#that's my ideal newsies

[st3lla-lun4]

if someone walked up to me and said "eros you gotta rewrite newsies the broadway newsical what r u gonna do" i would make jack kelly and katherine plumber and david jacobs kiss each other on the lips and hold hands and go on little strolls through the filthy nasty dirty stinky horrid streets of new york and talk about how much pulitzer sucks and that would be the only change i would make. that'll be 800 dollars

[jesncin]

I’d really like to hear your thoughts on MAWS characters alongside Lois, if you want to do that of that’s entirely up to you but it would be really interesting ^_^

I've written about maws a fair bit on this blog! You can find my general thoughts on the jesncin talks maws tag and my massive maws Lois essay here for my thoughts on her. Suffice to say I'm not a fan of this show, lol. I haven't been able to stomach watching season 2 so my entire knowledge is limited to season 1. With that said, roundup of my thoughts on maws characters:

Clark Kent: boring. Vanilla. Critical lack of hero motivation and idealism outside of "people are getting hurt!" as a platitude. Just some guy who does chores because that's the nice thing to do. Not defeating the Superman Is Boring allegations- just has an uwu cute cinnamon roll himbo filter on it.

Lois Lane: xenophobic asian lois lane is the worst crime ever committed to me. A historically jaded, award winning, accomplished career woman fighting against work place misogyny is now a cutesty uwu girl-failure who needs the help of two men to get hired. Barf.

Jimmy Olsen: I get the attempt at making him a conspiracy theorist as a means of tapping into Jimmy's wacky silver age antics and to bounce off of Clark for shenanigans, but it doesn't meaningfully interrogate how that is at odds with his job as a journalist. Also he was sidelined hard in S1- more than he was in CW Supergirl.

Perry White: I was hoping that unlike STAS and if MAWS was going to pull from anime, that this meant strong relationships with Superman's cast system. But nope. Perry is just a running gag. I was hoping for a Snapper and Kara dynamic like in CW Supergirl.

Scoop troop (Cat Grant, Ronnie Troupe, Steve Lombard): Superfluous characters, easily delete-able. All of which have been reinterpreted as anime stereotypes. Yawn.

Newskid Legion: Also delete-able and a waste of my time. They should be called newsies. They make no sense as outdated characters placed in a futuristic setting. What is child labor doing this late in the game. Be more creative with modernizing outdated characters.

Pa and Ma Kent: Boring. The biggest problem you can have with the Kents is making them generic supportive parents like they're sentient Hallmark cards. Pa Kent got the bad end of the stick as the clueless parent, while Ma Kent was pushed as the heart of the family to Clark. Not that she did much.

Vicki Vale: Absolutely insane of this show to add another Asian xenophobe woman journalist. The MAWS crew love gloating about how they're not going to include Batman in MAWS, but they can't resist putting a Gothamite in their show and stealing rogues from other heroes. Could've brought Angela Chen (a canonically asian Metropolis reporter) from STAS but I guess she's not as big a name as a Gotham character, eh?

Livewire: the glowdown of a century. DCSHG continues to outperform every modern version of this character. Why make her a generic smuggler when her original job as a shock jokey is far more interesting?? Podcaster or influencer was right there. Her motives make no sense too.

Intergang crew: Why. Did they consolidate. Banshee with two random rogues (Mist & Roughouse) and call them Intergang. That's so many glowdowns at once. I've never seen someone look at a hero's diverse rogues gallery and say "let's consolidate all these characters so we have less material to work with in the future". I hate how the rogues are all tech based, and share the same origin. These baddies kickstarted the show's "villains with petty crime motivations": no ideological or thematic draw to them.

Ivo/Parasite: Another villain with nonsensical motivations. His business is going bankrupt so he sets up an investor event party to show off his Black Panther Lexo suit (which was apparently a response to Superman! A stranger that we can't trust! And somehow these expensive suits are more trustworthy) only to attack his investors and get owned by Superman. Then he just has a hateful vendetta against Superman. People who think this is a good Parasite interpretation because they projected vague Elon Musk are kidding themselves. I could clown on MAWS' Ivo all day. He is so badly written.

Heatwave: Why genderbend a Flash villain when Superman already has a Fire Woman in his rogues gallery? Volcana? Remember her? She's from the same show yall got Livewire from? Praise this show all you want for "reigniting interest in Superman", it's clear they're willing to toss away actual Superman cast characters for more popular characters from other heroes when it suits them. What's Heatwave's motivations? Petty crime.

Slade Wilson/Deathstroke: Imagine building this character up to be a big threat only to do nothing with him lol. I can't take him seriously, his voice acting is the worst and I hate his design. This show is so desperate to make attractive villains for fangirls it's frankly pathetic. How did people even mistaken him for Superman? He doesn't FLY.

Mallah and The Brain: This is what happens when you revive gay villains and put them through the HarlIvy Respectability Beam on fast forward. The gay villains aren't villains anymore! Because that would be bad representation! They're now cute cuddly domestic dads who want to raise robot children and run away together!! How TRITE. Mallah has "american faking a french accent" syndrome but bad voice acting is the norm in this show.

Mxy: The one time they include a villain that Lois and Jimmy could easily help Superman defeat (Mxy's whole deal is that you can send him to his dimension by tricking him to spell or say his name backwards) they opt to make it even dumber by just "removing his hat". Because the MAWS crew aren't smart enough to think of ways Superman and his pals can trick Mxy. For the record, CW Supergirl got this right in comparison.

Legion of Loises: It's the way this show can't write competent women even when that's the goal. All the characters act so stupid and that includes the Legion of Loises. At least MAWS!Lois learns the important lesson that even though she's not as accomplished as these career focused versions of her, at least she can keep her man. Misogyny in a cute package.

Alex/Lex Luthor: Go away. Ugly design I can't stand him. Miserable voice acting as usual.

Amanda Waller: She's pretty generic here. Playing second fiddle to Sam Lane for the most part, but this show has a problem with fleshing out Black characters in general so.

Sam Lane: We now have up to THREE asian xenophobes in MAWS season 1. The crew did not think their diversity through because at the end of the day S1 was really about a White Guy Alien getting oppressed by mostly people of color. Without a hint of irony.

