but... Thanks for coming to my TedTalk

[dragonnan]

1. What was your first OTP? // 9. Are there any fandoms you don’t have any ships for? // 14. Has a fanbase ever made you ship or not ship something? Why? // 16. Are there any ships you just can’t/don’t understand? What are they?

1. Goodness... well my VERY first (and this is a deep fucking dive) was probably Smurfette and Handy Smurf lolol!! And I was around 7 or 8 at the time.  But of the first one in my adulthood was probably Gabrielle and Iolaus from the Hercules/Xena franchises.

9. Quite a few actually. Prodigal Son, any of the Spider-Man incarnations (I just like him being unattached and living his best life without romantic nonsense), never liked the shipping in Flash or Arrow back when I still watched those series’, SPN...if anything I lean more towards not shipping versus shipping.

14. Encountering Sherlolly via shippers absolutely made me latch onto that ship because the very first time I’d watched Sherlock I just hadn’t clued in on that in the way that I did in rewatch. Admittedly I don’t always pick up on everything unless my attention is directed to it lol.  I’ve only seen one episode of Good Omens and tho I don’t personally ship those two I will readily admit that the fanart I’ve seen is utterly precious and I can totally see it - even with slash really not being my thing.  Back during my Psych days I shipped Shawn and Juliet but that one has certainly soured a little purely because of asshole fans. Like I’m SO outraged at a certain shit faction of shippers (who actively harass the actors) that I will distance myself in every way possible.  Endgame destroyed Steve/Peggy for me.  As a fading yearning “ships passing in the night” it was fantastic character shit.  “Time rape” was a violation in every way.    

16. Hmm... Probably Matt Murdock/Elektra. That NEVER made sense.  She was a murdering psycho and whatever - brainwashed whatever but even as a child she was coldly indifferent to murder and as an adult seemed to have developed enjoyment in it.  With Matt’s vow to never take lives I just COULD NOT rationalize that pairing. Outside of the “opposites attract” trope being rode hard by the creators there was zero point to that hot mess.  It gets the “nothing redeeming” stamp.  --Peter Parker/Michelle; I just can’t see it. They always had a brother/sister vibe for me so the move to dating is mildly squicky.  --Aang/Katara; NOPE!! She’s a teenager and he’s a bald headed toddler.  --Steve Rogers/Peggy Carter; she moved on 75 years ago, got married, had kids and grandkids.  I will never accept time rape as romance.  Fuck that.         

[capnportofficial]

Empath: The Luckiest Smurf sucks.

Buckle up, folks! It’s time to learn about Empath: The Luckiest Smurf.

Empath was created by a very heterosexual, very christian man. Therefore, he said “fuck it” to the fact that smurfs canonically have their children brought by the stork on the night of the blue moon, and instead made girl smurfs be a thing. However, despite inserting a Very Christian Original Character (Tapper, who is very christian and very heterosexual, like the author of the story,) he did not make any female smurf OCs. Instead they were all killed off by a plague for plot reasons.

The titular “Empath” is the creator’s self-insert, who has magical powers, is dating Smurfette, and is Papa Smurf’s son. Also Brainy Smurfs brother, but Brainy here is an illegitimate child. Did I not mention that before?

The writer of Empath makes Brainy Smurf a literal bastard. He can be a figurative one sometimes, but yeesh.

The second-worst story in the Empath series is the one where Eros, who is Cupid but evil, infects the smurfs with lust. Which is all gay, and that’s why it’s seen as wrong.

The creator of Empath tries to be like “oh, I’m not homophobic, gay people can be good people too, I just think being gay is a sin,” by making Clumsy Smurf attracted to men in the same story. This is the only redeeming thing Empath has ever done, ever.

“But wait, Montana? You said second-worst! How can something be worse than a story where almost all gay love is seen as horrible lust?”

Hahaha, you naive smurfling.

The worst story is a tie between three stories whose names I will not mention, in which Papa Smurf is in love with Smurfette. May-December romance, more like January-December romance! Papa Smurf is old enough to be her father in Empath: The Luckiest Smurf! It’s a disgusting age gap and the only thing seen as wrong with it is that it’s not Empath in love with her.

