#they’re like nancy drew or the hardy boys if everything was bad

[romanceyourdemons]

i love how david lynch takes the teen detective trope and goes those kids would be unbelievably fucked up actually. they’d be an 18 year old in the noir world and they would not be doing normal

[evielallemxnt]

"There are T W O types of secrets: those we hide from others ─ and those we hide from OURSELVES."

have you seen GENEVIEVE 'EVIE' LALLEMENT strolling around central park at lunchtime? rumor has it they’re actually A HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIVE years old, but i’m pretty sure they’re only TWENTY. they’re currently posing as a PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR at LALLEMENT LAW, but when dusk falls, you can usually find them heading home to MANHATTAN by TOWN CAR. apparently they DID attend the met gala this season! @duskintro

* / CHARACTER INFLUENCES: Jake Peralta ( Brooklyn 99 ) + Veronica Mars ( Veronica Mars ) + Nancy Drew ( Nancy Drew ) + Claudia ( Interview With The Vampire ) + Rebekah Mikaelson ( The Originals )

* / ANTHEMS: PRETTY SAVAGE | YOU MADE A MONSTER | 7 RINGS

*** PENNED BY BRI FOR DUSKFELLHQ ***

FULL NAME: GENEVIEVE "EVIE" LALLEMENT

FACECLAIM: Savannah Lee Smith

AGE: 20 ( estimated @ time of changing ) physically | 135 mentally

SEXUALITY: Lesbian

PRONOUNS: She/her

POSITIVE: Intelligent, charming, loyal, brave.

NEUTRAL: Spontaneous, trustworthy, daring, cocky

NEGATIVE: Impulsive, self-destructive, snide, and Machiavellian.

ELEMENT: Fire.

MBTI TYPE: ENFJ.

MORAL ALIGNMENT: Chaotic neutral.

HOGWARTS HOUSE: Slytherin

AESTHETIC: Breakfast at Tiffany's, fine tailoring, diamonds and pearls and rubies, late-night bubble baths with red sangria, Chanel No.5, bubbly stocked fridge, penthouse parties, drinks @ The Blond, exclusive social club, wigs and disguises, sly smiles, bad decisions, midnight sleuthing, gossiping until dawn, closets filled with Birkins, eyes that hold secrets, smudged lip gloss, devilish temptations

TW: Death, dying, blood

* / BIOGRAPHY: The history of Genevieve Lallement is a tricky one. If you ask her, she became a creature of the night in some whirlwind fashioned tale filled with love, betrayal, and sacrifice -- all the makings of a heart-clenching closed shut story. But the reality? That's much more of a mystery.

Her genesis is one filled with darkness. No memories. No family. No nothing. The only solace coming in the form of her sire -- Cassius. He saved her from a fever that took many in late 19th century England and told her as much as he knew. That he had found her bedridden and sickly in a run-down isolation ward where patients were sent to die more than to be cured. Apparently, she had reminded him of a sister he’d once lost and he acted on an inner impulse to save an innocent. The staff had told him that she had admitted herself under what they proved to be an alias, so there was no way to notify family or even prove she existed.

She was a ghost. Alone in the world. And dying.

So, he gave her new life. Eternal life.

When she’d awakened from the transition, the ripe young vampire found herself unable to remember, well... anything. It was as if the transformation erased everything human about her, wiped her slate clean as she re-entered the world as someone else. Something else. Cassius said that vampirism isn’t a perfected process. There are some ailments that the immortal blood which now ran through her veins can’t heal. By the time he’d found her, her mind had already been overcome with the sickness that was moments away from snuffing her out completely. To drag her back from the depths of near-death, she had to lose some parts of herself along the way. There were some upsides, though. She clung to Cassius like a newborn, and he grew to coddle her as if she were his own. Being inducted into the Lallement family allowed her to see a world that was previously unattainable as a mortal having had come from the dregs of England. He’d brought her to New York at the turn of the century, and it was a sight to behold as she realized…this was HOME.

As the decades passed, the new Lallement glided through life. The adjustment to vampirism wasn’t as hard as it probably was for others. Sure, she had her hiccups, but it was almost as if the lack of memories helped. There was no other way of living for her to remember or to acclimate from. In some ways, there was no true loss. Her new family filled the voids ( even helped her pick out a new name ‘GENEVIEVE” ) showered her with endless love ─ and the bloodlust helped pick up the slack. For a while. As an immortal, it is easy to become distracted by the power, privilege, and play that is now bestowed upon you. But eventually, the semblance of loneliness and eternity creep in. For Evie, it was plaguing thoughts of the unknown that haunted her. Did she have a family when Cas took her away? Did they look for her? Mourn her? Soon all she could think of was the possibility that they somehow survived the plague and managed to continue on. This led her to try to trace their footsteps back to the town Cassius found her in to look for anything, any semblance of a clue that pointed to her previous human existence. Only for Evie to be faced with the harsh reality that the one hospital in town, the very town she’d believed herself to have been raised in, had burned down not long after they’d fled. Along with the patient records. Any possibility of tracing back her roots had been destroyed in a reckless accident and something in Evie c r a c k ed. Never again to be fully healed.

But if anything, she’s a survivor. Evie turned her sadness into something productive, going on to study criminology and criminal justice in the ’70s and '80s, along with a myriad of other majors she probably got too distracted to finish. Evie figured, if she couldn’t figure out the mystery of her own life, then the least she could do is help others figure out the mysteries in theirs. Becoming a private investigator sort of just happened, but it soon became her life’s joy. Piecing things together, going on recon missions, and doling out the truth was something that Evie not only excelled at but truly found fulfilling. At least ─ during the day. When the sun goes down, she resorts back to her party-girl ways, needing to find some sort of entertainment as a method to keep herself distracted. Because, you see, the only thing Evie hates most in the world is being by her lonesome. It leaves time for that inner sadness and loss to come creeping back in, to remind her that there’s nothing in the world to truly call her own. That the Lallement name is a placeholder for the truth. And that’s the one truth she cannot face.

So, she parties, boozes, pushes the limit because she has none, and there is always a need for M O R E. Because boredom is never on the menu. And when the town car arrives eventually to take her back to Manhattan, merely a few hours before she must be up for work, Evie revels in the few minutes of silence and thinks ─

‘Another day down. Only an eternity to go.’

* / PERSONALITY: Evie is, more than anything, fun. She likes to have a good time and to look good while doing it. Sure, her deviousness occasionally gets her into more trouble than intended, and in some ways, her childlike need to be paid attention to can be exhausting to people, but she is not all play. Evie truly enjoys being an investigator and will isolate herself for days, weeks even, if that means cracking a case. Her job and lifestyle have been carefully cultivated to always keep her busy so the facade can stick. No one knows about her growing concerns with the idea of unlimited time or the feeling of wanting a connection with someone -- anyone. Evie doesn't really give into supernatural politics or bias, and her ruthless side only comes out when hangry or when you threaten someone she loves. Then it's all-out chaos.

* / FUN FACTS:

She's gone to college several times and has studied many things but only holds a degree in Criminology and Interior Design

Currently paying a witch to figure out a way for vampires to get tattoos

Obsessed with all things horror and true crime

Officially identified as a lesbian in the late '60s

Has two poodles named Khaleesi and Drogon

Manhattan PD knows her by name

* / WANTED CONNECTIONS:

SCOOBY GANG/HARDY BOYS/7 RINGS - These are her people, her confidantes, her ride or dies. Can be supernatural or human, mortal or immortal. Whether they met decades ago or the night before, tipsy, in the Cosmopolitan bathrooms, they instantly clicked and have been loyal to each other ever since.

ROOMMATE(S) - Evie lives in one of the many ritzy buildings Manhattan has to offer. While having an entire floor to yourself has its benefits, it can feel quite isolating. So, the vampire opened up her doors to allow in some roommates -- free of charge!

ASSISTANT - As a private investigator, sometimes certain cases can become quite tedious. While her work rarely ventures away from mild cases Cassius needs help with, Evie does also take cases from anyone who needs help. Keeping everything organized, going with her on recon, and even offering their own input and theories is what they provide for her.

PLAYTHING - Now Evie isn't evil, she doesn't play with people's emotions ( at least not intentionally ) but she does indulge in the power and influence that comes with vampirism. Not only would this person be someone to go to for the occasional midnight snack ( where they're the snack sowz ), Evie would also indulge in their life. Making sure they're well taken care of, listening to the things they're going through, and being there for them whenever they need her.

FOES/ENEMIES - When you live forever you might make an enemy or three. Evie has ruffled a few feathers over the past century, that's for sure, and she has no problem continually poking the bear if she finds herself bored enough to do so.

also: literally anything else pls plot with me i'll send you kit kats and a coupon for a free taco.

[buffyfan145]

Last night’s episode of “Nancy Drew” was so great!!! :D I knew this whole thing with Nancy and Ace dating the Bobbsey twins was going to bring out their jealously and get them to start questioning how they feel about each other and their final scene was so charged!!! I loved it.  Also I really like Amanda and can relate to her (besides having the same name LOL) and her brother Gil’s not as bad as first thought. So will be interesting how this goes. But also this helped bring out more about Ace’s brother and glad it was confirmed his sibling is a brother helping even more with the long held theory Ace is Joe Hardy. I can’t wait for more of this and hopefully seeing Frank.  Also loved Bess and Carson’s scenes and how he’s becoming a dad for all of them. Loving everything with this George, Nick, and Odette storyline too. Never thought I’d ship George and Nick as much as I do but they’re amazing together. And that trailer for next week’s ep made me laugh so much!!! LOL This is going to be a fun one for us as Nancy.

Then I had a thought hit me too after the episode that what if we already have seen Ace’s brother though none of them know it (similar to how Ryan ended up being Nancy’s biological father). And it hit me that what if it’s Det. Tamura. We’ve already had scenes of him with Ace, Ace’s dad, and Nancy, and that he’s also part Jewish. Going with the Hardy Boys theory Tamura also fits how Frank looks as he takes after their mother with dark hair and dark eyes, and Frank’s by the book personality as he’s the one who normally follows the rules and was academically gifted. Plus, the age fits as Frank would be about 10 years older to have gone into witness protection. We’ve never really had the Hardy Boys as adults but most always said Frank would likely be more of the one to be an actual cop while Joe would be more of a PI. So just an interesting thought that could happen. :)

[riverdale-retread]

 Riverdale S4  E7 (Spoilers!) 

-  Thanksgiving  & the Ice Storm!  Archie is mourning Fred (as are we all, still). Hiram is now Mayor of Riverdale. Jughead is away at school. Dodger is in a coma in the hospital.  

- I appreciate the fact that Riverdale confronts the reality of many relationships, which is that they are inorganic and people have to force them to continue, sometimes powered by delusion and nothing else.  Jughead has a girlfriend who can’t be happy for him to have a great educational experience, but he has decided that she’s his happy place. Bret knows Jughead is obsessed with Betty but has decided that he has to make some sort of play for him.  FP has known for decades that Alice AND Gladys are destructive and bad news, but he has decided that he’s obligated to stand by mothers of his children (well, that he knows of) (he has more than three, he has to), so he stays with these shit women. Veronica has decided that Archie is good, and so she is subservient to a level that would otherwise be unimaginable, and in the face of his blank disinterest.

Jughead

-  Jughead’s hardheadedness and stubborn insistence border on suicidal. He knows that his classmates are evil people, that something has gone very wrong with Chipping, and that Dupont built his fortune on some sort of lie, and yet he directly confronts Dupont about Chipping’s death and his own accusation of plagiarism.   

Jughead is such a fabulous character because he’s so painful to watch - he keeps acting like he has nothing to lose, despite also working and trying so hard all the time, and fate always answers his actions by making him lose everything. 

- Jughead truly loves his Stonewall Prep experience.  Even after getting locked overnight in a coffin and witnessing a terrifying suicide, Jughead loves it there. He’s confident and happy there, all the time.  The visit from Betty is icing on the cake, cherry on top of the sundae, of course, but the fact of having the campus to himself, Stonewall without the preppies, is what is getting him really excited.

Bughead

- Bughead get a mystery to solve and a conspiracy theory to mull over, so the Hive Mind is very pleased with itself.  

By the way, Jughead says Baxter Franchise is worth $200M,and I am not sure what I’m supposed to think about this number. A cursory google search of Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series do not yield any sort of simple answer on valuation of book series. Like, I know how much JK Rowling is worth, but that doesn’t seem analogous.

- I got such a kick out of Betty this episode though. She’s all in Action Barbie mode.  She needs to get it on now, HIT SAVE JUGHEAD.  Notice (sorry Bugheads) that this 17~18 year old teenage boy would rather keep typing. Regardless, OH their chemistry is such a tonic, I love it.    They’re wearing his ‘n’ hers t shirts and matching pajama pants. Betty giggling as her lips meet Jughead’s?  Delightful.  Jughead may bring the devotion and romance to Bughead, but the heat is all Betty.  I appreciate you girl. 

- Hot sex is good for Betty, because post-coitus Betty even has an actual sense of humor, which she normally doesn’t.  Her  YES!! when she gets excited about the prospect of a junk food Thanksgiving before she gives Jughead what looks like a powerful wallop of a smack was terrific.  Betty’s sarcastic rejoinder about the bunny-face ‘prank’ that Bret tried to pull, “Oh yeah... funnnn,” was tip-top!   She punctuates her telling off of Bret as she stitches his scalp back together with an extra hard snap  of the thread was so satisfying. Girlfriend needed to get laid more often.  

- Oh yeah: BETTY BASHES BRET’S HEAD IN WITH A GOLF CLUB.  Her huge blazing eyes, communicating What the fuck is happening?  and Are you ok? and I love doing violence, I am so high right now!  all at the same time?  CHEF’S KISS. I just so love this about Betty.  She sees a baddie go in the direction of Jughead, and she’s so efficient - find weapon, approach, attack.  Normal people might call out a warning or whatever, but Betty Cooper is going to use her goddamn Serial Killer DNA, thank you very much.

- The Quill & Skull secret society is introduced and  Jughead has theories on what may have happened to Chipping.

