#spartacus fandom

[conjcosby]

Stardate: 202311.10 ▫ What if Spartacus was set in the Star Trek universe? 😊🖖 @manubennett @ellenhollman @reallucylawless @vivabianca @craigparkeractual @spartacusofficial @startrek #andywhitfield #spartacus #manubennett #crixus #ellenhollman #saxa #lucylawless #lucretia #vivabianca #ilithyia #craigparker #claudiusglaber #spartacusseries #spartacusfan #spartacusfans #spartacusfandom #spartacusfanart #startrek #startrekfan #startrekfans #startrekfandom #startrekfanart #fanart #friday #fridays #fanartfriday #fanartfridays #fanart_friday #fanart_fridays

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[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

Game: Guess the show based solely on gifs from the actors’ other roles

(And no, I’m not even gonna give the actors’ names in the tags. You must figure out who the actor is and what show I’m referring to based only on the gifs)

[totallyboatless]

People are interacting with my Spartacus posts

Do you know what you’re doing

I’m on the verge of writing meta analysis don’t do this to me stop encouraging me

[pameluke]

Apparently there's going to be a Spartacus sequel?

[raydiantdmg]

Singed is Max from the saddle club.

You guys know the titular ‘Saddle-Club’™️, the tv and movie series from the early 2000’s, the original horse girl media,

You know, the guy that plays the hot ranch-hand crush of every horse girls childhood dreams? Is Singed. He is Singed

The bastard supreme and arcane’s least favorite madscientist dadfail Singed, is Pine Hollow stable’s barn manager Maximillion Regnery, and they are both played by Australian actor & thespian extraordinaire Brett Tucker.

Who. was going to tell me Singed is max from the saddle club?

[be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie]

Going to the P!nk concert taught me that my fandom brainrot is so bad that now I can't go to a simple concert anymore without only being able to think of that rinney/brance/biffin The Black Phone (2022) fic where Robin, Griffin, and Vance are in a famous band called The Ghost Boys and Robin brings Finney on stage to reveal him as his boyfriend and sings at him, and also Billy is a famous reporter despite not yet having graduated from bOSTON UNIVERSITY and gets the first ever interview with The Ghost Boys through the nepotism of being Finney's roommate, and Bruce is also a hot famous model who also lives with them and I'm unclear as to if he's also going to BU. Also that Finney was famous online under the pseudonym Angel as Robin's boyfriend and the only people that seemed to know who he was were The Ghost Boys, and two random famous people that lived with Finney. How no one figured Finney out before that is bEYOND ME.

But yeah all I can think of every concert now is how entertaining it would be for the celebrity to bring out a surprise boyfriend in a leather skirt and sit them on a stool and sing at them. Imagine if that's what Shawn Mendes did at his next concert or something, that is so fucking funny. Love that fic, it was endlessly entertaining.

[aliensamba]

Share blanket and see yourself warmed. Your teeth threaten to shake from head. As do mine.

[immortalmuses]

For @mlfns, continued from here

ㅤㅤㅤJupiter's cock, when Nasir casts such a fucking look, Agron finds he cannot help himself. The Gladiator's body stirs and his resolve weakens, and before he knows it the Syrian ends up getting whatever it is that he wishes. Agron scowls, even as he grips Nasir's hips and pulls him flush against his larger frame.

ㅤㅤㅤ"You do this deliberately--" He gripes, one large hand sweeping a greedy touch along the bared skin above Nasir's subligaria, palming at the defined back muscles lining the shorter warrior's spine. "-- tempt me with look and… and lips.." Said lips are very distractingly parted at the moment, and Agron is quickly losing the train of thought that led to his outrage.

ㅤㅤㅤFucking Syrians, He thinks, mouth crashing down over Nasir's own in a scathing kiss. Ignoring the raucous laughter of the rebel camp around them, Agron bodily lifts his lover against him, turning to carry him somewhere… private.