Jor-El: I thought the language barrier between him and Clark was an inspired choice and clever as a means of postponing Clark learning about his heritage. But nope. Jor-El just starts magically talking in English later on. Otherwise boring and generic!

Brainy: I know he's prominent in S2 so I can't speak much for his character from the small impression I got of him in S1, but I can say that he looks mad ugly <3 truly horrible rogues designs in this show.

PHEW!! That's my roundup of MAWS character opinions! Wild how I can't even pinpoint a character I like on this show, lol. I know Kara's in S2 as well, and what I've seen of her sounds awful. Her design is bad too. I'm just not ready for the heartbreak of meeting that version of her because I love Supergirl so much :((

[chaosfairy18]

Ok so since a few of my friends have been very passionate about Katherine lately I thought I'd also talk about her (and Denton) a bit, not specifically judging or calling out but just some thoughts I had on them personally. So who knows me knows I love 92sies and yeah I was mad at first for Disney shoving a Disney Plot twist (oh no the reporter is related to the villain, we can't trust her now) as well as a love plot for an independent working woman in and then even cut my man Denton when my ideal world would have both of them. (Additional info since seeing UKsies I am much more in favour of Jatherine but before that they had no chemistry for me almost which only made me more annoyed at the love interest thing)

Hear me out. So Denton is interested in the strike but at first definitely only a bit until Kony (or more rather the fight before where police is not stepping in but instead keeping children locked in so they can get hit and beat). In the world we have both of them working for the Sun I am imagining him seeing her drive and want to work, her aspiration and her feeling for a good story and telling her about it, saying she should maybe go to where the newsies hang out and ask about the strike as he knows she wants to get out of the social pages and probably doesn't yet know how big the strike would get. The very latest they'd both be there for the Brooklyn showing up fight (or just taking the picture before Kony, but I do like my world more with Brooklyn here early) and then both for different reasons get really involved in the strike, personally.

So not to talk more about the timeline but more about how different Denton and Katherine get into the strike and connected to the newsies. Denton has seen some things as an ace war reporter, I'm sure, especially terrible things and has most likely seen young boys fight, even if not in a strike. He's feeling for them as an older man who knows he isn't in their shoes, far from it, but he has empathy for them and sees how dependent on child labour the city is after a short while and also how unfair they are treated, admires their fight, but he doesn't get it all, which is where Katherine comes in. Katherine also has to fight, so so much, just to get acknowledged, just to work at all, and even then the newsies first and foremost react to her with misogyny, but she still knows their fight in ways Denton doesn't, knows how it is to earn almost nothing (because even if her father is rich her own money she makes is abysmally small, probably around what a newsie makes that doesn't sell 100papes per edition as as far as I read that is a Huge amount) and knows she will treat them as, in a way, people with an equal fight (at least after Kony).

Which is also fitting on the topic of "oh Denton paid their fees and food" Denton has most likely a lot of money as an older white man who was an 'ace war reporter' and is 'friends' with the governour (Denty *cough*) Katherine has almost no money she makes herself, it is unlikely that at this time she just has money from her father she can use, and she sees the newsies as people that she is sure wouldn't want charity and people just paying for their things (like food) and is therefore not only not able to pay their fees or for food but also at least wouldn't do much for food as they are both rude to her at first and she wants to treat them without thinking of them as "poor orphans where a rich socialite has to pay their food"

One last thing I do think she could see him as a father figure who actually supports her as Pulitzer doesn't seem to be fond of her working until he is bragging in front of Jack and Denton could be so supporting in the Sun, helping her with everything and even trying to get her stories. Just let them co-exist in peace

[justsomekpopstuff]

ateez as male musical characters (according to me)

A/N: Please remember that this is my opinion, so please be nice. Also I promise that I AM working on Stray Kids as D&D Characters its just taking me a while. Enjoy!

current masterlist | fic recs

Seonghwa: Baron Von Trapp, The Sound of Music

Hear me out - He's poised, organized, clean, and well-put together at all times. However, he secretly does have quite the interesting, fun-loving side. He prefers organization, but is also full of love and creativity that isn't always apparent to everyone. He is strong in his ideals and values, with a soft side for those he loves.

Hongjoong: Orpheus, Hadestown

He is focused and creative, but often times gets too immersed in his work. He gets so immersed to the point where he will forget to care for himself and those around him. However, that doesn't mean he does not love them - in fact, he cares incredibly deeply for those he loves. He will do anything to make sure that they are okay and that they get back on track, even though there may be doubt setting in.

Yunho: Jack Kelly, Newsies

He's a little flirtatious, a little goofy, and also willing to do anything to protect those around him and keep them safe. He really is a leader in his own right even if not many always see it. He really loves pushing people’s buttons if given any space and opportunity, but he also loves pushing for change and making things better for those around him.

Yeosang: Seymour, Little Shop of Horrors

Bless him, he's so quiet and sweet. He really cares deeply for those around him even often at his own expense. He can often be too nice for his own good sometimes but it is so hard to not love him. Yeosang, I feel, makes sure the people around him feel the love at all times, even if his methods are unconventional.

San: Christian, Moulin Rouge

San really loves so deeply with all of his heart. He feels like a hopeless romantic that will love who he does until even after they have gone away, and even more after that. He is a loyal and dedicated lover and friend to those he holds dear. He would also sing instead of talk at all times if given the chance, and would feel heartbreak on an intense level that not many can comprehend.

Mingi: Roger, Rent

He feels so many emotions all the time and uses music as an outlet when words otherwise. He wants to leave a legacy to the world but feels overwhelmed with the pressure to make it perfect. He loves too much and it kind of scares him sometimes. He also tends to doubt his success despite having the people around him giving him support. He is also a certified Rock Star/Emo King™️

Wooyoung: Fiyero, Wicked

We all know he's a little sassy, flirty, and a bit of a shit-stirrer sometimes. But, when he sets his mind to what he cares about, he will do anything and everything possible to achieve his goals. When he loves someone, he loves them with his whole heart and will happily sacrifice himself for them at any cost - a love that is truly hard to ignore and hard to come by.

