#skulduggery pleasant playing with fire

[nicstylus]

Playing with Fire

Side by Side-ish

Completed: April 20th 2024

[princess-serah]

Skullduggery Pleasant Book 2 (Playing with Fire) fancast:

Liam Cunningham as Baron Vengeous

Robert Pattinson as Dusk

Tom Hiddleston as Springheeled Jack

Boyd Holbrook as Billy-Ray Sanguine

Bill Nighy as Kenspeckle Grouse

No picture because of post limits:

Colin Farrel as Thurid Guild

David Bradley as The Torment

[lyorofthequill]

Based off of a HC I have. Where it was Baron who raised Billy-Ray more then Scarab did. Baron Dadgeous.

[greykolla-art]

Had a good day! What a nice change of pace.😂

Im still waiting for my order of book 13, 14, 15 and 16-ish to get to me! Gah!

Meanwhile I’m listening to Playing With Fire, the only book I don’t have a physical copy of. So unlike the others, I don’t remember a lot of what happened.

I’m so enjoying Val being a little feisty 13 year old. And I feel like Skulduggery is being more lightheartedly silly with her than the later books.

It’s cute! 😁💗

…But I have the knowledge of the next 12 books, I know things get….progressively less silly.🫣

[itsdumbbitchhours]

most unrealistic part abt the faceless ones is that billy-ray knew who batu was and didn't let it slip to ANYONE. if there's one thing that man's gonna do its talk.

remember how in playing with fire springheeled jack wasn't supposed to know anything but he had one conversation with billy-ray who by the end of it had let slip the exact location of the grotesquery. batu wouldn't have been a secret until the end with that man around and I stand by that

[billygaysanguine]

ok i will allow myself one complaining post actually. book 5 - 9 scapegrace feels like a different guy than books 2 - 4 scapegrace and not in a "character development" way more in a "derek forgot how to write him" way and it makes me sad because i feel like he got into a lot of genuienly interesting situations but we will never know how original scapegrace would have reacted to those situations because by the time we get to those parts he is just a hollowed-out husk of who he was established to be

[littledevilswaltz]

I have never understood people's fondness for pathetic characters in fiction until I started re-reading Skulduggery Pleasant and remembered that Vaurien Scapegrace exists.

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR SKULDUGGERY BOOK 2 (also spoilers for Avengers Endgame and JJK)

Chapter 1: Skulduggery and Valkyrie meet Scapegrace, don't take him seriously, kick his ass, and arrest him. The final paragraph:

Chapter 15: Scapegrace (SG), in POV, witnesses Skulduggery kill Valkyrie because the Tormentor ask him to in exchange for information.

Ncwaaa, you wanna be a serial killer? Bully for you! You follow your dreams, man! Don't let the scary skeleton man and 13-year-old girl stop you!

As a man who almost cries a lot from frustration, this is the representation I need😂Just imagine if any other Villain was written like that?

Endgame

Thanos gets bested by the avengers. Hobbles over into the fetal position and sobs.

Tony: I....

Thor: Is he really just....????

Steve: Yeah, um... I guess?????

JJK

Sukuna gets hit by Yuji's soul punches: Hey, that hurt! *Viciously fighting back tears with puffy eyes and sniffles*

Yuji: Hello????

Megumi *takes back over*: King of curses my ass, how did I let this dude take over my body???

I love Scapegrace being the most unserious gag Villain I've ever read. Please send me other books/series/movies with characters like this. I need more pathetic villains😂��😂

[ratmans-notebooks]

scene redraw will polish later 💪

[tamiyagantetsusai]

Found a copy of the Skulduggery Pleasant Grimoire! 🥺🖤💀

The cover is a bit damaged but it's a welcome addition the collection.

[nyx-b-log]

been another busy week so i've had less time to read than normal but sometimes that's just how it is 🤷‍♀️

finished skulduggery pleasant playing with fire and enjoyed it, of course. love whenever things that are going to be important later (which is more than i thought, actually) get casually dropped and i'm like a-ha! also have to give a shoutout to rupert degas' version of billy ray sanguine, was fucking fantastic. it hit all the right beats, definitely the way to experience the character.

the faceless ones (book three) isn't available until at least next week, so i tried a non-fiction book on magic but couldn't stand the person reading it so moved on to the girls are never gone by sarah glenn marsh. it's a YA horror about a girl who's started a ghost hunting podcast and goes up to investigate an old house in the middle of renovation and the mysterious drowning of a teenager 30 years earlier. there's also a wlw romance. it's okay so far, the insta-crush at the start was pretty egregious but other than that it's basically what i was expecting (which isn't necessarily a bad thing). the main character also has type-1 diabetes and how she handles it comes up fairly often, which is nice to see, and the love interest is of puerto rican descent.

the traitor baru cormorant continues (i'm honestly not that much further on from where i was. like i said, busy week) and i really do need to stress a content warning i sort of breezed over last time: there is on-page frequent homophobia, depictions of conversion therapy, and grappling with the direct impacts of colonialism. it's unpleasant (but well-written). bear that in mind before going in. on a lighter note it's also a book where you have to be paying attention, so maybe reading it in a way that's less spaced out than what i've been doing would be a better idea 😅

there's gonna be no new manga for a while (ace attorney investigations 2 has all of my attention rn) but! i ordered some books last week and they came the other day, so i now have (most of) jujutsu kaisen (v excited to get round to that) and the bonus mushishi story, which looks beautiful and i can't wait to read it. the picture isn't quite doing it justice

that's it for this week! things are back to normal next week, so hopefully i can get some more reading done!