[jerimystoltzcreations]

1-16-2019. Lazy (original French name Schtroumpf Paresseux) is one of the main characters of the Smurfs comic books and the Smurfs cartoon show, who has appeared on the show throughout its entire run. He is a Smurf who usually likes to sleep, which at times causes problems with his fellow Smurfs, though sometimes his habits can prove to be a valuable asset, as in the case in "The Smurfstone Quest" where his echoed snoring protected his fellow Smurfs from being eaten by some underground creatures. And he is also known as loving, affectionate, zany, understanding, silent, mild-mannered, upbeat, respectful, friendly, loyal, astute, zesty, protective, shiftless, merciful, unselfish, realistic and fearless. In another episode he finally realizes his laziness is seen as a negative quality when they are stranded on a volcanic island. When Handy builds a pedal-powered helicopter to escape the island, all the Smurfs involved are made to pedal save for Lazy, who is given a passenger seat. Lazy naturally considers this an insult, but realizes that is the kind of reputation he has earned. However Lazy is granted a chance to redeem himself when the aftershock of the volcanic eruption renders Handy unconscious save for Lazy, who rushes to Handy's seat and starts pedaling, getting the helicopter away from the volcano only to crash-land in the middle of the ocean. Lazy is not boastful and says nothing about piloting the helicopter, so the other Smurfs do not know how they escaped, certainly not by a lazy slob like him. But Smurfette notices Lazy's hat is stained with oil, which proves that he saved them all by being a heroic Smurf who could indeed work hard in the face of danger. His character was voiced by Michael Bell in the cartoon show. #art #artwork #artist #animated #artistofinstagram #artistforhire #concept #custom #cartoon #draw #drawing #drawingaday #lazysmurf #DrawEveryday #design #illustration #pencil #sketch #Sketchcard #smurfs #SaturdayMorningCartoons #80sCartoon https://www.instagram.com/p/Bst7wSdBhKx/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=16q4bfrvkh2xp

[heckyeahstevetrevor]

So, Justice League

Considering all of the hype/hopes/dreams/prayers attached to this first ever live action Justice League movie (and the wonderfulness of Man of Steel and Wonder Woman), I was hoping that this would knock my block off! Instead, I left feeling indifferent and honestly... a little annoyed. 

You guessed it: ⚡ SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT! ⚡ 

THE FUN

Every scene with Superman had me shook, especially his chemistry with Lois is so so electrifying. Thanks for getting that right, movie!

CGI mustache is distracting, but only because I was actively looking for it? The opening scene though. OMG. Superman is wonderful.

Another absolute revelation was Cyborg. I had a childhood crush on Cyborg (from Super Friends, natch) and it was reignited after this movie.  That solo is going to be solid. Also excellent: “boo-yah!”

Lots of Steve Trevor name-dropping, which I personally enjoyed, but it was clearly a weaksauce way to have this movie connect to WW continuity (because the Amazons sure didn’t feel like they were in continuity, smh).

Superman’s resurrection and the hope in Diana’s eyes on seeing him come back...tell me she’s not thinking about resurrecting Steve. 

THE AWFUL

It felt like two movie stitched together. The tone was all off. I would have overlooked it if there were enough other redeeming aspects.

Remember how Wonder Woman was a revelation because it totally eschewed the male gaze?! Well the male gaze is back in full force in this movie and honestly it made me *uncomfortable.*

Amazons with *noticeably* less clothing--please don’t tell me that this is “empowering” as that doesn’t apply here. Amazons are a *fictional* society and the “choices” they make in their clothing stem from male creators in this movie. This is especially noticeable considering the stark contrast between JL and WW. This is not revolutionary, it’s more of the same. Not a fan.

Why were there upskirt shots of Wonder Woman in this movie?

Why were there so many butt shots of Wonder Woman in this movie? (Black Widow vibes, and not in a good way.)

Why was that Flash falling into Diana’s chest scene included? It added nothing to the movie other than to remind the women in the audience that men will go out of their way to sexualize breasts even when the occasion has no reason for it.

Why did this movie not know what to do with Aquaman? 

Speaking of Aquaman--why did he only comment on Wonder Woman’s appearance when he spoke about her? I fully expected when he was going in a circle that he would talk about how she’s the only competent one there, instead he starts on a spiel about how Amazons are hot. I rolled my eyes. What a wasted opportunity to make this movie make me feel like a person. Instead, it put me right back in my place as an object.

I’m annoyed. I wanted this to be a good movie. I thought that the reshoots they touted after the success of Wonder Woman would mean that they would take positive lessons from it. Instead, it seems like the higher ups learned nothing. We were just left with another unremarkable movie so entrenched in the Smurfette Principle that it felt stale.

What a shame.