Bret --> Jughead

- Let’s take a minute to discuss Bret.  Bret is stalking Jughead, and really only hurting himself, because he has to listen to Jughead say “Hurry up and get here already!” and “I love you” to Betty.  Unrequited love sucks, Bret, let it go.  I haven’t had this experience of being fixated on someone I shared close quarters with but damn, it’s gotta be painful. It must have stabbed Bret in the heart to see Betty in the stonewall sweater.  Bret sets up the sex tape cam in the room, and I really wonder if he hasn’t just been filming Jughead all the time.  This tape that eventually gets sold later in the season may be the most, um, commercially viable, but I have to think there are just hours and hours of Jughead, sleeping, reading, doing homework, changing in and out of clothes, in Bret’s personal archives.

- The choice of the bunny head costume. I first thought they’d picked it for like Donnie Darko (movie I haven’t watched) mixed with sly commentary about Jughead’s dental situation, but now I think it’s sexual.  Hey Jughead, let’s go at it like rabbits.

- Bret bites down on a leather belt while Betty is stitching him up, not because he needs it, but because he wants to bite leather in Jughead’s presence. (Um, do I need to put like a Minors DNI  here?)

- Thanks to Donna’s assist, Bret actually gets to do the Gotcha, I Win narration that Jughead attempts to do all the time, to Jughead, who is looking so pissed off (and so pretty  - how are his lashes so long?), green eyes furious. After delivering a couple lines that you know Bret workshopped with Donna (“Chipping’s death was a suicide driven by a guilty man’s fear  of exposure.  Case closed, Detective Jones.”), Bret does the most touching Bret-ish thing ever. He moves his hand to Jughead’s arm like he’s going to touch him, maybe give him a WASP 1% asshole pat, but he can’t bear to, he doesn’t dare, so he sort of does a hand gesture below the sightline of the camera and then moves away. Meanwhile Jughead has no idea Bret has hands. Poor Bret.

Bughead v Donna 

- Never Have I Ever.  Jughead Jones HAS NEVER DONE DRUGS. (Taking a quick sob break thinking about S5A).  But he’s all for underage drinking, which surprised me.  In the course of this game, I at first thought that Jughead was not being subtle and doing the Poirot confrontation  when he brings up the secret society in a way that nobody would ever fall for, but  N!o! it was a plan to let Betty go do some sleuthing by buying time. (And also get a big gulp of alcohol. Oh no).

- But then the Bughead urge to go CONFRONT before they are fully ready is not something they can overcome, in the end.  And Donna is smarter than all three of them.  Donna the character is a great actor - her distress and tears are fully so convincing, even though the music and Betty’s reaction makes it clear i’m not supposed to believe her.

- Donna Lies About Being Assaulted.   Girl who lies about sexual assault is a misogynist trope they need to fucking retire already from all media forever altogether. For fuck’s sake. That is lazy.

- So Donna goes to talk to the head master to head off any further action by Jughead. 

I take it from my cursory search nobody ships Donna and Jughead, but I sort of do, in the same way I sort of ship Veronica and Jughead.  Both these dark haired girls share things in common with Jughead and are smarter & more capable than he is, and I  kind of want to see Jughead coping with that.

Choni pull a Titus Andronicus

- Choni - well actually, Cheryl - plan to dump the body of uncle Bedford before the Sweetwater River freezes over in the ice storm.  Cheryl goes AND THEN THE SALMON CAN GOBBLE UP HIS EYES and Toni is squicked out but pretends that that;s not the problem and says she feels she’s being watched. 

- Style note: Cheryl in the tightest reddest dress is so very beautiful.  And how does she find lipstick that matches her clothing so well.

- They pretend to have cooked Bedford into pies and fed them to the other Blossoms, and then fake out, it’s lamb. As a person who absolutely loves savory pies, I am always happy to see meat pies in pop culture, but ... why do a fake out? It’s not like it’s not something Cheryl would think of doing.

- Best part of Choni is Nana Blossom telling a story about an event that happened in the last 19th or early 19th century like it just happened to her last year.  Nana Blossom is an immortal.

I cannot ship Falice

- The show keeps trying to make the point that FALICE = Parentdale Bughead and All~ Of the No.

- FP’s straight job takes a total turn for the worst. He needs to take orders  from Hiram as mayor and he has the same inability to compromise with reality as his son.  He delivers the news that he has to, as Sheriff, and then tells the kids to disregard him. 

- The Whatever You Decide I Back You 100%  is the kind of statement that’s gotten everyone in a tizzy over on Bughead, and it turns out Betty gets this from Alice. Eww.  Later in the booth at Pop’s, FP is doing something I have not seem him do with Gladys- that caressing one shoulder thing that Jughead does all of the time. Is this genetic?  And Alice cannot resist the urge to make FP erupt into violence.  This is also exactly the same as Betty.  (Oh wait, is this... is this meta commentary by the show? That if Bughead really do stay together into their 50s it will become this?)

- Parentdale foursome:  Hiram, Hermione, FP and Alice all at  Pop’s. (Why can’t Pop’s go home for Thanksgiving? Are all the Tates waiting for him to close up the Diner to do their own family dinner?) Bret Donna Jughead and Betty in another place. in what’s supposed to be a parallel and I don’t like this.

-- Inevitably, FP attacks Hiram with a bottle. He’s no good at punching people by the way, and so I posit once again that the Serpent King is not about how well you fight, it’s about something way more Romantic. FP has a lot of Romantic ideas and yanno I feel like tv drunks are frequently wounded dreamer types, whether or not this is actually true in real life.  (Oh and S5 Jughead is also a wounded dreamer drunk, so yeah.)

-Is there a rule that says you can’t be sheriff AND Serpent King? Actually yes, Alice, there is. The rule is called COMMON FUCKING SENSE. Alice wants to be Serpent Queen, and wants to relive her youth as being the ‘bad’ girl because the decades spent being the ‘good’ woman and ‘middle’ class went very badly, and then the attempt to be ‘spiritual’ also sucked.  So Alice invites the Lodges to join them, because being the sheriff’s girlfriend is just a tad too tame for her. I hate Alice.

Veronica in Doormat Mode is Upsetting

- Why is there such food insecurity in Riverdale, where the main problem that Veronica’s community center (because Archie isn’t doing fuck-all actually for it) deals with is childhood hunger?  How long has it been this bad? 

- Of course, Veronica is the one who provides all the food for the free food night.  All Archie brings is the fryer for the turkey. Veronica says, religiously:  You’re too good for this world Archiekins.  I mean.... compared to WHO?

-  Before we get to the bullshit with the Dickinson crime clan:  Mary is a shit lawyer.  Hiram has done something to prevent Archie’s feeding the kids etc, and she is like Yeah sure disregard the ordinance.  An attorney  is faced with a mayoral action and reacts with  empty mind, free of thoughts.  Why not try for an injunction, you know, contact the judges, or look into the ordinances to examine on whether Hiram can actually do this or not.    Ugh.  And because everything Archie touches turns to absolute shit, she ends Thanksgiving by pointing her gun at a woman and threatening to kill her.   And Veronica stabs a man in the hand, because whenever Archie gets involved in your life you end up in violence.  

- Anyway the center gets invaded by the Dickinson clan.  Dodger’s mother seems 5 years younger than Dodger and I don’t know why they couldn’t make this story about his WIFE.  Or maybe in the Dickinsons, Mother is an honorific like King /Queen are in the Serpents?  Also why is she from a whole different region of the US than Archie and CO?  Anyway the kids, to protect Archie, do a I AM SPARTACUS reenactment, which was cute. 

- When it’s all over, there’s a bit of a highlight.  Archie laughs so winningly as he remembers good times with his dad, of all of them falling asleep on the couch after Thanksgiving Turkey, and I am moved.  Am I just a sucker for a pretty face? (Yes, yes I am).  He’s so beautiful and lovely, and I want all the best for him (Fuckin’ A - I am Jughead in  this sentiment, goddamn)   Mary continues to be a moron and thinks that Fred was trying to communicate / watching out for them through a deep fryer, and Archie smiles about it. 

- Archie dedicates this center, that was gifted to him by Hiram and funded by Veronica,  to Fred  Fred Andrews, with a plaque that calls Fred  a ‘humanitarian.’ Absolutely none of this is earned.  Bless Fred, but he WASN’T any sort of humanitarian.  Well at least humanitarian is spelled correctly, and we get to look at Luke Perry’s smiling face one more time. (Plaque is dated November 2019).

Please give Sweet Pea a name, for the love of god.

I don’t know if Dodger is or becomes actually important again, so I will take the opportunity to note that stupid Dodger, rote bad guy villain of almost no consequence, has a last name, but Sweet Pea does not.  (When the hell is the show going to fix this??)  Oh and Mr. Chipping’s first name was Rupert. (Seriously, show, give Sweet Pea a name.) 

[blackjack-15]

Avenge My Twistery Depth — Thoughts on: Trail of the Twister (TOT)

Previous Metas: SCK/SCK2, STFD, MHM, TRT, FIN, SSH, DOG, CAR, DDI, SHA, CUR, CLK, TRN, DAN, CRE, ICE, CRY, VEN, HAU, RAN, WAC

Hello and welcome to a Nancy Drew meta series! 30 metas, 30 Nancy Drew Games that I’m comfortable with doing meta about. Hot takes, cold takes, and just Takes will abound, but one thing’s for sure: they’ll all be longer than I mean them to be.

Each meta will have different distinct sections: an Introduction, an exploration of the Title, an explanation of the Mystery, a run-through of the Suspects. Then, I’ll tackle some of my favorite and least favorite things about the game, and finish it off with ideas on how to improve it.

If any game requires an extra section or two, they’ll be listed in the paragraph above, along with links to previous metas.

These metas are not spoiler free, though I’ll list any games/media that they might spoil here: TOT, WAC, mentions of GTH.

The Intro:

Let’s talk about Trail of the Twister, shall we? No clever intro, no pun, no sassy statement on the quality (whether lacking or overflowing) of the game…let’s just Talk.

Like I said at the beginning of my WAC meta, TOT is one of two games that doesn’t really fit into a category besides it and WAC demonstrating HER’s growing pains. The world opens (kinda), the characters get a little deeper (kinda) and a few new things are tried with plots and character (to varying degrees of success). Both WAC and TOT — but especially TOT — represent a shift in the tone of the games and their approach. You can ascribe this to a lot of reasons — an aging fanbase, technology marching on, a new writer in the mix — but you really can’t ignore it, no matter if you’re a Classic Games Elitist or a Newer Games Snob (or neither one).

To paraphrase a fabulous song, there’s something there that wasn’t there before.

This is not me saying in any way that TOT is a fabulous — or even moderately successful — game. In fact, it whiffs a lot where WAC hit solidly, which makes playing them one after the other a sort of chore; WAC is weighed down by the knowledge of what comes next (after such a brief respite from games like ICE, HAU, and RAN), and TOT’s repetitive chore list seems even bleaker after the snack shop and secret societies of WAC.

Which is truly unfortunate, because hiding behind the rat traps and the car chases (or drives, if you drive like a normal person in this game) and the endless moon chunk offerings is one heck of a story. Unfinished and beleaguered and (to my suspicions) censored as it is, there is a definite, multilayered, morally ambiguous, honest-to-moon-chunk story in TOT.

Like I said, something there that wasn’t there before.

Playing through the games in order, it seems like the reason WAC is so solid is, in part, because the games before it have so little cohesive story as to be laughable. Playing them out of order will show you that though WAC does come off a little better than it actually is due to the games that came before it, it’s also actually a step-up from a lot of games in the complexity of its plot and characters. At this point in the series that’s about to happen a lot, but WAC is the first real instance where you get it. Like I said, these two games mark a tonal and approach-based shift in the games.

So let’s turn our attention to TOT.

There are a lot of things that bog down this game — it feels sometimes as if you’re simply going through Farmville-esque tasks to get from Point A to Point B — but its plot and characters (save in one large instance) aren’t actually the culprits. Surprisingly enough, we have a mystery here with enough twists, turns, small crimes, and red herrings to make for a perfectly serviceable plot with relatively well-developed (for the length of the game) characters (whom I’ll go into more below).

A huge difference from a lot of the games is that we have a prominent unseen character who isn’t the one who hired Nancy or who is part of the historical background. Brooke’s actions actively move the plot along no matter what Nancy does, and I do like that the world of TOT goes on spinning (as it were) without Nancy driving everything.

You get the sense that Nancy truly was just dropped into the middle of this without having any control over the situation, and that she spends the entire game (or most of it) playing catch-up, rather than being on the scene for the crime(s) or arriving shortly thereafter.

In TOT, this sabotage has been going on for a while — the competition is nearly over, in fact — and Nancy has to actually do some detective work to even get caught up, let alone to try to step a few feet in front of the guilty party.

One interesting thing is what TOT and WAC share: they both feature casts who are only a few years off of Nancy’s age; in WAC, they’re a tiny bit younger, while in TOT, they’re a tiny bit older. Nancy, being Nancy, is much more in her element with the ages of her suspects in TOT than she is with high schoolers — with how much time Nancy spends around people significantly older than her, I’d be shocked if she got along well with high schoolers when she was in high school herself.

As a side note, I know it’s sort of a fandom thing that Nancy gets along well with children, but honestly outside of Lucas, it’s not something we really see (no, I’m not counting pelting Freddie with snow 10 times sans mercy as getting along with children) — and honestly Lucas is just charming, so I see no reason why Nancy wouldn’t get along with him. Generally speaking, kids who grow up the way Nancy has [especially as an only child] are far more comfortable with ‘adults’ — well established, 35/40+ adults, who make up the majority of her suspect pools — than they are with peers or children.

There’s also a great deal of care taken with making all the suspects (mostly) equally likely for a large portion of the game; it’s not until past the halfway point that a suspect (Chase) is cleared due to his confession of a different crime, and even then, he doesn’t really become Nancy’s helper, as is the usual case with cleared suspects. This is actually one of the few games where Nancy doesn’t really have a helper; she relies on herself, the Hardy Boys, and (questionably) P. G. Krolmeister to get the job done.

