#starker theme

[starker-sorbet]

Married Artificer Tony and Druid Peter joining an adventuring party to go on a quest together

[katamaricolleague]

watched adolescence of utena and. i think i could write an overlong post arguing it's the plot of utena from anthys pov

[thestarkerisobvious]

OKAY I DID IT I WROTE THE THING I might publish it tonight

its so shiddy when u have to convince yourself to do your hobbies. like, its fun, you like it, why cant you just do it. do it. do it. but what if.... mindless media consumption instead....

[vaguekiwi]

Hiii! I’m a huge fan of yours!! Do you have any fics or anything where Tony is in love with Peter and he kidnaps him? Just lots of noncon with dark Tony?

Hi anon, I don't have any fics like that myself, but I love fics like that so let me see if I can recommend a few:

-My Doll by my friend @babybatscreationsv2 (this is a goddamn masterpiece I swear to god)

-Good Boys by my (same) friend @babybatscreationsv2

-The Deprivation series by my friend @tomandpeterthings (This series fundamentally changed me. I think her Cruel(ty) series has a similar theme, too? Though I haven't read it.)

-@lanyakea-universe has several incredible (and I mean stupendous) non-con verses (there's a SIM one that comes to mind, but I'm gonna link this mafia ficlet here.)

-If I may stray from the request and recommend some noncon Spiderio: see here, and here by @graceful-starker. (Also if someone can find me that one where Beck kidnaps Peter and keeps him in the back of a van and, like, pimps him out that would be lit.)

-Also tagging my friends @khalixascorner @the-mad-starker @starker1975 @authoressofdarkness and @starkerkitty who have probably either written something like what you're looking for OR will have recommendations for you 😘

[anonoite]

artwork i did for (@TNPT_industries on twitter), an offline exchange tnpt / starker event in the theme of the stark internship

[secfics]

my favourite starker fics, part 2

hi. for my second reclist in this blog, i put together more starker fanfics that i’ve been discovering lately and have made their way into my personal list of favourites that i re-read again and again. in no particular order and with some cw/dark themes here and there, here they come:

• pete’s eats; by bloodgutsandstarbucks (ao3) aka @darker-soft-starker, Teen and Up, 9’3k, oneshot

Peter having a YouTube channel where he just drinks wine and teaches people how to cook things if they live in a mediocre apartment. While cooking and drinking he just talks about stuff like memes and school and, most importantly, his undying thirst for Tony Stark.

• naturally; by ursafootprints (ao3) aka @ursafootprints, E, 16’3k, 3/3 chapters

"Mr. Stark," Peter whispered for the third time, his voice now airless where it had previously been rough from sleep. "Are you okay?"

Mr. Stark's thumb was slowly tracing back and forth over Peter's temple, but it stopped its trek as he finally took a deep breath, the first sign that he was really hearing what Peter was asking.

Voice rough with something other than sleep, Mr. Stark said, "No," and leaned in to kiss him.

Or: Unbeknownst to Peter, Tony gets dosed with sex pollen (sex serum?) on a mission, so he's nothing but thrilled when all his wet dreams about Mr. Stark suddenly start coming true-- until the morning after.

this app won’t let me add links to all of the titles for no reason so i’ll add extra links after the summary of the ones i wasn’t able to, here is the link:

• you’re not yet done; by ursafootprints (ao3) aka @ursafootprints, E, 166’7k, 14/14 chapters - cw: rape, bad guys made them do it

Tony didn't know what it would do to either of them, to play this out like a shadow cast by the real thing, real love and sex and intimacy. But it was what Peter was asking him for, so he did it.

In the aftermath of a traumatic abduction by a villain, Tony and Peter have to cope with their not-entirely-in-sync coping mechanisms, concerned family and friends, figuring out who exactly really arranged the whole thing, and their evolving feelings for each other.

link:

• the leash; by downjune, M, 30’2k, 2/2 chapters

Peter didn’t know if they talked to anyone else who carried them, but when he had the Infinity Gauntlet tucked under his arm, he could swear the stones were trying to…commune with him. They wanted something from him. Wanted to be used. He wanted to be rid of them.

Until he found Tony Stark leaned against some torn up tree roots and rock. He found Tony dying.

At that point, Peter was ready to bargain.

• velvet elvis; by orphan_account, M, 45’7k, 7/7 chapters

Peter just wants Tony to feel comfortable in Peter's new home. That's it. He totally has no ulterior motives whatsoever. Nope.

link:

• practical results; by anonymous aka ‘is this thing (an)on?’ tag, M, 81’4k, 12/12 chapters - cw: dubious consent/bad guys made them do it

This isn’t his bedroom - not the one at the compound, or the suite in Milan. Definitely not the penthouse in New York. In all honesty, it looks like the inside of the fucking Spaceship Earth ride at Epcot.

“Kid,” he tries again, more urgently now, “where the hell are we?”

“Uhh, the guy said we’re someplace called Sakaar.”

“The guy? What guy?”

Let's say that after the uprising on Sakaar, the Grandmaster manages to cling to power by offering people an even better form of entertainment than the Contest of Champions: Porn. He offers them porn.

• rebuild; by tuesday (ao3) aka @everysecondtuesday, Teen and Up, 14’7k, oneshot

Tony lives, falls in love despite himself, and spends entirely too much time in California.

• in the hands of gods; by therogueheart (ao3) aka @therogueheart, E, 20’2k, oneshot

Peter has known nothing but the God Stark his entire life. The blessings he gives; and the cruelty he can deal. When Peter comes of age he must begin the next phase of his worship to the God - Sexuality.

But Peter has never been good at following rules, and he does the one thing that no man is permitted to do.

He touches.

link:

• expiration date; by learnedfoot (ao3) aka @learned-foot, E, 12k, oneshot

Tony knows exactly what this is. First big breakup, go for a fling with a completely inappropriate person. It’s basically a cliché. He kind of thought Peter was better than that, but apparently being brilliant and one of the bravest people on the face of the planet doesn’t mean he’s immune from being a stupid college student who makes stupid college student mistakes.