Jongho: J.D., Heathers

Again, hear me out - He regularly has a lot of things going on in his head, so much that he often can't say. He often takes things into his own hands, which can be a bit intense even to him. He comes off composed and deep, but internally may be a chaotic mess sometimes. He is also spooked by affection from others, and it takes him a while to show his true colors (for Jongho irl, his true colors are beautiful, unlike J.D. who is...not that - that's a difference).

[chequeredflagchronicle]

welcome! get to know me

hi! i'm finn, i'm 18 and from the uk, raised just on the outside of liverpool my entire life. i'm an oldest child in my last year of a-levels before hopefully going to lancaster uni. as you can probably tell, ive been raised in a house of car and f1 fanatics, always watching it on tv because of my grandad and dad. over the past two years, i've gradually increased in my interest in it despite spending a good percentage of my year on race tracks due to my dad starting in endurance racing when i was 3 and switching to rallying recently due to being busy over summer.

the future?

i want to study film and creative writing when i go uni so i can study what i'm best at finally, but also so it opens more doors career wise. ideally, i would love to work as an fl presenter or potentially something like a social media manager for a team. i also want to start co-driving for my dad in rallying before heading down the path to hopefully british gt like he did.

favourites

movies: top gun, top gun: maverick, james bond (daniel craig edition), maze runner, mamma mia, jurassic park, pride, newsies (1992), treasure planet, dead poets society

shows: ted lasso, 911 lonestar, our flag means death, criminal minds, narcos, heartbreak high, sherlock, good omens, punisher, daredevil

other: reading, swimming, football (both watching and playing), big music listener obviously, travellin, learning new languages (currently italian), learning how to play new instruments such as guitar and trombone, collecting things like postcards and bracelets

driver: currently it's probably fernando alonso, but i also love lance stroll, sebastian vettel, jenson button, lewis hamilton, mark webber, oscar piastri, carlos sainz, charles leclerc, michael schumacher, liam lawson and mick schumacher.

team: in the wise words of sebastian vettel, everybody is a ferrari fan, but i do love mclaren and aston martin. (i'm also secretly a haas fan but shhhh)

principal: toto wolff is an obvious pick but i still pick him. i know he's left now but i do still adore guenther steiner with my whole heart. oh and not to forget andrea stella.

specialist shoutout drivers: doriane pin, paul aron, amna & hamda al qubaisi, kimi antonelli, tina hausmann, ollie bearman, arthur leclerc and jessica hawkins 

[noxexistant]

@ask-sarah-jacobs

hey, thank you for being willing to try and make this better. if you genuinely insist on keeping all of this going, my baselines would be:

1. tag everything with your own tag for the roleplay. call it anything, “[group name] roleplay”, whatever. ideally don’t use “newsies” in it. and stop using the main tags. you’re completely spamming them, and nobody wants to see it.

2. put your content under read mores, or “keep reading” buttons.

3. tag all your suggestive content, including anything a minor should not be seeing. “nsfw”, “nsfw joke”, “suggestive”, “cw suggestive”, anything.

but ultimately, i just want to pose a genuine question to all of yous:

what is the joke here? why is this the joke?

why are you writing about these children - characters between nine years old and seventeen - having sex, having threesomes, as your jokes? characters aged nine being taught what sexual terms mean, being around older people - including family members - having sex, being taught to engage in sexual behaviour? other specific incidents that are so explicit i literally don’t even feel comfortable saying them! because there are so many children in this fandom!

all of this is trademark predatory behaviour, these are tactics groomers use. it’s dangerous, it’s creepy, it’s weird. you have made so many people uncomfortable, including many minors - i’m sure even more than those who were brave enough to express this to me - and it isn’t okay. these aren’t just jokes, this is harmful behaviour. you hurt people.

are you willing to understand all of that and keep this all going? these “jokes” that nobody finds funny but you, that are explicitly upsetting other kids and ruining the fandom experience for others? this is such a small fandom!

make a discord server! make jokes like this with your friends in private. keep all your messages organised within it rather than just spamming tumblr tags. ideally, learn and grow and realise this behaviour is Not Good, but i imagine that’ll come down the line.

just, at the absolute least, abide by those few guidelines i set. be better!

thank you.

[loving-jack-kelly]

I love Jack Kelly so much and so I adore your posts. so curious on how you feel about some in the fandom treating Jack like a villain because of his ‘betrayal’ and don’t think his reasoning is ‘good enough’? it irritates me to no end because they have no idea who Jack is.

oh anon this is one of my favorite things to talk about how did you know?

the thing is. this is addressed specifically in the show. So Jack, an escaped "criminal" and homeless orphan who is also the leader/protector of a gang of other homeless orphans, gets put in an impossible position. "cowboy or convict [Pulitzer] wins either way." he has two options when he chooses to "betray" the strike:

option one: take the money, do his best to stop the strike from continuing, and run away from the only home he's ever known to a dream he knows probably won't ever be reality (and let's be real here, Jack is a dreamer but he isn't stupid. he knows that Sante Fe will never be all it is in his head but he clings to that hope because he's idealistic, knowing full well it's not gonna work the way he wishes it would if he ever does make it out). taking option one means breaking the trust of the people he's looking out for, but it also means they're safe. the strike is over, they stop getting beat up, they still have work and therefore won't starve.

option two: refuse the money, let Snyder take him to the Refuge, and let the strike continue knowing full well that Pulitzer can and will ensure that all of the people he cares about are locked up, too. including Davey and Les, who have so much more to lose comparatively because they're not homeless orphans, they have a home and a family. Pulizter is directly threatening all of the people Jack loves, and Jack knows he'll make good on it, and Jack knows how bad the Refuge is.

so for Jack, this boils down to a simple choice: protect them, or let them get hurt. and for Jack, that's a non-choice

everything that Jack does is filtered through this lens of selflessness that borders on self-destruction. the end justifies the means as long as the end is that everyone he loves is safe and cared for. he will provoke a fight with the delanceys if it means nobody else gets hit. he will let all of them think he's betraying them if it means they're safe. who cares if they hate him as long as they're alive and out of the Refuge?

you can see it in that scene. he comes in confident and guns blazing, and doesn't change his mind at all until Pulitzer brings the other newsies into it. he doesn't care if he gets hurt. he knows that a strike is dangerous, and as long as Pulizter is focused on him, who cares? he's fighting for the most important thing in the world, his kids. but when Pulizter is threatening his kids, and the choice is lose them or let them get hurt. well. who cares if he's happy, as long as they're safe? who cares if Santa Fe has always been a pipe dream that he had no real intention of following, he'll survive. he'll be fine. they'll be fine. and that's what matters.

