#renfield ff

[herarcadewasteland]

Danger Lurks

A/N: There's a significant lack (pretty much none) of Teddy Lobo x Reader from 2023 Renfield and since I'm fulfilling my own Renfield x Reader fics, I'm doing this for those hoomans who also wanted this but couldn't find it. (Such a good movie btw I've seen it like 4 times now) Nine google doc pages of this shit-

-Teddy Lobo x Reader

-Mentions of drugs, violence and the likes. Swearing. You're old enough to know what you can handle. This is your warning :) (also sui*ide :/.... it turned darker- sorry if you're triggered. this is your warning again)

TW TW TW TW TW TW TW

_______________________

Teddy Lobo. Yeah. Him. Your boyfriend. The one currently ranting about some guy who killed a bunch of his men in Mulates the previous night. A sigh left you as you sat and listened patiently. It wasn’t like you had meant to get involved with a crime family. It just… happened. On a Thursday. A couple years back. It wasn’t worth the mental effort to think on how you had met with each detail in place. So you settled for the simple thought of it all. You were working. He walked in, you smiled at him while everyone looked away. You kept eye contact.

You didn’t look scared, and you didn't know who he was. He took you out a couple times, wined and dined you. Took you places. Treated you right. And then after mind-blowing sex, you met his mother at the breakfast table as she plotted with her son on the next drug deal. There was no out at that point. Plus, Teddy was quite a nice guy… past the killing and cocaine and stuff. So, you stayed. Which landed you here as he continued in disbelief at what had happened to a good number of his men. It wasn’t easy to believe what he told you he saw, but you had to at least try to believe. 

It was a lot easier when he walked up to your chair and landed a kiss on your lips with a pleading expression,

“You have to fucking believe me, Y/N. We’re looking for the fucker right now and when we get him, you’re coming. It’s time you get out there with me. You’ve been staying behind with mother for too long. I’m better with you at my side. You know this, lovely.”

You sighed again and nodded, hands brushing over the stubble on his jaw, 

“I know, Teddy. I’m just worried. I don’t want to see you get hurt. Or anyone else. It’s just not my  thing.”

He sighs in return and pulls you from your chair into a bear hug, his deep breathing calming you against his chest as you snuggled in. His hands stroked over your hair and you hummed while he let out a short chuckle at how cute you were. 

“We’ll have the info by morning. I’ll wake you up an hour before we’re ready to go. There won't be many of us. I’ll keep you safe, lovely.”, his lips pressed against your head and you smiled into his chest, “Now go get some rest. I want you not to be groggy when we go get this dickhead. You’ll need to be alert.”

“Ok. Goodnight Teddy.”

“Goodnight lovely.”

He spun you out of his arms towards the stairs. You giggled and walked up them to the left towards your now shared room with Teddy. You could feel his gaze on you as you walked above him past the railings blocking the fairly large fall. Looking back at him, you smiled. He smiled back with love in his gaze. You felt it too. The love. You loved him. Unfortunately for you, Teddy felt a nagging in the back of his head about the upcoming events. And he didn’t like it one bit. 

—--

The next morning you woke to an empty bed. It was normal, but it felt wrong today. The day just felt wrong. It made your eyes water as Teddy walked into the room looking down at a tablet as he grabbed a suit jacket from the closet. 

“Teddy?”

He visibly jumped at your voice, his eyes searching you out immediately and noting the tears in your eyes. His panic was next. He hated it when you cried. All he wanted was for you to be happy around him and for you to be crying so openly, it was new. Off putting even. Especially for Teddy.

“Love? What’s wrong? Are you okay? Did you get hurt? Tell me what’s wrong.”

He rushed to the bed and held your trembling hands in his steady large ones as you looked at him sadly. Just shaking your head, you took your hands from his as he scanned you constantly for any visible wound. 

“N-No I’m…”, your voice cracked and you took a steadying breath, holding Teddy’s hands again to calm him as well as yourself, “I’m okay. Just… today feels wrong. Maybe it’s just one of those days but something feels different and I’m scared. What if the feeling is right, Teddy? I don’t want anything to happen to you… to us… to anyone.”

His grip tightened on your hands as you spoke, his eyes softening further as he watched the tears make a path down your flushed face. You sighed shakily and watched him watch you. It was simple. But it calms you down enough to take a deep breath, loosen your hold on his poor hands and kiss him gently. The kiss was… as it always is, wonderful. His lips cushioned yours in the best way that you never thought possible before kissing Teddy Lobo. It took over the fear as his tongue swiped over your bottom lip, a small groan leaving him as you parted from the kiss. 

“No no, come back. You should stay with me like that forever.”, he falls back onto the bed dramatically, his hand on his forehead as you giggle. “It’s heaven on earth. You can’t take that from me!”

You laugh loudly as you crawl on top of him, his hands resting on your hips as you place kisses around his face, “We have somewhere to be, don’t we? Maybe later, pony boy.”

You wheeze at the confused and nearly offended look on his face as you scramble from the bed, gathering your most Lobo coded outfit from the closet to rush into the ensuite bathroom and change before Teddy could fully recover and get you back with many, many tickles. His huffs reached your ears from the other side of the door as you tugged on the red leather jacket you had gotten for your birthday from Teddy a year back when he first asked you to go public with him. Properly. 

Finishing the outfit with a spray of your favourite perfume, you step back into the bedroom to see Teddy waiting for you on the bed, his eyes trained on you immediately. A whistle filled the room as he clapped you into the room, his applause guiding your steps subconsciously. Placing your hands on his shoulders when you reached him, you played with hair at the nape of his neck, his smirk making you smile shyly as he looked you up and down a few times. 

“Bout fucking time I see you wear this for me. Let’s make it count, lovely. Mother sent word for us to head down. The boys are ready. We have his location.”

You nodded with a sigh and pecked his lips, stepping towards the door and shaking off your hands. You were nervous. Sure you felt a little better but that feeling, that bad one, was still present and somehow got stronger as you loaded into the van with Teddy and a few of the Lobo troops. The drive was longer than you thought but also shorter than a trip to the costco somehow. You forgot to question it all as you pulled up to the very clearly abandoned hospital, pieces of the roof hanging off, boarded windows, broken windows, graffiti. It all screamed sketchy and abandoned. But Teddy was determined. So when he saw your hesitance standing in front of the tall building, he sighed and pulled you into his side with a gentle kiss to the top of your head. 

“Just stay close. I’ve got you.”

You nodded not trusting your voice the moment you stepped into the building. The air was suffocating. Heavy. Musty. Definitely smelled like a place many people died in. That feeling you had increased ten-fold as you continued down the falling hallway, the roof and pipes clanging together and causing a few of the men to hit their heads on the way. Off-handed comments were made along the walk to find something, anything that indicated life, that the place must be haunted. The men made the typical ghost noises as they walked before stopping abruptly in what you assumed to be the reception or waiting room. It was open, large. Echoey. And you hated it more than the man who thought it would be funny to scare you into Teddy’s strong arms. You stayed away from that man for the rest of the walk. But now, standing in the entryway with Teddy as he spewed profanities, you wanted all the knowledge you were surrounded by capable people. 

Glancing around and purposefully avoiding the hundreds of suspended blood bags, you counted each of the men with growing relief that there was no one else. You looked up at Teddy with worried eyes, his own angry ones softening at your fear. HIs large hand rubbed comforting circles into your back as he led you forward to search for this Renfield guy. He called out to his men once you reached a very rank smelling room, the flies making you cringe away from the room while Teddy looked inside.

“Ronnie, call my fucking mom. RIGHT NOW.”