ㅤㅤㅤ"We are not done having words…" He mutters into the curve of Nasir's shoulder, eventhough it very much seems like conversation is not foreseeable in their near future.

[meganmoonlight]

I was tagged by @impalachick some time ago, and it took me a long while to actually make sure I’m happy with my answers 😂 So, here is the meme.

Eight shows to get to know me

Answers in an alphabetical order:

1. Brooklyn Nine-Nine 2. Heartstopper 3. Our Flag Means Death 4. Schitt's Creek 5. Sense8 6. Spartacus 7. Star Trek: The Original Series 8. The Untamed

I tag: @lovetourmaline, @lordnochybaty, @illusivesoul, @dark-alice-lilith, and everyone else who wants to do it.

[seriouslycromulent]

I have to admit that in a showdown between Alex Walker from Almost Paradise and Gannicus from Spartacus, I'm torn over who to root for.

[rolandapostatize]

Lucy Lawless as Lucretia in Spartacus: Blood and Sand episode 9 / Sphinx head from an acroterion from the temple of Apollon Ismenios in Thebes, 6th century BC (Louvre inventory number CA 637)

[kreatief]

tag drop general

[chocolatepot]

No, I think you're right. Fandom just has the hardest time thinking outside of rules for characterization and stereotypes -- we go from "the smaller/prettier/weepier one is the uke and the bigger/butcher one is the seme" to "actually, if the smaller one bottoms it's because you're INFECTED with HETERONORMATIVITY and feel the need to pick one to be the woman!" and "the rule is that the one that seems more masc/bigger bottoms and is more femme because that's subversive". People are less wanky about it now but there was a solid decade where the pinnacle of media criticism in fandom was distilling a character (particularly female characters) down to a trope and then condemning them/their writers for being/writing a stereotypical character, because someone made a rule that Being Able To Relate A Character To A Trope Is Bad.

I'm not really familiar with Spartacus fandom, but I've watched this play out in OFMD, especially after the first season. Stede is obviously the softer, more flamboyant and femme one while Ed is physically more capable and has an extremely masc presentation, so there was initially a lot of fic in the stereotypical Old Fandom vein of femme=uke/masc=seme. And then people started to point out the lack of nuance, how Ed was so frequently being cast as the protector of poor helpless Stede, how this warped their characterization in other ways, and a chunk of the fandom went, "oh! okay!" and shifted completely to the other side For Great Justice. Don't you know that you need to portray Ed as helplessly waiting for Stede to take care of all of his problems? That's fighting against the stereotypes! (Never mind the new potholes you're driving into.)

No nuance, it's not about adding nuance, it's about finding the right rule to follow. To some extent it comes down to talent at handling characterization, but it's also about deliberately ignoring that in favor of writing the tropes people think are Right, whether that's right as in "what everyone else seems to be doing" or as in "what someone has argued is morally superior".

Is anyone else noticing headcanons about which character is the top and which is the bottom in mlm pairings is straying away from subverting expectations by having the more “effeminate” dude top and is getting dangerously close/crossing the line into “being a bottom is inherently effeminate in and of itself so we can’t put the effeminate character in that position because it’s insulting” ?

It feels like it’s calculating Masculinity Points and determining top/bottom roles from there based on what would “subvert expectations” most just for the sake of it instead of considering what would influence a character’s psychosexual behavior

Like right now I’m thinking about Spartacus (bc these days I’m always thinking about Spartacus) and (granted, years old) discourse about how Nasir should have been a top bc it’s insulting to assume the smaller, “more feminine” long haired guy would bottom

Except if you think about his character for more than a few minutes, that makes zero sense *at all*. Firstly, Nasir has a beautiful arc around his relationship with masculinity and anger, and finding ways to become empowered through getting stronger and learning to fight

As a trans dude, his arc means a lot to me personally

So when I see people insinuating that him bottoming takes away from the relationship he forms with traditional expression of masculinity, I find it pretty frustrating and honestly kind of insulting