[becketted]

so, Thor Ragnarok:

spoilers under the cut

messy, all over the place

too much Loki, too much Hulk, not enough Bruce

the tone bothered me a lot? it was too jokey and made light of too much stuff, lots of jokes at the expense of people dying, and like because of the tone you end up with a movie where our heroes gleefully murder, and where -because of space opera rule of cool- Valkyrie starts the movie as a kidnapper and slave trader

which is unfortunate cause other than that Valkyrie is charismatic and a great addition (would have loved more scenes with her and Bruce, they were great together)

sad that she is very much a smurfette, and the only woman with more than two lines apart from the villain, whereas in Thor 2 we had 4 women with important roles (they were all white, though)

like why were no other women? why couldn’t the rock alien have been a woman? there was the secondary-villain’s minion who had like two lines and wasn’t a character 

Sif’s absence was soooo weird, not even a throwaway line

Jane got written off in a throwaway line and made into a joke, more feeling was put into Thor losing his hammer than his girlfriend

but also let me sit back as fandom doesn’t ship Thor with the black girl he is obviously crushing on (like they had romantic tropes and it was clearly a romantic set up with clear hints of mutual attraction)

I’m still in denial about Hogun (also wow, Marvel, you have so many Asian characters in your movies that you can dispose of one of them like this)

WHAT WAS THE POINT OF KARL URBAN’S CHARACTER?? HE WAS SO UNNECESSARY

annoying how they keep adding UNFORGIVABLE CRIMES to Odin’s background yet in the end he is celebrated as a fucking inpiration and hero

the fact that Odin was still seen as a fucking hero but Hella was so unforgivable (meanwhile Loki gets a bazillion opportunities to redeem himself) is such a classic misogynistic narrative about women not being able to 1) be the true heir to the throne and 2) not being able to handle great power without being corrupted

and what made this movie so frustrating is that there was a certain self-awareness of how awful Asgard is as an imperialistic power, and how shitty is the monarchic system and IT SEEMED like the perfect set up for Thor (who even says he doesn’t want the crown) to change the political system in Asgard, something much needed. but in the end those points are rendered moot and Thor goes back to the monarchy system with himself on top - despite the fact that Heimdall had been acting as leader of his people in Thor’s absence or how easy it could have been for Thor to set up a council there in the ship but noooo, we have to keep the monarchy bullshit caudse American have a boner for that crap

i want to blow a kiss to all the C/lintasha shippers, i hope your bullying, harassing asses are sitting comfortably when watching this movie *winks*

but seriously lmao at Bruce/Nat still going strong, i was totally expecting Marvel to scrap it i am so amused. i hope they make it as a couple, if only for all the grief the fucking fandom gave me

this movie is further proof that Marvel has a written rule about not mentioning AoS/Daisy/Coulson in any of its franchises, there were so many specific conversations about “The Avengers” and what Loki did in that movie yet...

so pissed off about Loki getting a million second chances, no matter how many times he betrays Thor

very confused about the personality lift Thor suffers - now he’s supposed to be a loser pathetic weirdo. ok, i guess.

anyway I wasn’t bored, which was good, but the movie was pretty messy

[gwydionmisha]

Jessica Jones

I watched the first season of Jessica Jones this weekend.  I am firmly team Malcolm, who is my very favorite.  I really liked the nurse too.   (Was her name Claire).  I loved that Jessica and her sister are friends even though it is complicated as it would be more typical to do the Smurfette trope.  I loved the way they handled trauma in general with different people experiencing and dealing with it in different ways.  I loved the messy Jessica/Luke relationship.  I really appreciated the way Killgrave and Simpson were difference forms of dangerous masculinity, and that they didn't redeem Killgrave.  It was dark and hard to watch at times, but important.  I do wish they'd wrapped Killgrave up a little faster as things dragged a bit towards the end, but this is my only quibble.

[sourgrapelaffytaffy]

So I watched Lost Village and now I just need a Gargamel creation that is inherently evil and doesn’t get redeemed and helps him with his schemes. 

Plus I always really liked Smurfette’s black hair

[tumblunni]

How do I write an autistic villain without demonizing autism by accident? ;-;

I’m not really sure why you’re messaging this to me. I’m really sorry but I’m not an expert on like.. political stuff about autism stereotyping, just because I’m autistic. And it depends on which country you live in, I know that america has a far more visible sort of cultural presence for stereotypes, due to the whole Autism $peaks controversies. I dont live in america and I’m not super smart or anything, so yeah this is a disclaimer that this is just my opinion and you should probably research answers given by other people too. And maybe ask people about the specific circumstances of what you’re writing, like the context of the setting of the story and what the villain is like, etc. I’d be happy to chat to you about that if you need help! (but again, im no expert, lol)

ANYWAY!