His voice echoed as he shielded your eyes, walking back into the open space, his mom’s voice sounding from a discarded phone that you couldn’t see until Teddy dropped his hand from your eyes to pick it up and freak out. You glanced around again, the feeling back in stronger waves as Teddy grabbed your hand again, your own trembling in his grasp as he talked with his mom before a whooshing met your ears and you both glanced around in panic. 

“Teddy- I don’t like this… Let’s just go.”, your frantic eyes met his and he frowned at the pure fear in your eyes before he glanced at something over your shoulder and froze. “Please, I don’t want to be here anymore. Can we find this Renfield guy another day? Baby...?”

Your pleading fell on deaf ears as he stared over your shoulder with a rapidly paling face. You froze in turn, hearing a dark chuckle over your shoulder. Your first instinct was to step further into Teddy, his arms wrapping around you as you slowly turned in his hold to see what caused him that much fear. Meeting the eyes of the man, you gasped. His lips curled in a smile, his pointed teeth clenched together as he watched you. You let out a shaky breath and tugged at Teddy’s arms to tell him to get you the fuck out of there. Teddy being Teddy guided you closer instead, your body falling further back into his solid frame as you were now at least a foot away from the strange man in a bedazzled suit blazer. 

Teddy’s hand reached out holding his phone, pure confidence on his face until the man took the gap in security to dart a hand out with inhuman speed and grab you from Teddy’s hold, pulling you into his chest with a hand on your neck. You whimpered at his hold, eyes wide as you stared at Teddy, who waved his hands in panic, repeating “Woah” in an attempt at subduing the hold this man had on you. 

“Look, we don’t want any trouble-”

“Who are you? You were sent by the church?”, his last word was dragged out with disgust and contempt. 

“I’m a criminal! My organization is all about evil! We’re evil, okay?!”

“Why are you here?!”, the pale man growled as he jerked you back against him. 

“We’re looking for this guy! I’m tryna find this guy! He meddled in our business and killed a bunch of our guys tryna save a bunch of innocent people.”

The phone held out in front of you showed the man, Renfield. The man holding you growled and tightened his hold on your neck, your own hands grasping at his pale appendage as you gasped at the increased pressure. You didn’t move more than that, too afraid of the claw-like nails on the man's hand to move more than you already dared. Teddy watched you carefully as the man laughed maniacally. The panic in Teddy was clear as he took an almost threatening step forward.

“Do you know who I am?! Who she is?!”

 The guy holding you in a death grip tilted his head in confusion, a nearly mocking “Hmm?”, vibrating your back with his voice.

“I’m Teddy fucking Lobo and that’s my girlfriend!” 

The strange man chuckled and lifted you above him after turning you to face him, his eyes meeting your widened ones as your legs kicked in the air, the lack of ground frightening you enough to struggle in his hold despite the claws so close to your neck.

“I am Count Dracula.”, the man's smile was back as he somehow lifted you higher, your face turning slightly red as you shook your head. 

“You win!”, Teddy shouted as he watched you turn your head to look down at him, the desperation in his eyes so clear to you as the man who claimed he was Dracula brought you down enough to make eye contact with you directly.

“He is my servant.”, Dracula growled as you trembled in his hand, lips parted to take in more air than you could through your nose. Dracula’s eyes focused on the phone again, Teddy’s other hand shaking by his side.

“He doesn’t seem to be serving you very well.”, Teddy chuckled hesitantly as you glared back at him the best you could. 

Dracula’s clawed hand set you on the ground, your back to his chest in a split second as Teddy stepped forward again. Your hands shook as you gripped the arm around your neck again, Dracula’s maniacal, almost hysterical laugh filling your head as you stared down Teddy with a mounting anger. The man's free hand shot out to grab the phone, the looped video of Renfield being stopped as the phone was crushed in his hand like it was nothing more than a piece of paper. You winced, pushing yourself against Dracula in fear before you realized and tried to move forwards, out of his harsh hold. Your attempt failed as Dracula grabbed you again and held you still against him forcefully, your forearm exposed as he twisted your arm around under his hold to drag a claw down the vein. You whimpered and shook, Teddy panicking further and reaching out to you with his shaking hands. 

“Wait, no, no, no, no!”

“This crime family of yours, would it enjoy witnessing the beheading of it’s enemies and the impalement of all who oppose it?”, Dracula's claw traced up and down the vein in your arm, your hand shaking violently at the base of it. 

One cut into it lengthwise and you would bleed out in 2 hours max. A horizontal cut would take multiple and even deeper ones, he would have to cut your vein clean in half to get you dead in that same time frame. It was still a frightening situation, having experienced his strength. The blood around his mouth and dripping down his chin didn’t help your fear. 

“That's like- that’s like our w-whole thing, man.”, Teddy’s voice trembled as he tried to get you free from the man's hold without causing a fight or pain to you.  

“And can the family raise me soldiers?”, Draculas’ tone was curious now, his claw stilling just above your wrist.

“We can… I can make a couple calls, yeah.”, Teddy almost had a smile on his face now from the turn the whole situation took. 

“Whatever pain Renfield caused you, I will return 10, 000 fold.”, he said in a rumble, his claw returning to its original path with a small detour of your neck. “I will unleash an army of death whilst warming my skin next to mountains of burning corpses.” 

The tone of his voice turned whimsical, like he was day-dreaming of the scenario. Teddy watched in concern and growing excitement that this guy seemed to want to hurt this Renfield guy as much as the Lobo’s. 

“How does that sound to you?”, Dracula finished his speech while turning his fanged smile into your neck, his tongue tracing over your pulse point while he made eye contact with your lover. 

Teddy took a steadying breath and released it with a groaned sigh, “It sounds… like you gotta meet my mom.”

You groaned as Dracula burst out laughing a few seconds later. Teddy laughed quietly with him, his eyes focused on you the whole time while you trembled. Dracula’s pure evil laughter got louder and Teddy nearly retreated in fear as he laughed a little more openly, concern growing at the rate the laughter from the other man was. 

“Are you happy or are you gonna fuck us up?”, Teddy’s smile died as he spoke, Dracula laughing still.

His claw made a small cut on your arm as he reached out to Teddy who screamed as his laughter turned into an almost screamed laugh, Teddy’s scream turning into slight laughter as Dracula continued laughing with a hand now on your boyfriend's shoulder. You hissed at the residual sting, sliding from Dracula’s body to Teddy’s side as they laughed continuously until Dracula went stock still. His eyes were staring you down as you hid behind Teddy. You froze your tugging at Teddy’s sleeve in response, his eyes flashing with something before he ended up behind you both, hand trailing over your shoulder before he spun you and grabbed the arm he had sliced. You froze further somehow as he gazed into your eyes with an intensity while Teddy watched in disbelief as his tongue snaked out of his mouth to lick the small trail of blood from your arm. 

“Can you not do that, man? She’s still my girl. You’re scaring her.”

Dracula met Teddy’s eyes with a growl as he dropped your arm, stepping back with a new expression of politeness. Almost like he had been conveniently forgetting that you were in a relationship with the same man who screamed moments before at a hand movement. He knew what he was doing though, he had too. He seemed too self aware to not know exactly what he was doing as he eye-fucked you while you cowered into your lovers body again. 

“My apologies.”, He spoke with reverence that you could tell was a cover, but Teddy accepted it with a simple nod, leading you around the guy with a hand on your back and shoulder.

“We’ll be back in a few moments, we need to gather some more men to bring you to my mom.”

Dracula nodded and watched you go as you looked back at him one last time, hand rubbing over the small laceration he had made on your delicate skin. 

—--- 

It was days later when this Renfield guy burst through the doors, Teddy’s mom standing beside you, her son on your other side, his hands crossed over his chest. 