And speaking of the Hardy Boys…you knew an intro wouldn’t be complete without my mentioning them, hush.

The Hardy Boys are arguably the set piece that benefit most from Nik’s writing (and yes, I’m going to ascribe it to him; he’s the most prominent variable). Don’t get me wrong, the Hardy Boys were great before, but the Nik games are where they start attaining a place of more prominence and solidify their distinct personalities other than “focused killjoy and playful scamp”. In this game, you get more of Frank’s protectiveness (directed towards Nancy) and Joe’s actual sleuthing abilities — not the least of which because this game coincides with that DS Masterpiece “Treasure on the Tracks”.

Oh yeah, we’re going there. It’s relevant.

Treasure on the Tracks, as mentioned, was a game for the Nintendo DS (and the only one, mind you) focusing on the Hardy Boys. In the game (as in TOT), they’re tracking down the Romanov treasure with the help of a surprising ally — Samantha Quick herself. Samantha is under orders (from who, she never says, but a future game makes it obvious) to help the boys find the treasure aboard the royal train that the Romanovs used to own.

And yes, I would have loved that to be a joint Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys PC game, but I’ll push the bitterness aside for the facts. Which are that this game has a rad premise and would have been a very cool addition to the ND series…but I digress. Regardless, that’s what the boys are doing during TOT, so we get little hints to their investigation as well as having them help Nancy out.

I love that the Hardy Boys have an actual mystery that they’re investigating, as beginning with this game we see a lot more of their ‘agent’ side being brought out. It’s nice to feel that Nancy isn’t alone out there fighting against the forces of evil, and gives excuses to have the Hardy Boys in the games more, so I’m a big fan in general. It also helps build them up as investigators; while they offer hints to Nancy a lot, we don’t get to see them doing a lot of spy/detective work, and it’s lovely to be able to see it here.

And I love their sibling banter. It’s obvious that JVS and Rob Jones have a lot of fun with their roles, and it really lightens and enhances any Nancy Drew game that they’re in.

The last interesting thing that I’ll point out before diving into the game itself is what TOT does for the world of Nancy Drew. Beginning with this game, we start the tradition of each game leading directly into the next one; for her help in TOT, Krolmeister sends her to his favorite ryokan in Japan, which leads to her being hired for CAP; her absence and fight with Ned in CAP lead her back home for the Clues Challenge in ASH, and so on and so forth.

It really makes the world feel solid and cohesive, and lets our characters grow and shift and change without making it feel episodic or sudden. The Nancy of SPY is quite different from the Nancy of TOT in how she behaves and tackles mysteries, but her character growth throughout the games in between make it feel right and natural — like actual character growth.

The Title:

As a title, “Trail of the Twister” isn’t bad — it’s got that alliteration that ND books tend to like doing, and makes it feel a little classic. It also gets a play with words in there — you’re tracing the actual trail of the actual twister, and you’re also walking through the evidence left behind (aka a trail) of a twisting plot. Solid, if not exceptional, with its only real detriment being the hilarious acronym (TOT).

The book it’s (loosely) based off of is called “The Mystery of Tornado Alley” which, obvious to anyone with eyes, is a much worse title while telling us the same thing. It also doesn’t apply to the game as much – you’re not figuring out a mystery as much as unwinding the tangled threads of character motivations — and is supremely clunky to boot.

The Mystery:

Called in by P.G. Krolmeister to go undercover, Nancy joins a team of storm-chasers bent on winning a grant for their research — and beating the opposing team that wants the same thing. Nancy begins the mystery by finding a tin box full of cash (payment for an as-of-yet unspecified action) and it spirals from there, putting the not-so-amateur teen sleuth through her paces learning about tornados and storms, taking pictures, and trying her best to keep everyone happy and working towards the money.

It’s not as easy as it sounds, however. There are competing forces at work outside (and sometimes within) the two teams, and the personalities of the storm-chasers that Nancy must investigate mean that no one trusts anyone else. Things continue to go wrong and Nancy chases down the clues until the mother of all tornados hits town, and our culprit takes advantage of the distraction…

I mentioned above some censorship that I suspect went on in this game, and I’ll talk about it here. Given the darker themes of this game and the mentions of death and serious injury (more than most other games in the series at this point), I would say part of the reason why our story is a little more…displeasing, especially by the end, is that HER was really intent on the 10 part of the 10+ rating.

There’s lots to explore — the Ma storyline that goes nowhere, the collateral damage of these tornadoes, the fact that our cast is filled with genuinely unpleasant criminals — and yet it gets glanced over while feeling like the game is building up to it. Like CRE and ICE where I postulated a lot of the attention went to the new engine, I’m going to postulate here that the reason why we have hanging plot threads and injustice at the end (which I’ll talk about later) is that the game was censored by the HER bigwigs to ensure it still fit in a 10+ rating.

As a mystery, like I said above, there’s absolutely nothing wrong here. We’ve got plenty of means/motive/opportunity spread out in our cast (and in the periphery cast, just to keep things interesting), the threads and smaller crimes/wrongdoings/etc. are realistic in scope and in motive to keep them hidden, and it’s the personalities of the suspects that give us our conflict and tension, rather than random “interferences” by the writers. And speaking of our suspects, let’s go to the other area that TOT does (almost) nothing wrong.

The Suspects:

First off is Chase Releford, a junior who took Scott’s class for a science credit who got super interested in the actual work. The team’s handyman, Chase has noticed (and fixed, and fixed again) the equipment acting up, and is being stretched pretty thin in order to keep it all shipshape and in working order.

He’s also one of Nancy’s sources of Pa Pennies, if you wanna spend hours doing circuit boards.

As a culprit, Chase is a great option (which is a sentiment you’ll hear repeated for all of our suspects, never fear). He’s secretly spending his time looking for oil with Pa’s divining rods, which puts two crimes on his conscience (stealing the rods and not working on company time) and helps the team fall even further behind. It’s important to note that for a large chunk of this game, the likelihood of the suspect also hinges on how much they want Scott to fail, and Chase is pretty much the only one without any real anger towards Scott.

The owner of the local general store, Pa Ochs might be a surprising option to put ahead of Chase in order of culprit likelihood/suitability, but I stand by it. Having lost his wife (Betsy “Ma” Ochs) to a tornado (the warning sirens, which were Scott’s responsibility, didn’t go off), Pa alone mans the counter, helping Nancy find everything she needs — for a price, of course.

The price being annoyingly hard to get Pa Pennies. Unless you exploit a glitch.

Here’s where we start with the culprit possibilities that have an actual grudge against Scott. Though not as angry as he could be, Pa is deeply hurt by the loss of his wife Betsy, and has grounds for an axe to grind with Scott. As much as I would have loved to have the ‘friendly general store owner’ be the culprit, it would have been like a mix of DOG’s Emily and FIN’s Joseph (minus the Crazy), and it’s (sadly) best to leave that ground alone without re-treading it.

Frosty Harlow is next up; a second-year grad student in digital media, Frosty got his nickname (his real name is Tobias) from his storm photography and is, well, trying to re-capture that lightning in a bottle.

He also screams like a little girl. So that’s fun.

Like Chase and Pa, Frosty is a wonderful option for a culprit. His crime is selling university property (the video of the storm he and Nancy shot) to an aspiring photographer (who happens to be on the rival team) to help them get a toehold into the business, along with working with Debbie to try to stress Scott into quitting.

What really makes Frosty stand out is that, unlike Chase, Frosty doesn’t feel bad about what he did at all. He also holds far more animosity towards Scott than Pa does, and has a little more…innate anger as a person.

If you haven’t noticed by now, we’re going in order of “worst” culprit option to “best” (and then the actual culprit), and it really says something about how fleshed out these characters already are that we start with people who are solid options to begin with.

Though only appearing vocally and for a few minutes total of the game’s runtime, I’m going to list Brooke Tavanah as our next most likely culprit — in part because, well, she kind of is our culprit. The leader of the rival storm-chasing team, Brooke offered Scott money to sabotage his own team to let her team win the grant — an offer that he takes her up on.

Of course, Brooke isn’t the only one sleeping with the enemy (so to speak) to ensure her team’s victory; her videographer, Erin, is apparently so talentless as to need to buy footage from Scott’s team as well.

Things don’t exactly look great for the Kingston University team — as they can’t really get ahead even through sabotage and skullduggery, and one does wonder if they’d even be able to put the grant to good use. That, of course, is not the point; Brooke wants her team to win, come hell or high…wind…and a little thing like scientific ability isn’t going to stop her.

(Interestingly enough, this is the first of three times we’ll see Kingston University pop up; we meet their alumni again in TMB and DED).

I love that Brooke is guilty, because so often in Nancy Drew games the tendency is to implicate an unseen character and then to have that implication be a poorly done red herring. Instead, Brooke isn’t a distraction, nor a smoke screen — she’s just another piece of the puzzle.

Our last non-Culprit (by the games’ common definition) suspect is Debbie Kircum, a recent PhD graduate who is on her fifth time working with Scott in chase season, and who has gotten a lucrative offer to teach at a university in New York.

Worrying that Scott would let his resentment towards the college hurt their chances in the competition, Debbie leads the conspiracy to stress him out so much that he just quits. I’ll talk more about this later, but it is both one of my favorite and least favorite things about this game. For now, I’ll say that her plan works…but not the way that she planned; for her and lots of other suspects in this and upcoming games, the quote “the price for getting what you want is getting what you once wanted” works perfectly to describe their arcs.

As a culprit, (as Debbie fully qualifies as a culprit), Debbie certainly has the shortsightedness and nastiness that Nancy Drew culprits tend to have. She’s extremely good at getting what she wants…but see the quote in the previous paragraph.

She also over-contours her cheeks so much that it looks like someone slapped her with an open compact of bronzer.

That takes us to our final culprit and character, Scott Varnell, genius professor of meteorology and the leader of the Canute team. Scott is my personal favorite character not just because he’s the most interesting, but because he’s a tragic figure who isn’t historical/dead, and those are a bit of a rarity in Nancy Drew games, especially at this point.

Being an expert on tornadoes yet denied tenure based on his personality, rather than his academic prowess (a gripe I share as it applies to jobs/academia), Scott holds a grudge against those who don’t recognize his contributions to meteorology and to the study of tornadoes specifically. Unbeknownst to him, two members of his four-man team have been conspiring to stress him out so badly that he’ll just quit, as they think he’ll be a hindrance (again, due to his personality) in winning the competition.

Scott is in some ways the obvious option, and yet the game never turns into a howdunnit. Throughout the mystery he tends to be the prime suspect, but is also the prime victim — a dichotomy we’ve never seen before in the Nancy Drew Games. I’ll talk more about Scott below (a sentence increasingly common in this meta), but I both love and hate him as the culprit, and that’s something new (and interesting) that TOT brings as well.

The Favorite:

Don’t worry, we’ll get into TOT’s myriad flaws soon enough, but for now I want to focus on what it does right.

The first thing the game nails is the Hardy Boys. Their inclusion, their plot, their characterization, the voice acting — all of it is nigh-flawless, and is by far the most enjoyable part of the game. Don’t get me wrong, the Hardy Boys are usually quite far up there on the list of things I love about a game with them in it, but they really start to shine more in TOT, gaining some character development, plot relevance, and just overall depth.

Oddly (or perhaps not oddly at all) I don’t have a favorite moment nor a favorite puzzle in this game; barring that, I’ll talk about some of the great threads to the game, rather than any particular moment/puzzle that stands out.

I love that we get new and interesting layers to our story and characters. As I mentioned briefly above, there’s a real sense of the world existing before Nancy’s arrival, which works wonders for the world of the games, and our characters here are more layered, more distinct, and more ‘realistic’ (for the value of ‘realism’ in stories) than they ever have been before.

This is a game unafraid to deal with the topics of death and mistakes, and that accounts for part of the depth to the game as well. No, not the whole “Where’s Ma” thing — which I fully believe to just be a script that didn’t fire/didn’t stop firing in the game’s code after finding the newspaper that says exactly what happened to Ma — I’m talking about Scott’s mistake in the tornado warning system, Debbie and Frosty’s mistakes in dealing with Scott (which I’ll talk more about), and even Brooke’s miscalculations that lead to the ending of the game. Everyone here deals with the fallout of their mistakes, and it’s how they handle it that forms the basis for our plot.

It’s a seemingly small thing, but I love the sheer level of detail in this game. You can click on everything, read everything, explore everywhere — there’s a lot of information crammed into the game that sometimes you won’t get until the second or third replay (that is, if you have the stomach to play through this game repeatedly).

The use of our tertiary NPCs (Brooke, Krolmeister, Erin) is also inspired; they help the world feel whole and varied rather than existing simply for the benefit of the game, and show that Nancy doesn’t have control over everything when she’s investigating — and that she can be wrong in her focus of investigating (whether because she pays too much or not enough attention to the ‘minor’ characters).

Speaking of characters, I also love that our characters in this game – our suspects — are able to be fully formed without (on purpose, I feel) being particularly likable. It’s always fun to get a cast of characters that are hostile to Nancy, but TOT’s characters are slightly different from that: they just don’t care about her. She’s another intern to them, nigh-invisible except when they need a chore done. Nancy also doesn’t really try to befriend anyone because of it, and I like that too. Sometimes, a game should just be 1 vs 4, with some backup in the wings courtesy of phone friends.

The last facet of the game that I love is Scott himself as a character. Sure he’s cantankerous, blunt, egotistical, and a thousand other things, but the game is very clear that these ‘faults’ don’t make him anything other than what he is — a brilliant meteorologist and the foremost mind when it comes to tornadoes and tornadogenesis. The university undervalues him, but the team really can’t function without him, sabotage or no sabotage.

His motive for the sabotage isn’t the money nor fame — it’s simple tit-for-tat. For such a complex game (note, I’m still not saying it’s a fun or good game), our ultimate motive is deceptively simple: do unto others what they have done unto you. Tired of being devalued and having his worth judged on his personality rather than his work, he decides that if the university doesn’t care enough to keep him around (and for his worth as a professor, look at how accomplished and passionate his team of former students is), then they don’t care to keep up their program either.