Okay we’re here, I’m writing Spartacus meta for 10 people on this site I guess. Here’s my analysis of Nasir’s and Agron’s psychosexual motivations that would lead to their particular dynamic:

Nasir:

- a sex slave when we meet him, but the *only* evidence we have from the text itself is his Dominus asking to be fucked *by* Nasir. Sure it’s fair to assume bottoming could have happened in turn, but all fic I’ve read ignores the truth that the only concrete info we have on what was asked of Nasir is him being forced to top

- related, this is a man who has only ever known what it is to serve other people sexually, never allowed a passive role of receiving pleasure (even if he was bottoming, his experience still comes from an active place of service)

Does this not sound like a man that would get pleasure from allowing someone to take a leading role focusing on pleasuring him? Someone who would find comfort in being allowed to turn his brain off?

Agron:

- a man whose entire motivation when we first meet him is taking care of his brother (I AM NOT GOING IN INCEST DIRECTION—I know that’s a fandom thing but personally I get squicked by incest, and psychosexual behavior is often influenced by things that aren’t themselves inherently sexual). When his brother dies, Agron goes off the rails. He’s lost a sense of purpose. Even as aggressive as he can be, ultimately his core is to be a caretaker, and so when he loses that outlet he becomes the most violent shadow of himself

- Until Nasir, his only outlet for caretaking was violence. With Nasir, he finds an ability to express his caretaking desires through another form of passionate physicality: topping

Does that not sound like a dude who would specifically find pleasure in being in control of giving someone else pleasure? Does this not sound like a service top?

All this to say, I do get it when people want writers to think outside of stereotypical optics of “who tops and who bottoms” in male relationships. But some people are telling on themselves by still boiling men down into strict roles that can be dismissive of character motivations in the name of progressive writing that ultimately misses the mark in a similar way

I’m dancing around TMI, but it’s empowering for me to see characters I relate to forming relationships to masculinity that isn’t “diminished” by enjoying a “feminine” sexual position. So i’m likely projecting a lot, but this is my lived truth as a queer man. I’m curious if other people relate.

Thank u

[exit]

Bonus:

Like COME ON

[hatereadings]

Throne of Glass

So I first found out about this series because these ACoTaR recaps I was reading mentioned that Sarah J Maas had a previous fantasy series that came out, and the protagonist was an assassin who didn't even kill anyone in the first book. You can check out the recaps here, if you're interested in other people's hate-reads.

The author of those recaps was so appalled by ACoTaR that she's probably never going to read another SJM book, which means that the burden of recapping them has sadly fallen to... well, people who enjoyed the recaps in general, but I think I'm the only one actually willing to do this to myself.

So, here goes! I'm going to start with Throne of Glass, because it was published first, but actually mainly because it's the most readily available at my library (If I have to return it, I might switch to The Assassin's Blade for a bit).

The dedication page is

To all my readers from FictionPress--for being with me at the beginning and staying long after the end. Thank you for everything.

This honestly made me curious enough to look things up, and, whaddya know, this book was originally a story on FictionPress! In 2012, peak fandom, so... credit where it's due, clearly some of us who were on FictionPress back then felt catered to.

That reminds me - I know these books are intended for teenage girls, and I'm going to do my best to respect that and view them from that lens. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that audience or what they need or want to be reading at that time in their lives.

That said, even WITH that caveat, there's going to be a lot of shit to talk about, so buckle up.

Chapter 1

RIGHT AWAY, I have issues with the worldbuilding.

After a year of slavery in the Salt Mines of Endovier, Celaena Sardothien was accustomed to being escorted everywhere in shackles and at sword-point. Most of the thousands of slaves in Endovier received similar treatment--though an extra half-dozen guards always walked Celaena to and from the mines.

How on EARTH is this economical?! If someone is genuinely SO DANGEROUS that they need SIX GUARDS to accompany them everywhere -- how does it make ANY sense to put them to work in a mine?!?!?!