My opinion on the subject is that having an autistic villain is perfectly fine, as long as you’re not villainizing autism. Like...* Don’t make the autism the reason theyre a villain.* Don’t make people scared of them because of the autism, rather than because they’re a villain.* Don’t treat their autistic traits as scary or inherantly villainous.* Don’t make anyone insult them for their autism and act like its justified because they’re evil.

And similarly its bad form to do any of that stuff in regard to any sort of minority really. An example that always bugged me is how Excellus from Fire Emblem Awakening is scary and evil because he’s a murderous monster, yet everyone in the game constantly insults him for the fact he acts ambiguously gay/transgender/effeminate. Like, there’s way too many jokes about people finding him ‘disgusting’ because of some random thing he can’t change, like a sexuality, race or mental illness which plenty of non-evil people have too! It also lessens his impact as a villain because the characters barely even address the actual villainous things he does, and he doesnt seem to have any motive at all. They just ride on the whole ‘the audience will find him gross’ thing as a crutch and forgot to bother writing a good villain.

Oh, and your concerns are indeed valid, yo! Sometimes it is important to think about the context you created a character in, even if you didnt intentionally create any negative messages within your writing.It’s just that the case where a character will be seen as villainizing [minority trait] for being a villain... that’s kind of only in a very specific circumstance? its just that this specific circumstance is very very common in mass media nowadays.It’s ‘The Smurfette Principle’.If you only have one character of a minority in your cast, its easy for an uninformed audience to pick up messages that you’re saying ALL members of that minority are the same as them.If you only have one autistic character and he’s the villain, then you might accidentally be villainizing him. In a world where autistic characters being villainized for their autism is already very common, people could just assume you made them autistic for the same reason all those other writers did- because they think it’s ‘scary’. It feeds the stereotype even if you didn’t conciously intend it that way.

So a very very easy way to fix this problem is just to add multiple characters of a minority into your story, filling various roles from villain to hero to helpful npc. or anything you can think of!

Another good quick fix is to have your villain be autistic, but portray their autistic traits as sympathetic/relateable/a humanizing aspect of them. Not just portraying it as something neutral that doesnt make them scary, but going out of your way to add some scenes showing how they’re just like anybody else. Or even making it one of their redeeming traits!It doesn’t have to outright be something like ‘yo being autistic makes me inherantly good and childlike’, which is a stereotype all to itself, lol. But you could show them experiencing predjudice from another character, in a way that makes the audience sympathise. Honestly having a character attack them for being autistic instead of being a villain would be a good way to do this, as long as that character is actually shown as being wrong for what they’re doing. Or simply showing the villain having common autistic traits, facing common problems, doing common everyday things... that can be enough to portray autism positively. Have them shown doing this stuff outside of the situation of them being villainous. It makes them feel more human and less of an abstract symbol of evil. And because these small glimpses of normality are lightening the mood, they become seen as a positive aspect!