It’s hard not to sympathize with that, especially if you’re the kind of person who’s been valued based on any defects in your personality — rather than your ability to do a job and do it well — and been found wanting. Whether you’re too serious (or not serious enough), too flighty (or too inflexible), or any other stupid “personality defect” that the workforce loves to throw around, we’ve all heard it before. Scott’s thrown into an unfair situation and — wrongly or not — decides that his troubles are going to have trouble with him.

The last thing I’ll add on the topic of Scott for this section is that I do love that Debbie and Frosty create their own villain. In figuring that Scott’s personality is going to prevent them from getting the grant (never mind the 4 other years that Debbie’s been on this team with him where it hasn’t been a problem), they decide to screw him over presumptively — and thus create a Scott who actually does want to prevent them from getting the grant. It’s usually a mark of a solid story (and solid writing in general) where the villain is created not from some problem inherent in them, but because they’re perceived to be a problem in the future — and thus live down to the expectation.

The Un-Favorite:

The problem with everything TOT does right — and that’s nearly a thousand words about what it does right above — is that it never combines to make a game that’s enjoyable to play. Before I go into the specifics, I do want to make that clear; TOT is a fascinating game to think and write about, but it’s honestly nigh-unplayable. The puzzles and chores are laborious (and repeated ad nauseum), pieces of the plot don’t make sense, and the ending is the bleakest in the series until GTH’s multiple endings took the cake.

A game should be well-written, complex, and interesting, but it just has to be fun to play as well. It has to. And that seems to have been forgotten during the course of making TOT. My least favorite moment is the ending of the game (more on that below), but I don’t have a least favorite puzzle — on the basis that most of the puzzles are equally bad. There’s no real standout…but that’s not a good thing.

Now let’s get into some of the bits and parts of the game that I really despise.

The handling of Scott is one of my favorite parts of the game, but it’s also my least favorite part of the game as well. They’ve set up a character who firmly believes that everything ends poorly, that he’ll never profit no matter what, and that, ultimately, no matter how hard he tries, nothing will go the way it should. And then the game confirms that worldview to the end. There’s no other option; no matter what Scott does or doesn’t do, no matter if he tries his best or blows it off, the end result is the same, and that’s a tragedy. Sure, you can argue it’s his actions that led him to a bad ending, but he only took those actions because he was heading to a bad ending anyway.

The feeling you get at the end of the game isn’t a feeling of justice served, nor success — it’s pity in a way that’s never been cultivated for any criminal up to this point in the series. And it’s not cathartic — it’s just more misery.

The other huge thing that I hate about this game ties into it — there really is no justice. The supposed ‘happy ending’ is Debbie getting people from both teams to ‘win’ the grant (where does it ultimately go — Canute or Kingston? Can it count as winning if there’s only one team? HER certainly didn’t bother to think about these things)…but Debbie’s hands are just as filthy — and I think more so — than Scott’s are.

Debbie leads Frosty in conspiring to make Scott quit and actually created their own monster — does she even know Scott at all? He’s lead a team through at least the last 4 years, probably more, and not had a problem; why now? Power? Greed? Pride? Whichever way you spin it, she and Frosty are guilty.

Frosty and Erin (of the Kingston Team) are also guilty on a separate charge; Erin for buying the footage and Frosty for selling it. If Brooke and Scott are kicked off, Frosty and Erin (at least) should also go for the same conspiracy charge. Everyone on the team (excepting possibly Chase) knowingly sabotaged their team; why is Scott the only one punished? Why does Debbie (and Frosty, and Erin) get off scot-free (pun intended) to win the prize, despite everything?

When I say that there’s no justice nor success here, this is what I mean. The whole thing stinks from top to bottom, and any way you look at it, a culprit walks.

Honestly, the ending should have just been “Chase, guilty only of petty theft, led the team (of himself and Pa) and was given the grant, which they donated to a charity for tornado victims”. Kingston actively cheated and Canute doesn’t deserve it either. In a game where everyone deserves to lose, declaring a winner just leaves a bad taste in my mouth — and a black mark on the game.

The Fix:

So how would I fix Trail of the Twister?

My feeling is that if you’re going to go with a downer ending — which TOT is — then go for a full one. Have Nancy discover everyone’s crimes — and I do mean everyone’s — and report to Krolmeister, asking what he wants her to do. Don’t forget, Nancy’s got an actual client in this game, and can’t go off half-cocked like she tends to in her more informal mysteries.

In the end, as nearly everyone would be disqualified, the competition should go to a third party — a storm chasing team that’s not Kingston nor Canute — and create chances for less corrupt institutions to study tornadoes at a level they haven’t been able to before. Sure, our suspects would lose, but, honestly, outside Chase…does anyone deserve to win?

I’d also be a fan of Scott getting a second chance due to outside sabotage (directed solely at him) with a job opportunity to consult for storm chasers. It’d be an arena where he’d be seen as the expert he is, without having to deal with the namby-pamby bureaucracy that infects universities (and that he hates anyway). He’d get the name recognition and the ability to actually do work in his field that he needs without being put in situations where he can’t help but fail. Honestly, I’d prefer that P. G. Krolmeister offered it (while saying he’s going to be keeping an eye on him), but really anything would do.

Exposing the crimes of everyone – and focusing on more than just Scott’s — would be the quickest way to improve the story of the game. The puzzles, on the other hand, need to be completely redone; a mix of ostensibly tornado-related intern-type chores (like the circuit boards) and more detective-type puzzles (fingerprinting suspects for a match on the tin bribe box, tracking everyone’s movements, solving codes used for communication) would be a big help in making TOT not just feel like a list of chores with a bad ending.

Oh, and fix the broken code leading Nancy to ask about a man’s dead wife over and over again. She lacks tact as it is.

[henrikvanderswoon]

MURDER AT TURQUOISE INN: A Nancy Drew Story Written by 10-year-old Yours Truly Readthrough

Alright, guys, you asked for it! It’s pouring down rain outside, I’ve grabbed some tea, I have my entire Nancy Drew game music track playlist going, and I’m ready to crack this s nutcase wide open.

Absolute ridiculousness below: 

The fact that this story is titled “Murder at Turquoise Inn” is already sending me, and it has nothing to do with the fact that I spelled it terquoice on the cover page.

I also started this story out with a letter to Ned. God bless. 

Dear Ned, Beth Robertson was murdered! 

As if Ned (or anyone else) even knows who the fuck Beth Robertson is, Nancy. 

I named the owner of the inn Tina Mulberry, and I think that was very sexy of me. 

“I turned to do something, and when I came back, she was dead on the floor! I could tell because her heart wasn’t beating and she wasn’t breathing!”

I mean… that’ll do it, Tina. That’ll do it. 

Oh, but she can’t prove anything now because she ran to get help and when she returned the body was fucking MISSING.

Bess throws a conniption fit every time someone says “Beth.”

“Oh, hello, Nancy,” she greeted.

“Hello,” Nancy greeted back. 

That is some…some god-tier writing right there. 

I really had no concept of space and time in fifth grade.

It was a huge room. Bigger than the cafeteria in Ned’s college.

Oh, was it? 

A message from the author: Hey kiddos, if you’re snooping around in someone’s closet and you come across a completely conspicuous button just chilling on the wall, don’t press it.

The three girls came out of the closet.

Well, there you have it, folks. Nancy, Bess, and George are gay. Everyone’s gay. Even your cat is gay.

Tina has a niece named Lily who calls her Mrs. Mulberry. Also, Tina consistently neglects her work duties in favor of writing a screenplay at the front desk computer and I have no idea why. 

The murderer is walking around leaving stupid messages with the drawing of a knife on them trying to curse everyone and I’m so confused. Where the hell was I going with this? 

“I KNOW YOU SAW BETH DEAD, BUT IF YOU TELL ANYONE, A DEADLY CURSE WILL FALL UPON YOU.”

WHAT DOES THIS EVEN FUCKING MEAN?

The lines in this thing are really just peak writing:

George took off after him at a safe distance to avoid being seen. But BAD LUCK FOR HER, the man jumped into a car and drove off.

 Someone sabotaged the girls’ rental car while they were away from the hotel, and this couple they literally just met are like: “I just remembered, we have an extra car that we don’t use. You could use that.” Who the fuck–?

Uh, oh. They got back to the hotel and found their own curse lying in Bess’ suitcase:

LAY OFF THE CASE, NANCY DREW. YOU MADE MRS. MULBERRY TELL YOU THE MURDER STORY. NOW THE CURSE IS UPON YOU TOO.” 

This sounds like a ten-year-old wrote it… wAiT A MiNutE–

Literally nothing in this story explains what the curse would even do to them. I love myself.

The culprit: *leaves threatening messages warning people not to speak about the murder or they’ll be cursed*

Nancy:

“Oh, hello,” Jackson greeted.

“Hi,” Nancy said. “Say! Have you heard about the murder?”

I ALMOST SPAT OUT MY TEA.

Also:

“I’m going to the store to, um, get some stuff. Like food.”

“But there’s foot here.”

“I just want to BUY things, okay? You’re so NOSEY!”

Jackson stormed off, leaving Nancy astonished. That put him on her suspect list FOR SURE.

This is a literary gem.

The way the dialogue sounds in this thing…I mean you can just tell the only written media I had been consuming at that time was the 1930′s books. 

“I think,” Nancy replied. “That tomorrow we should go to the place where I followed Jackson.”

Giving me Scooby-Doo vibes too. 

The number of times Bess says something like, “Why, Nancy!” or “This is horrid!” really makes me want to turn this into a drinking game. Take a shot every time Bess speaks like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. 

“Oh, fiddlesticks,” Bess exclaimed. 

…

No comment. 

Also, Nancy’s unadulterated sass my fifth-grade self gave her is both the worst and the best thing I’ve ever seen: 

“But what if the house isn’t empty?” Bess asked. 

“Bess, please. Ever heard of the word: S-N-E-A-K?”

I want to harpoon myself. 

There’s an elaborate maze of tunnels running underground that connects the hotel to this sketchy house miles away. The characters consistently find themselves back there several times throughout the story and literally nothing about it makes any sense at all, nor is it ever explained.  

“Man, that passageway confuses me,” said George.

Thank you, George, it confuses all of us. 

I’m actually embarrassed about how many times I refer to the group of characters as a “threesome” or a “foursome” in this thing. It’s really just the worst.

The culprit purposefully leaves behind their real initials multiple times in this story and has the audacity to be surprised when they get caught at the end? Iconique™. 

“I’m just a weird ol’ guy, Sweety-Cakes.” 

Ned, are you okay? Was I okay when I wrote this? 

Ned’s coming to visit, and he brings Burt and Dave with him and boy howdy did I forget about those two. 

“This mystery sounds dangerous,” Burt remarked. “Shouldn’t you leave this case to the men?” 

“I’d like to see you try,” Nancy fired back.

Yaaaassss, Queen. Get his ass. 

Also the murderer has now resorted to hitting people with a driverless vehicle and I’m honestly convinced ten-year-old me was on drugs. 

“Good! We were starting to get worried about you.” 

“Oh, don’t worry about me. I…wait…wait, actually, worry about me!” 

The line goes dead here because Lily’s car was uhhhh T-boned. 

My only regret in this story is that the Hardy Boy’s are not here. Although, in hindsight, they’re probably lucky they didn’t get subjected to this shitshow. 

Meanwhile, George thought maybe Bess had made a mistake and walk’s into the men’s bathroom. She walked in but found no one–well, except a bunch of screaming men. 

I don’t even know what to say. 

They went to see Lily in the hospital and Bess got hit by a driverless car in the fucking parking lot. WHAT KIND OF MADWOMAN WOULD WRITE THIS I CAN’T BREATHE.

That night, back at the hotel, Nancy gets lured out of the hotel and into the back forest behind it because someone’ s playing weird music and I’m just now realizing my child self had no idea what kind of theme to run with here (murder, hauntings, curses, GTA) so I just went with all of them at once.

“I could just destroy it,” Ned said as he studied the lock. “Stand back.” Backing up a few yards, he bolted for the cabin door and broke it down with a strong kick. “For Nancy!” he shouted. 

HeR Interactive’s Ned could never.

 So they find Nancy tied up in a cabin in the woods and, lo and behold there’s a trap door that LeADs InTo tHE UnDeRGroUnD TuNnEls. Who’da thunk?

And of course they find a journal written in code, and the code key just happens to have been left in the cabin. 

“I’ve written this journal in code so if anyone finds it, they will not discover my secret. Okay, now that I’ve said that, here is my secret.” 

This is the first line Nancy decodes. I’m…

Naturally, we find out that Beth Robertson was not dead, but just kidnapped (don’t even ask me how the fuck they got her body to appear dead…drugs?) and being held in the underground tunnels. 

Because this makes perfect sense. 

“You seem different. Your voice doesn’t sound the same and you’re a little shorter than you usually…” Tiffany trailed off. “You are Jackson, aren’t you?”

“No,” Ned said. “Thanks for asking.” 

This is 100 times funnier without context so I’m not giving you any. 

I don’t know about you guys, but if I was arranging a meeting with a colleague and they showed up in a ski mask and a hooded cloak, I’d be a little suspicious.

“But you’ re supposed to be delivering Nancy Drew poisonous flowers from her ‘boyfriend.’”

Oh my god this bitch pulls a gun on Ned and together the rest of the group (you know, the ones who haven’t been hit by a car) fucking go APESHIT on this woman’s ass. I CAN’T BREATHE. 

And of course they find Beth tied up somewhere in the tunnels and get her to safety, and they learn that Bess and Lily are recovering well in the hospital and go to visit them and everything’s all bright and happy. 

THE LAST LINE OF THE STORY HAS ME SCREAMING, THOUGH. To the point where I’m just gonna sign off here and leave you all with it. 

“Man.” Lily looked sad. “I wish I hadn’t missed almost the whole thing.” 