and listen. if jack had really intended on running to Santa Fe, he would have already done it. why didn't he hop a train? why is he so insistent on paying for a ticket? to me, it screams more of that idealism. will he ever realistically be able to save enough to get there? no. and that's part of the comfort of the dream: as long as it isn't real, it can't disappoint him (just be real is all I'm asking, not some painting in my head, 'cause I'm dead if I can't count on you today. I got nothing if I ain't got Santa Fe. how much more scared of Santa Fe disappointing him than staying here is he? i bet a lot. he needs the dream to be perfect).

but of course he chooses to protect his kids because that's what he does. that's what he's always done. that's why he's their leader. he refuses to let them get left behind, he refuses to see them hurt, and he will let them think the worst of him if it means at least they're safe.

on the rooftop, katherine says "I need to know you didn't cave for the money" and Jack says no almost dismissively because of course he didn't. obviously he didn't. Jack who tried to refuse payment from Medda because why should somebody who cares for him need to pay him? Jack who drops two bits, half a day's profit, on somebody he just met? Jack who only started this whole thing in the first place because he knows how bad it will be for the kids who don't move as many papers as him? please. why would he cave for the money? and Katherine was there, she heard Pulitzer threaten the other kids, she should know this.

and then at the end. the strike settled, jack should probably be hitting the road, right? because how could they want him to stay, now that he's betrayed them? except he didn't, and they know he didn't, now that they know what happened. he didn't do it for the money, and he never would have. he only did it because it was the only way he could protect everyone.

[blurglesmurfklaine]

For the fic title game, yet another shamelessly stolen song lyric: hearts will break (for future's sake)

EEEEEEE BRUH I’ve never heard that song and have no clue what it is but what a BANGER line

Okay so I’ve never done this with the newsies fandom only because i haven’t really written much for it, but I’m a sucker for reconciliation. Just an absolute slut for Right Person Wrong Time, so I think that’s what I would make this hypothetical fic about.

omg omg omg and it would be one of those double timeline fics where it jumps between the past and present as a nod to the (for future’s sake)

my vibe for the Past Timeline is: Jack and Davey meet and hit it off VERY quickly because they are them and inexplicably drawn to each other. I’m thinking college freshman era, maybe they’re roommates?? Yeah, yeah they’re roommates let’s roll with it. Past Timeline would ideally jump around through their four years of college in order of relevance to the Current Timeline (we’ll get there, bear with me. There’s a bear with me. His name is Fred. He’s a menace) but begin with their last interaction/falling out and end with their first meeting— Think JICFEBDHGA, If the scenes were the alfabético and alphabetical order was chronological.

The general vibe I’m going for is Jack being head over heels in love with Davey and Davey just having NO FUCKING CLUE because Jack is his friend, his buddy, his rotten soldier, his sweet cheese, his good time boy. But like, Davey is just so Repressed (not in a gay way, he knows he’s 💅🏽, he just doesn’t talk about his feelings and isn’t in touch with them because Oldest Brother Syndrome) that he’s like “yeah this Amazing Feeling and Deep Connection is just friendship :)”.

Meanwhile Jack desires this fucking weirdo he’s stumbled upon carnally and is literally obsessed with him and always dropping casual “I love you’s” “I would marry you in a heartbeat” “for real I want you in my life forever” bc he’s got that All Or Nothing personality and Davey’s dumbass is just like OH YOU!

That all ends poorly because eventually Jack’s like. Dude I am IN LOVE WITH YOU!!! But there is An Obstacle (maybe Davey’s already met someone else and Jack’s too late, maybe Davey thinks he doesn’t feel the same??) and jack… hoooooo boi that guy can NOT handle a) rejection (rejection sensitive dysphoria anyone???) and 2) the idea of davey Not Choosing Him so he DIPS. Skips out on graduation, and moves back to his hometown (Santa Fe)

This is the vibe for Present Timeline: it’s been several years, Davey hasn’t thought about jack in ages (that’s a lie, he was having his midnights moment like. Last night. CAUSE HE WAS SUNSHINE I WAS MIDNIGHT RAIN! ) but Jack’s in Santa Fe anyway and is married and has a kid according to Facebook a few years ago so rip Davey trying to find the colors jack painted his life :/ bc of That WS Just Friendship he hasn’t found anything CLOSE in ages. But surprise! He stops for covfefe and guess who the FUCK is the barista? In New York? Guess who the FUCK has been living there with his daughter (sorry I’m in a very Single Father!Jack mood) for SIX MONTHS and never said a WORD to Davey??

Anyway, this timeline would go in straight chronological order and follow them reconnecting, hashing out their old shit, deciding if they want to be together (they do) and what that looks like. So think 0123456789 numerical order being chronological.

So on the whole, the order would be something like:

0J1I2C3F4E5B6D7H8G9A (come out looking like a fucking verification code 😭) if that makes sense???

Anyway. That was a lot, whoops! But this was actually so fun to do while I wait for my laundry! :D

[regina-cordium]

What are you newsies pjo au thoughts?? I’m so hyped about this

I'm SO glad you asked, because this is fascinating

(Giving a quick shoutout to Rehearsal_Dweller on AO3 and @roideny they've inspired my #thoughts the most)

I don't have parents for ALL the newsies, so I'm definitely open for ideas 👀

Jack - son of Hypnos. HEAR ME OUT. I was tempted to make him a son of Hermes, mostly so he and Race and Crutchie could be brothers. However, Jack's Whole Deal is how he's a dreamer at heart!!!! He sees the way the world could be!! (wait--) I like the idea of him being able to travel in dreams (there's a term for this, but I cannot for the life of me remember it). A lot of the things he paints are things he's seen in dreams, or general ✨vibes✨ he gets

Katherine - this is where I'm stealing from Rehearsal_Dweller and saying daughter of Zeus. Like....imagine being the daughter of ZEUS and JOSEPH PULITZER the need to make her mark as herself instead of as an extension of her fathers. The way she'd refuse to use any surname but Plumber. If you wanna play with pjo canon, her being a prophecy kid would add even MORE stress on top. Give me Katherine blazing her own path not because of, but despite her parents. Going against what they want and expect her to be, to become an actual person and not an idealized hero

Davey - I cannot be swayed from son of Athena Davey. I refuse. He's clever, he's analytic. Going to Newsies canon REAL quick, but I like the hc that he knew what he was doing when he was explaining what they needed to form a union and was posing it as a challenge to get Jack to work with him. Yeah. It also still gives that canon-level "Davey puts everything on his shoulders and feels like he needs to solve everything himself" of sheer anxiety. He's a son of Athena!! He needs to be perfect and smart and know how to do everything!!