KIND OF AN OFFTOPIC TANGEANT SORRYJust my personal experience as an autistic kid experiencing this story... I personally headcanoned Cyrus from pokemon as autistic. Not because he’s ‘scary and emotionless’, but because his backstory was relateable to me as an autistic person. It’s said that his parents were emotionally abusive, and that he had nobody to turn to because everyone thought he was ‘a creepy kid’. And he was able to find solace by obsessing over repairing machines in his bedroom, and apparantly has trouble understanding people because they can’t be fixed as easily. Stuff like maths and science are kind of a stereotypical Special Interest for autistic children to be given in fiction, I guess because it makes you seem more intelligent when you obsess about that instead of video games, norse mythology, or collecting tiny novelty spoons from around the world XD (Yeah i was a weird kid.)So yeah sorry I went a little offtopic there, but the point is that it might have been by accident instead of intention but that villain has a lot of traits that read as autistic. And when i first played Diamond and Pearl I actually disliked him a lot because of that, I felt like they were villainizing someone who seemed relateable and potentially redeemable. I mean, he seemed pretty depressed too! Give that man some therapy! But when I played Platinum and got to learn his backstory I started to feel like the writers actually did want us to feel sympathetic to him, because of how all those ‘scary’ traits were presented so sympathetically. Like.. the backstory isn’t that he became evil because he was an autistic kid who did creepy things like obsess about machinery and suck at social contact. No, he became a villain because he was abused by his parents, him being ‘weird’ is just intended to make it clear here that he didnt deserve it. It makes him pitiable, it makes him relateable, it makes you feel so much more frustrated that nobody listened to him and saved him from that hell, and nobody even seems to remember him fondly, just because he was ‘weird’. And hell, even his ‘emotion is evil’ philosophy seems very relateable to me as an autistic child. It seems like he learned to seclude himself to avoid angering his parents. That’s the impression I got from his final scene in Platinum, where he finally acts angry at you for beating him, then gets angry at himself for expressing emotion and forces himself to go back to how he usually talks. I get a bit pissed off whenever I see fans of the series claim he actually IS emotionless, lol! This scene made it clear to me that this is just a guy who WISHES he was emotionless, somehow seeing it as the only way to be free of pain. Someone who struggles to deal with his own emotions, or feels like he’s disgusting when he expresses them. And this is VERY relateable specifically to an autistic kid who suffered from an abusive parent! “Quiet Hands” is a kind of common concept that autistic kids might experience, that’s the name for a popular ‘parenting technique’ that really fucks people up. Focusing on making your kid never ‘act autistic’, rather than actually helping them understand things. ‘Quiet Hands’ is specifically about slapping or smacking your kid whenever they show stimming behaviour. (Hand flapping being a common way this symptom can manifest.) We’re taught never to be too loud, and to always always have to restrain ourselves to avoid embarassing our parents. We have to try and learn how to act like ‘normal people’ and become scared of harmless parts of our own brain just because theyre ‘embarassing’, leading to even worse emotional problems as an adult. i mean seriously how is it logical to tell a kid who has troubles with social interaction that they shouldnt even practise it?? Plus its a huge mess to teach these kids to do way more emotional labour than neurotypical kids are expected to do, and then treat them like they’re below average intelligence for not being able to do twice as much as everyone else...

ANYWAY! That’s a thinG! Sorry I went rambling off there about how a particular fictional character touched my heart, lol!I just kinda wish he could be canonically autistic, or if I had similar canonically autistic characters to relate to, instead. So i think having more autistic villains can’t be bad, we’re so badly in need of more autistic characters in general! And villains have a unique perspective of being able to hit our emotions the hardest. I think its easier to cry over someone who has a sad backstory of how they became evil, compared to anything else!So yeah what I was trying to say before I went offtopic is that if the backstory is ‘became evil because autism’, then people will complain. But if the backstory is ‘became evil because someone mistreated them because autism’ then that’s a good way to make people sympathise with autism. Aaaaand I’m bad at explaining this, because autism XD Well, i mean, my personal symptoms and lack of diagnosis til I was an adult means that I’m still working on learning how to communicate correctly, I don’t mean every autistic person writes terrible tl;dr advice posts that degrade into pokemon XDOh man i feel embarassed now, you asked me such a polite question and I didnt know how to answer it very well...I just hope maybe I inspired you to go out and do more research, rather than putting you off with my nonsense!

[chocochurrozz]

Dropping some more au lore instead of going to sleep :3 (Cw: mild gore)

While looking for the village Smurfette eventually ended up scraping her knee whilst searching the forest, feeling defeated she decided to sit by a tree and sulk, not having the energy to keep walking around in what felt like circles until she heard footsteps approach her. She looked up to see a Smurf. He looked at her scratched knee with a sympathetic look before looking at her directly "hey are you alright?" He asked her, kneeling down as he pulled out some bandages from his cap, carefully covering up the wound. Smurfette then looked up at him, giving him a weak smile as he returned the smile, helping her up. "Who are you if you don't mind me asking?" She asked curiously. "I'm a Smurf" he proclaimed before looking at her. "Who are you?" He asked her. "I'm.. a Smurfette, " she responded, smiling slightly. "A Smurfette?" "You know what that is?" "No?" He responded, furrowing a brow. "Where did you come from exactly?" He asked, scratching his head. Smurfette's face went slightly pale, unsure of what to tell him "I don't want to talk about it, all I can say is that I don't have a home anymore.." she sighed, making him squint his eyes out of sympathy "well maybe I can take you back to the village. I'm sure Papa can Smurf you a place to Smurf in" he explained as her eyes started to light up "I'd like that" she smiled as Hefty started to lead the way only for her to yelp "wait! Aren't you going to carry me?" She asked him, confusing the Smurf "carry you?" "I'm sorry, but with my injury, I don't think I can walk" she sighed while looking down, making him give her a sympathetic sigh before walking over and hoisting her over his shoulder. Proceeding to walk back home "Hey, can I ask you something?" she spoke up as he walked "sure?" He responded,"Do you have a name? I just feel rude calling you a Smurf" she asked him "my name is Hefty" he answered, giving her a smile "that's a lovely name" she smiled. Hefty then smiled back proceeding to walk.