Bess spoke up. “I, on the other hand, am glad.” 

[curlytemple]

niche interests list 

okay sure yes this is fun! i havent posted a thing like this in such a long time. thank you new gal pal @scottspack for tagging me! 

pigs????

alright first lets throw it back to preschool! my fav childhood toys were my baby doll (snookums) and a plush pig that my grandma got me that i just called ‘pig’ ...i watched the babe movies countless times, and piglet? that anxious little guy GETS ME bro. when my preschool did a nativity play and my class got to choose an animal to be in baby jesus’ manger, my mother recalls me saying that i would be a pig because jewish people (jesus christ) wouldnt eat me. she has no idea how or when i learned about kosher foods. ironically despite my namesake i was too afraid of the movie charlotte’s web to watch it more than once because the scary farmer tries to kill wilbur for being small and the pretty spider dies. 

sugar creek gang 

OKAY this is a book series from the 40s-70s about a group of christian little boys in indiana who went on adventures in the woods and helped people. my dad read a LOT of chapter books to me as bedtime stories when i was little (see also the mandie series, nancy drew and the hardy boys, little house on the prairie) but sugar creek gang is one that really hit. i read all 36 books with dad and at least once again on my own. there was a series of 4 or 5 movies in the early 2000s when i was the Perfect age to have a crush on most if not all of them. this might be too much detail but i have to tell you about these boys. we WILL not be revisiting the heavy religious themes. 

 the narrator is bill who is Good and Kind and wants to be a doctor when he grows up. his best friend is a chubby boy nicknamed poetry because he memorizes and quotes poems, he is the Detective of the group. BIG JIM is the leader of the group who is supposed to be like, 14, which was very cool and hot, to me. and yes there is a little jim, who is the baby of the group. then there is CIRCUS who is known for his climbing and acrobatics, and his FIVE SISTERS AND BEAUTIFUL SINGING VOICE. dreamboy. i’m almost done listing boys, i promise. a boy called dragonfly who is allergic to everything and hella superstitious. later in the series a new boy named tom moves to town and tom has an older brother bob who is NOT A CHRISTIAN (bully) 

tangentially, the buttercream gang, a movie from 1992 that was almost definitely made by some christians who grew up reading the sugar creek gang series which i’m guessing on vibes alone. will spare you Good Boy details but scott is in love with his best friend pete who moves to chicago and falls in with a bad crowd and scott just refuses to stop LOVING HIM. very gay christian film in retrospect. 

peter pan

so i know liking disney’s peter pan isnt niche, but it was the way i liked it. tinker bell stan from day one, i watched all of those disney fairies movies, even the ones that came out after i was definitely not intended audience. there was an online pixie hollow game where you could design your own fairies and play mini games where you gathered dew drops or something. had a HUGE CRUSH on jeremy sumpter in peter pan (2003) then i got really darkly obsessed with the idea of growing up when i was 12 or 13, and everything peter pan was deeply My Shit for my entire adolescence. i read the original book and every other twisted version of the story i could find and seriously freaked myself out about wasting my youth. 

shug

you’ve probably heard of jenny han now, or at least the netflix adaptations for to all the boys i’ve loved before and the sequel ps i still love you (always and forever, lara jean, coming soon?) but before she wrote THOSE, she wrote my first ever Favorite Book, about annemarie “shug” wilcox, a girl in the summer before starting middle school. it is SO engraved on my heart i cannot explain. i felt so incredibly understood and cant even tell you how many times i read it. thinking about all of the ways it made me feel SEEN is actually making me very tender so i’m gonna go on.  

the summer series

on the subject of jenny han, since she was now my Favorite author, when she came out with the summer i turned pretty in 2009, i was ALL IN. it’s not summer without you, and we’ll always have summer were published the next two years. a coming of age series about a girl isabel “belly” conklin who stays at her mother’s best friend's house at the beach in the summers. i really could talk about it forever yall. i actually dont know how to be succinct about it. i will try. her mom’s friend has TWO BOYS. one brother, jeremiah, is the golden boy and her best friend who is in love with her! the older one CONRAD is her childhood crush who's just sort of around while belly is firmly getting over her childish feelings and going out and experiencing teen beach life with jeremiah for the first time and figuring out who she is and wants to be! by the end of the summer he admits he feels differently about her (hence belly internalizing this as The Summer I Turned Pretty) and they get together. this is already too much so i will just say that the next two books deal with a PROFOUND LOSS and the selfishness of grief and the SELFLESSNESS OF CONRAD and i will absolutely lose my shit if netflix picks it up for a second jenny han series adaptation. 

pappyland

this was a kids show in the 90′s that features a character named Pappy Drew-It, an artist dressed like a 49er who lives in a magic cabin in pappyland. there’s tons of characters and music and life lessons but the meat of every episode is a detailed drawing how-to (pappy is actually a cartoonist, michael cariglio) and i have a hard back cover sketch book from my grandpa that i FILLED with drawings that pappy and DOODLEBUG taught me to do. there is a running gag that pappy always breaks his crayons.  

boy meets world

i KNOW this is beloved by many but i’m counting it because i’m simply too young to have such an obsession with it! the show ran from 1992-2000. i was born in 1996, but reruns on the disney channel and abc family cemented it as one of my favorite shows. cory and shawn, closer than brothers, shameless homoromantics, shawn is cory’s first wife!!!!! truly showed me what a best friend can and should be!!!!!! the great love of your life!!!!! TOPANGA, the og weird feminist girl who said stop shaving your legs and start speaking your mind, ladies! the characters are so richly developed that they are real people to my heart. YES every character on this show is in their late 30s-early 40s and YES i feel like we grew up together. in season one they’re in the 6th grade and we follow them all the way to COLLEGE. countless poignant life lessons, often literally dictated by the wise and hilarious MR. FEENY, cory’s next door neighbor and somehow one of his teachers for YEARS. my love was only solidified by the 2014 girl meets world reboot, centered on cory and topanga’s daughter and her best friend. (which was literally cancelled because disney didn’t want to transition from a kids show to a teen show, something essential to the original. also because that teen show would have had CANON LESBIANS. extremely shameful move in 2017!) boy meets world lives rent free in my heart and i will never evict it!!!!!!!

i consulted my mother when i got stumped for more and she reminded me that i had obsessions with the impressionist art period and babies and ANYTHING fairies or pixies, and i was way too young when my love of the canadian teen after school special degrassi began. she also said bob ross, which i was hesitant to include because he’s been super ~trendy in recent years, but to be fair (To Be Faaairrr) she’s right! i don’t think people really watched the joy of painting as much as i have throughout my life. best sick day show of all time.

lastly i could honestly list anna herself as a niche interest, my mom actually metioned that ive always hyperfixated on my girl friends (gay) but i’ll just note that YES friday night lights, YES barry lyga novels. love to share so many things with you, niche or not, they’re niche in Our Mind.

[doctorsgirl262]

Ranking (Most of) the Nancy Drew Video Games

Literally no one asked for this, but I thought it’d be really fun to rank and give my opinion on each of the games. I’m biased towards a fair share of the games since they were the ones that I played growing up. **I have yet to complete 5 of the games (I know, blasphemy) but I’m not going to rank them since I don’t have any opinion on them. This includes: Stay Tuned For Danger, Final Scene, Ransom of the Seven Ships, The Captive Curse, and Labyrinth of Lies. I am also not including the dossier games. I also want to stress that I don’t dislike any of the games. 

28. Secrets Can Kill (Remastered): This game is okay, it’s not my favorite. I like the fact that Nancy is trying to solve a murder. But I feel like all the characters are kinda bland and really aren’t all that memorable, and neither are the games. I also found the hidden clues in the posters to be a bit challenging, so overall, I’m not a huge fan of the game.

27. Tomb of the Lost Queen: I loved the idea, but it wasn’t really memorable to me. I enjoyed it enough when I played it, but have absolutely no desire to play again. But I do like the Egyptian history that we see in this game.

26. Midnight in Salem: Honestly, not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. But by no means is it good. I didn’t hate it while playing, but it was missing a lot of what the games normally have. It felt dull and kinda boring, and the plot just didn’t feel totally cohesive. But, I look forward to playing more games in the future, even if it means waiting another 4 years. I will admit though that the mechanics were seriously lacking. I hated having to drag the screen up and down to search for clues, and the way moving worked kinda was abrupt and sudden. But, I’m realllllly digging the updated looks for the Hardy Boys.

25. Trail of the Twister: Kinda boring, kinda not. I don’t really care about tornadoes at all, so it was boring to learn about them and having to be part of the team. But I did enjoy the underlying mystery about selling secrets and such, and I liked most of the characters.

24. The Shattered Medallion: It’s an interesting game, but I’m not a huge fan of it. Nancy and George (and Bess) being on a reality tv show is an interesting concept, but I like the concepts where there is true mystery and danger to be found as Nancy delves deeper. The puzzles were fun, but not super memorable. I think it’s a fun game to play once, but I have absolutely no desire to play it again.

23. Message in a Haunted Mansion: I haven’t played this one in years, but I remember being terrified of it when I did. Finding the creepy note and then almost having the house burn down always scared me, and the fact that there was a “ghost” haunting the place didn’t help. I think it’s an enjoyable game, but it doesn’t have the same replay-ability as some of the other games do.

22. Secret of the Scarlet Hand: I love history, I really do. However, I found that this game was just a tad bit too boring with how much history it had in it. I enjoyed getting to learn about Mayan culture, but the fact that the mystery doesn’t really occur until half way through the game was just kinda a killer for me. The puzzle weren’t my favorite either.

21. The Haunted Carousel: I had a really hard time playing this one, but that has nothing to do with the game itself. I have a fear of oceans and sharks, so sometimes I had a hard time getting through puzzles. The puzzles weren’t my favorite, but I think the plot was interesting, with Joy remembering her past and the amusement park.

20.  The Creature of Kapu Cave: I think it was really cool that we had the opportunity to play as the Hardy Boys in this game. I think it was an interesting plot overall, but I got bored sometimes. I also hated Quiggly, she was rude and annoying towards Nancy and it just frustrated me to no end.

19.  Curse of Blackmoor Manor: The game had a creepy feel to it, but I feel like the end of the game was a real let down. There was so much plot throughout the game, and there was the “curse” that Nancy learned about, and it just seemed to come to an abrupt ending.

18.  Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake: I think this game is interesting. The speakeasy was a really cool aspect of the game, and I enjoyed that it was a bit of a darker game. But I think the puzzles were fun and interesting and it was an enjoyable game.

17.  Ghost of Thornton Hall: I love the atmosphere of this game, with it taking place in the South with ghosts. I love the history that was involved in the game, and the whole plot revolving around Charlotte and her death/murder. I like the dark route the game took, compared to some of the other games. It’s one of the few games that give me the chills.

16.  Sea of Darkness: I hate it when there is Ned and Nancy drama in the games, it always makes me so uncomfortable. In a previous post I talked about how I felt about their relationship, so I won’t really get into it, but that’s besides the point. The fact that it’s last game with Lani Minella is sad, but it was still an interesting game. I think the puzzles were fun, and I enjoyed the Icelandic activities in the game.

15.  The Silent Spy: I love the fact that we get a backstory on Nancy’s mom’s death. Also, going to Scotland and meeting Samantha FREAKING Quick. The fact that we finally got to put a face to her name after waiting for so long (11 games btw). I think it was a seriously fun game that had some interesting puzzles and had a unique plot.

14.  The Haunting of Castle Malloy: Another really creepy game to me, but really well done. I enjoyed most of the puzzles in the game, and the idea of searching for the missing groom and trying to understand the history of Castle Malloy was super interesting. The characters were overall rememberable, and so was the plot, and I feel like it was a nice, challenging game

13.  Alibi In Ashes: I really enjoyed this one too, and I love that you get to play as Bess, George, and Ned on top of playing Nancy. I find it crazy that her town would think that she would burn down the old town hall, but it’s whatever. I liked getting to build a case for Nancy, I think that was a fun aspect of the game. I also liked that it was our first chance to really meet Deirdre Shannon. I just liked the whole mystery aspect of this game, with dusting for finger prints and picking locks to trying to determine a suspect.

12.  Legend of the Crystal Skull: I liked the dark vibe of this game, and that we got to play as Bess. I really enjoyed Henry Bolet and his character, and I think that the overall plot of the game was really interesting. The crystal skull was a really cool idea to have in a game, and I feel like overall the game had a good balance of creepiness. I also loveddd the little trap on the poor shop keeper with the sneezing powder.

11.  Danger on Deception Island: This was another one of my favorites from when I was a kid. I always enjoyed the puzzle, especially the one with building Nessie for some weird reason. I thought the plot was really interesting, and that it was a creative idea. The puzzle in the game were also really creative, and I thought that overall, it was a cool game. The characters were interesting, and so was the plot.

10. The Deadly Device: The danger. The mystery. I spent so freaking long trying to beat aggregation, I cannot express the pleasure of completing all the levels. I like that this one had a murder, which reminded me of some of her older cases. I really enjoyed the characters in this one too, and I like how much a true mystery the case was. There were a few moments that really had me a little anxious and on the edge of my seat as I played.

9. Shadow at the Water’s Edge: One of the scarier games of the series, but I enjoy it. I feel like there are certain scenes that are actually terrifying, and I love how well done everything is. All the characters are interesting and finding out the backstory of the hotel and all the ghost business of the game. I think that it as a whole was just an amazing game, and there was so much detail that went into this game that I loved.

8.  The White Wolf of Icicle Creek: Weirdly enough, I love the chores aspect of this game. I normally hate doing chores, but they’re kinda fun here. I think the puzzles in this game are fun, and so is the mystery. I love it when Nancy goes undercover. I love that they brought back Tino Balducci for it, and like Nancy, I feel like all of us were groaning at the realization that we had to work with him (but we were all also kinda excited to do it too). However, there was so much history to the game, that I feel like the ending was kinda abrupt, but that could totally just be me.