AKA Tony is sure this is just a fling, and he deals with that about as well as you’d expect.

link:

• the last five years; by orphan_account, M, 71’1k, 9/9 chapters

Tony Stark has spent the last six months trying to find a way to bring back those lost in The Snap, but when he succeeds and Peter Parker and the rest of the lost Avengers return he discovers that it has been a little bit longer for them.

• prototype protocol; by roamingsignals (ao3) aka @spider-mancan, E, 82’8k, 8/8 chapters

Tony Stark isn't good, despite years of trying. When the multiverse dumps a younger Tony into their laps, Tony is split between solving the problem and protecting Peter's virtue.

“Don’t worry about it, Mr. Stark.” Peter’s eyes are wide and unassuming and Tony is a bad man. “I’ve been handling you for years. I can handle him just fine.”

“I’m sure you can,” Tony's throat is really dry, for some reason. “I trust you.”

He just doesn’t trust himself. He doesn’t trust himself at all.

link:

• the friendly neighborhood; by postelectric, M, 22’9k, oneshot

“Mr. Stark?”

Before Tony looks, he hopes to every god whose hand he’s shaken that he’ll meet an uncanny Parkeresque-but-definitely-not-the-real-Peter Parker doppelganger who just happens to know who he is. That’s what he tells himself, anyway. It’s not impossible. Tony saved the universe. Most people know him, even with the giant face scar. Maybe because of the giant face scar.

It’s the real Peter Parker. He’s barely taller than he was at sixteen and he has pretty much the same amount of hair, but he’s got more in the shoulders and jawline these days. “Mr. Parker. You grew up.”

“Yeah,” Peter says. “That, uh, that happens sometimes, if you’re lucky.”

“You got lucky.”

(or, in which the friendly neighborhood spider-man from queens doesn't become an avenger and doesn't turn to dust. or, in which tony stark restores the universe for pepper potts and then lives to tell about it, which is not according to plan.)

link:

• permission; by cagestark (ao3) aka @cagestark, E, 15’8k, 5/5 chapters

During drinks with the Avengers, Peter admits that he enjoys orgasms more when someone is giving him permission, though since he's single, there isn't anyone in his life to offer it.

Generous Tony offers to offer it.

link:

hope you like them as much as i did!

[ceilidho]

I finally got to reading “Fear of God” and I can already tell this will be one of my favourite fics of yours. I love how ominously you write the entire environment, isolating reader and making them have a dynamic with the rest of the crew a “you vs them” kind of theme.

ahhhh thank you!!!!

I’m trying to walk a fine line right now of reader just feeling awkward because this crew has all known each other for years and she’s the new addition, without them actively excluding her. The only one that’s actually a dick is Graves because that’s his personality (in this fic); everyone else is trying to be welcoming to her at this point. It’ll become much, much starker though as the story progresses :)

[starkerfestivals]

StarkerFestival's Extended AUpril!!

Hello everyone! Thank you to all the participants that joined us for our Valentine's Day exchange! We still have a few posts we're waiting on to close the event and once we have everything collected, we'll have a master post for the gifts.

Meanwhile– Us mods are extremely excited to announce our newest event! We are calling it Extended AUpril, and I believe we may have done something similar in the past.

For AUpril, we have made 2 community 4x4 bingos. The bingos will last all three months, and are light and dark themed. (Note: The prompts are themed this way. You do not have to do angst for dark prompts and fluff for light prompts. Feel free to be as creative as you want!)

Duration: This event will start today and last until the end of May.

Reminder: There is no obligation for these community bingos. Do them all, do exactly one prompt--it's completely up to you! Just make sure to tag properly.

Other Events:

March - There will be a list of 7 prompts dedicated to Omegaverse week (info post will be tomorrow). While it is a 'week,' this event will last the entire month of March.

Edit: This event is now live Here!

May - Mer-May week to be posted in May! Again, although it is a week's worth of themed prompts, it will last the entire month of May.

Below the cut are the written versions of the prompts.

Extra rules:

In order to get it reblogged, please @ us here, and feel free to use these hashtags! #StarkerFestivalsEvents , #SFAUpril24.

Crossovers are allowed and welcome for all prompts! Some of the prompts themselves are cross over prompts, please feel free to do so!

Edit: 1 prompt per content created. Multichapter fics can claim 1 prompt/chapter. Ex: One shot and moodboard = may claim up to 2 prompts)

You only have to complete one card to get a 'bingo.' We only separated the light and dark prompts for people who prefer to avoid angst! A bingo is four in a row for this event, meaning horizontal, vertical, or diagonal.

Tag every trigger appropriately, as always.

Have fun with it! This is to encourage AUs, not any specific prompts. Feel free to take it in any direction you want to.

Happy AUpril everyone!

Light Bingo AUs:

Royal

No Powers/Modern

Coffee shop

Education (Teacher, High School, College, etc.)

Celebrity (Actor, Singer, Streamer, etc.)

Artist/Author

Fix-it

Librarian

Star Wars

Magic (HP, Realism, Fantasy etc.)

Aged Up/Down

Angel/Demon

Lesbian Starker

Decorator

Soulmates

Cottage/Countryside

Dark Bingo AUs:

War/Military

YA Distopia (Hunger Games, Divergent, etc.)

Criminal

Superior Iron Man  

Supernatural (Ghost, Vamp, Alien, Were, etc.)

Firefighter

Game of Thrones

Detective 

Apocalypse

Break Up/Make Up

Blood

Lovers to Enemies

Stockholm Syndrome/Kidnapping

Historical

Hospital (Staff, Setting, Sick, Diagnosis, CI, etc.)