Sarah - Davey's twin. She's also extremely clever and really good at reading people and working a conversation into a direction she wants. However, my favorite modern au hc for Sarah is that she's a fashion designer, so I see her focusing more on Athena's crafting aspect. As a result, other than Davey, she's closest with Buttons. She also has a ton of little hobbies that she's picked up because she finds herself going "well, I can't just stay doing the same thing all the time. I need to be well rounded!" and suddenly she knows how to customize dolls

Les - okay, thiiiiis is where I steal from roideny a bit. He has Davey & Sarah and Les are step siblings, and Esther and Meyer bonded over being parents of demigods. That being said, I go around and around on what godly parent he'd have!! Hebe is a good one, as goddess of youth. Hermes is good because Mischief™️ and Race being an awful influence. WAIT. Hold on. I'm going through the cabins and TYCHE. GODDESS OF CHANCE. Lets be real, he's the catalyst of everything!! Without him convincing Davey to work with Jack, nothing would've happened!!! If he hadn't convinced Davey to TAKE A CHANCE!!!! I'm settled, he's a son of Tyche

Race - son of Hermes. I refuse to be moved on this, either. Race is king of pranks. He's SO sneaky, too. That's the real reason he's called Race; one second he's on the cabin's porch, the next he's by the Big House. How'd he get there? Nobody knows. Is he fast??? We don't know. He's actually a REALLY great swordsman, but he prefers fistfights. Nobody expects to get punched in the face.

Crutchie - son of Hermes. Everyone is surprised when they learn that fact. They are in for a rude awakening when their clothes end up on the roof of their cabin. How did Crutchie get up there?? Nobody knows. He and Race are co-councilors, but it's mostly because he knows when to be serious. People tend to go to him with problems, though he and Race are good problem solvers. WAIT. I just remembered Hermes is god of languages too. Crutchie is SO good with languages. It also makes him such a great orator.

Buttons - throwing him here because I've already mentioned he's a son of Athena. I will say I was tempted to put him as a son of Aphrodite, but when I remembered Athena's weaving/crafting aspect I was like "NOW THIS IS BEAUTIFUL" and also Sarah deserves to have friends that aren't her brothers and Katherine

Spot - son of Nike. Again, people are surprised when he's not a son of Ares. However, going back to canon, everything would've been lost without Spot and Brooklyn; he was the key to victory. The Athena and Ares cabins always fight over him for capture the flag. He's so fucking tired.

Now some rapid-fire hcs that I have no good reason for, I just like the vibes

Elmer - Hebe Albert - Apollo Hotshot - Ares Finch - Hephaestis Stray - Demeter Splint - Apollo Romeo - Hecate Much - Aphrodite Blink - Tyche

I am ALWAYS down to discuss other hcs tho 👀

[orchidsandtulips]

Okay, so Vocal Coaches are amazing. They give you personalized advice for singing based on your own voice and it’s great.

However, if you can’t get a vocal coach, it’s possible to learn through observation. This gets a bit tricky since it’s very easy to fall into mimicking other people’s voices, which isn’t healthy/sustainable for most singing purposes. Ideally, you want to mimic the technique, not the voice. Now, a good thing to do when you want to learn new techniques is to find singers who have voices similar to yours and see what they do.

If they have a similar voice to yours, the vocal maneuvers that are healthy for them have a better chance of translating over to you.

You can track them to find more fun songs to sing.

When looking for these singers, match your voice types, vocal timbres, and preferred music genre.

Voice types are: Soprano (High Female), Mezzo Soprano (Middle Female), Alto (Low Female), Tenor (High Male), Baritone (Middle Male), Bass (Low Male)

Some things that describe vocal timbres are: “Bright” (Sounds higher, more youthful. Think 1937 Snow White for high female voices, 1997 Anastasia for lower female voices. The closer it sounds to Spongebob or a Wicked Witch, the brighter it is), “Warm” or “Dark” (Sounds like it has depth, a little more mature. Think 1959 Sleeping Beauty for soprano voices, 1950 Cinderella for Mezzo or Alto Voices. The closer it sounds to a Femme Fatale character or to Patrick Warburton, the darker it is), and there are more but I don’t know the technical terms. If a voice type is a range, then a timbre is the way a voice sounds within that range.

I haven’t heard a song that wasn’t from a musical since 2016, so all my examples of singers are broadway or movie musical stars. I have blind spots. You can find more people using your ears, a recording of your own singing, and a radio/music streaming service.

Soprano or Mezzo - Bright: Laura Osnes (Bandstand, Bonnie & Clyde, 2013 Cinderella), Lauren Worsham (Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder), Lisa O’Hare (Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder), Kristin Chenoweth (Wicked, Candide, Descendants, and so much more), Kristin Stokes (Percy Jackson Musical), Kara Lindsay (Newsies, also Wicked), Caroline Innerbichler (Frozen Tour), Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect, Movie Last Five Years, Movie Into the Woods, etc.), Sutton Foster (Little Women, Shrek the Musical, Anything Goes, Drowsy Chaperone, etc.), Liz Callaway (Film Anastasia, Lion King II, etc.), Jessica Vosk (Wicked, Dreamland, more than that), Annaleigh Ashford (Legally Blonde, Sweeney Todd Revival, Wicked, etc), Jessie Mueller (Six, Beautiful the Carole King musical, definitely more), Laura Bell Bundy (Legally Blonde, probably more than that), Sherie Renee Scott (Broadway Last Five Years, definitely more)