7.  Secret of the Old Clock: I absolutely love the fact that this game takes place in the 1930s and that it’s based loosely on Carolyn Keene’s books The Secret of the Old Clock and The Mystery at Lilac Inn. The mini games are some of my favorites, and I just enjoyed all the characters and the plot. I always had a lot of fun when I played this one when I was younger, and it was always a game I looked forward to playing

6.  Treasure in a Royal Tower: I love the history that the game is based on, Marie Antoinette. I found that the puzzles in this game were fairly fun too, but I especially liked having to do a bit of sneaking around. I feel like the older games had a lot more danger to them, and I found myself on the edge of my seat sometime while playing.

5.  Danger by Design: Ooooh, this is a fun one. I loved getting to work for Minette, even though she was kinda crazy. All the puzzles were so much fun, but my favorites have to be the cooking challenge and the designs for Prudence Rutherford. The characters are super fun in this game, and I love the plot about the stained glass too. Getting to go into the catacombs is also super fun, and overall, I think they went in a really good direction for this game.

4.  The Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon: I adored this game when I was a kid since it was the first Nancy Drew game I ever played. The idea of a hidden gold mine on top while also having Lori’s disappearance on a moving train was just so fascinating to me. I always enjoyed the puzzles and loved the characters, especially the Hardy Brothers.

AND FINALLY... MY TOP 3 FAVORITE GAMES

3.  The Secret of Shadow Ranch: This is one of the more recent one I played, and I loved it so much. I love the history and culture of New Mexico, so I really enjoyed getting to see the petroglyphs and the cliff dwellings. I’m also a sucker for baking puzzles in games, so I really enjoyed that. The characters were also really interesting, and I loved the Dirk Valentine plot line. Overall, it was a really really fun game that I would love to play again.

2.  Phantom of Venice: This game is near and dear to my heart. The characters are really interesting, and I love getting a glimpse at Ned and Nancy’s relationship, with him giving her the necklace (especially since the more recent games have been giving them a rocky relationship). I think the adventure itself is an interesting one, and I love it when Nancy travels abroad for a mystery. The puzzle in this game were really interesting, and overall, I really enjoy it. I also loved getting to be Punchy LaRue!

1. Warnings at Waverly Academy: This has been my favorite Nancy Drew game for years. I love all the characters and how different yet similar they are to one another. The puzzle throughout the game, from making a DNA strand to playing scram and air hockey, I didn’t dislike any of the them.  And the Edgar Allen Poe story plot is also super cool, I think that was an amazing plot that Her Interactive came up with. Also, the snack shop mini-game is just so much fun. “As of now, the snack shop is open!”

[nancydrew428]

Hi!! So I’m conducting kind of a survey/study? Can you rank the games in order from best to worst in your eyes? A simple list will suffice. Include MID, and both SCKs please. But exclude dossiers ;)

Hi! Sorry for the late response! I’ve been doing finals and my last assignments of the semester haha. But I eventually finished this!

Also, don’t hate me (I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned this except for on my bingo card, subtle plug), but I haven’t played 10 of the games, and of the ones that I have played, I still haven’t finished 3 of them🙊😂 So I might not be the most helpful, especially if you need exact rankings or answers from someone who knows everything about each game. I’m sorry! But hopefully my answer will still help you. If not, I’m hoping it’ll be interesting!

1. Curse of Blackmoor Manor

This one has definitely been my favorite game! It took me 8 years to finally finish it, but I’m so glad I did. I love the atmosphere, especially the creepy vibes (and I do like the English moor aesthetic, haha). The game used to scare me so bad, but now it’s just cute, and a little spooky. The only thing I don’t like is the moving rooms. All the other puzzles were good. But that one made me dizzy and confused, lol.

2. The Secret of Shadow Ranch

Dave Gregory. That’s it. That’s the tweet. Lmao. ...Seriously, though, I love being out on the ranch in real life and I love how that translated in the game. I love horses and cowboys. The love story with Frances and Dirk… My heart. I also loved the book. And I liked the glyphs. And the chocolate Shadow Ranch cake is to die for (it’s my go-to chocolate cake recipe!⁠—although I will never do walnuts).

3. Danger on Deception Island

This was the first game I played, so obviously it had to be high up on my list. Again, I love the atmosphere (that’s probably my biggest factor when ranking these games, and with playing games in general). It really reminds me of a place along the California coast that I visit during the summer. And I don’t think there would have been a better game to introduce 8 year old me into the world of ND video games.

4. Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake

This one used to scare me. Every night I would be afraid for the dogs to jump on the house and windows. Every time I would be in the woods looking for bugs I was terrified that something would happen. Also, Yogi! And I remember actually enjoying the puzzles and the hunt for bugs. Also, the speakeasy was so cool!

5. Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon

The Hardy Boys!! I saw someone say this is like an off-brand Murder on the Orient Express, and it was so funny to me, and I wanted to share it with you. But I love the train idea, the Hardy Boys, cooking, the potential “ghosts,” the hunt, and the dialogue.

6. Secret of the Old Clock

I loved this book. It’s the first Nancy Drew book (definitely a classic), and I love how they set the game in the ‘30s. It was completely different in that aspect than any of the other games. Although the driving wasn’t the most fun, I lovedthe pies, going through the secret passages, playing mini-golf, and the ugly yet cute cat that I don’t remember the name of.

7. Shadow at the Water’s Edge

I don’t know how accurate this is in the portrayal of Japanese culture. I hope that it’s pretty accurate and that it isn’t racist, but I’m not sure. But I remember playing this game when I was 11 and being absolutely terrified. The bento boxes were very cute, but I remember getting frustrated with it. The jumpscare is arguably the best part of the game and the scariest scene in any Nancy Drew game.

8. Sea of Darkness

This one is honestly this high up specifically for the graphics. Overall, it is a good game. I liked the puzzles, the setting, characters, dialogue, etc. But the graphics stole the show. It is the best Nancy Drew game with graphics, plus the scenery is pretty (even if it wasn’t as quality). I love the snow and the chilly atmosphere, and I definitely feel like it’s a winter game.

9. Treasure in the Royal Tower

I liked this game. I loved (you guessed it!) the atmosphere. I loved being snowed in, and I loved Hotchkiss. I don’t remember much of this game, and one might argue that that means that it should be lower on the list, but I remember really enjoying it, so I’m keeping it in this spot.

10. Legend of the Crystal Skull

I love the atmosphere, New Orleans, and Henry so much. This isn’t my favorite game, but it is so good!

11. Danger by Design

I like this one, with the Sonny Joon references. I also like Paris, and I think this is a fun game. But I always get it confused with The Phantom of Venice, which is why Phantom is listed right below this one. Which one has JJ and the cookies? I couldn’t tell you.

12. The Phantom of Venice

Like I said, I always get this one confused with Danger by Design. I couldn’t tell you what happens in each. Except this one has you dance in a catsuit and play SCOPA, but I don’t remember necessarily caring for either of these.

13. The Captive Curse

I like this one. I like Germany, the monster, the scary beginning, Renate falling asleep. But I feel like it could have been scarier. (If it was, let me know! I gotta replay it in that case.)

14. Alibi in Ashes

I love Alexei, the ice cream/milkshakes, and getting to play other characters than just Nancy. But other than that, it’s not my favorite game.

15. The White Wolf of Icicle Creek

I’ve only played the Wii version of this game, so I’m not sure how different it is from the PC version. + I never finished it. I loved the kitchen and cooking, and the wolf is super cute! But I didn’t like the ice thing. I could never get past it. Is it any easier on the PC?

16. The Haunting of Castle Malloy

I’m Irish and I think it’s cool that the game is in Ireland. I actually like the character design, but it feels a little bit….ridiculous to me? And the banshee? I don’t know. But I love the atmosphere, and from what I remember, I liked the characters.

17. The Creature of Kapu Cave

I remember liking the game, and I love anything with the ocean or lakes or swimming or diving. Like, the water is where I belong, and I think it’s so fun. But the character design is awful. Frank and Joe don’t look the way they’re supposed to, and I can’t get over it.

18. The Deadly Device

It’s a good game, but I’ve never finished it. It’s difficult in some parts and boring in others. But I love the Tesla idea, Mason’s sarcasm, and Ryan (I just love Ryan). But it’s never really pulled me in. (I think part of it might be because it’s the only game, other than SSH that I’ve tried playing without using any walkthroughs, so I’m having a tough time, lol.)

19. Warnings at Waverly Academy

I know that this is a fan favorite, but it isn’t my favorite. I like all of the Nancy Drew games that I’ve played for the most part, and it is a good game. But I’m tired of school, and I play video games to escape it. Plus, other than Mel, I don’t like any of the characters. That might be the point, but in a game where you have only a handful of characters, I don’t like only having one of them be likeable.

20. Message in a Haunted Mansion

I don’t remember much of this game. But I love anything even slightly spooky, and I remember thinking this game was cute.

21. Secret of the Scarlet Hand

I’m playing this game right now (not as I type this, but I’ve played it on and off for the past few months), and it’s pretty good. I like learning about Mayan culture, but it isn’t that special of a game. Nothing really stands out to me, and none of the characters are all that likeable imo.

22. Secrets Can Kill Remastered

Again, I don’t remember much from this game. It didn’t stick out to me much, and I enjoy games with a good atmosphere and a somewhat lasting impression. This game isn’t bad; I don’t think any of the ND games I’ve played have been bad tbh. But I don’t care about high school, and I want something else to remember. But I give Her Interactive kudos for making a game for girls about murder (especially because it was technically their first game, and this was just a remake). And that sounds sarcastic, but it actually isn’t! Lol.

23. The Haunted Carousel

This wasn’t a bad game. I just don’t really have an interest in carnivals and that sorta thing. They’re okay, but they don’t intrigue me that much. And I don’t remember much from this game. I played it around the same time that I played most of these games, and it didn’t stick out to me. However, I do love the cover and the fact that not every character is white.

24. Ransom of the Seven Ships

I know this game gets a bad rep, but I don’t think it’s a terrible game. But the black face is just too racist and makes me too uncomfortable to enjoy it as much as it could be enjoyed. If HeR toned down the racism a little bit, I could have actually enjoyed this game (except for George’s character design; they did my girl dirty, but what’s new?).

[thenonbinarydetective]

So there’s like a ton of book series that came out around the same time as Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys with similar formats and I decided to try and read some of them. Anyway I started with Trixie Belden, a thirteen year old sleuth, and I wanna fucking cry these poor kids.

Her friend Honey(13) has that sheltered rich girl story where she was sick her entire life and only recently gotten better. She’s never been able to leave her house or do much besides boarding school and summer camps. She straight up has an anxiety disorder because of it and Trixie’s helping her get better/cope and to get a semi-normal childhood while she can. Within the first couple pages she describes having nightmares so bad she wakes up screaming. Nightmares she often has.

Her other friend (and I think later boyfriend) Jim(15) hasn’t had a much better life. His mother died recently and his father died many years ago. His legal guardian is the abusive step-father he ran away from. In his words, “he’ll drag me back to his farm and beat me and make me slave from morning to night without pay”. Like I said he ran away but he LITERALLY ran away. They’re not exactly giving a state it takes place in but he ran from Albany to a countryish place called Sleepyside and they’re implying it’s pretty far. Jim’s stepfather loved his mom but hated Jim, Jim hated Jonesy(Stepdad) but his mom never knew about the relationship.

Anyway, he’s in Sleepyside to try and live with an older relative James Frayne. Shortly before meeting Jim, Trixie’s Dad had to bring Great Uncle James to the hospital where it was revealed he has pneumonia with complications due to malnutrition and has a 5% of survival. James wrote in his will that Jim is to inherit everything when he dies but the evil stepfather wants all the money. But Jim wants the money so that one day he could opening up an all-year round camp for kids without fathers(and maybe no parents at all) to learn all sorts of things they could’ve learned from their dads. Currently he hasn’t had anything to eat all week.

I’m so attached to these kids and I think I’m barely through the third chapter.

[mewtonian-physics]

kinda late but if you still want to do the nancy drew asks 10, 16, 17, 18, 20, 98, 117 & 119!

you spoil me :D dont ever stop please lol

10. Who’s your favorite reoccurring character (Carson Drew, Joe Hardy, Frank Hardy, Ned Nickerson, Bess Marvin, George Fayne, or Hannah Gruen)? Why?

this is hard bc i like frank and joe BOTH so much. they are hilarious. frank is all like calm and collected most of the time but he obviously has a huge crush on nancy and i find that very amusing just bc of how flustered he gets about it. and joe? joe is just the best. what can i say about joe. he speaks for himself. hes hilarious. ‘it’s a language, not a museum. tear down the velvet ropes standing in the way of your wordmagination’ comes to mind as a great example of that. and he and frank combined are just even funnier. i quote: ‘i get your drift, joe. i have lived with your drift for years. i am saddled with your drift.’ the hardy boys said sibling rights and they said it loud 

16. What’s your favorite Nancy Drew video game? Why?

this is a mean question. i like all the ones from 23 to 29. they are so good. i especially love shadow at the water’s edge and ghost of thornton hall because they scare the shit out of me. also they are very sad and the story is compelling and i love the characters. shoutout to yumi and harper for being like, the actual best. the deadly device is awesome too bc its one of the only two games with a murder in it and i love murder mysteries. also it has ryan who is another big favorite. i love her and i love her gummy bears. shes so fun. captive curse fun, kinda scary, great characters. silent spy is the same but not scary it’s just cool. i love spy stuff. i dont know what my favorite is of those. they are all my favorites

17. What’s your least favorite Nancy Drew video game? Why?

i don’t like ransom of the seven ships because i think it is boring compared to a lot of the others. it has a few good moments(re: the culprit) but it takes so long to get to those and it doesn’t feel worth it half the time. creature of kapu cave is also low on the list because it is very repetitive, it’s not as bad though. i actually like midnight in salem though i think it works better as a stand alone game than as a nancy drew game.