Mafia

[mariacallous]

One of the Western populist right’s enduring myths about President Vladimir Putin’s Russia is that it is steeped in traditional values, a bastion of virtue standing in opposition to an increasingly godless West. In the United States, the fascination with Russia as a supposed global center of conservative virtue has especially gained currency in MAGA world.

This image of Russia as a traditionalist’s paradise led former Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson to offer both Putin and Russian far-right philosopher Alexander Dugin, one of Putin’s most vicious cheerleaders for genocide in Ukraine, the opportunity to expound their views to millions of Americans in a comfortable, uncritical setting. It is the reason that MAGA-aligned U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene talks about Russia as a strong protector of Christianity. And it’s why former Trump administration National Security Advisor Michael Flynn has framed Putin as a defender of “family and God.”

The contrast between myth and reality couldn’t be starker. The truth is that Russia is one of the world’s least religious societies, with only 9 percent of Russians attending religious services at least somewhat regularly, according to a poll conducted in 2022 by the Moscow-based Levada Center. By contrast, nearly one-third of Americans are frequent churchgoers. Just 1.4 million Russians—a mere 1 percent of the population—attended the most recent Christmas services. The Russian state also persecutes Christians who do not adhere to Russian Orthodoxy, including Baptists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and, of course, anyone connected to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

Nor is Russia a bastion of what true conservatives would consider traditional values. Based on data calculated by the Guttmacher Institute, the Russian abortion rate from 2015 to 2019 was nearly four times higher than that of the United States and more than twice as high as that of Ukraine. Russia also has the fourth-highest divorce rate in the world—60 percent higher than in the United States and more than 50 percent higher than in Ukraine. Those among the U.S. and European far right who project their own ideals onto Russian society ignore the obvious and copious evidence.

The false image of a god-fearing Russia is hardly accidental. It is the consequence of systematic efforts by Putin and his propagandists to craft talking points for the global right—an effort that has accelerated since Russia launched its all-out war on Ukraine in 2022.

It wasn’t always so. After the Soviet collapse in 1991, a Russia shorn of most of its empire struggled with its post-communist identity. Under its first president, Boris Yeltsin, the country waded into the waters of a Russo-centric patriotism. But his chosen successor, Putin, supplanted this worldview by nostalgia for the former Soviet and Russian empires, as well as adulation of brutal autocrats such as Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin and Tsar Peter the Great.

Today, to both mobilize Russians for a bloody war and undermine support for Ukraine by appealing to the political extremes in the West, Putin and his ideologues have crafted a new mythology that depicts Russia as a bastion of traditional values rooted in religious faith.

This theme was front and center at Putin’s fifth inauguration as Russian president on May 7. In his address, he declared that “support for centuries-old family values ​​and traditions will continue to unite public and religious associations, political parties, and all levels of government.”

From their putative moral high ground, Putin and his propagandists in the Kremlin-controlled media have used the bully pulpit to rail against Western “woke-ism,” political correctness, and secularism, earning admiration among right-wing populists in the West. By projecting Russians and the Russian state as deeply religious and steeped in tradition—and by denouncing the Western establishment for its supposed attacks on traditional values—Kremlin propaganda has made serious inroads among cultural and religious conservatives in the United States and elsewhere.

This has helped create some measure of sympathy for Russia’s war against Ukraine among certain segments of the far right, which see Putin as a powerful voice on their side of the culture wars.

Margarita Simonyan, the head of Russia Today, the state media conglomerate responsible for most of Moscow’s global propaganda, crystallized the postulates and far-reaching ambitions of Russia’s traditionalist propaganda during a television appearance in February.

Speaking on the heels of Carlson’s fawning chat with Putin, Simonyan saw a major opportunity for Russia to find fellow travelers and new allies among those disgruntled by secularization in the West. Unlike Ukraine and its Western backers, which she called adepts of “satanism,” she described Russia as “the city on a hill” to which the world’s traditionalists can now flock to escape their stifling secular societies. She declared that traditionalist messaging is the “beacon of a wonderful idea” whose appeal can be likened to that of communism during the Soviet era. Russia, she continued, might even counter its severely shrinking population by attracting disgruntled traditionalists from around the world as immigrants to a new promised land of traditionalism.

To this end, the Kremlin announced a new decree on Aug. 19 that eases residency rules for refugees from countries where “traditional values” are under attack from “neoliberalism” and other supposed secular ills.

Aging Russian kleptocrats such as Putin, who formerly served in the security services of the atheist Soviet state, engage in performative religion at most. As the investigations conducted by the late Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny documented, the Russian ruling elite, including Putin himself, is obscenely wealthy and deeply corrupt. But state media outlets diligently portray them as god-fearing believers, generous patrons of monasteries, supporters of religious media, and sponsors of newly built churches—all paid for with money they have stolen from the Russian people.

These performative good works are applauded by the security service operatives who control the upper reaches of the Russian Orthodox Church. Purged and brought under complete state control under Stalin, the church has consistently promoted the aims of Soviet and now Russian policies. It is a vocal supporter of Putin’s war against Ukraine.

At the apex of performative piety stands Putin. Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, born Vladimir Gundyayev and believed to be a former security services operative, has lavished praise on Putin for being “truly the first Orthodox president” of Russia. The link between Putin’s proclaimed religiosity and something approaching a divine right to rule Russia has also become part of the new ideological canon—back to the roots, if you will, of Russian Orthodoxy as an imperial church.

“May God help you to continue to carry out the ministry that God himself has entrusted to you,” Kirill said during Putin’s inauguration in May. Given the long-standing collusion between the Kremlin and a compliant church, it is little wonder that religious leaders actively support Putin’s war and encourage Russia’s young to lay down their lives.

To mask the degradation of spiritual and religious life, Russia has built a vast Potemkin village of new churches. Around 30,000 new parishes have been added in the post-Soviet era, averaging nearly three every day since 1991. Given Russians’ negligible interest in religion, they stand largely empty.