[anditjustmadeherkind]

Deep, soothing breaths, everyone, or, 'how I learned to stop worrying and love Rob Thomas'.

Comment to the author of meta on the following link: 

http://cadhla.livejournal.com/?skip=50&tag=veronica%20mars

Deep, soothing breaths, everyone, or, 'how I learned to stop worrying and love Rob Thomas'.

Mar. 14th, 2005 at 3:28 PM

All right: there's a lot of kerfuffle in 'Veronica Mars' fandom right now, over some spoilers that have managed to get leaked to the general public. There's always a chance that they're actually foilers*, but since that's difficult to count on, there's been an understandable amount of consternation. I will now weigh in. Because I am a very pushy blonde who does this sort of thing, especially when she can't put everyone involved into a hot bathtub with lots of lovely bubbles until they feel better.

(*For the fandom-impaired, 'spoilers' are leaked bits of information about the show -- things like 'Smurfette was actually created by Gargamel, gasp!' or 'Doctor Who regenerates in this episode!'. 'Foilers' are bits of false information leaked intentionally to confuse the issue; 'Buffy decides to kill everyone and stay in happy la la psychosis land' or 'Megan and Firefly finally get married in a simple, tasteful, trans-species ceremony'. Simple, universal terms.)

( Collapse )

So here's the basic skinny: Logan turns out to have been involved in Veronica's rape, in that he a) supplied the drugs used on her (although they weren't intended for her, and nothing says he would have agreed had he known she was the target), and b) did body-shots off her while she was out cold, for which he winds up apologizing, and for which she apparently forgives him, as they appear to be dating, and are, in fact, caught making out at a surprise party for Logan. He winds up defending her in front of all his friends and family, and takes her back to his room. Veronica is waiting on the bed, alone, when she catches sight of a camera on the ceiling, and flees. The next shot is of her riding away with Weevil.

The actual spoilers are more detailed than this (as

ohimesamamama

will doubtless point out, when she sees this post), but that's the general gist of it. The item causing the most furor is, obviously, the camera. 'How DARE they?!' shriek the fans. 'How can Logan DO that to her?! How can Veronica run out without telling him?! How...' And then there is wailing and gnashing of teeth and rending of garments, and then comes the lamentation of the women, especially those women who like the Logan/Veronica pairing. There has been, unsurprisingly, a

lot

of lamentation. Nothing laments like a 'shipper who fears their cruise has been cancelled.

But worry not, lamenters! Worry not, because there are a few facts we're tending to overlook in the general wail-gnash-rending. Most notably, these are:

1. Rob Thomas is not Joss Whedon. Say it with me, folks: Rob Thomas is

not

Joss Whedon. More importantly,

Rob Thomas is not Marti Noxon

. Look. Joss was a great guy; he created great characters and a great universe; he poured his heart and soul into making something we could care deeply and passionately about; then he went away and left it all with a half-crazed Romanian au pair who thought the original 'Dark Shadows' was the height of thematic subtlety. Rob? Rob has not done this thing to us. Rob has not said 'wow, I think I'll go play in another sandbox, here, Angst Queen, use your super angst powers to keep the viewers coming back while I enjoy myself elsewhere'. Rob is, in fact, right there, every day, working his butt off to make the show as good as it can possibly be. If he has a Romanian au pair, she's chained up in the closet, being used as a script-checker -- whenever she gets excited, they drop that plotline.

2. Logan is not Spike. Veronica is not Buffy. Logan and Veronica are not Buffy and Spike. Logan? Is not so sick and crazy with denied love that he's going to throw her down on the bathroom floor and try to claim his territory. Veronica? Is not so self-centered and neurotic that she's going to wind up him up with disgust and lust and need and loneliness, then dance a happy contra on the shattered wreckage of his heart. They are, in short, not making each other cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. They annoy each other. They irritate each other. They brace each other up. But they don't cause raw insanity to come into the picture. For which I am very thankful. Also, Veronica, while she can be both careless and heartless, is not self-centered -- if anything, she's self-

sacrificing

. She's giving up what she wants in favour of what she thinks is right: she's throwing away her chances at going back to a happy obliviousness in favour of finding the answers about what happened to Lilly. If Veronica were the Chosen One, she wouldn't whine, she'd just go kick some undead ass.