Soprano or Mezzo - Dark/Warm: Kelli O’Hara (Light in the Piazza, 2012 Brigadoon, Bridges of Madison County, Days of Wine and Roses, etc), Patti Murin (Frozen Broadway), Barbara Streisand (Funny Girl, Hello Dolly!, many more), Kate Baldwin (Big Fish Broadway Musical), Barbara Cook (Original Music Man, She Loves Me), Laura Benanti (She Loves Me revival), Sierra Boggess (Phantom of the Opera, The Little Mermaid Broadway, etc.), Phillipa Soo (Hamilton, 2022 Into the Woods, 2023 Camelot, Amelie, etc), Christy Altomare (Anastasia the Musical), Idina Menzel (Wicked, Rent, Disney’s Disenchanted, etc), Julie Andrews (Sound of Music, Original Camelot, Mary Poppins, My Fair Lady, etc), Denee Benton (Great Comet, I know she has been in other things, but I don’t know what they are), Emily Rohm (Ride the Cyclone), Erika Henningsen (Mean Girls broadway, The Theory of Relativity, almost definitely more), Gelsey Bell (Great Comet, Ghost Quartet, probably more Dave Malloy things)

Mezzo/Alto - Bright: Caroline O’Connor (Anastasia Broadway), Patina Miller (2022 Into the Woods), Capathia Jenkins (Newsies, might not be an alto), Faith Prince (Original Broadway Guys and Dolls), Ciara Renee (Big Fish the musical, might not be an alto), Susan Egan (Beauty and the Beast broadway, Movie Hercules, etc), Barret Wilbert Weed (Mean Girls, Heathers, probably much more), Eva Noblezada (Hadestown, The Great Gatsby, definitely more), Amber Gray (Great Comet, Hadestown, I’ll bet there’s more)

Mezzo/Alto - Warm/Dark: Brittain Ashford (Great Comet, Ghost Quartet, more Dave Malloy things, etc.), Judy Garland (The Wizard of Oz film, Meet Me in St. Louis film, etc), Mary Beth Peil (Anastasia Broadway), Sara Bareilles (Waitress, 2022 Into the Woods), Meryl Streep (Mamma Mia film, Into the Woods film, etc), Jill Paice (American in Paris Broadway Musical), Stephanie J. Block (2012 Brigadoon, she has many other credits but I don’t know them), Marla Schaffel (Jane Eyre the Musical), Molly Gordon (Alice by Heart, probably more)

Tenor - Bright: Jeremy Jordan (Newsies, Bonnie & Clyde, The Great Gatsby, Movie Last Five Years, etc), Rory O’Malley (Book of Mormon, I don’t know his other credits, but I bet they exist), Robert Fairchild (American in Paris), Johnathan Groff (Movie Frozen, Little Shop, 2024 Merrily We Roll Along, Hamilton, etc), Lin Manuel Miranda (Hamilton, In the Heights, anything he has written), Ben Fankhauser (Newsies, The Mad Ones, etc. Kind of in the middle with the bright/dark tones), Andrew Keenan-Bolger (Newsies, Tuck Everlasting), Michael Crawford (Original Phantom of the Opera, Movie Hello Dolly, etc), Chris McCarrell (Percy Jackson Musical, One of the Les Mis casts, etc), George Salazar (Percy Jackson Musical, Be More Chill, etc), Johnathan Raviv (Percy Jackson Musical), Sam Primack (Dreamland, probably more than that), Nirvaan Pal (Dreamland, probably more than that), Corey Cott (Bandstand, Newsies, almost definitely more than that), Colton Ryan (Alice by Heart, probably more)

Tenor - Warm/Dark: Derek Klena (Anastasia broadway musical, Pretty sure he was in Moulin Rouge, but I don’t know if he was the cast recording cast, etc.), Aaron Tveit (Movie Les Mis, another Moulin Rouge person that I don’t know about cast recording status), Hugh Jackman (Movie Les Mis, Greatest Showman, etc), Norbert Leo Butz (Wicked, Big Fish, etc), Bryce Pinkham (Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder), Gavin Creel (2022 Into the Woods, I’ll bet there are more), Santino Fontana (2013 Cinderella, there are more), Ramin Karimloo (Anastasia broadway, Phantom of the Opera, Funny Girl Revival, he’s either a tenor or a baritone with RANGE), Bobby Steggert (Big Fish Musical), Ross Lekites (2012 Brigadoon, probably more), Ben Platt (Dear Evan Hansen, definitely more than that)

Baritone - Bright: Christian Borle (Little Shop, Something Rotten, definitely more than that. Either he’s a high baritone or a tenor), Jefferson Mays (Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder), Tom Alan Robbins (Little Shop - same cast as Johnathan Groff, probably more), Zachary Levi (Tangled, She Loves Me Revival), Chris Pine (Movie Into the Woods, Wish. Either a high baritone or a tenor), Robert Preston (Original Music Man, Movie Music Man,

Baritone - Warm/Dark: Josh Groban (Great Comet, Sweeney Todd Revival, etc), John Bolton (Anastasia broadway cast), Constantine Germanacos (Anastasia broadway, probably more), Brian D’arcy James (2022 Into the Woods, Days of Wine and Roses, Shrek the Musical, etc), John Dosset (Newsies, probably more), Peter Gallagher (Original Broadway Guys and Dolls), Brandon Uranowitz (American in Paris broadway musical, probably more), Patrick Wilson (Movie Phantom of the Opera, 2012 Brigadoon, probably more), Michael Ball (2020 Les Mis)

Bass (There are so few of these in musical theatre and just in general that I can’t split it up by timbre) - Patrick Page (Hadestown, Hunchback of Notre Dame, probably more), Michael McElroy (Dreamland, definitely more than that), that one soloist in “A Rumor in St. Petersburg,” that one ensemble member from A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder.

[musicalrecs]

Today's shameless promotion is for one of my favorite musicals that I can't believe isn't more people's favorite: Bring It On: the musical.

tl;dr: This is going to be a long post, so allow me to sum up: if you like Newsies but wish it had a cast of about 2/3 girls and don't really care about the plot so long as there's idealistic teenagers singing and dancing like they've consumed a dozen energy drinks each, building up to a happy ending with more singing and dancing, then you'll love Bring It On. You may now press "j" to skip to the next tumblr post.