Simonyan’s comparison of Putin’s traditionalist, pseudo-Christian posturing with the global appeal of communism is apt in ways that she did not intend. Like communism, whose façade of equality and social justice masked mass repression and the emergence of privileged, all-powerful elite, today’s Russia has little patience for moral and ethical principles. Instead, the Russian state and the Russian Orthodox Church serve the exigencies of a kleptocratic mafia that rules over a deeply damaged, militaristic, and highly unequal society.

Indeed, in time, Russia’s newest state ideology is very likely to become another God That Failed—the title of a landmark 1949 book in which six Western intellectuals broke with communism, declaring that it was just a cover for a new form of dictatorship.

For the moment, none of this matters to the Western populist right, which has blithely ignored the carnage that Putin has inflicted on Ukraine. Nor will Russia’s performative religiosity put those Westerners off; their projection of virtue onto Putin’s Russia has become too important a part of their cynical politics. If your enemy is the West’s liberal and tolerant society, then the enemy of your enemy is your friend.

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

Though I do think TTPD is a very adult Red album I’m also very into how different it feels because it’s almost like a resolution? Obviously in the bigger history of her albums Red feels very much like a transition album, but also back when it was first released it also felt that way. Sonically with her trying a bunch of things , and the material trying to find the balance between vulnerable but also comfortable (especially in light of how restrained OG 1989 seemed). Like there still felt like there was so much to say and learn. Which is ironic with Red ending with Begin Again which feels like a nice bow placed on it . But TTPD feels like her purging everything, the good, the bad, the ugly. While being confident in how she jumps through sounds and uses them to tell a story. Even the Manuscript and Clara Bowe seem so much more accepting of cycles and just trying your best instead of a clean slate.

It’s just such an interesting parallel but with an adult kind for progress

That’s a really interesting analysis anon!

If I had to guess, I think Taylor liked to tie albums up and make them ~cohesive~ in the past both out of self-preservation, and to check off boxes of what made a good album that would be successful — and she was probably right at the time, too. But yes, it’s incredible how the vault tracks for Speak Now/Red/1989 recontextualize some of the albums, or at least fills in the lines. So, for instance, OG Red ends with a neat little bow with Begin Again, but the vault is like: actually behind this I’m a mess, I’m worried I’m not good enough, I’m worried I’ll be replaced as an artist and as a lover, this person I loved has treated me like a nuisance even though he claims to love me back, I’m ashamed but I don’t know what to do, etc.

But again it comes down to the fact that the success of folklore and subsequent albums has cemented her status for the rest of her career, so she has the freedom to explore whatever she wants. She opened the door to even starker vulnerability with every subsequent album and has been met not only with commercial success but also continued appreciation by fans and the people who matter in the industry. So success begets success, and vulnerability begets more vulnerability. She doesn’t have to worry about “cohesive” anymore because her perceived success is no longer dependent on it, so she has the clout to, for instance, release a 31 track album detailing some of the darkest moments of her life. She can chase themes and stories and sounds to her heart’s desire, and she knows it’s gonna hit with someone.

And I also suspect a lot of it also has to do with how much better she knows herself now, too, and the support she has in doing that.

I think all the time about the bit from LPSS where she and Aaron are talking about hoax, and how when she started writing it she didn’t really know where she was going with it which was unlike her, and Aaron pushed her to keep following that thread wherever it led. Even if it felt weird or uncomfortable, it was worth her time to keep fleshing it out to see where the song went. Hoax is kind of emblematic of her whole music-making process since 2020; she follows the muse (as in the idea, not the person) and doesn’t worry about where it goes. Between that and Matt Berenger telling her to push through the discomfort about writing about personal moments in a relationship because it ends up being a more honest song (or words to that effect), I think she’s taken that to heart to really write unfiltered, whether or not it ever ends up being consumed by the public. It keeps the muscle primed.

[saintsenara]

the war of the roses - a snippet

sirius black/severus snape explicit

here's a wee look at the next chapter of the war of the roses - and its musing on relief, reality, and luck.

and blood, obviously. that seems to be a theme...

He wants to run around - to race up and down the stairs in a constant loop, to do anything other than sit still and feel mingled fear and relief pumping round his body, like it’s formed in his bone marrow and leaked out into his blood.

Harry is safe, rattles his left ventricle.

A dozen Death Eaters were waiting to slaughter him, is the rejoinder from the right.

Harry is safe -

For now.

Harry is safe -

Until next time.

Harry is safe.

Dumbledore is bringing him to Grimmauld Place and Harry is safe.

It doesn’t occur to him to remember that Snape was also there - the crags and peaks of his face made all the starker by the opalescent sheen of Dumbledore’s Patronus - when the message came until Snape is already gone, has already slunk back into the shadows of the outside world.

Fucking cunt, Sirius thinks to himself. He’s probably furious that Harry isn’t dead.

Easier that - the old dance, the old hatred. Easier to think about Snape chuckling malevolently over Harry’s corpse - the way he probably did for James, he’d fucking hated James - than to interrogate the sudden longing, prickling unwelcomely over the gooseflesh of his skin, sticky and grimy with humidity and panic, to grab Snape by his skinny (skinny but surprisingly strong, as he’d discovered when they were rolling around tearing at each other) upper arms and use him as an anchor. He could ground himself, he thinks, with the scrub of cheap wool under the palms of his hands, with the painful familiarity of that horrible nose. He could reassure himself that this was all real by the heat emanating from Snape’s body.

He touches his finger to his lip, wincing as he finds it split and swollen. Blood clings to the whorls of his fingertip when he draws it away.

Snape gave him this injury. Snape jabbed at him with sharp knuckles forged in a Muggle slum and made him bleed, and then Snape scarpered the second he heard Harry was okay.

Cunt.

Which means it’s real.