“Must be nice not having to be invited in.”

You blocked out the conversation from there, watching as the officer’s eyes scanned you with blatant interest, the conversation clearly shifting towards you as everyone looked your way.

“She’s merely a bystander. No harm has to come to her.”

Teddy’s voice had rung across the front room clearly, the two on the ground floor looking at you with increased interest as you shuffled behind Teddy to hide yourself from their searching gazes. Tugging at your newly acquired fiance's sleeve, you mumbled in his ear that you didn’t want to be out front with him, requesting that you go into the back with his mother. He refused, insisting that he could keep you safer while you were with him. You agreed reluctantly and grasped him by the waist as the conversation continued. You felt a pair of eyes on you the entire time but shrugged it off as a few men jumped the railing with increasing dramatics to fight this Renfield guy who now shared powers with a handful of the Lobo men. 

The fight went quickly, Teddy realizing quickly that he may be better off sitting behind the scenes with his mother. You both jogged to the door before you heard a voice calling out to you both. Officer Quincy. You shook your head as you both turned, Teddy pulling his gold pistols from his pants in a threat. Hands reaching up to pull his arms down, you stepped in front of him to stop him. Muttering at him, you sighed. He was stubborn, you knew that but for him to be this stubborn at that particular moment irked you. So you reacted. Grabbing his guns from his hands, you saw his eyes narrow at you. Before you could think on it more, you turned to the railing and leapt over the edge, running for the door as he called after you in urgency.

Nothing stopped you as you booked it for the doors, Renfield’s carnage doing nothing to stop you as you nearly made it to the door before Teddy reached you. His hands grasped your arms as you panicked, hands trembling as his golden eyes looked into your own coloured ones. Dropping the guns, you burst into tears, hiding your face in his chest as his hands rubbed up and down your back to calm you.

“Hey, hey. Look, it’ll be okay. I promise. Let’s get you upstairs to mother and we’ll see each other soon, I promise. I won’t let you get hurt.”

You sighed, wiping your tears with shaky hands as he picked you up, carrying you through everything calmly, the destruction avoiding you narrowly as Renfield downed the last man. You tapped Teddy’s shoulder frantically as you noticed his advance, the cop approaching from the opposite direction as your tapping got more panicked. Teddy noticed quickly, his hands gripping you tighter despite setting you on the ground.

Being exposed more for any attack, you stood still with your back pressed against the chest that had been pressed against yours the night before. The officer quickly approached, Teddy acting quickly and snorting the centipede that had been crawling up and down his arm without you noticing. You cringed away from the sight, Teddy’s eyes flashing gold again as he gently pushed you to the side before he lunged at the officer. That left you completely exposed. 

Renfield took advantage of the situation and pulled you into his hold like his master had done a night or so before. In a few moments, Renfield had you held on the balcony above, arm crossed over your throat as Teddy and the officer fought. It didn’t take long for Teddy to notice, his distraction enough for the officer to pull the shotgun on him and shoot him down. You gasped and fought the hold on you, your eyes stuck on your lover’s as he fell to his knees, bloodied wounds decorating his tattooed chest while you watched, unable to do anything but cry. Renfield took pity on you and let you go, your fist meeting his face before you raced past the murderer of your fiance to the man himself. 

“Teddy! No, no, no no no nonono. You can’t leave me! We were gonna be together forever…”

His pained chuckle met your ears as tears fell from your pained eyes. 

“Don’t you know who I am? I’m Teddy fucking Lobo and I’ll always be with you, lovely.”

Your head shook as you pressed frantically on his wounds, eyes scanning his face continuously as he just watched you, a single tear tracking down his face and meeting the small puddle of yours on the floor beneath him. You chuckled roughly, of course he would say that while dying. Footsteps drew your attention momentarily, the culprits sprinting to get to Dracula while you sat with the love of your life and talked him into the afterlife. You’d meet him there one day. You just hoped it would be sooner… seeing his pistols out of the corner of your eye, you nodded. You’d be with him soon. 

As you held his pistol to your head, you laughed in pain,

“Teddy fucking Lobo... I’ll see you soon, baby.”

-------

A/N: oh man im sorry it got dark :/ if i missed any words im so sorry but hopefully it made some sense. kinda my own take with a few direct quotes from scenes.

[wirelesstheatreco]

Coming #Soon to the @wirelesstheatre ffFf-ff-ffeeeddd

THE BLOODY LIFE OF R.M RENFIELD

By Marty Ross

With the huge talents of Harry Myers and Sarah Whitehouse playing a myriad of characters this is a wonderfully dark and bloody show

Not

To

Be

Missed

From @wirelesstheatre

Check their fffffeeeeeed on #WorldAudioDramaDay

#soon

#ssssoooonnnn

#audiodrama #audiofiction #Renfield #Dracula #Audiohorror #voiceactors #HarryMyers #SarahWhitehouse

Produced and Directed by #SarahOfGolding

[cupparosielee]

OK, listen, hear me out...

Renfield is an absolute work of art and I need everyone to stop what they're doing and go and see this film ASAP.

It's funny, it's got that Cornetto style comedy horror gore, it's got brilliantly performed character dynamics, it's got some genuinely moving moments thrown in there, it's got STUNNING lighting and set design, it's got Nick Cage as Dracula ffs!

Go. And. See. This. Film.

[cartoonus-maximus]

A Look Back on the Media I Consumed in 2023

(complete with graphics and bingo charts!)

♻️ = a re-read or a re-watch

According to Goodreads, I read 35-ish books in 2023. Let's break those down a little more.

📚 Books I Read:

"Bedtime Stories for the Criminally Insane" by Shawn Bailey

"Circe" by Madeline Miller

"FNAF Fazbear Frights: Felix the Shark" by Scott Cawthon et al

"FNAF: the Freddy Files Updated Edition" by Scott Cawthon

"Percy Jackson and the Olympians: the Demigod Files" by Rick Riordan

"Peter Pan" by J.M. Barrie ♻️

"Rhinoceros and Other Plays" by Eugene Ionesco

"the Shadow Queen" by C.J. Redwine

"Sure, I'll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere" by Maria Bamford

"To Sleep In A Sea of Stars" by Christopher Paolini

"the Wish Granter" by C.J. Redwine

📚 (Comic)Books I Read:

"the Amazing Spider-Man: 2099 Companion" by Nick Spencer, et al

"the Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows vol 1" by Dan Slott, et al

"Archie's Holiday Magic Special" by Mike Northrup, et al

"Cryptid Club" by Sarah Andersen

"Fantastic Four, vols 1-6" by Jonathan Hickman, et al ♻️

"FF, vols 1-4" by Jonathan Hickman, et al ♻️

"Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man vol 1" by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko

"Marvel Masterworks: Marvel Team-Up vol 1" by Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas, et al

"the New Fantastic Four: Hell in a Handbasket" by Peter David, et al

"Sabrina the Teenage Witch Holiday Special" by Kelly Thompson, et al

"Scooby Apocalypse vol 2" by Keith Giffen, et al

"Spider-Man and Venom: Double Trouble" by Mariko Tamaki

"Wolf Walkers the graphic novel" by Tomm Moore

That gives us this year's reading bingo chart! Two full bingos and almost a third, so that's pretty good.

My favorite book this year was "Circe." I've been away from the classical Greek period for several years now, and Miller's book scratched a particular itch.