3. Just because you get hurt once, that doesn't mean you're going to get hurt every single time. Joss Whedon comes up a lot in discussions of the current spoilers, and the basic theory seems to be 'Joss wouldn't have let them be happy, so Rob won't either'. Folks, it doesn't work that way. Seriously. One girl saying something mean about your hair doesn't mean all girls hate it; one show creator whose outlook on romance seems to make the relationships on 'Swan's Crossing' look stable doesn't mean all show creators are going to rip away the happiness of their characters just for fun. Let 'Veronica Mars' rise or fall on its own merits -- and so far, those merits lead me to trust in Rob.

This is also where the topic of tropes has to come in. Every creator, from the rawest writer of fanfic to the most well-established and famous producer, has tropes. Wes Craven loves him some unexpectedly evil boyfriend who was totally supportive right up until he tells you that he's the one who boiled your bunny. Stephen King adores putting beautiful girls with men who do some form of physical labour, and destroying writers with the products of their own imaginations. Michael Swanwick likes modern pageantry as a means of showing you the corruption that underpins society. Tropes are unavoidable. What does Rob Thomas believe in?

Well, if we go by his own work, he believes that opposites attract. He believes that love is fundamentally broken but just as fundamentally necessary, and that if you work for it, it will happen. He believes that the snarky guy gets the girl. He believes in true love, lasting love, love that is forever, love that redeems your sins, love that sees you home. He believes that the surface is only one layer, and that there's a lot more out there worth looking at.

Rob Thomas believes in happy endings. And Rob Thomas believes in redemption. Two things Joss never really showed us he had any faith in.

That message is there in his fiction -- most specifically in 'Rats Saw God', although most of the stories in 'Doing Time' are redemption stories, one way or the other -- and in his television work; I mean, 'Cupid' is one long story about redemption

through

true love, and if

that

isn't support for calling those his tropes, I don't know what

is

. He doesn't believe that these things come easy, but he does believe that they will come, given time and sufficient effort on the parts of the people involved.

That's another thing. Rob Thomas doesn't waste effort. Especially in a show as crammed with symbolism and meaning as 'Veronica Mars', there just isn't

time

to spend this much screen time and energy making the audience fall in love with Logan, a statement that becomes even more concrete when you consider the fact that he's extremely unlikely to have been Lilly's killer -- there won't be a zero-hour unmasking of the Luna Ghost in which we find out that it was Logan all along, and he calls Veronica a 'meddling kid'. Logan has had a

huge

redemption arc this season, and there's simply no point to that if you're going to turn around and throw it all away doing something that most of your audience is guaranteed to hate. Can he be villified next season? Sure. But this season? The timing is off. If Rob wanted Logan to be a bad guy in season one, he'd have just left him that way. As it stands, he's used Logan to prove one of the essential concepts of noir. Namely:

Your narrator is wrong.

Veronica starts out by lying to us: she tells us Logan is a psychotic jackass. She doesn't tell us until later how close they were, how good a friend he was to her and to Lilly, or that she used to enjoy his company. Just that he's a jerk. We get the details on Duncan right away, but on Logan, her glass is clearly clouded. Logan, meanwhile, targets her a lot, but never actually hurts her. Now, he does hurt her car -- which

ohimesamamama

has symbolically explained better than I could -- but he never lays a hand on her, never strikes her in anger, and isn't even seen being particularly active in spreading the nasty stories about her. There's old love there, and old love gone sour hurts more than almost anything else.

Logan is, oddly, a very honest person; he doesn't like to lie, he doesn't like to act, and when you push him far enough to make him hurt you, it's either calculated, distant and remote, or it's immediate and in your face. Planting a camera to catch Veronica, who he's publically called his girlfriend, having sex? Doesn't fit either of those categories. Also, frankly...okay, great. You now have a tape of yourself having sex with someone largely regarded as the town slut. How does this hurt her? Other than the betrayal -- and she's nearly numb to those -- what does this get you? You could hand the tape to her father, but he'd kill you. And as high school students on their age and social level, and little boyfriend-girlfriend sex? Sort of expected. It's not

surprising

. Doing that to Meg would be calculated and mean. Doing it to Veronica? Is pointless. It's not Logan's style.