When he was eighteen - strutting around, all cocksure and floppy-haired, in the body of a boy who no longer exists - he’d never have understood that the relief of knowing - of totally and incontrovertibly knowing - that someone isn’t dead - that, for once, one of the Order’s rag-tag missions, held together by nothing more than piss and vinegar, hasn’t ended with someone being lowered into the ground, hollow and tiny in their linen shroud - would be so exhausting. He would have expected to want to celebrate - to open champagne and scream fuck you at the top of his lungs, on the off-chance that it could penetrate the solidity of Number Twelve and race along the wind until Lord Voldemort could hear it - not to collapse, to fall in upon himself like a dying star and want nothing more than to curl up and sob.

He would never have imagined that the roar of the Floo - depositing Dumbledore, grave and jewel-toned and immaculate, and Harry, covered in ash and sand, shell-shocked and fucking fifteen, in the kitchen - would make him long, for one intangible second, to be a child again, and to not know what was coming, and the emerald whoosh! to be his mother getting home to bollock him about something or other, while Reg stood behind her smirking and mouthing you’re a prick, and James lurked out of sight in the mirror in his breast pocket, and he could feel him giggling vibrating against his heart.

[sexyleon]

I felt that post of yours about the Dracula fandom and the way it talks about adaptations tbh, like, I'm someone who was very involved in DD last year and I've written critique myself about Dracula adaptations bc I love comparative analysis and really thinking about the choices adaptations make, for good or for ill, but from my personal experience, a lot of fandom commentary on adaptations isn't really thoughtful analysis, and don't get me wrong, I'm a hater sometimes too and enjoying venting, but I noticed that this year, there were so many posts that started out as thoughtful commentary on the book, then launched into bitching about the evils of adaptations out of nowhere, and people can write what they want, but it got tiring after awhile to be in a fandom with so much angry energy, not to mention the divergence in canon vs fanon that was much starker this year that made me feel like I had read a different book.

Also, every time I see people point at re: Dracula to be like, see, it's so easy to do a perfect 1:1 adaptation of the novel, why can't other adaptations do it?, it's like, it's an audiobook, a movie can't be that long, even a television mini-series would have to make cuts. And I might dislike a lot of choices adaptations make, but creatives absolutely have the right to take a public domain work and put their own spin on things beyond book accuracy as the number one goal - and like, do we truly want a 100% accurate adaptation when the novel is still ultimately a xenophobic reverse invasion story? Like, I would hope modern directors would seriously grapple with those aspects of the original story instead of reproducing Victorian bigotry unquestioned.

Hi, thank you for your response! I'm glad that my post resonated with a few people!

I definitely also felt a shift in energy with this season of Dracula Daily, and I'm pretty sure it is a direct result of the phenomena that is Re: Dracula. Don't get me wrong, I am a HUGE supporter of RE: Dracula, and I found it to be absolutely delightful specifically because it was a 1:1 adaptation of the book, but I also think that it has skewed the way people engage with all the other adaptations of Dracula. You are so right when you say that Re: Dracula's media as audiobook is what allowed it to be so authentic. Even if it was a long-form series, there would have to be creative liberties taken to account for visualising certain aspects of the text. I am 100% sure someone would be able to do it, but it would undoubtedly be a labour of love and expense.

I think the biggest thing that got lost in translation in my post is that I was speaking specifically on the rhetoric of "bad adaptation = bad media." I don't even like to use the term "bad adaptation" because it feels inaccurate and gives the connotation of being holistically terrible; "failed adaptation" or "inauthentic adaptation" seems more apt when discussing how close an adaptation relates to the source material. I think it is unfair for any adaptation to be written off solely on the fact that it does not strictly adhere to the original text. This can be in way of narrative, characterization, theme, etc. I don't think it's fair to say "x adaptation is bad because it ignores x from the text" because that fundamentally dismisses all the other attributes that contribute to whether or not a piece of media is subjectively good (because honestly that's all it is-- subjectivity). Media, especially film and stage, has so many dynamic and moving parts. There are so many attributes that contribute to the success of any one given thing, especially adaptations (which can claim the title with even the loosest references to the source material). I feel like the black and white thinking when it comes to this doesn't really allow for a dialogue to exist between people who enjoy Dracula adaptations for what they are and, forgive me for saying this, book purists.

Understandably, there is criticism against some adaptations that have claimed to follow the source text closely, but very distinctly did not (Ahum, Cappola). However, I think it does everyone a disservice to deny the impact of a lot of these (mostly) films. Someone in the reblogs of my original post did a good breakdown of the origins of the Dracula genre itself, and I think it goes to show that the story of Dracula has a life of its own outside of the pages of Bram Stoker's book.

The most annoying thing about the responses to my initial post was the refusal to believe that anyone was making these comparisons. I really would not have gone out on a limb to rant about this if I hadn't been consistently seeing vent posts in the main tag with mostly negative responses to a lot of different adaptations of Dracula based on the authenticity of them to the text. I admit I was frustrated when I wrote it, but it really was meant to just address the black and white thinking re: failed adaptations making bad media. This is not to say that criticism of adaptations isn't valid, but I think there should be more nuance to this conversation and that's what I wasn't seeing. It's not fun to dive into the broad Dracula tag and find post after post shitting on your favourite media because it isn't like the book.

Sorry this was a bit long! I am just really passionate about Dracula okay!! And I really really really like all the shitty little shows and movies and plays and comics and all other media that comes out of his name (because YES, a lot of adaptations really make vampire synonymous with Dracula and ROLL WITH IT). Vampires are really neat and the Dracula genre of film has been a huge influence on horror media. I think there is a lot to be said when analysing adaptations, but none of it can come from blanket statements against them.

@spider-xan

[clown-cult]

Mucking around with more redesigns. This time, Hades and Zeus. My mission to go against expectations and against the grain of Greek god redesigns continue.

One of Hades symbolic animals is a snake. So, like a venomous snake, his small stature yet bright colours are a warning to give him his space. His suit is shiny to reflect reptile scales. I gave him a brighter, starker colour scheme also so he sticks out more against the darkness of the underworld. I haven’t drawn her yet, but his flower is the same colour as Persephone.