I'm going to ignore the fact that a white author is writing about slavery, because... it was 2012; a lot of us are guilty of Spartacus fanfic. We know better now, is the important part.

That was to be expected by Adarlan's most notorious assassin.

Okay. Some people have pointed out in the past that it doesn't make sense for assassins to be famous. I think that's something that's safe to gloss over in this sort of YA, though. I mean, what teenage girl hasn't wanted to be some kind of universally feared physical badass, whether that's an assassin or a mercenary or a serial killer? It's fine.

Still, if she's really so dangerous and such a Big Deal, then... again, why is she in the mines??? Why isn't she in an impenetrable cell somewhere??? You're literally paying SIX EXTRA full-time workers just to stand around watching her when they could be used to do, idk, anything else? Guarding the royal family, guarding the treasury, going to war against your enemies? This is like... Kingsguard level of security. Not something you'd want to spend on a prisoner.

There's a "hooded man in black" walking next to her. Does this sound like an executioner, or is that just me?

Apparently they take an unnecessarily circuitous route, going around and around in circles because the guy in charge... idk, wants to disorient Celaena? Even though she's been living there for a year? I really hope the people guarding her are supposed to be idiots, so she can seem like a badass genius in comparison; if this is the level of intelligence we're working with throughout the book, I don't know what's going to sustain me through this read.

The guy in the hood apparently introduced himself as Chaol Westfall, Captain of the Royal Guard, and she overheard that when she first saw him. Which might've been nice to include when we, the readers, first see him, but whatever. Apparently he's hiding his face from her to try and intimidate her, which has "five-year-old-boy-tries-to-scare-you-by-donning-a-frankenstein-mask" energy.

Celaena doesn't know why he's come to get her. She notices that her clothes are nearly rags and that her skin is dirty, and reflects that she used to be beautiful. Again, this feels more like YA convention than an actual, realistic response someone would have to being forced to mine salt for a year. Like, I can get having that response to suddenly seeing a bunch of non-miners and feeling the contrast between their clean clothes and your filthy rags, but having that just pop up idly while you're walking around your prison? It's a very hamfisted way of trying to stick in a bit of physical description at the beginning. And we get a full physical description later on, so why even bother?

"You're a long way from Rifthold, Captain," she said, clearing her throat. "Did you come with the army I heard thumping around earlier?" She peered into the darkness beneath his hood but saw nothing. Still, she felt his eyes upon her face, judging, weighing, testing. She stared right back. The Captain of the Royal Guard would be an interesting opponent. Maybe even worthy of some effort on her part.

Personally I would have added a line break after that quote, but that might just be a stylistic choice. I don't really have any bones to pick with the writing here; it seems like this is serving the wish fulfillment that a lot of the target audience really wants - a protagonist so deadly that no one is any match for them. Maybe for a more jaded audience, they'd think, "Mary Sue," and toss the book aside, but we embrace earnest enthusiasm here.

Oh, it'd be nice to see his blood spill across the marble.

Please don't tease. I know there isn't going to be any murder in this book. I can't take the false hope.

She'd lost her temper once before--once, when her first overseer chose the wrong day to push her too hard. She still remembered the feeling of embedding the pickax into his gut, and the stickiness of his blood on her hands and face. She could disarm two of these guards in a heartbeat. Would the captain fare better than her late overseer? Contemplating the potential outcomes, she grinned at him again. "Don't you look at me like that," he warned, and his hand drifted back toward his sword.

Okay, offscreen kill, but maybe I should try to be content with these crumbs.

They passed a series of wooden doors that she'd seen a few minutes ago. If she wanted to escape, she simply had to turn left at the next hallway and take the stairs down three flights. The only thing all the intended disorientation had accomplished was to familiarize her with the building. Idiots.

Celaena gets annoyed when Chaol won't talk to her, which is... kind of dumb? I mean, did you expect him to? You guys are enemies. Just keep up a one-sided banter like a normal prisoner and stop complaining.