[skulduggerypleasantfan2022]

Character Opinion Round Two Winner: Billy-Ray Sanguine

Baron: "Well done.....mole man"

Our personal hitman deluxe who aka is known to me as mole man (joke only) due to his adept magic allowing him to travel underground, through walls and people at his pleasure......We're first introduced to Billy-Ray in book two Playing with fire and he broke out Baron Vengeous from the goal containment facility and helped bring back the grotesquery (creepy bastard) Billy-Ray is also known for carrying a blade that when he cuts someone with it there scares never fully heal......taking the wounds go deeper than the skin meaning to a whole new level.

Billy-Ray never makes it clear to who and where his loyalties lie as we could see in Book Two and Book Four as he betrayed Baron in the main battle and his father also in a 'main battle' (well him really taking revenge) but then in later books such as The Dying Of The Light he saves tanith (no longer a remnant possessed) by literally burying through the black cleaver (while cleaver formally) and sadly dying so it makes you wonder what his true intentions have been all along.

I think Billy-Ray is just trying to live his life the best way he can....yeah, he's not making the best choices such as murder and other things alike but deep down he intents to fight for the winning cause and when he sees they are going to loose he ditches them as I chance of escaping.

Now, this is a headcannon I saw (headcannon doesn't belong to me) but it fits perfectly with my next topic.

Billy-Ray's relationship with his dad and Baron in Books Two and Four......So Book Two Billy-Ray seems to have a lot of respect and trust in baron and his plan despite not believing in the faceless ones but for the fact it was going to cause Skulduggery and Valkyire so much trouble.....but also I personally feel like Baron generally cared for Billy-Ray unlike the others whom he got bored with easily, so Baron to me is Billy-Rays unofficial adoptive father.

Now Billy-Ray's relationship woth his bio father....when his father first walks put of the goal he wished his father had died inside instead of living long enough to pass his time...no it isn't explained why Billy-Ray doesn't like his father but I theorise that sometime in his childhood his father wasn't the 'kind' and 'loving' father in the slightest....but as the book progressed he did enjoy seeing the expressions of Valkyire, the others and well the blank expression of skulduggery XD

In conclusion, Billy-Ray Sanguine.....you sink through the ground and see a hitman deluxe keep being you but please...STAY OUTTA TROUBLE!

[nicstylus]

An untied shoelace can be dangerous!

[monstermonsterman]

i LOVE POLLS

[whimsylueur]

SPOILERS FOR SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT (EVERY BOOK)

Since I have caught up with the entire series thus far I would like to provide some commentary in the form of incorrect quotes.

Skulduggery Pleasant Books 1-16, basically:

SP 1- Sceptre of the Ancients

Skulduggery:

Stephanie: You son of a bitch, I’m in

SP 2- Playing with Fire

Skulduggery to Derek: I’ve seen enough, give her Billy-Ray Sanguine.

SP 3- The Faceless Ones

Solomon to Valkyrie: I may have an idea to help you get Skulduggery back, all I want-

Valkyrie, already shaking his hand: Anything.

SP 4- Dark Days

Valkyrie, holding Skulduggery’s skull towards him: Need head?

(🚨🚨THIS IS A JOKE🚨🚨)

SP 5- Mortal Coil

Skulduggery, after Valkyrie spills the beans about Darquesse: (Quietly) Look at us, just two murderous peas in a pod.

Valkyrie: What was that?

Skulduggery: Huh?

SP 6- Death Bringer

Skulduggery to Lord Vile about Darquesse: Oh deuce, the silly goose is loose

SP 7- Kingdom of the Wicked

Kitana to Valkyrie: 6 feet of dirt would look good on you <3

SP 8- Last stand of Dead Men

Billy-Ray to Ghastly about Tanith: If she’s your girlfriend, why is she playing with my mullet?

SP 9- The Dying of the Light

Valkyrie to Skulduggery: I literally love you, you’re everything to me. Don’t do this

Skulduggery, after the most devious prank of the decade: Oh cheer up

SP 10- Resurrection

Valkyrie: It’s so over bros

SP 11- Midnight

Valkyrie: The dog in me has been euthanised

SP 12- Bedlam

Valkyrie: My favourite thing about me is my girlfriend

SP 13- Seasons of War

Valkyrie: WE ARE SO FUCKING BACK

SP 14- Dead or Alive

Valkyrie: Uh

Cadaver, hugging her tightly: Shhhh, I need this

SP 15- Until the End

Darquesse: Today, I’m a serious goose. (Revamps the entire fucking universe)

SP 16- A Mind Full of Murder

Skulduggery to Valkyrie: You mean the world to me. I love you, you make me strong.

Valkyrie: Cornyyyyy

[detective-inspector-her]

Militsa fights Vengeous.

The shadows moved at Vengeous’s command and Miss Sorrows twisted out of the way, the shadows skimming past and slashing into the car behind her. Militsa sent her own shadows towards the ends of the spiked darkness and held onto it, preventing it from returning to the armour. 

Miss Sorrow's laugh was birdsong. “If you want my advice, give it up. Lay down that ridiculous armour, put that Grotesquery thing out of its misery and walk back into that nice little cell they’re keeping for you.”

“I’m disappointed in you, China. The Faceless Ones are about to return and you could have been by their side.” He sent more shadows flying at Militsa and she had enough time to Shadow-Walk to the top of a pillar, narrowly avoiding being skewered. 

[musicals-and-mushrooms]

all i need is playing with fire (book 2) and i will have been able to get all of phase one of skulduggery pleasant from various second hand sources!!!