Zeus, meanwhile, has some of his design points taken from bulls, which is one of his special animals. I also took particular issue with a reoccurring theme in LO where Zeus is somehow portrayed as the only one unaffected or unhurt by the Titanomachy because he shows no physical scarring or symptoms, so I upped the ante. Zeus’s size and inhuman appearance is heavily altered as a result of exposure to the sheer undiluted power of the titans, his blackened hands and feet another sign of this and from his lightning use.

I’m hoping to elaborate more on these yet. Hope it made sense ✌️

Reblogs > likes. Click for better resolution.

[chrisemrysfics]

This happens often enough that it is frustrating and I wanted to say something about it: can I just please enjoy a platonic/familial Tony&Peter fanfic without that enjoyment being broken by the author insulting or bashing on Starker shipper?

I love their dynamic in canon, I love them as mentor/mentee, I love them as father/son, and the reason I love Starker ship is first and foremost the idea that love is stronger than all the potential issues they face for a potential relationship. Because that's what it is: not inherent wrong aspects, but potential issues. And "potential" means it doesn't always become a reality. Fics that explore when it isn't necessarily healthy, or legal, aren't fundamentally different than fics exploring violent themes for example. It's about the messiness and complexity of humanity, which in itself is beautiful. And in Starker, its because I love their canon dynamic and I love the idea of their love being stronger than the potential issues, that I can enjoy darker/unhealthy depictions of the ship. And it's all fiction, which is first and foremost about telling a story. And a fictional story is entertainment specifically because we know it's fiction and no real human being were harmed to make that fiction, nor does anyone depicted is an actual real human being being harmed in the events of the fictional story.

And you know what is the irony? Not a single fic I've read for Starker makes explicit or implicit comment of the same type about people who only view them as platonic/familial. When I read fics for the platonic/familial dynamic, sometimes the author in the notes will call Starker shipper "gross", or disgusting, and sometimes there are moments in the fic itself where for the idea of them together is thrown around and the characters react "ew", which sometimes make sense in context, but other times, it honestly doesn't feel like it make sense to have this show up and have this strong feeling of being in there for a more "subtle call out". But not a single fic for Starker does the same thing.

Most Starker shipper, myself included, respect if someone just doesn't see them this way. Most Starker shipper will think carefully about the tags to put, and you know what I did see often? Starker author who feel a need to state that they don't condone the real life version of the stuff that they write. It breaks my heart everytime because it's so obviously because they know what part of the fandom say about them. They can't even enjoy and write what they like without feeling a need to try and express it's just them enjoying fiction. Non-Starker act so offended, but they're the one who put pressure onto the rest of the fandom that is either platonic/familial only but respectful, or Starker too.

And you know what? I'll come out and say it: what I fucking don't condone is harrassing other people, and butting your head into the genuine happiness of others. What I happily condone is respect, choice, consent, genuine love, and a real wish for each other well-being even when it's hard or complex or messy. If two or more people genuinely care for each other, choose each other, respect each other, wants to try, and have enough maturity for their choice and consent to not be blind? That is what matter. I wouldn't want to see a late teen with an adult, because the amount of potential issues is enormous, and most of the time, it won't work out or it isn't healthy. But to pretend there isn't a tiny amount of cases where it does work out is a disservice to any relationship that started where it was really iffy, and yet worked out for them because they truly, genuinely loved each other.

You know what else I'll come out and say it? I'm a fucking survivor of CSA, and it's so damn healing to see people who enjoy things I enjoy without feeling it's only because I'm "broken", to see that it's something natural in our psyche. I was robbed the ability to grow up blind to what sex is, I was robbed my consent, I was made to feel powerless. But I recovered from all of this, a survivor and not a victim anymore, and growing up, I was always more mature than my age, which meant I knew that it is possible for someone to feel more mature than others people their age. If I fell in love with an adult as a teen, I would have known the inherent risks. And I would have been so angry, and hurt, to be dismissed, for others to try and take away my agency again. I wouldn't have wanted, and still don't want, someone to feel, or feel again, the hurt of your agency being violated. On the other end, even as a teen, and still as an adult, I would be just as angry to see a child or a teen that is being abused or who is in a dangerous situation, where their agency is not properly respected. As a teen, and now as an adult, it pisses me off to see the way people in fandom can act for mere fiction, because all I see are people who ignore and dismiss other people agency. All I see is people harassing and violating other people. Because I know what the real life feeling is like, and I can recognize it a miles away when it happens.

No fiction has either violated me. But people? Oh yes, they do. They don't even have to come attack me directly. Everytime I see them attack someone else, or make certain comments in their author note. And I'm so damn lucky I did heal, and recover. Because even though I did, it still feels frustrating and hurtful. I cannot begin to imagine how it feels like for those like me, or similar to me, who are still healing and have to face this over fiction. Who might not even know why it hurt, or only in part.

So yeah, this has angered me enough to come out and say it: watch what you are doing and saying over mere fiction, because chances are, what you are doing is violating other people. Abuse, and violation, aren't always sexual or even physical. Emotional&mental abuse, emotional&mental violation, are just as real. And fiction cannot abuse or violate, because there is no one real inside fiction, there is no power. Only real people can hurt others this way.

I didn't spend years healing and recoving to be walked over by people who either don't undestand, or who do but unknowingly (or worst, knowingly) become the abusers. And you, who enjoy dark fiction of any kind, especially "problematic ships", especially ships like Starker?

Thank you. You're the ones who sees what I see, even when you never experienced what I did, and I hope you never had to. Not the ones who act on supposed moral high grounds, but you, you are the ones who truly understand. I am angry for your sake, because I know what it feels like to be violated in the worst of ways, and I never wish anyone to be violated in any way. So thank you for looking into these topics right in the eyes, and knowing there is nothing wrong with enjoying them. Thank you, especially, to the ones that actually point out when the situation is entirely legal, if not risky, and those who show how such ships can be healthy, for unknowingly recognizing how people like me would have felt if a similar situation had happened in real life. For recognizing where the line is between what is violation, and what isn't.