18. What Nancy Drew video game could you play over and over again? Why?

i mean, u know, all of them? but especially the stretch from 23 to 29 as well as some of the early games like curse of blackmoor manor or last train to blue moon canyon… legend of the crystal skull and phantom of venice… i like the scarier ones. last train to blue moon canyon isn’t very scary tho despite being billed as like, a haunted train. its just fun. so many pipe puzzles and i will never get tired of jake’s gem machine thing. that was awesome.

phantom of venice also isn’t very scary but i love it. i love like everything about it. also i like to sit with enrico tazza and play scopa for hours on end. i think it’s a great way to spend my time. (i win. always.)

20. What Nancy Drew game do you feel has the best storyline? Why?

okay this is gonna show my bias but i think shadow at the water’s edge… i mean the tragedy of what happened to kasumi and the rift between the family members… the hidden will… the ghost stuff… superb. fantastic

captive curse also has a really great one. ghost of thornton hall too though some of the details don’t match up timeline wise, get it together herinteractive. deadly device… alibi in ashes… okay we just came back to ‘23 through 29 are the best, so sue me’ but i really think HER was at the top of their game (haha) there because like… holy shit they’re all so awesome. i haven’t mentioned tomb of the lost queen bc it’s my least favorite of those games but it’s pretty good too, just doesn’t stand out in comparison to the others you know?

98. What got you into Nancy Drew?

well i don’t remember what got me into nancy drew originally! i’ve been told i was reading those books since i was like, five, which i can believe. i know that i got into the games because one of my friends saw my book collection and was like u know there are computer games. i have a couple of them. we can play them if you want and i was like o_O and, well, the rest is history

117. What’s your favorite thing about Nancy Drew as a character?

she’s so badass! i love that she’s like, not afraid to be feminine but also just kicks ass on a regular basis. and she’s smart, but she knows that she needs to rely on her friends and does so. overall she’s iconic and i really looked up to her as a kid and i kinda still do lol

119. What’s your absolute favorite character (not Nancy, Carson, Hannah, Bess, George, Joe, or Frank) from any of the video games?

oh oh that’s hard. ummmm i love ryan and yumi and mel but i think my overall favorite is harper. i mean i can relate to how it feels to be sort of ‘separated’ from your family due to mental health issues… caused by trauma… caused by a member of your family. i like to think i’m dealing with it somewhat better than harper but also i have access to like, therapy and stuff, whereas she got tossed in a glorified asylum. so… yeah! anyway theres a reason i have a quote from her in my blog description and its not because i dont like her haha

thank you this was so fun waaaaah

[imcynfinite]

her name is cyn.

This kid. Head always in the clouds. You couldn't keep her grounded. Only liked reality when it stimulated her imagination. Read a lot of books because she liked the trip. Did a lot of unhealthy things for attention. Always compared to her sisters and never getting affection just for herself, there had to be another way to get noticed. So she stole. Glasses from her classmate's desks during reading time on the carpet (sorry, Salita), Sour Power candy from lunchboxes after bake sales, mechanical pencils from the supply shop that she'd tuck into her uniform jumper, books from the library after she read them, pretending she returned them just so she could have their worlds to escape to at home whenever she needed to. She lied a lot, too. A pathological liar. That's what her mother called her when she was caught in the act. She was ALWAYS caught in the act, but couldn't stop doing it. Lying felt good. Even as the lie formed words that she knew wouldn't be convincing enough, she could. Not. Stop. It was here that she first learned she could tell stories, but didn't see her power yet. She used them ill. When she couldn’t drift off, she grew resentful. Loved alone time. Sought after it to escape. Sure, she'd play dolls with her little sister, or watch Saturday morning cartoons and Toonami after school with her older sister. She allowed herself to be herself with her siblings, but only until she was compared to them or didn't have control over the situation. She was never good enough. She couldn't be the pageant queen with stardom in her future like her little sister, and couldn't be the first born who did everything right like her older sister. She didn't understand the pressures they faced holding such titles, but at that age, how could she? At that age, it stung. What could she do right? What title could she hold? She loved her sisters, but couldn't be them. So deep down, she grew resentful. Acted really mean towards them, in ways she couldn't help. Much much later on, she'd spend a day trying to understand why she grew cold with them so many times during her teens and young adulthood, and the resentment will click. It'll all make sense to her, the healing to not blame her sisters for their parents' comparisons will begin, and a newfound friendship and appreciation will bloom. But here? How could she have known? She loved food. Don't know when it started, but once it did, it took off. She ate a lot, because food made her happy. When she was sad and resentful, food was forgiving. Soothing. It didn't judge her in the slightest. She'd ask for more at dinner. Get the extra scoop of ice cream for dessert. Asked the kids during lunch if they were gonna finish that. Sometimes was so hungry, she'd sneak and take a bite or two of her lunch before the bell. She started gaining weight. That cute face growing round, belly poking. But she was fine. A beautiful, chubby kid. The first time she learned something was wrong with her body, though, was seven years old. Frustrated they couldn't find a communion dress that fit, her mother told her it was her fault. "You have to do something about this." A few years later, her father, out of deep frustration and desperate to bring her to shame to incite some motivation, called her an elephant. Her mother tried to take food away from her, but that just made her want it even more. How could something that made her feel good be so bad? The one thing that validated her existence was the enemy? No. Her mother tried, and tried, and tried. But little did she know, it just made the girl cling to it harder. Seek its affection. Crave its nurturing. She had no idea she was growing an addiction. This kid had charm. You see that smile? The softness in her eyes. The brightness in her spirit. She did things her way, because she projected the world as what she saw in her head. People were charmed by it, and she had no idea. Co-workers of her mother took a liking to her every time she came to the parties. One in particular always gifted her with Nancy Drew books, every birthday. Just because. She thought this kid was beautiful and joyous and couldn't help checking in on her or asking her mother how she was. Asking if she finished reading her book, and considering expanding her gifts to include The Hardy Boys. ...People watched this girl. Liked her spunk. Liked the mystery of not knowing what exactly she was, but feeling good being in her presence. This kid had charm, and she had no idea. How could she? If she wasn't being compared to, she was told no one would like her looking like she did, round belly and all. That having bad grades meant you were lazy and stupid, and not that you possibly had issues concentrating. Teachers complained about her staring out of the windows for too long and not doing her homework. Kids bullied her for not being pretty or not liking what they liked. That she kept to herself and was a "trouble maker". No one liked the kids who upset the teachers. Sisters that loved her but couldn't stick up for her. They didn't understand. She didn't have anyone to tell her she was just fine the way she was. Magnificent, even. She grew tired of the loneliness. Her imagination was fun, sure. But reality got realer, and she needed a way to deal. She just had to. So, she transformed. Right into high school, she became a vibrant spirit who cracked jokes to make people laugh. Rebelled against her parents and pretended not getting good grades and being fat was something she wasn't ashamed of. Joined drama club and performed on stages. Cut off her permed hair and rocked a fro. Writing like crazy and showing anyone who cared; growing a fan base in school and online. She didn't know it then, but it was here she was learning her voice had volume, and people wanted her to blast it. She became someone she'd write about in her stories. Even though it was all an act, her best starring role to date, it was enough to help her get by. To survive. It silenced the self-hatred that was beginning to build due to neglect of interrogation, but as time went on and new masks took form, she realized pretending meant neglecting that inner child who just wanted to be herself and liked for it. Who didn't want to be compared. Who didn't want to be frowned upon for not being pretty. Who didn't want to be told they were too much, or too little. Who just wanted to SHOW UP, without pushback. At 29 years old, I've realized how much of myself I've created just to be seen. Over the last five years, something has called on me to undo those masks and to begin living in my truth. As a storyteller who wants to hold up the mirror, I was chosen to perform, and I was then tasked to learn how to leave the costume backstage. Not to make a home out of it. For friends, for lovers, for parents, for society, I have done so much dancing to survive, but that isn't LIVING. That isn't love. It's not care, it's not protection, it's not kindness. For a majority of my childhood, I spent it daydreaming. Wishing reality could look like my wildest dreams. And here I am, facing what truth looks like and realizing that I can bend it. I can find a way to merge my dreams and my reality without disappointing my inner child who'd rather get lost in the clouds and pretend she's riding them. That kid doesn't know how amazing she is. I don't remember everything, but for the things I do, sometimes I'm charmed by her, too. I look in the mirror and don't always recognize that kid, but sometimes when I look off into the distance and my lover asks, "Hey. Where did you go?" or my mother looks at me and just smiles because I'm radiating light she can't deny, I remember. When I write my tweets and people respond with, "You should write a book. The way you write, I'd read anything you make," I remember. When I decide to meditate and my imagination brings me back to a dream I had a while ago, I remember. When I look in the mirror and look past the make-up and the experiences I've lived, I see her. She's so precious, man. She's a kook, lol. She's rambunctious and impulsive and loud and expressive and quiet and dreamy and fluid and hard. She's a whole ass universe. I wish she knew her impact. God, I wish she knew. I do my best to tell her... well, I'm learning to. When she wants to throw a tantrum, I'm learning how to parent her the way she needed. I'm trying to work with her. When she wants me to perform for people to get the attention she wants, I try not to fight her but get her to understand we can't do that anymore. That maybe we don't NEED to do that anymore. That maybe it's time we just be who we wanna be. She doesn't know what that means. I try to explain that it's like her daydreams, except real. She's not convinced. "Dreams are better." She walks away to her corner to embark on a mental journey. It's a constant battle with her. She wins a lot of the time. She's stubborn like that. But every now and again, when something in reality works just like or better than we could have imagined, there's a glimmer in her eye. Hope, I think.

As I learn to navigate adulting, I run into fear, and run away from responsibility. But 2019 taught me that it's high time I stop running, because the freedom I'm meant to have is so rich and the brilliance I harbor is so abundant, they're meant to marry. The mirror I want my stories to reflect to the world require I go through this transformation, and feel it ALL. I've stayed in places I didn't belong, loved people who weren't as good to me as they could, hid from opportunities that could give me wings, all because of who I thought I was. All of the voices from people I loved who, when I think about it now, were simply afraid for me and themselves and just didn't know how to say that. Despite knowing the masks I've put in place to survive and understanding that in 2020, I'm being asked to leave them behind, the fear of shedding skin is real. Because that means people I wanted to stay forever have to go. The stories I repeat to myself have to end. Discernment to trust I will always do my best to give myself what I need must be sharpened. Love, the way I want to experience it, must be given room to walk into and I have to set the example. 2019, my goodness. What an acid trip. A chapter I hated to write, and probably should have embraced more of. It dragged me because I had given up on myself during a period where curiosity could have governed me further. I remember being a kid who loved to be curious. Now, I hide away in fear. Where is that girl? I'm determined to meet her again. Talk to her. Conjure up a master plan. I cannot play small, and the universe has stopped begging. It's sitting back now, watching what I'll do now that it's not up my ass. I turn 30 years old this year, and there's something personal to that. A resonance very warm. Will I meet the beauty of that turning point of my life with arms wide open? Will I grab the opportunity to take that kid's hand and show her something different? Can I stand by her?... This kid's name is Cynthia. She's one of the coolest kids I know. And if no one else can, then I will. I'll stand by her. I'll stand by me.

[p-and-p-admin]

Interview given to The Severus Snape and Hermione Granger Shipping Fan Group.  (sharing here Admin approved)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/199718373383293/

Hello Aurette and welcome to Behind the Quill, thank-you for letting us get to know you a little better.

I'm deeply honoured to be asked.

A true titan in the world of SS/HG fic, many of our readers will have broken their hearts over your story The Tattered Man.

Okay, let’s jump right in.

What's the story behind your pen name?

Honestly, it was a whim. Long before I thought of writing, I needed a login name to read fanfic. It was a play on Auror. I had no idea it was an actual name.

Which Harry Potter character do you identify with the most?

Hands down, Snape. I know that might sound strange, but he was the one that clicked. My niece introduced me to the books. Being in my 30s at the time, I already had kids of my own, so I didn't identify as one of the students. I loved Harry from the start but he had this uncanny ability to keep being wrong about nearly everything. The character who best expressed adult annoyance with that was Snape. And I do love a good jerk. Snape was a jerk.

Do you have a favourite genre to read? 

I'm a sucker for fantasy and science fiction. I hated reading as a child. All there was available when I was a kid was Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys and it was insipid. I glommed on to mythology early but once I'd read all the books in my library on the subject, I gave up reading at all. That was about 4th grade. Children's books in the 70s were total garbage and YA books only had one author: Judy Bloom.

Ironically, my first job was working in a bookstore. It was a college bookstore, so it was all textbooks. I wasn't even a student, so I had no interest in any of them. One semester. A Lit prof assigned Fahrenheit 451. The cover art caught my eye and I read the blurb. Then started reading the book. I finished it in about 5hrs. It blew my mind. I had no idea writing like that existed. And the book was about someone discovering the value of books. It was intellectual Inception waaaaay before that was a thing.

After that, it was like a switch flipped in my head. I sucked up books air. I was never without a book or two. Or three...

Do you have a favourite "classic" novel?

Obviously Fahrenheit 451. I'm going to go ahead and say Les Miserables as well. I was in my 30s when I finally read it and sobbed like a baby at the ending. The care and tenderness Hugo showed when portraying these disposable lives were so unique for that age. Sadly, even today. A lot of our culture is wrapped around the belief that only the wealthy have value and beauty is a pathway to wealth. The poor and ugly are a constant plague to be shunned or dealt with, not humans with crushed dreams that deserve to be valued in their own right. Look at how often fanfic recreatesSnape as handsome or Hermione as gorgeous. Those are always the least interesting stories. (hops off soapbox)

At what age did you start writing?

Whatever age I was when I wrote Safe House. Probably 40ish? That terrible little fanfic is literally the first thing I ever wrote beyond shopping lists and emails. It's an ugly child, but my first, so I love its pointy head. I intentionally leave it up so new writers can see my learning curve. No one starts out good. Read my stories in reverse chronological order and you'll see they get a little worse each time. That's how much I grew as I learned the craft.

How did you get into writing fanfiction?

Reading tons of it. I was at a total loss after the book Deathly Hallows came out and it was all over. Reading it had become an event in my house. My husband and I would snatch the book out of each other's hands "You've had it long enough. My turn." And then there were no more...