Still here? Then please, allow me to reminisce. When I first saw Bring It On, it was on tour before debuting on Broadway, and they were still getting the kinks out. This means I got to see, for example, the original staging of Killer Instinct, and while I get why they changed it for Campbell's character development, I do prefer the original narratively.

It also meant there was no cast album available, and no internet hype that I was aware of. I was there strictly because I saw most shows at this theater if I didn't actively dislike them, and was all "Cheerleading in a musical? Even if the plot is bad it should be a lot of fun!" When I sat down and perused my program I recall turning to my date and excitedly saying "Oh wow, Lin-Manuel Miranda worked on this! You don't know who he is, but he did In The Heights and Sesame Street, this might actually be good!" I also had no idea Ariana DeBose was anyone of import. I should dig out that program and see if I got her to sign it...

I had only the first movie to go on for the plot, which I vaguely remembered the end of. This meant a) I rolled my eyes at conveniently putting Campbell on the "right" team early on and b) I was quite surprised by the ending.

Whatever I was expecting, it was BETTER. Bring It On grabs you with the beat from the get go and and then starts throwing cheerleaders in the air as rapaciously as Jim Henson ever tossed penguins. I hadn't been so captivated by a show's live energy since I first saw Rent.

And the plot? Reader, it was my very favorite kind of plot: girl is in unfamiliar situation, does her best, makes surprising new friends, screws up, learns something, demonstrates leadership, ends with stronger friendships and supportive love interest to boot. (See also: Legally Blonde) You know, the kind of plot guys have had catering to them for millennia so much that the second I hear "coming of age story" I peace out. But it turns out I am not immune to gender-targeted storytelling, particularly when it also has dancing.

It's been an age since I read the reviews, but I recall complaints that Jackson high school was much too "nice," "diverse," "unrealistic" and, had those reviews been written today, they would have almost certainly included "woke." I, on the other hand, was thrilled to see high school portrayed not as a battleground but as groups of friends supporting each other while still enjoying "krunking in the parking lot." (I have never been cool enough to do any equivalent to "krunking" but I admire kids with the confidence to do so, and I did overall enjoy my high school years.)

I am the kind of person who unironically appreciates songs about how it doesn't matter if you're fat or trans or otherwise not society's ideal so long as you love yourself, and songs about how winning doesn't matter as long as you know who you are and have friends. So I loved "It Ain't No Thing" and "Cross the Line."

Plus, a supportive, non-threatening soft boy singing about how high school isn't forever so you might as well "Enjoy the Trip"? Keep your "cringe"; I'll take a dozen more musicals just like this one, please. (No, really. Please let me know if they make any.)

So I mentioned Lin-Manuel Miranda up there, but this wasn't just his show. To quote Wikipedia, "Bring It On: The Musical is a musical with music by Tom Kitt and Lin-Manuel Miranda, lyrics by Amanda Green and Miranda, and book by Jeff Whitty."

Tom Kitt has a pretty eclectic resume, ranging from Jagged Little Pill to Next to Normal to Spongebob. Lin-Manuel Miranda, of course, is best known for trying to sell real estate to Big Bird.

Sidenote: Tom Kitt and LMM had another collab that you may have heard of: the 2013 Tonys opening number, "Bigger!"

Although I couldn't get my hands on the album for over a year after I fell in love with the show, since one didn't exist, nowadays you can of course listen to the whole thing on Youtube, Spotify, or wherever. You can even buy the CD; it comes with a nice booklet with all the lyrics!

But as for seeing the show, I don't recommend trying to watch it online. A quick search doesn't turn up any proshots, and local productions just aren't going to be the same. Half the cast was made up of pro cheerleaders, and their intense choreography is part of the thrill. If a tour ever comes near your town, I highly recommend you get yourself tickets. Even if the moving screens aren't as cool and innovative now as they were in 2011, it's still a wonderful spectacle.

So that's Bring It On: the musical. I suppose I could have actually described the plot (head cheerleader Campbell gets redistricted to another school which - gasp! - has no cheerleading team), but really, does it matter? You're there for the characters expressing themselves through song and dance (and cheerleading), not how easy it is to fool gullible teens by editing Wikipedia (actual plot point). I hope you get a chance yourself to fall in love with its unabashed enthusiasm for friendship and being tossed really high on stage.

[riding-palominos-every-day]

disabled newsies is like a bat signal for me specifically

okay, my own personal headcanons: mike is autistic, ike is audhd. race and jack have adhd. davey is autistic. tommy boy has a stammer. jojo has tics. blink experiences hallucinations and delusions. morris is autistic and hypermobile. oscar has adhd and chronic pain. crutchie has cerebral palsy and a tbi.

also, an idea that i haven’t ascribed to anyone specific yet: one or a couple of the newsies missing fingers from factory accidents that forced them to leave the factories and get jobs as newsies.

I don't have any additions to yours but let it be known I do love them and you are more than welcome to expand upon them to me if you like👀

HOWEVER I do have an addition regarding the factory accidents because I hc I couple newsies to be missing fingers: Hotshot and Sniper.

Hotshot's missing half his index finger on his left hand. Not ideal when that's (secretly) your dominant hand 1800s and all that, god forbid you be a leftie, but he was getting too big to do most of the more delicate machinery work so at least it made the decision to quit easier. He didn't become a newsie until he was fifteen, but he likes being out of the factory.

Sniper's missing his third and fourth fingers on his right hand, but he won't say what happened. Some of the newsies think he was a factory worker, others who are a bit more clued in to what Sam Wah's like behind closed doors think it was him. Sniper either can't or won't say, but he's extremely well-adapted despite it.

[professorspork]

Are the verses in your newsies au based on anything? They remind of a Jewish practice that I’ve read about (that I can’t remember the name of) but I know next to nothing about and I don’t know how much I can trust the sources I’ve read on it anyway.