You're attacked so many times from content exploring darker topics, darker depictions of ships, or ships who aren't inherently dark but have potential issues, so for once, I want you to hear it: thank you.

[coffee-counts-as-a-meal]

warning for tlou ep 4 spoilers (and TLOU Part 2) but:

not to be horribly meta on main but I'm mainly screaming over how this episode exemplified how well this story was adapted to a television format, ESPECIALLY regarding the themes that ND has repeatedly stated he wanted to explore in the TLOU Part 2 that maybe didn't quite land the way he meant them to

(Benioff and Weiss and their hatred for eighth grade book reports should be taking copious notes rn lol)

I remember when the second game came out and there was this big to-do about how the perspective towards "villains" had changed - not just in the fact that you spend half the game playing as Abby (Joel's killer), but that the developers had actually given names to all the NPCs that end up as cannon fodder for the player. The AI was supposed to be so advanced that for every enemy you killed as either Abby or Ellie, the NPC would beg for their life or curse you as you make the final blow or whatever, and then when their NPC friends found them you would hear their wailing and crying out for "Beck" or "Miranda" or whomever the fuck and the whole idea was that it was supposed to make you the player really think about the implications of taking a human life and the cycle of revenge yadda yadda yadda.

Which is a GREAT CONCEPT, but I just remember how...tedious it became, after a while. TLOU Part 2 got a lot of flak for a lot of reasons (some more valid than others imo) but I personally think its impossibly difficult to instill the lesson of "taking a life is something that carries real emotional weight" through the medium of a video game where you are mowing down LITERALLY HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE. That's just par for the course - you end up killing so many people that after a while their names mean nothing, BECAUSE THERE'S NO WAY TO CONTINUE THE GAME WITHOUT DOING SO. (I remember one reviewer talking about how fatigued they were with it - they didn't want to be killing all these people and stabbing dogs and they as a player were screaming through their fingers at the decisions Ellie was making to continue down this cycle of violence but there was no way to continue the game without going through it, even though the point had already been hammered home over and over again to the point where it was exhausting, we get it, killing should not be this easy but this is a video game for fuck's sake).

And maybe that was also the point was to make the player wonder how some characters (like Joel, maybe) eventually become so numb to the concept of taking life, but I just remember it being a point in Part 2 that ultimately just...kind of missed the mark.

And BOY OH BOY did the show hit it in this episode.

Literally, TLOU Part 2 wanted to make its point by naming hundreds upon hundreds of NPCs and TLOU Episode 4 managed to hit it with a single character named Bryan.

I think it also helps that when Joel is shooting back at the "hunters" (idk what they're calling them in the show canon but that's what they were at the game) we don't really see them die onscreen, so it makes Bryan's eventual demise even starker. But holy fuck hearing him plead with Ellie and Joel for his life hit so much harder than it ever did in the game. Hearing him try to bargain with a little girl, screaming for his mom only to go silent...I freaking love Joel and even then in that moment I felt that horror and slight...idek what to call it, not even disgust but just the moral grayness of it all made my stomach churn.

Ellie's tears felt so deserved in that moment. Even Joel's moment of hesitation (fuck you Pedro Pascal I hate how good you are at EVERYTHING) even as you know this must have been a thing he's done thousands of times before and even as necessary you might consider Bryan's death to be. Even as justified it may have been to kill an enemy in that moment, "It doesn't get any easier" is something that rings true. I believe it.

tldr; another banger episode from a team that knows what the fuck a theme is and how to tie that into your story with subtlety and nuance and FUCK EVERYONE AT NAUGHTY DOG AND HBO I CAN'T KEEP GETTING MY HEART BROKEN FOR ANOTHER MONTH AND A HALF

[secfics]

my favourite starker fics, part 1

hi. for my first reclist in this blog, i put together my personal favourite starker fanfics that i re-read again and again. in no particular order and with some cw/dark themes here and there, here they come:

• maybe different, but remember; by RoamingSignals (@spider-mancan), E, 18k, 2/2 chapters

Peter is working at Delmar’s, sorting out tabloids on the rack in the front, and he sees Tony’s face plastered everywhere and then Peter is reading words and then he can’t read anything because he’s crying and his shaking hands rip the magazine in half.

Tony Stark…alive.

He saved the world, saved Peter, and Peter never even got to thank him. Not that it matters now. If Peter was a factor in Tony's decision to snap his fingers, Peter will never know. No one will ever know, because Peter fucked up and now he doesn’t exist.

• touchpoint; by RoamingSignals (@spider-mancan), M, 57’6k, 2/2 chapters

Peter lost a lot of things in Boston. When he lists them out, they fit in the margins of his napkin; his career, his degree, his motivation, his boyfriend, and himself. Not in that order. Not all by mistake.

“You’re just a secretary.” Tony tuts.

“There’s nothing wrong with being a secretary,” Peter says. “Your old secretary is the CEO of SI, these days.”

“Pepper Potts is the smartest woman I’ve ever met,” Tony agrees. “And she never let anyone call her ‘just a secretary.’”

• scaling the walls; by Starker1975 (@starker1975), E, 42’6k, 13/13 chapters

Peter is tired of crushing hopelessly on Tony, so he decides to create an online dating profile to meet someone new. Neither Peter (Webster01) or his strange beau (Mark70) have pictures on their bio. They decide to keep it that way so they can focus on bonding over things besides appearance.

Meanwhile, Tony decides to start spending more time with Peter because people always become interested as soon as you try to move on...