Something is missing. The spoilers don't include dialogue; they don't include context; they don't include Veronica's voiceover. There is, in short, something very large missing from the scene -- we're panicking over a picture without words, and those can mean

anything

. If you step back, and take a moment to trust in Rob's already-proven ability to be true to character, genre, situation and plot? We have to have it wrong, because right now, as stated, the scene makes no sense. Rob has always been very true to his characters. This? Is not true to his characters. And that means something we don't see yet will put it all into focus -- another major trait of noir.

Veronica is the detective; Logan, in a way, is thus the gangster's moll. And since Veronica's real enemy is the town of Neptune -- the 'gangster' Logan belongs to, whether he likes it or not -- her winning him away from it, bit by bit, stumble by stumble, is part of the long-term observance of the genre. In noir, in the end, the hero walks away. Sometimes with the dame, sometimes without, but always having made the choice. That dame may betray him, reject him, stab him in the back, but they always find each other again, until the sun is going down and the gumshoe rolls out of town. Veronica has a long way to go before she sees the city limits. That means, by genre, that she and Logan can't be finished yet.

Trust Rob. Just because Joss let Marti take us into a dark alley and beat us up until we handed over our lunch money, that doesn't mean Rob's going to. Trust the man who gave us Trevor and Claire. Trust the man who introduced us to Dub. He's a good guy. He's never handled me wrong, and that's saying something.

Also, breathe.

[chocochurrozz]

Time for more yapping ✨️

As Hefty walked Smurfette to his home, a Smurf with glasses dashed into the village "Papa Smurf! Look what Hefty found in the forest!" He shouted, pointing at Smurfette. Immediately as he pointed out the Smurfette. Half of the village dashed over to look at her "I didn't know Smurfs could have black hair" "what happened to his hands" "why is he wearing such dastardly rags" they all questioned her making Smurfette back away as they talked Papa Smurf walked over to her signaling the others to settle down "now where did you come from?" He asked in a calming voice, trying to ease her. "I've been all alone in the scary forest for near decades. I haven't seen another smurf ever since, " she sniffled as tears streamed down her cheeks. The other smurfs frowned as they heard her sad tale. Papa Smurf patted her back. "It's okay, my dear, you're with us now. You can stay as long as you want" he smiled softly as the others started to celebrate "we get a new friend in our village!" One cheered "we're in for a treat!" Another smiled. Smurfette had a warm smile on her face, hearing how happy they were to have her here, but that happiness lasted for only a second, realizing what she was here to do "ill get started on your hut!" A smurf in overalls beamed as they skedaddled off to get building. Hefty noticed how unsure Smurfette was and patted her shoulder. "I'm sure you're gonna love it here, Smurfette." he smiled reassuringly making Smurfette force a smile "yeah I bet I will" she responded as Hefty chuckled softly "if you ever wanna talk, I'll be here" he walked off clicking his tongue while doing a finger gun. Smurfette chuckled nervously as she walked off.

[chocochurrozz]

Hey you, yeah you would you like to hear my Smurf au headcanons? Well, too bad because here they are

Note: these are my headcanons you don't have to interpret them as Canon or not

Hefty, Handy, and Clumsy are brothers, Hefty and Handy being twins

Hefty is extremely protective of his brothers, if he finds out anything happened to them he will go ballistic

Smurfette has over 150 outfits and shoes to go with them

Smurfette has a spare bedroom for Sassette so she can sleepover whenever she'd like

Vexy and Storm slowly became good friends after Vexy got redeemed

Clumsy has a chipped tooth from an incident when he was a smurfling

Vanity and Smurfette will host sleepovers for them and the girls from the other village

Vanity prefers hanging out with the girls way more due to them being more 'clean' and 'sensitive'

Jokey is scarily good at voice impressions and one time scared Hefty into thinking Gargamel was in the village (Hefty knows what he did 😠)

Papa built Handy's prosthetic arm, Handy didn't have the heart to fully upgrade it, but does like to tweak with it at times

Lily is currently learning about remedies for illnesses from Aloe (an Oc I'll introduce in the future)

Blossom has something similar to a Pinkie sense where she's able to figure stuff out right away and explain it to others non chalantly

Handy likes to create flowers out of leftover building supplies and give them to Lily

Now for some angsty ones 😊

Grouchy tries to force himself to hang out with the others, but he can never seem to be able too and he thinks the others hate him over it

As much as everyone is accepting of it Handy can't help but feel like he's slowing everyone down due to him being disabled

Smurfette feels like she can't tell anyone about how she feels, she thinks that no one will get what she's going through

Alright that's all yall get Buenos noches 🫠