Anyway, I’m loving the story so far and I’m looking forward to finishing it. 🙂

They are not! They're sort of based on like, Judaism writ large and the diasporic experience, but there's not any one thing that they're trying to emulate. it's more... exploring the feeling of multiple ways of practice, a culture tied to text, and a sense that meaning is imbued because it's carried forward. these are very Jewish concepts, but they're not from a specific source.

that said, some of the things INSIDE the verses are explicit references, even though their whole deal conceptually isn't trying to be any one thing.

the "let all who are hungry come and eat" line Tukson has on his door is a part of the Passover haggadah

the Mourner's Verse (and the whole distinction with how some people use the Traveler's Verse) is partially a stand-in for the Mourner's Kaddish, which is the customary prayer/blessing over the dead in Judaism. the idea of leaving physical objects (shells, pearls, compass) on a grave instead of flowers also comes from Judaism, where we lay stones instead of flowers

just as a series of words in order, "the Shallow Sea Verses" sounds very much like "the Dead Sea Scrolls" because I was trying to invoke that sense of... reverence and religiosity, though they're not meant to BE those necessarily

part of it was me picking things I knew would be meaningful to me (or to Blake), but honestly a huge part of it was just-- plotting out my story, figuring out what notes I wanted to hit, and then making a worldbuilding vehicle that could accomplish those things for me. so the reason it all feels so organic and ideal is that, because I made it up entirely, the only parts of it we see are the parts that perfectly serve the story I'm telling. so it's a bit of a narrative hack in that sense.

[myfairkatiecat]

1,4,7,12,20,22,24 for Katherine Pulitzer, please!

OMG MY DREAM ROLE! Which is currently within my grasp, auditions next week, eeeee

*clears throat* anyway

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

Because she’s a feminist in 1899 who has a personality aside from being a feminist. Because she’s independent and doesn’t need a man but when she falls in love she falls in love and she’s not too “independent” to enjoy it and feel happy about it. Because she experiences writers’ block and sings about it and that is SO relatable. I LOVE HER

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

I would insert her into the 1992 movie musical Newsies, because she is very absent from that movie and it is quite sad :(

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

They write really good fanfic analyzing the class difference between her and Jack and it’s sooo fascinating to read

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

This conversation:

Pulitzer: this has gone on long enough. You cannot go on seeing this… street boy!

Katherine: I love him and he makes me happy, and I have enough money for us both.

Pulitzer: his salary is not enough to support a family

Katherine: then give him a raise, problem solved

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

Davey Jacobs, they would be such an iconic friendship and I LOVE seeing it in fic! Also Sarah Jacobs, noticeably absent from the stage version but I don’t care, they exist in the same universe fight me

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to ths character? Something you don't like?

I think I mentioned it earlier, but I love it when fics analyze the class difference between Katherine and Jack or just the newsies in general. It’s quite fascinating to me!!

24. What other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them?

You know, I’m not quite sure. She’s very unique, I’ll have to think about that. Do you have anyone you think she is similar to 👀

Thank you for this ask Sophie, I love Katherine!!!

[thegroundsofbrooklyn]

HOW WAS CAMP? VIBRATES WITH HAPPINESS

IT WAS THE BEST EVER on the second day my dance teacher just casually went "oh yknow my friend mukeni was in newsies" GIRLY WTF YOU COULDN'T HAVE MENTIONED THAT EARLIER OR SOMETHING???? jk lila if you're seeing this (which i sincerely hope not, what are you doing on newsiesblr) i love you i promise 🙏🙏🙏 anyways it was very fun as always and i would go into great detail about it like i have been to some people all week (shoutout to fandom trash can 💪) but i will probably doxx myself more than i already have in my time on the hellsite and that would maybe possibly not be ideal ❤️

[luckylolabug]

What made you decide to have Seb's family be Mormon???? Just curious lol

Oooh, boy, time for me to stand on my Newsies box and shout from the rooftops. My time has come.

Longer explanation under the cut, but TL;DR it's a lot of context clues based on the very minimal we see in the show, compared to my own personal experience growing up in Utah where a HUGE chunk of my school and also my best friends were from LDS families. Take it with a grain of salt of course, everyone's allowed to headcanon their own thing!

Long answer:

Partially, because he comes from a homesteading farming family, and my personal ideal is that puts him out near Farmington which as far as religions go, is 78% LDS by population. That's a HUGE chunk, and there's too many kids in drama club for at least ONE of them to not come from a predominantly mormon upbringing, honestly likely more than one. But if I'm picking someone out of their group that is most likely to lean into it, it's Seb. Sorry not sorry.

Mormons have traditionally large families, I say this with love. We don't know his family PERSONALLY but we know they bought out three entire rows of bleachers to come see his performance. I had moments before then in Season 1 (which I'll touch on in a second) where I started slowly leaning towards my personal thought process that he might come from an LDS upbringing, but it was the moment he pointed his giant family out that really sealed the deal for me. Also, sorry, but it's a giant family of blondes with blue eyes in Utah? The theory writes itself.

A lot of the happy-go-lucky and almost naive at times energy he has is SO surrounded in that culture to me that it's really hard for me unsee it. I went to school with at least six guys that looked and spoke exactly like Seb did as far as his wording goes, and every single one of those was either a deacon or had some leadership role in their church in high school.

This one's a bit more personal, because I went through my own similar experience (though my family is Jewish and not LDS) as well as physically watching one of my best friends in high school go through the exact same plotline. But the smidge we get in season 4 about not being out to his dad yet and being nervous about it really hit my religious trauma like a TRUCK, and my friend who went through it when we were in HS (her dad was a bishop, so it was REALLY hard for her to admit her sexuality for a long time) has said the same thing. Coming out experiences in general can be extremely scary before they're freeing, and when you're growing up as a queer person in Utah, you're not only worried about your family, but also the fact that a seriously good chunk of the state population is religious and conservative. I never personally came to terms with my own sexuality until I moved out of the state after I graduated, but my entire upbringing there was pretttttty pressurized and I felt like I had to follow a lot of social standards that didn't apply to me at all. Hiding a big part of yourself from the people you love sucks!

Another projection, but it tracks, is finding who you really are as a theater kid. (Think the brief "Im home" scene when he's in Sharpay's costume for the first time) I had *multiple* LDS friends (plus me as the group's Jewish gal) who fell into theater and discovered how to be themselves because of it, and it was almost like a second person entirely. A place and group of people that you could finally be who you were supposed to be around. That's sort of the vibe I'm going with as far as Seb's character development in my re-write series, because it's incredibly important to me.

Anyways. Thank you for asking because clearly I have SO many thoughts on this subject.