📺 Shows I Finished:

Be Cool, Scooby-Doo (best revision of the franchise ever tyvm)

Good Omens (finished season 2… honestly didn't like it as much as the first season)

Grimm (finally finished watching this damn series... I'm glad I did, but I don't think it was worth the time, tbh)

the Horror of Dolores Roach (we support women's rights and women's wrongs)

I'm A Virgo (the irony of watching it on Amazon Prime was not lost on me)

the Legend of Vox Machina (finished Season 1)

📺 Shows I'm Currently Watching:

The Adventures of Batman and Robin (1968, Filmation)

Being Human (American version, partway through Season 1)

the Feed

Frasier ♻️

the Legend of Vox Machina (partway through Season 2 rn)

Psych (partway through Season 2 rn) ♻️

Tokyo Vampire Hotel

🎬 Movies I Watched:

I may not have produced a lot of art or written much fic this year, but boy howdy did I watch movies!

the Addams Family 2 (2021, MGM)

the Aristocats (1970, Disney) ♻️

the Batman (2022, Warner Bros.)

the Birdcage (1996, MGM)

Black Panther (2018, Marvel)

the Black Phone (2021, Blumhouse)

Bros (2022, Universal)

Doctor Strange (2016, Marvel)

Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness (2022, Marvel)

Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022, AGBO)

Hellboy: Sword of Storms (2006, Starz Media)

Invincible: Atom Eve (2023, Amazon)

Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart (2013, EuropaCorp)

Judy (2019, LD Entertainment)

M3gan (2022, Blumhouse)

Mama (2013, Universal)

the Map of Tiny Perfect Things (2021, Amazon)

Merry Little Batman (2023, Amazon)

Morbius (2022, Sony)

Nope (2022, Monkeypaw Productions)

Pirates of the Caribbean: the Curse of the Black Pearl (2003, Disney) ♻️

Renfield (2023, Universal)

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964, Rankin Bass) ♻️

Scooby-Doo and the Curse of the 13th Ghost (2019, Warner Bros.)

Scrooged (1988, Paramount)

Secret Window (2004, Sony)

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023, Sony)

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018, Sony) ♻️

Totally Killer (2023, Blumhouse)

Uzumaki (2000, Omega Micott)

Violent Night (2022, 87North Productions)

Wonder Woman (2017, Warner Bros.)

Words on Bathroom Walls (2020, LD Entertainment)

And this year's movie watching bingo chart is... completely covered.

I have achieved ultimate bingo.

I'm not sure what my favorite movie of the bunch was, but "Nope," "Across the Spider-Verse," "the Black Phone," "Totally Killer," "Words on Bathroom Walls," and "the Batman" are all pretty up there.

I tried to watch a movie every Saturday of this year. I didn't hit them all, but I did manage to watch a whopping 33 movies, exposing myself to stories and genres that I normally wouldn't, and I'm very happy to have gotten that far.

I probably won't watch anywhere near that amount of movies in 2024 (I have other plans for the year that are going to be fairly time consuming), but this was a fun experience.

[elvisgrace]

Happy Simblreen!

Not all vampires are wealthy, titled, European nobility, so for the somewhat less discerning Simpire, I bring you the Slightly Less Deep Sleeper by R.M. Renfield & Associates

R.M. Renfield & Associates, crafters of affordability and convenience for over one hundred years has done it! Form! Function! Convenience! You can rest assured that when you take sanctuary beneath the pretty solid lid and settle into its easy clean polyester embrace that only the dead will find a sounder sleep. Arise somewhat refreshed and ready to deal with the night. Homeland soil not included.

This coffin is geared towards vampires who are just a little too declassé for music-making creatures of the night, creeping fog, and flaming braziers.

Enjoy!

SFS/Mediafire

Credits :

@Pinofurude's Informal Vampire Coffins - textures

Leefish Place Me Anywhere Lamp - lamp

@mustluvcatz-reloaded's It's A Hobo's Life For Me - crates

Necrodog's Open Coffins - coffin

@beautifulnerdkitty's 4t2 conversion of mxims' pallet bed - pallet

*the preview looks kinda janky in ff, but in real time those are sparks coming from the lamp 🤪

[cherryqueenoftarts]

Someone here asked why Jack doesn't yet suspect that someone is preying on Lucy, and it got me thinking. It's a great point. The Jack the Ripper murders predate Dracula by a few years. Why wouldn't Jack, a man who deals with people like Renfield every day, think of the Ripper and begin putting together a theory of some madman (his term) crawling through Lucy's window at night?

I poked around Google to see if there's any connection between Stoker and the Ripper. Aside from him meeting two men suspected of being the Ripper (did he know they were suspects? it didn't say), there doesn't seem to be much there. One source did mention that he made a comparison between the evil of the Ripper and the evil of Dracula. So we know Stoker was aware of serial killers; hence Seward should be, too.

Anyway as I was reading my findings I was struck by something else. In multiple sources people dismiss the idea that Dracula was based on the Ripper because the Ripper tortured and killed prostitutes while Dracula "romantically" preys on high class ladies.

You guys.

Okay, to be clear, I don't see much evidence that Stoker based Dracula on the Ripper.

But like. Did any of these people read the book? Romantically? Ffs.

Also (and this is the point I've been working towards, believe it or not) the idea that Dracula doesn't prey on poor sex workers just annoys me. We have no idea. No one would tell us, in this epistolary novel, if sex workers were turning up dead in London gutters. It's not newsworthy when a sex worker dies looking pale but otherwise unharmed. We've seen that Drac has a huge appetite (*cough*Demeter crew*cough*). The fact he *hasn't* killed Lucy yet implies an almost guarantee that he's eating other people. Who better than sex workers? Maybe some vagrants here and there, too. The way they die would likely mislead most people who found the bodies into thinking it wasn't by violence, too.

Dracula likes to slowly torture and draw out his kill when it comes to Lucy. Is she the only one? We have no idea.

Aaand now I want a story about Dracula's unknown victims.

Okay, so what about the fact that London isn't becoming overrun with fledgling vampires? Well, idk if Stoker ever gives us an explanation for how Drac makes new vampires, but it's clearly not an automatic thing, or Transylvania would have a lot more of them (a lot of them babies--yikes).

Will someone pretty please write the story of these missing victims?

Maybe I'll take a crack at it...

[mywingsareonwheels]

Well today I want to knock the two doctors’ heads together.

FFS you twits. Mina has the best brain of all of you and is exceptionally stalwart and courageous, and Renfield genuinely needs to get out of there. You have some excuse for not realising the latter (ish, but the mental health ableism is still painful). You have no excuse whatsoever for not realising the former. I am reminded so very heavily of this bit from The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, and Lord Peter Wimsey (from a similar class/situation to Arthur) realising he’s messed up (towards the extremely excellent wife of a friend of his) and imbibing some respect women juice:- “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bully. One has an ancestral idea that women must be treated like imbeciles in a crisis. Centuries of the women-and-children-first idea I suppose. Poor devils.” "Who, the women?" "Yes. No wonder they sometimes lose their heads. Pushed into corners, told nothing of what's happening and made to sit quiet and do nothing. Strong men would go dotty in the circs. I suppose that's why we've always grabbed the privilege of dashing about and doing the heroic bits."

