LOVED to see Frenchie running scams again and recruiting the Revenge crew to help. Replica planks. Lucius signing fake Stede autographs for Black Pete to sell. Wee John doing Stede tattoos. Use your captain's new found infamy to grift everyone in sight. You're doing amazing babes.
I just want to take this moment to fully appreciate first mate Frenchie, who is in fact first mate for 1 whole day against his will. In that time he does nothing Ed asks and helps kill him. Which means in fact he is the most successful first mate ever because he speed ran the first mate arch. He goes from loyal follower to Captain killer a whole 20ish years faster than Izzy. Go Frenchie Go.
*laughs nervously* Izzy? Dead and gone for good? Naaaah, of course not, he’s just in the gravy basket…or on his way to get sea witch necromancied back by seagull Buttons. He’s ok, he’ll be back…he’ll totally be back 🥲.
so anyway now that we saw stede postpone his grief for ed to save his entire crew, including the people who tried to kill ed, i better not see any more "stede is a terrible captain because he doesn't care about his crew at all, he only cares about himself and his own problems" takes ever again
Uhhh sooooo NYC 80’s punk scene AU where ed used to play in bands when younger but not anymore & runs a popular venue and is totally burned out on the scene. Until a blonde weirdo wearing pastels started coming to shows there and he had to understand what is going on with this guy?? And the guy wants to learn more about this world and Ed confused but ends up having more fun than he has in ages??
An encouraging love letter all the fanfic writers and artists-
Don't stop.
I don't care if Canon has gone off the rails or given us lore that directly contradicts your ideas. I want to read it. I want to see it. I want to know where you'd take these characters. I want to know what inspired you to create in the first place and I want to go on that journey with you. I want you to finish.
I want you to make it better. I want you to make it worse. Make it silly and heartbreaking and amazing. Make it everyday life and what ifs and 5&1s.
I'll be there with kudos and likes and ❤️❤️❤️ comments since this is the most articulate I've been in months.
Keep going. You loved an idea so much you've spent who knows how many hours writing and editing and drawing and posting.
the fact that they use the figurehead izzy defaced for "not doing its job" to instead give him his purpose and identity back. the fact that figureheads were historically not only fixtures of stature and power but also, to their crews, "the eyes of the ship guiding them safely home". the fact that izzy protected the goth crew from a lot of edward's spiraling ire physically, the fact that when izzy was presumed gone and dead the ship was steered and then moored in a storm. the fact that without his intervention they would have likely died in that storm, but instead afterwards were able to be come across by the other half of their crew and brought "home". you see the vision, don't you?
I think OFMD did something really interesting by saying you don’t earn having a safe space and a community by being “good” enough. Having that space is what allows you the support to heal and change and grow. Then you’re given opportunities to repay that kindness, to support that community, to defend and uplift and expand it.
(And if you fuck up, that isn’t the end of it. Not with a community that cares. Because they understand that sort of thing isn’t linear; they’ve walked the same path you have. So you make amends, you try again, you keep healing, you make the effort to do better because now you know there’s people you want to be better for.)