She contemplates escape some more, then decides that it'd be too much trouble, so she'll wait. It's very convenient that all the guards are idiots; they've been walking so long that Celaena has the opportunity to infodump some worldbuilding on us. We learn that the kingdom they're in is called Adarlan, and it sends poor people, criminals, and "latest conquests" into the salt mines of Endovier, which looks something like the jail in Les Mis, with misery and whips cracking and all the stereotypical nonsense. Again, this is from over a decade ago; this shit would not fly today. That's not how you handle a discussion of slavery in this country.

Adarlan has banned magic, and anyone accused of practicing gets sent to Endovier.

Eyllwe is apparently a country that's at war with Adarlan, still resisting its rule, and any captured Eyllwe folks also get sent to Endovier. Okay, so... I know Rome did this too, but this is sounding less like Rome and more like Nazi Germany, with the work camps for prisoners. Maas is apparently of Jewish descent, so I'm not going to weigh in on whether that's a problem.

Celaena mentions that she was "betrayed and captured" one night and sent to this place, and then pivots to thinking about whether she's finally going to be executed. I mean, it would make sense; those 6 guards' paychecks have probably cost the crown a tidy amount over the past year.

At last, they stopped before a set of red-and-gold glass doors so thick that she couldn't see through them.

That is a ridiculously fancy door for a mine. Why.

They try to pull Celaena through, she's convinced they're here to kill her and resists, but they pull her in anyway. Uhhhh... what happened to

She could disarm two of these guards in a heartbeat.

?

I remember the inconsistency in ACoTaR. Wasn't expecting it to show up so early here, though.

A glass chandelier shaped like a grapevine occupied most of the ceiling, spitting seeds of diamond fire onto the windows along the far side of the room.

Okay, that's actually a really pretty description. I'd go as far as to say that 'spitting seeds of diamond fire' is genuinely a good turn of phrase. That said...

WHY IS THIS IN A SALT MINE?!?!?!?!

Compared to the bleakness outside those windows, the opulence felt like a slap to the face. A reminder of how much they profited from her labor.

Ah. For symbolism.

In case you were wondering, no, that's not a good enough reason. It makes no sense with the worldbuilding. Why on earth would ANYONE choose to build something so fancy here. Nobody just spends their time thinking, "I'm feeling very evil today. What exceptionally evil project can I spend a great deal of money on to show off just how evil I am? I know! I'll build an opulent room next to a slave pit!"

Also? Nobody is profiting from your labor, Celaena. I don't know how much salt costs, but every day you work costs your overseers a day's wages for each of SIX GUARDS. I don't think there's much profit being turned here.

The captain shoves her in, there's more guards, and then

On an ornate redwood throne sat a handsome young man. Her heart stopped as everyone bowed.

Ah. The love interest.

She was standing in front of the Crown Prince of Adarlan.

And that's the chapter hook!

Two questions:

How did they get the throne in there? I can't tell if it's more ridiculous if they literally had to build a new fancy room with a throne when they heard the prince was coming, or if the prince's entourage carries a giant throne with him wherever he goes so he can sit in it, OR if every single building in Adarlan has to have a Throne Room of sufficient grandeur just in case the Crown Prince decides to stop by. There's just no good explanation for this. (Although from a different perspective, there are only good explanations for this)

We literally just heard an infodump about how Adarlan is a toxic power. Are they really trying to make it believable that one of the leaders of this country is a decent enough dude to be a love interest?

So far, this feels like even more of a mess than ACoTaR was. I'm curious to know if that gets any better over the course of this book, or if it's somehow all downhill from here.

(next chapter)

[immortalmuses]

something that makes me think of Agron:

and Nasir (fucking hell, his name rhymes!)

LMAO YES!

Truly Agron and Nasir are the literal definitions of Gladius Gay and Spear Queer. We are blessed.

[thenameswinter99]

Ashur may have won the battle, but not the war.

Ngl, I’ll watch and enjoy the show still.

look i think nick e. tarabay is the hottest man alive. i will enjoy this series. but what the fuck