At least I am fully expecting that it’s going to be come very clear that Seward and Van Helsing have each made an awful mistake wrt Renfield and Mina. I like that Jonathan clearly is having doubts; I wish he would voice them. Also I hate that VH’s stupid decision is driving a wedge between the Harkers. :(

[rachelbethhines]

Mobius Timeline (2nd Era)

Running on Empty - SS #8 (Sonic tells a recently rescued Amy the story about how Snively used an aging device to turn him old)

Panic in the Sky - Sonic & Knuckles (Robotnik hijacks the floating island and Kunckles and Sonic have to team up to save it)

Fire Drill - S&K (investigating a nearby explosion, Knuckles explores the ancient ruins of Sandopolis looking for an intruder; first appearance of Archimedes)

Lord of the Floating Island - S&K (Knuckles helps a baby kangaroo find it's mother when it gets lost in a storm)

Way, Way Past Cool - StH #26 (Robotnik builds a machine that controls the weather, the FFs meet the Arctic Freedom Fighters)

Fortified - StH #26 (Sonic sprains his ankle while the gang is running from Robotnik. The FFs take shelter in an old fort and Rotor gives Bunny some quick upgrades; Bunny gains extendable limbs)

Coming Soon: Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble - StH #27 (Sonic and the gang make a home movie)

Tttriple Tttrouble!!! - Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble (Sonic, Knuckles, and Robotnik race after a newly appeared chaos emerald; first appearance of the Ancient Walkers and Nack the Weasel)

Submersible Rehearsal - StHTT (Rotor builds Tails his own submarine, the Sea Fox. Only for Tails to run into Octobot on it's maiden voyage)

First Contact - StHTT (Knuckles goes on the hunt for the mysterious Archimedes; Vector's first appearance)

Sonic the Hedgehog Goes Hog Wild - StH #27 & 28 (When Sonic loses his memory Robotnik conveniences him that he is a deep undercover spy working for him. It's up to FF to stop their best friend before he can reveal the location of Knothole to the evil doctor; first appearance of Snoop Doggy Dog)

Growing Pains - StH 28 & 29 (Upset over having to fight his best friend, Tails runs away and meets Fiona Fox. Not realizing she's one of Robotniks duplicates, he falls in love with her)

Steel Belted Sally - StH 29 (Robotnik robotizes Sally! It's up to Dulcy the Dragon to save the day; the first appearance of Dulcy)

Southern Crossover! - Tails Miniseries 1, 2, & 3 (Tails goes on a solo adventure to Downunda to uncover Robotniks newest plot. On the way, he teams up with the underwater freedom fighters, the Downunda ffs, and the Ancient Walkers, where he learns he's the 'chosen one' of prophecy. First appearances of Forty Fathom Freedom Fighters, Crocbot, the Downunda FFs, and Knuckles' grandfather Athair.)

The Return of Uncle Chuck - StH 30 (Snively traps Robotnik inside the void, and then tries to trap everyone else there too. Uncle Chuck regains his free will and makes a deal with Robotnik to stop Snively)

Crash of the Titans - Super Sonic v.s. Hyper Knuckles ( Sonic and Knuckles find a Zone beneath the Lake of Rings and begin to race to collect the most power rings/chaos emeralds, their race becoming a full-blown fight when they transform into their super forms; first appearance of Mighty)

Who Keeps Stealing My Chaos Emeralds?! - StH 30 (Coconuts tries to get back into Robotnik's good graces by catching a thief who keeps stealing chaos emeralds. Only for his traps to keep backfiring on him. Later Bunnie is seen at a party wearing a bunch of emeralds, implying she is the thief)

Knuckles' Chaotix Sneak Peek - Sth 30 (Robotnik makes last-minute preparations for his latest scheme)

The Chaos Effect - Knuckles' Chaotix (The FFs attend the grand opening of a new amusement park on the Floating Island. Only for it to turn out to be a trap for them. Knuckles manages not to be captured but is depowered by Robotnik's machine so he reaches out for help and forms the Chaotix. First appearances of Bomb, Heavy, Charmy Bee, Espio the Chameleon, and Renfield T. Rodent)

Tag! You're It! - KC (The Chaotix play some tag during a rare moment of downtime. All the while they are being watched by Archimedes, unbeknownst to them)

3234 CE

Antoine = 17

Bunnie = 15

Rotor = 15

Sally = 14

Sonic = 14

Tails = 7

A Robot Rides the Rails - StH 31 (the FFs team up with the Rebel Underground to take down Robotnik's latest creation, but Sonic's and Geoffrey's rivalry threatens the mission)

Tundra Road - StH 31 & 32 (Rotor goes on a solo mission to rescue his family from Robotnik; we meet rotor's mom and brother)

Blast From the Past - StH 32 (Sonic has suddenly been reunited with his dog, Muttski! But that will have to wait, as the Freedom Fighters have discovered a Mobian Cave Bear frozen in ice; first appearance of Mobie)

Let's Get Small! - StH 33 (When the FFs get sick, Sonic has to shrink himself to microscopic size to fight the virus head on)

Sonic Shot - StH 33 (Sinvely challenges the FFs to an ice hockey match)

A Chaotix Kidnapping - KC, StH 31 - 33, & SS v. HK (When the Chaotix members are kidnapped one by one it's up to Knuckles to find them; Kunckles' father Locke is finally shown on screen)

A Sense of History - StH 34 - 36 (Knuckles looks to the past to find clues on how to rescue the Chaotix; how the floating island came to be and the first appearance of Dimitri/Enerjak and Edmund the First Guardian)

Rites of Passage - Knuckles Miniseries: 1-3 (Knuckles finally finds the Chaotix just in time for his evil ancestor Dimitri/Enerjak to come back from the dead; Knuckles and Archimedes finally meet face to face)

To ‘Bot or Not To ‘Bot - StH 34 (Robotnik reveals his newest Combots, and Uncle Chuck must pretend to be robotized again in order to stop them; Chuck becomes a double agent)

Ring of Truth - StH 35 (Sonic collects his one-billionth magic ring, and the Ancient Walkers reward him by granting a wish)

Heart of Darkness - Sth 36 (The FFs travel into the Zone of Silence to stop it from consuming every other dimension; but while planting the bomb to destroy it they run into Sally's father; King Acorn... only he doesn't remember who he is and they have to fight him)

The Day Robotropolis Fell - StH 37 (Robotropolis gets hit with an earth quake and it's up to Sally, Sonic, and Uncle Chuck to rescue the robotize citizens)

Bunnie’s Worst Nightmare - StH 37 (Bunnie has a nightmare, revealing her greatest fear is becoming full robotized)

The Rise of Robotropolis… The Fall of Sonic! - StH 38 (during a fight with some combots, Sonic loses his super speed and the rest of FFs get captured. It's up to the Substitute Freedom Fighters to save the day)

Bedtime Tails! - StH 38 (Tails reads to a sick Sonic his homemade comics)

Rage Against the Machine - StH 39 & Mecha Madness (Sonic is captured and robotized!)

Don’t Let the Island Hit You on the Way Down - MM (While Knuckles is off fighting Mecha-Sonic; the Chaotix get ambushed by a group of new villains, the Fearsome Foursome and their leader, the immortal Mammoth Mogul)

Eel of Fortune - MM (the Forty Fathom Freedom Fighters fight the underwater mob)

Court Martial - StH 40 (Antoine accuses Sonic of disobeying orders and getting himself robotized on purpose. He has one day to prove his innocence or stand trail as a traitor)

…and One Shall Save Him - StH 41 (Sonic. Sally, and Geoffrey travel back into the Zone of Silence to rescue King Acorn... who still doesn't remember who he is)

The Death Egg - Sonic Quest 1-3 (a newly rescued King Acorn is slowly turning into an chaos emerald due to effects of being in the Zone of Silence for so long. The FFs theorize that magic rings might heal him, but it becomes a race to find them as Robotink also needs to them to power his ultimate weapon, the Death Egg!)

