#so. like. whimsical goth pastel steampunk.

[sophieswundergarten]

At least one plot point is devoted to the children being taught/deciphering on their own a code of some sort. Sometimes more than one.

Similar to the Good Guys = Library point, the heroic adults will often impart sage wisdom or disguised messages to the children/orphans through literary quotes or adages using big words. Bad Guys either communicate in very obscure quotes or things they have made up that they say like quotes.

The bad guy does a very dramatic dance at one point in a (mostly) empty room while one of his accomplices watches/tries not to be involved.

There's a guy named "Phil"

The aforementioned specially powered baby/toddler is enrolled in an academy/learning institute through likely illegal means due to being underage.

The main antagonist gives himself a new name (either once or several times) that is often a pun or some type of joke/pun that embodies his Theater Kid archetype.

There is a male main character orphan with glasses and a specific interest in books/skill at memorization.

Food is used by the villians as an element of control, either by manipulating people they offer food to, or by forcing other people to make them food.

The organization the main antagonist is associated with is concerningly cavalier about using the kidnapping of children as a way to gain new members of their group. (Differentiating them from the good guys, who give the children options, for the most part)

Characters either read/write newspapers, to some degree of plot importance, despite some technology being used that seems to indicate a time period that would not spend as much time on newspapers.

Birds are used to send messages to the main character orphans.

Not exactly genre stuff, but:

The Ten Men actually burn down a library, though I'm unsure if a specific public library was listed as being burned in ASOUE.

Both tv series series share Tony Hale/Asia Au-Yeung/Emily Delahunty as actors.

I don’t know what the word is for the kind of environment ASOUE (A Series of Unfortunate Events) and TMBS (The Mysterious Benedict Society) have, but it needs a name (quirky fantasy? Neurodivergent fiction? Idk…) but I’ve noticed enough people say they are similar, and I want to make this genre a thing. Here are some similarities I noticed that I believe describe the genre well:

• the adults are almost all neurodivergent and/or traumatized and no, they’re not handling it well. Especially the villains. • Most (if not all) of the children are either child genius or bully archetypes. Most will be neurodivergent as well. Bonus points if their neurodivergence and story arcs parallel the adults.

•People dress like they are either going to a funeral during the Great Depression, a church service on Easter Sunday, boarding school, a fancy cocktail party, or like the concept of neon/highlighter threw up on them

•everyone has a tragic backstory. Everyone. Even the quirky side kick who only has a few lines. At least one of those few lines will suggest something awful happened to them.

• Orphans

• Villain has to have that one person he/she cares about to show that maybe they do have a heart after all (awe). Examples might include an ex-girlfriend or adopted kid

•the heroes and villains have tons of cool tech and inventions that we can only dream of (e.g., mind control), but despite all these smart characters with a knack for inventing, no one can make a smart/cellular/mobile phone. It’s their one weakness. Everyone has to use landlines. Everyone. This weakness (which affects all characters in this genre, villains and heroes) is super useful, especially when a character needs to make a call, but the writers don’t want them too, one can simply have them frantically search for a phone to no avail, or have a villain cut the phone lines and there’s nothing anyone can do about it

• some characters require such bland underacting that the character’s voice and expression remain almost completely neutral throughout the whole show no matter what happens. Other characters will require the hammiest most overacted performance of a lifetime such that any minor inconvenience that befalls their character (e.g., having to wait 5 minutes) might as well be the end of the world (personal side note: the second one is a dream role for me)

•whimsical travel. Like in a trolley, blimp, hot air balloon, old timey steam train, submarine, or some contraption someone made out of spare parts

• the villain has some personal connection to the heroes, whether it’s a close connection (e.g., being their adopted uncle) or a distant one (e.g., being their mother’s ex’s sister’s former love interest)

•secret societies and organizations that are cool with employing children (or at least allowing it). It’s considered ok/necessary when the good guys do it, very bad when the bad guys do it. The kids in the bad guy organization can either be groomed victims out to grab their redemption arcs (SQ, our boy), or one dimensional bullies (looking at you Carmelita and Book Martina).

• a genius toddler/baby with a special power that can range from super strong teeth to being psychic

• Twins or triplets are not only characters in the show, but the fact that they are part of a set of multiples will be important for the plot somehow (e.g., the Benedict brothers, the quagmire triplets, the denouement triplets, whatever Jillson/Jackson are)

• There are dramatic flashbacks to character’s tragic pasts to show the audience where it all when wrong.

• Few, if any adults, are truly both mentally stable and living in reality. I know I covered this on my “neurodivergent that’s not well adjusted” bullet point, but it seems important enough to repeat

• The villains are theater kids. Whether they used to overact performances at the orphanage and now do magic tricks for their captives, or use their old theater group as henchmen(and women), they live for the dramatic arts

• the villains were at one point told (either by critics or unimpressed parents looking to adopt) that they weren’t that good at theater, which increased their motivation to either join an evil organization, or pursue a STEM or business degree to begin their own evil organization. This has increased their mental instability as they still try to incorporate the dramatic arts into their villainy and waste a lot of time that could be spent plotting things figuring out how to make their villainy more theatrical

• when the heroes try to tell people the villain is evil, no one believes them

• despite fighting literal children, the villains are not juvenile and present serious threats (murder/world domination)

• despite the previous 2 points, the villains are repeatedly defeated by orphan children with an assist from the villain’s own hubris/stupidity

• musical numbers are involved, even if they are flashback staged performances those count

•villain’s side kicks still roll with him/her despite the abuse to the point where the audience genuinely wants better for them and want more information about them and their tragic past (but their stories usually won’t really be focused on, heck they might even be written out completely. With a few exceptions of course)

• we’ve already discussed that the kids are “genius or bully” types but more broadly the characters are also “books or theater” good guys love books and libraries, bad guys love drama and the theater. We’ve covered the bad guy = theater connection, so focus on the books/reading = good guy connection. The good guys will constantly hang out around libraries, have libraries in their house, be librarians, be friends with librarians, etc. someone (either a bully or villain) is obligated to make fun of one of the good guys for reading at least once. This also implies that a theatrical character who loves reading would be perfect for an antihero or morally grey character.

• the time the story takes place is very vague, but has elements of fashion, cars, and style that suggest the 1950’s-2000’s or more generally sometime in the 20th/21st century

Feel free to add to this list