• fucking if; by Graceful_Starker (@graceful-starker), M, 9’7k, 2/2 chapters - cw: implied non-con, not between starker

Peter and Tony in a beginning phases relationship. Then the snap. Peter coming back to Tony, Pepper and Morgan.

• revelations; by Anonymous (#author has already arranged a ride to church trust me), E, 126’8k, 19/19 chapters

“I still don’t get it,” Ned says. “How you just... keep being ordinary in spite of all the craziness you’ve lived through. You were in space. You helped Iron Man save the universe. And nobody knows it was you.” His tone softens, becomes almost sad. As though he realizes that what he’s saying is so completely alien to him that he will never be able to understand this part of Peter’s life. “Peter, don’t you want people to know you for who you are?”

An AU where they get the Gauntlet off of Thanos that first time, on Titan.

• closer to a prayer; by LearnedFoot (@learned-foot), E, 17’4k, oneshot

“I think I’m dying.”

Peter stares at his reflection in the bathroom mirror, blinking. It feels weird to say it out loud.

In which Peter's powers turn against him, Mr. Stark is back and suddenly acting kind of weird (and by weird he means flirtatious), and it’s all a lot to handle at once.

• stuck; by Heathertastic (@heathertastic), E, 5’4k, oneshot - cw: Accidental Penetration

Tony and Peter get stuck together in a closet the size of Peter himself- and yeah, it’s basically porn without plot.

• Give Me Your Wallet (And Your Watch); by airebellah (@airebellah), M, 30’5k, 10/10 chapters

It was pushing midnight when Peter sent a text to his friend Ned asking for help with a chemistry problem. I know I'm doing something wrong but I can't figure it out, he wrote. He received a text with a picture of the solution. The elegant script should have been the first clue; the fact that it was on the back of a napkin the second. But he was tired, and failed to notice such details.

You misplaced your decimal when converting degrees to Kelvin, came the reply. Rookie mistake.

Gee, thanks, Peter replied with a roll of his eyes. Anything you need help with?

Yeah, who the fuck am I talking to, exactly?

• covet; by Anonymous (#author has already arranged a ride to church trust me), E, 33’9k, 5/5 chapters

Peter has a new boyfriend. Tony starts drinking again, for unrelated reasons.

• uranium heart; by spqr, M, 11´3k, oneshot

It’s probably better, Peter thinks, that he doesn’t know who his soulmate is. He wouldn’t want to lie to them about Spider-Man, but he doesn’t think he’d be able to tell them the truth, either. Not when he knows it would make them a target for every villain who wants a piece of him.

When he has enough free time to feel sorry for himself, he thinks about how lonely he is and how much he wants someone to talk to--just talk to. But he doesn’t really have that much free time. And anyways, there are thousands of lonely people in New York. Peter’s nothing special.

• another life; by InColor (@incolorwrites), E, 9’3k, oneshot

Tony comes back to a world where everyone's moved on without him.

Peter helps.

• secret santa, baby; by orphan_account, E, 17´3k, 5/5 chapters

Tony never intended to become Peter's Secret Santa. He just sort of stumbles into it. But now that he is, he's going to take advantage of it. Tony's got one week to spoil the kid, one week until Christmas. He just has to make sure that his secret stays secret.

• your thoughts are my desires; by Sparcina (@zsparz), E, 6’2k, 4/4 chapters

Peter doesn't know that Tony can read his thoughts.

Alternatively: Tony gets intimately acquainted with Peter's fantasies feelings.

• peter parker, sexter extraodinaire; by Sparcina (@zsparz), E, 7’5k, 4/4 chapters

Apparently, sexting Mr. Stark by accident is a thing Peter does now. While touching himself. And Tony... Well, he probably shouldn't fantasize about Peter, but the kid's just too damn attractive and brilliant for his own good.

• just for tonight; by keenwonderlandcollector, M, 31’1k, 10/10 - cw: incest/father-son incest

While out at an exhibit, Peter gets into an awkward situation and pretends that Tony, his father, is actually his boyfriend. Tony goes along with it, and Peter soon finds himself enjoying it a little too much…

• from the bounty; by feyrelay (@feyrelay) & natureboy, E, 31’8k, 3/3 chapters

Tony’s eyes are always dark, but now there's almost no iris left. He looks hollowed out. There’s something terribly hungry there, despite the feast they've filled themselves on.

(20k words of food erotica foreplay and 13k words of porn)

• better than; by unsettled (@unsettledink), M, 40’6k, oneshot

Maybe there isn't really a fixed point where it starts, where any of it starts, nothing Tony can point to and say, there, there is where I made my mistake, there is where I could have stopped this, there is where I can stop it from happening again.

Maybe it shouldn’t have been something Tony tried to stop.

(or: the one where Tony is going to be responsible for once, okay? He is!)

• worth the word; by unsettled (@unsettledink), teen and up, 5’4k, oneshot

Valentine’s Day is not Peter’s favorite holiday by a long shot. And it’s not just because he’s a little jealous of everyone else showing off gifts from their partners.

But it’s still really nice that an unknown someone sent him a gift this year. Or two. Or— okay, this is getting out of hand.

• above and beyond; by unsettled (@unsettledink), E, 12’8k, oneshot - cw: incest/father-son incest

Trans Peter telling his dad that he’s never had an orgasm. And Tony eating Peter out until the boy’s oversensitive and crying out “dad” as he comes.

• still use work; by LearnedFoot (@learned-foot), E, 6’5k, oneshot

“In the spirit of scientific discovery,” Tony adds.

“Yeah, the spirit of scientific discovery, exactly.”

Or: Peter has a problem. Tony attempts to solve it. To be helpful, obviously. That’s the only reason.

• a familiar stranger; by Starker1975 (@starker1975), E, 132,1k, 21/21 chapters - cw: incest/father-son incest

Peter's tired of being single, but online dating scares him, so he creates a fake profile to scope out the playing field before fully committing. He isn't sure what to think when he sees his dad's profile on the app.

hope you like them as much as i did!