In Every Kingdom There Must Exist a Little Chaos! - StH 42 (Sonic believes that the chaos emerald holding the floating island up can cure King Acorn, but Knuckles refuses to let the FFs borrow it for obvious reasons. Instead he agrees to go on a quest for the magical Sword of Acorns. Also Snoop Doggy Dog is revealed to be a traitor)

The Last Game Cartridge Hero - Sonic Live (Sonic gets sucked into our world while fighting Robotnik and recruits the help of two kids to get back home)

The Substitute Freedom Fighters - SL (While Sonic is lost in another dimension, Larry the Linx and Cyril the Eagle team up with the Sub FFs to rescue the regular FFs form Robotnik)

The Dream Zone - StH 43 (Sonic uses a device to enter into King Acorn's dreams/memories to try and save him. First appearances of Dr. Quack, Kodos, and Feist)

Black and Blue and Red All Over - StH 44 (Knuckles and the FFs team up with O'Nux; the anti-Knuckles; to save the Sunken City from Evil Sonic and Robotnik)

Knuckles' Quest - StH 42, SL, StH 45 & 46 (Knuckles goes on a quest to recover the Sword of Acorn; first appearances of Tail's uncle Merlin and the knight Sir Connery)

Sonic Blast - Sonic Blast (An adaption of of the game Sonic 3D Blast; Robotnik invades Flickie Island and it's up to the FFs to stop him)

The T.U.F.F. Awards - SB (The Sally hosts another bi-annual award show for the FFs but Rotor keeps accidentally messing up the ceremony; at least someone other than Sonic wins this year)

Bugged Bunny - SB (While Bunnie naps in the forest, Robotnik and Snively attached a tracking device to her. The villains track her but Bunnie, unknowingly, foils all of their attempts.)

Guerrilla Thriller - StH 45 (Sonic and Rotor are sent on a mission to stop Robotnik from destroying the Mobius jungle but the native gorilla tribe does not trust them and holds the two hostage. So it's up to Tails and Mobie the Cavebear to rescue them)

Stop… Sonic Time! - SSS #5 (Sonic tells a group of kids about the time he got Tails a pair of his own special shoes)

Cry of the Wolf - StH 113 (Sonic, Sally, and Antoine meet Lupe and the Wolf Pack)

Countdown to Armageddon - StH 46 (Sally calls a meeting with all of the various resistance groups to hash out battle plans and learn what Uncle Chuck latest intel on Robotnik is, but the meeting devolves into a bunch of internal infighting as Sonic & Antoine both have issues with Geoffrey. We learn how Robotnik came to power by sabotaging Chuck's robotizer, we get hints to Geoffrey's past his eventual betrayal, also a member of the wolf pack, Draco, is acting sus, and finally Bunnie and Ant become an official couple!)

Battle Royal - SSS 1 (When the FFs arrive on the floating island to pick up the Sword of Acorns from Knuckles they are seemingly ambushed by the Chaotix, meanwhile the Chaotix are busy battling the Freedom Fighters? Mammoth Mogul steals the Sword of Acorns)

The Map - SSS 1 (Antoine finds a mysterious map in his father's belongs. He goes on a solo mission to try and discover what his father was hiding only to stumble upon Snively's new Eggbots instead)

Endgame - StH 47 - 50 & SSS 6 (When Sally is presumably killed while on a mission, Sonic is framed for her death. While he's on the run from Geoffrey and the law, Robotnik invades Kothole using a robot duplicate of King Max. Draco is revealed to be a traitor. Meanwhile Bunnie and Antoine uncover Robotnik's secret doomsday weapon, the Ultimate Annihilator, and with the help of the Downunda FFs mount a suicide mission to destroy it. Robotnik is finally defeated by Snively's betrayal; first appearance of Hershey)

Mobius Timeline (1st Era)

3232 CE

Antoine = 15

Bunnie = 13

Rotor = 13

Sally = 12

Sonic = 12

Tails = 5

Don’t Cry for me Mobius! - Sonic miniseries #0 (first adventure)

Sonic’s Six* Speed Settings -Sonic #0 (Sonic makes a vlog about his speed)

The Royal Family Tree of Mobius - Sonic #0 (Sally shows Sonic what's left of her family's tree since Robotnik cut it down)

Robotnik’s Badniks! - Sonic #0 (Robotnik make a propaganda video showing off his creations)

Oh No–Robo! No-Mo’ Mobo! - Sonic #0 (Sonic tells his version of Robotnik's takeover of Mobius...he's an unreliable narrator)

Sneaker Peek! - Sonic #0 (Sonic makes a vlog about his shoes)

Run, Sally, Run! - Sonic miniseries #1 (Sally lets herself get captured by Robotnik in order to spy on his bot-maker, only for the boys to rescue her before she can complete her mission)

Silent Running - Sonic #1 (Sonic and Rotor play baseball)

Something Fishy - Sonic #1 (Sonic gets captured by the badnik Jaws and Rotor uses his Bathysphere to go rescue him)

Equal Time -Sonic #1 (Rotor makes a vlog about things that aren't fast)

Ground Rule Double - Sonic #1 (Sonic plays tennis with himself)

Sonic's Baby Photographs - Sonic #1 (Sonic shows his fans his baby pictures)

A Crowning Achievement - Sonic miniseries #2 (Robotnik steals the magic emeralds that give the Crown of Acorns is protective powers and it's up to the FFs to get them back)

Top 10 Reasons why Sonic the Hedgehog is the Coolest Comic Book Around - Sonic #2 (Sonic tries to pitch his own comic)

Fin Fans - Sonic #2 (Sonic makes a vlog about his spines)

Photo Finish - Sonic #2 (the Freedom Fighters take a group photo)

Sonic Flashback! - Sonic miniseries #3 (Sonic gets a bump on the head and dreams that he and Robotnik were kids together on Uncle Chuck's farm)

Why Ask Spy? - Sonic #3 (Sonic disguises himself as a robot to sabotage Robotnik's plans)

Meet Me at the Corner of Hedgehog & Vine! - Sonic the Hedgehog #1 (Robotnik sends his latest badnik Krudzu to destroy the FFs)

You Bet My Life! - StH #1 (Sonic infiltrates Robotnik's casino to get info on his latest badnik Orbinaut)

I'd Like to Thank… - StH #1 (the Sally host an award show to honor the FFs)

Keep Looking Up! - StH #1 (Sonic answers some of his fan mail)

Chili Dog A La Sonic - StH #1 (Sonic makes a cooking vlog to share his favorite chilidog recipe)

Triple Trouble! - StH #2 (Robotnik sends three new badniks to capture sonic, Coconuts, Scratch, and Grounder)

In the Beginning! - StH #2 (Sonic makes a silly vlog about alternate versions of himself)

Vertigo A´ Go-Go! - StH #2 (Sonic falls into the Unknown Zone and meets Horizont-Al and Verti-Cal)

Foiled Again! - StH #2 (the FFs try out a new money making scheme)

Two-Timer! - StH #2 (unable to sit still, Sonic shows off his speed while Sally cooks him a boil egg for breakfast)

All the Mail's about Tails! - StH #2 (Tails gets his own fan mail)

The Bomb Bugs Me! - StH #3 (Rotor disguises himself as Robotnik in order to steal a bomb before Robotnik can use it)

Tails' Fairy Tales! - StH #3 (Tails and Sonic discusses the fable "The Tortoise and The Hare")

Double Speak! - StH #3 (A bored Sonic holds a telephone conversation with himself)

Paper Trail! - StH #3 (Sally gets angry at a gossip article in the newspaper that talks about her dying her hair)

Rabbot Deployment! - StH #3 (Bunnie's first appearance and origin)

Robotnik's Rules! - StH #3 (Robotnik makes propaganda listing his rules)

The Lizard of Odd! - StH #4 (Robotnik makes a giant badnik called Universalamander, who proves too strong to control. First appearance of Super Sonic)

Antoine's Van Refrain! - StH #4 (Antoine helps Sally assemble her new vanity)

Horizont-Al & Verti-Cal - StH #4 (Horizont-Al and Verti-Cal make a broadcast showing off their world and powers)

Badniks Bazaar - StH #4 (Coconuts, Scratch, and Grounder audition for a second shot at capturing Sonic)

Hare Styling - StH #4 (Bunnie opens up a hair salon part time)

Tails' Little Tale - StH #4 (Tails tries to prove himself a hero by taking on Robotnik by himself)

Olympic Trials and Errors - StH #5 (Robotnik challenges the FFs to Olympic style games. If they win he turns himself in, and if they lose he gets to robotize them. Sonic agrees not realizing that Robotnik has switched his sneakers causing him to lose his super speed)

Sonic's Ten Second Workout - StH #5 (Sonic makes a vlog showing off his usual workout routine)

Chomp on This, Chump! - StH #5 (Robotnik sends a robotic termite to the Great Forest to eat the FFs out of house and home)

Fast Food! - StH #5 (Sonic mistakes a bowl of wax fruit for his dinner)

The Spin Doctor! - StH #6 (adaptation of Sonic Spinball, first appearance of Hip and Hop)

Here Comes the Bribe! - StH #6 (Sonic gets a fan letter praising Antoine... that Antoine had paid the person to write)

Sonic's Christmas Carol! - StH #6 (Sonic has a dream where he, Robotnik, Snively, and the rest if the FFs are characters in A Christmas Carol... apparently Christmas is still celebrated on Mobius)

Uncle Chuck's Treasure! - StH #7 (Sonic finds a treasure map left by his uncle. Believing it might be the location of an important invention both the FFs and Robotnik race to the X that marks the spot)

The Shadow Nose! - StH #7 (Sonic practices shadow boxing)

Details Are Sketchy! - StH #7 (a badnik tries to describe who attacked him to Robotnik who is trying to draw the suspect based off the description)

Sorceress in Distress - StH #7 (on the Mobius's version of Halloween, called Fright Night [which takes place after Christmas apparently] Sally dresses as a witch, only for Robotnik to mistakenly believe her to be a real witch and offer that they team up together to take over Mobius)

Princess Cruises - StH #7 (Antoine tries to convince Sally to invest in a royal navy by naming a small boat after her)

Bot's All Folks! - StH #8 (Robotnik builds super powered robots inspired by comic books)

A Little Sonic Goes a Long Way - StH #8 (Robotnik builds a shrink ray)

Pseudo-Sonic! - StH #9 (Robotnik builds a robot duplicate of Sonic)

Tooth or Consequences! - StH #9 (Robotnik builds a dentist robot, and thinks even it is too cruel a monster to let loose on the world)

Quick Sketch - StH #9 (Sonic makes a vlog on how to draw himself)

What's the Point? - StH #9 (It's Sally birthday and Sonic tries to give her a pet Mobian Needle Bird as a gift. Only for the animal to prove more trouble than its worth)

Revenge of the Nerbs! - StH #10 (meet the Nerbs)

Twan With the Wind - StH #10 (Antoine builds a hot air balloon)

The Good, the Bad, and the Hedgehog! - StH #11 (Sonic gets lost on the Cosmic Interstate and winds up in Anti-Mobius where he meets his evil twin)

Beat The Clock - StH #11 (Coconuts has captured the FFs are using them as bait to lure Sonic into a trap)

Food for Thought or You Are What You Eat! - StH #11 (It's Sonic's birthday and he has a weird dream after eating too much)

3233 CE

Antoine = 16

Bunnie = 14

Rotor = 14

Sally = 13

Sonic = 13

Tails = 6

A Timely Arrival - StH #12 (Robotnik builds a time machine that sends Sonic back to the prehistoric era)

Bold-Headed Eagle - StH #12 (Sonic tries to help a depressed Cyril the Eagle to fly again before Robotnik captures them both)

This Island Hedgehog - Sth #13 (Meet Knuckles! A Sonic 3 adaptation)

Space in yo' Face! - StH #13 (Robotnik builds an orbital robotizer and so the FFs steal it, but Robotnik is hot on their tails)

Tails' Taste of Power - StH #14 (Tails gains super intelligence by eating a fruit from the tree of wisdom, but then proceeds to bite off more than he can chew when gets a swelled head over it)

Do-It-Yourself-Sonic - StH #14 (Sonic and Tails attempt to make a comic about their misadventures while fishing)

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun! - StH #14 (When Robotnik tries to capture Sally and Bunnie he finds out just how tough women can be)

Ghost Busted - Sonic Super Special #8 (Sonic, Tails, and Antoine go on a camping trip and try to scare each other with ghost stories)

Rockin' the 'Bot! - StH #15 (Sonic saves a magical frog that gives him three power stones... only trouble is Sonic can't remember which stone grants which power)

What's the Big Idea? - StH #15 (The Freedom Fighters all try to guess what Rotor's newest invention will be)

Animal Magnetism - StH #15 (Robotnik tries to use a giant magnet to capture Bunnie)

Sonic Under Glass! - StH #16 (Robotnik traps the FFs in a virtual reality that grants their every wish)

The Man from H.E.D.G.E.H.O.G. - StH #16 (Upset that the FFs keep spoiling his plans, Robotnik decides to use a randomized wheel to decide his moves in the hopes that no one will be able to predict what he's up to. First Appearance of Harvey Who)

Gorilla Warfare/The Apes of Wrath - StH #17 (Robotnik travels to Skoal Island and finds one of his original bots: King Gong, a giant, 800 ton gorilla! He then sends the big ape to Mobotropolis to attack Sonic and the Freedom Fighters! But it seems that King Gong's interests lay instead with Sally…)

Wedding Bell Blues - StH #18 (Sonic and Sally are getting married! And Robotnik is here to crash the wedding, but not everything is as it seems...)

Princess Sally's Crusade - StH 17 & 18, & Sonic Special #1: In Your Face (When Sally's beloved teacher dies, she goes on a quest to find herself again. First Appearance of Nicole)

The Mirror Zone - SS #1 (Sonic and Tails get trapped in a zone where everything is backwards)

Tails' Tallest Tale - SS #1 (Tails is invited to a convention to give a speech. He brags about his exploits to the audience until the real Robotnik shows up and Tails has to fight him alone)

Everything Old is Newt Again - Sonic the Hedgehog Archives #5 (Universalamander returns!)

Night of 1,000 Sonics - StH #19 (All of the Sonics across the multiverse have to team up to stop Robo-Robotnik from conquering all universes)

That's the Spirit - StH #20 (Everyone believes that Sonic has died in an explosion inside Robotnik's lab, including Sonic himself!)

The Three Phases of E.V.E. - StH #21 (Robotnik builds an unbeatable robot that can think for itself and evolve)

The Return - StH #22 (Believing Robotnik to be dead, Snively accidentally sets off the self destruct protocols which orders all of his robots to rampage till nothing is left of Mobius... and the only person who can stop the end of the world is... Robotnik back from the dead)

Tails' Knighttime Story! - StH #22 (In an attempt to get Tails to sleep, Sally tells Tails the story of Sir Runalot and Mortail to convince Tails that Sonic’s life is filled with danger and hard work, not fun and excitement.)

Ivo Robotnik, Freedom Fighter! - StH #23 (When the FFs and Robotnik get kidnapped by an alien scientist, they have to team up together to get back home)

The Vol-Ant-Teer - StH #23 (Tails has left a power ring in Robotropolis without Sonic knowing. Antoine being the showoff he is decides to retrieve it, but Bunnie comes along to help. First Kiss)

Deadliest of the Species - StH 20 & Sally Miniseries: 1-3 (Sally is training new recruits when she meets master spy Geoffrey St. John and together they uncover Robotnik's plot to replace her with a robot duplicate)

When Hedgehogs Collide - StH 24 (Anti-Sonic and the Suppression Squad crossover into Mobius and pretend to be the real FFs in an effort to undermine they're good counterparts reputations)

Go Ahead... Mecha My Day - StH 25 Robotnik builds his deadliest creation yet, Metal Sonic! And he kidnaps Sonic's pen pal, Amy Rose, to use as bait to lure him into a trap)

[resonanteye]

renfield: please ffs listen to me, I don't want to be a wolf instead of a lamb

[enberlight]

[ID: White text on grey background reads: Dracula: June 18. Back to Renfield! (Uploaded 9 hr ago) Dr. Seward's Diary. End ID.]

I'm going to leave the Dr. Seward and Renfield entries behind a readmore and tag those characters in these posts going forward. (I'll have them tagged retroactively after this post.)

This is for those who want to skip the psychiatric hospital stuff. I don't know how bad it's going to get. But this entry also has spiders so, that's one of my common caution tags too.

As an aside I find this entry Odd rather than Alarming or Disturbing.

Today we're back with Dr. Seward for a short entry about his patient Renfield. I have to assume that both of them are quite bored. Renfield still has his flies, but the numbers are dropping, as promised... because he now has pet spiders. He's also luring in more flies for the spiders with his food, so I don't think he'll be getting to zero flies soon.

I don't have a good read on Seward yet, but I would venture he's not bothering with activity options for his patients. Just staring at them and making conjectures and interrogations so far. Of course they're going to get odd hobbies. Get them some books and a garden ffs.

[howlingdemon13]

Actually, I think I will scream about it. You didn't think your resident horror-enthusiast/vampire expert/occult dabbler was going to let this thing go, did you? The movie has been out since August, so I don't feel the need to tag this with spoilers. Consider this your warning.

Angry rambles ahead.

Overall, I'm always happy to get a Dracula/vampire-centric film. I really enjoyed Renfield and I was excited to get a more horror/thriller film about my favorite villain in literature. Is the movie bad? No. I liked the main protagonist a lot and I think the tension-building was actually pretty solid for the most part. I also really liked the monster design. It’s obviously very Nosferatu, but I did get Van Helsing vampire vibes from it, so that was a treat. The Demeter wrecking in Whitby is very minor, cut-and-dry plot point, but one that I think was mostly handled well and I'm glad that this film was made because it's been a long time since we've had any vampire films where the vampires are actually scary (and not in a hitting on teenagers kind of scary). The ending didn't really make much sense in the context of the source material, but it didn't really annoy me as much as other aspects of the film did. It's no secret that this film is heavily inspired by Alien, which is another one of my favorites, and I think that framework for bringing The Demeter to life was a good one (people stuck on a ship with a monster). Also, they went pretty hard with the deaths tbh.

Oh, and the instances where Dracula can manipulate people he’s bitten! I think people forget the mind link between Dracula and Mina, so I’m glad that the “thrall” ability was used here. I'll get the biggest nitpick out of the way. Fucking hate the CG blood in this movie and the overreliance on CG for Dracula in general. From what I can see online, Dracula's actor is in full makeup/prosthetics. Okay, cool, so why does it look completely CG in the final cut??? This isn't to say that CG always looks bad, but this is Dreamworks. You had a makeup department that put hours of work into a really cool monster design, and you went and over did it in post. And going back to the blood... It looks like tomato soup. Like, I'm not buying that these characters are bleeding. Idk if the fake blood just looks like that or if they did something in post that lightened it, but it took me out. Again, this is a vampire film. How do you fuck up blood in a vampire film?

The ship and environments looked pretty solid though. Can’t complain. Now that that's out of the way, on to vampire lore and the worldbuilding as established in the source material. I have the book opened next to me. Be afraid. I should point out that Bram Stoker's characterization of Eastern Europeans in his book are... not good. Stoker never set foot in the country and got most of his info regarding East. Euro. folklore and culture from books (riddled with stereotypes, of course). That is to say, I'm relying on death of the author here, and I am willing to give him a bit of grace here. Not a lot though. He's contributed to me having to encounter the G-slur on a regular basis. And that brings me to Anna. In the books, Dracula has control over/has made an agreement with the local villagers (specifically the Roma community, but I don’t have the spoons to get into that rn). Anyway, I don't buy that she doesn't know that Dracula is a vampire. She says that the people of her village fear Dracula and that she and other women have been offered to him as food. He drinks her blood ffs. It's clear in the text that the locals suspect that Dracula is a vampire or liken him to one. The term “nosferatu” is also used in early chapters since this region of Romania has a large German population dating back to at least the 1300s. A few other Slavic words for evil entities are used to describe Dracula by the townsfolk, but stregoica specifically is used and defined as "witch". Which isn't wrong, but if you know me, the word we're after is strigoi. A creature or spirit that feeds off of the energy or blood of a living person. Vampire. Much of what we associate with vampires today comes from the Romanian version of the vampire. Use it. Please for the love of god use it.

(I write lore-accurate Castlevania fics and my family is from Satu Mare. I promise you I know what I'm talking about).

All of that is to say that Anna would definitely know that Dracula is a strigoi (or would liken him to one based on his behavior), and that she would probably know how to kill him. Would making Anna knowledgeable about Dracula's nature perpetuate multiple stereotypes? Yes, I am 100% willing to admit that. However, in the worldbuilding of a fictional story which the film is using as its framework, it falls in line with the text no matter how we feel about it. The folklore surrounding strigoi is very much still alive in some ways in Romania even today. In rural areas, sure, but alive nonetheless. And, if you want to avoid the stereotypes completely, you didn't even have to write her in. Aside from being given to Dracula by her village as a food source (which I think perpetuates some pretty gnarly stereotypes by itself), she doesn't really give the other characters useful info aside from "Dracula drinks blood" (which is already evident in Dracula draining animal corpses) and "he's a monster but not an animal" (which doesn't really help/would have been figured out eventually - not that it matters because the point is that everyone on the ship is supposed to die). Basically, I feel like her lacking any real knowledge about Dracula makes zero sense in the worldbuilding established in the book and the film, and her even being there if she did ends up being needless anyway since everyone dies. It's compelling when characters are faced with a creature that they know nothing about. That's why Alien is so good.

And, no, I don’t think she’s a bad character. She kind of reminded me of Anna Valerious but more of a lowkey badass. I just wish they had given her either more knowledge about Dracula or just had her as a stowaway who gets bitten early on (it wouldn’t really change the plot too much).

Also, the rosary not working? I know the captain is found tied to the wheel on the ship clutching a rosary in the book, but he wouldn’t have been able to shield himself effectively with it, so that checks out. Movie has no excuse for how that sequence was written.

That’s all I can tell about without my brain exploding. Thanks for sticking with this dumpster fire.

trying not to scream and yell about the last voyage of the demeter (which i know i'm very late to)

[cherryqueenoftarts]

I do not, I confess, recall much of anything about Renfield in either of the adaptations of Dracula I have encountered. But I'm pretty sure he wasn't beaten to death as he attempted to defend Mina.

I am flabbergasted.

In the school play I was in, he was comic relief and survived. In Coppola's movie... I don't remember. Does anyone know what happens to him? Does he sacrifice himself for Mina??

I'm so totally floored.

I always thought he was an evil character. He wants to eat cats ffs. I did NOT see this coming.

[linguisticparadox]

VAN HELSING EVERYONE:

...as you can see, many...liberties are taken with the original story.

Okay so I found a really corny childrens series where these two kids get zapped into classic books and the first one is with Dracula and this line fucking MURDERED me

GODDAMMIT JONATHAN FOCUS!!!