I couldn't even tell you how I found fanfic, but it kept me sane. I keyed in on SS/HG because at the time there was a noticeable difference in the talent level in that ship. I must have read SS/HG fanfic for a solid 2 yrs before I took a leap and wrote my own. I was inspired by the amazing stories, but also by the crappy ones.  "Heck, I could do better" became its own form of allowance. So I had a small 'what if' and just went for it. Of course, it was crap, everyone's first is. But taking the leap and writing it was a huge thing for me to have done.

What's the best theme you've ever come across in a fic? Is it a theme represented in your own works?

I'm a sucker for a story where characters overcome emotional adversity, both external and internal. If you squint. You'll see that theme repeated throughout my fics.

What fandoms are you involved in other than Harry Potter?

None. Nothing else ever grabbed me as a sandbox I wanted to play in before or after HP.

If you could make one change to canon, what would it be? Do you have a favourite piece of fanon?

Gosh, I don't think I would change a thing about JK Rowling's work. Things I would change would only be me forcing her story to fit my preferred ideal. However, if you think about it, her world, the good and the bad,  challenged all of us to churn out 100,000+ what ifs. Some out of anger. Heh.

As for fav piece of fanon, probably that Malfoy jr was Snape's godson. He's totally not, but whoever started that created a great layering of the dynamic between them that you can share in so many tones.

Do you listen to music when you write or do you prefer quiet?  

I was a stay-at-home mom when I was writing most of my fanfics, so I wrote in a chaotic and very noisy environment. I didn't listen to music when I wrote, but music was often the inspiration. When I would get stuck in writing, I would leave it and go listen to music that was emotionally similar to where I wanted the story to be while I thrashed out plot points. Colossus by Afro Celt Sound System is amazing for plotting a prelude to a battle.

What are your favourite fanfictions of all time?

Gosh, there are so many. Sadly, many of the authors who first inspired me are gone and pulled their fics off the web, like my fanfic bestie Dressagegrrrl. I would have to call out Pet Project by Caeria as the one I found most inspiring.  Anything by ApolloniaV is pretty high up there in my book. There are dozens I'm forgetting. There was one called Resurrection Man about Snape accidentally creating a hilarious Zombie apocalypse. Best. Fic. Ever. It disappeared from the web when the author moved on. An incredible loss.

Are you a plotter or a pantser? How does that affect your writing process?

Total pantser. The obvious effect is to drive the story right off a cliff and be unable to salvage it. It's why I vowed to never start posting until I had a rough draft ending. Too many dead stories waiting for an ending that never came. But an outline for me is a killer in disguise. I lose interest in telling the tale because I already did in the outline. The fun part is over. Sitting at a keyboard typing your fingers off, while muttering, "What the hell are these people doing? Who's writing this stuff?!" is an amazing experience.

What is your writing genre of choice?

In fanfic, I ran with every genre there was. Mostly I wanted to see if there was one I couldn't tackle.  Most of my o-fic is a hard-to-define mishmash of fantasy and sci-fi. I want to write romance, but it always turns into something complicated and angsty that no longer fits the box.

Which of your stories are you most proud of? Why?

The Tattered Man.

Did it unfold as you imagined it or did you find the unexpected cropped up as you wrote?

It came off exactly as I'd planned in my head. A rare occurrence for me.

What did you learn from writing it?

I could make people cry with my words. Up to that point, I'd made readers laugh and yell and blush, but to get a reader to the point of actually weeping? That's not easy. JK Rowling did it with ease. It was a challenge.

How personal is the story to you, and do you think that made it harder or easier to write?

It's very personal. My father had just died.  He'd had cancer, and it might have got him in the end, but what actually killed him was being sent home with a feeding tube and the wrong instructions. None of the homecare nurses realized the mistake until his kidneys shut down. It was devastating. When I next took up writing, I was still hurting so I tried to make others feel what I felt at a death that didn't have to be. It was crazy easy to write. I wrote it all in one day. Based on the reviews, I achieved my goal. It helped me work through my loss. Pretty sure I gave a few readers PTSD. My bad.

What books or authors have influenced you?

My all-time favourite book is Iain M. Banks' Use of Weapons. Definitely a classic among the eighteen people in the United States that read it. The man was a shockingly gifted author and I was devastated when he passed away. His ability to just drop you into the action from the first page and not bother to explain what's going on is sadistic genius.

How do you think that shows in your writing?

It led to my belief that a writer is always better when they assume their readers are smart. Grab their interest and just run. They'll catch on and even pass you with their theories of what's going to happen next. I've no patience with stories that spell out everything in minute detail. They're tedious and insulting. Less really is more. On the other hand, writing over your reader's head is just as annoying. Intentionally using obscure SAT words in your story just makes you a pretentious twat. Unless your character is a pretentious twat and it's part of the dialogue.  In that case, twat away. *gigglesnort*

Do people in your everyday life know you write fanfiction?

My family all knew. They were tremendously supportive. Especially Mr. Aurette, my personal Snape. Outside of my family, I was less forthcoming. Mostly because it was so crazy hard to explain. I think it's a lot less weird now, but back then? It was far more stigmatized.

How true for you is the notion of "writing for yourself"?

That's a hard one. For someone who'd never tried to write a story before, it was an amazing journey to realise what I could do. That changed me forever. Having the instant feedback of reviews was intrinsic to that experience. The downside is you can get sucked into writing for reviewers, and they will tell you clearly what they want and expect.  That can stifle. I knew no one wanted The Tattered Man to end the way it did. I was pretty terrified of the reaction. But it's what I wanted. It was the entire point. I wrote that ending for myself, but I cowered after posting.

How important is it for you to interact with your audience? How do you engage with them? Just at the point of publishing? Through social media?

I absolutely loved interacting with my readers. I made some real-life friends and some really great fic buddies all over the world. I watched them become friends in reviews too. It was a really great experience. Spam-posting a fic would often take on a festival atmosphere. Unfortunately, when my review count started to really take off, I couldn't cope with the sheer numbers the same way. There weren't enough hours on the day to reply to everyone. Trying to personalize my response to a review grew overwhelming. I actually grew quite depressed over it. Connecting on a more removed, professional level seemed cold. I connected the most on Livejournal when that was a thing. But I had to back off. "Aurette" became far more witty and wonderful than I was in real life. Everyone wanted a piece of her. I couldn't keep up with the bitch. Lol.  I faded away from most interactions on social media out of self-preservation. Even tiny fame can make you whacko.

What is the best advice you've received about writing?

There's a few that come to mind.

1-If you want to be a better writer, kill every adverb you come across.

2-Read your words out loud to yourself. If you run out of breath, your reader will run out of patience at that exact point.

3-Dressagegrrrl was the one that finally made me see how playing POV ping pong within a scene was something that marked my writing as an amateur.

4-Stop trying to be clever. Be clever, if you are clever, but don't try. It comes off hamfisted every time. Readers hate that.

5-Never, ever, ever post something you wrote that day. You've left half of it in your head and you can't tell. It's awful.

6-If you're not even a little embarrassed by something you wrote 6 months ago, you're no longer growing as a writer.

What do you do when you hit writer's block?

That's a bit of a sticking point. Stress is a muse-killer. Anything you can do to rid yourself of stress will help. Writer's block is usually the result of something going on elsewhere in your life. Fix that and the creativity will come back.

That said, my life has turned into constant stress with the result being I no longer write at all.

Has anything in real life trickled down into your writing?

Everything has. 'Write what you know' is true for fantasy too. Whether it's heartbreak, or a drunken hookup that turned into love (Hello, Mr. Aurette) or a moment when you were a child and ignored or teased, or maybe the bully, all of it makes it's way into the emotional truth of a scene or character, no matter how outlandish the setting.

Do you have any stories in the works? Can you give us a teaser?

I have a Dropbox full of stories I've run into the wall or had to leave half finished, both fanfic and o-fic. No teasers, because at this point I don't think they will ever see the light of day. Never say never, but the light of hope is dim.

Any words of encouragement to other writers?

Anyone can write and everyone has something to say. Be open to the process. Part of that process involves having a stranger tell you that your shiny new love is really shit. Being defensive only prolongs your shittiness. Embrace criticism. Sometimes,  the process of justifying something can actually buttress your choice, so you double down with better results. Other times, you'll see your idea wasn't working after all. Be ruthless in your editing, but don't delete. That scene you cut because it caused everything to go off the rails could be a different story trying to get out. Take that leap, you fail at everything you don't try, so why not try something you really want?

Thanks so much for giving us your time.

It's been my pleasure.  Thank you for the opportunity.  *waves to my readers*

[jaeminlore]

Don’t Worry, Baby | Renjun

summary: don't worry baby, everything will turn out alright

words: 2.7k+

category: sand artist!renjun, mystery(?), a lil fluff, angst, slice of life :(

a/n: you guys aren't ready and i am sorry

There comes a time in every artist's life when something extraordinary happens. It can be the exact make or break of an artists career. It can be the talk of the town, or stay hidden in the archives for years, collecting dust. But it happens. The artist knows it happens, and to the artist that moment will forever be etched in their memory. It will be the moment they credit their success or failure to.

Renjun thinks he's having this moment now, and it isn't towards his success.

He's worked all year to prepare for this sand art festival. For one week, he finally has the chance to be recognized by art school scouts. For one week, he has the opportunity to be a part of a contest he's sure he's going to win.

And, one day before the end of the contest, Renjun finds that his world is crashing around him.

Well, sand sculptures are crashing around him, anyway. All other contest entries, save his own, had been torn down the night before the final judging, and Renjun is the first to be blamed for it.

Of course he'd be blamed for it. Why would someone take down every single sculpture except his?

He's read Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, and A to Z Mysteries. He knows that he isn't the criminal, he's the victim. But he doesn't have a gang of sleuthing kids to help him prove that.

He just has himself and his pathetically shy personality.

Starboy by The Weekend blares from Mark's staticky speakers when Renjun walks into the skate park. He and the rests of the artists have a meeting with the officials to sort this entire thing out. Renjun knows that they'll just disqualify him and restart the contest. He knows that although he's worked on this particular sculpture's design for a year, he'll get no recognition, save as a local criminal.

Mark is shirtless again. Normally that doesn't bother Renjun, except now when it just magnified how Mark was a muscly type of lean, while Renjun would always be the scrawny type. If Renjun has one thing above his friends, it is his artistic ability. It's the fact that he seemed to have a bigger dream, a more-difficult-to-complete dream. There aren't any art schools in Salos. There aren't even any art courses in Salos. If you want that, you have to go off the island.

Renjun works hard to get to a prestigious sculpting school in New Zealand. His talent is the only thing he has going for him, and yet even that seems to fail him. He had been so close to revisiting a small scholarship to any school of his choice, but now he's back to the beginning. The beginning of the end, where he gets a low-end job as a sign spinner for the rest of his life. He'll be forever known as someone who sabotaged the sand festival. He'll be known as a failure, and a loser, and—

"Renjun!" Mark runs up and grabs Renjun's hand. "We went to the beach and couldn't find you! Did you win the contest?"

Renjun feels his own expression sour. He pulls his small wrist out of Mark's grip with some difficulty. "I am disqualified. At least, I think I am. Someone tore down all the sculptures except mine."

Mark's face twists into a look of anger. "Who would do that? Practically the whole island knows how long you've worked for this scholarship! Wow, imagine being so threatened by you that they sabotage you. That's how •afraid• they are."

Mark is honest, but none of it makes Renjun feel any better.

It just makes him feel helpless.

"Thanks, Mark," he says anyway, because Mark is trying his best. "I'm gonna go see if Jeno needs some help with the kids."

Renjun knows Jeno doesn't need help with the kids. Jeno never needs help with the kids, and if he feels he does, he asks Jaemin, who is a certified lifeguard. But Renjun can't stand the way Mark is looking at him with this weird sort of pity. He can't stand being out and about when the news gets out to everyone he knows. He'd rather be at the resort's private beach, helping Jeno give surfing lessons to children.

He wants to forget everything that's happened.

☼

There comes a time in every artist's life where he meets the antagonist of his story. Maybe they're there to motivate him and push him further towards his goals. Maybe, after everything, Renjun will see just how much a personal rival pushed him to success.

Renjun wonders why you were put in his life. He wonders why all his life he had been a shoo-in for this art scholarship, until you move in at the end of senior year with years of professional art school under your belt. He wonders if it's some sort of test, and if it will make him a better person in the end.

It is certainly making him more upset.

The contest officially reopens today, and Renjun isn't allowed to get to close to the contestants. So, he watches bitterly from the boardwalk and murmurs under his breath at how unfair life truly is.

It doesn't help that you seem to be creating a different sculpture than your last, and this one looks suspiciously like his. He wonders if you decided to steal his idea after seeing it. Then again, it wasn't like he invented mermaid sculptures, right?

Once he sees you take a break, he kicks off on his skateboard, hoping to catch you by the showers.

As you're rinsing sand off of your legs, Renjun props his skateboard onto the stained wood and clicks his tongue. "Nice mermaid."

"Thanks," you don't miss a beat. Instead, you return his fake smile, "I got the idea from a friend."

Renjun scoffs. "Cut the act. You know it wasn't me and yet you accused me so that you could use my idea."

You shrug casually as the cold water beats down on your shoulders. "Maybe. Listen, I know you didn't do it. I could even help you find the perpetrator if you agree that when there is yet a third contest, I get the mermaid idea."

"That’s it?" Renjun asks. "I have plenty of other designs; of course you can take the mermaid. Just help me figure out how to get back into this contest."

"Well first we'll need a list of contestants." You turn the shower off and wrap a towel around your shoulders, "As well as a list of motives and alibis."

Renjun feels unmotivated already. "Is all of that really necessary? I was thinking just going back to the officials and pleading innocent."

You roll your eyes and toss your sandy towel to Renjun. "You already tried that, genius. We've got to do this the old fashioned way."

"And what do you suggest we do first?" Renjun shakes out your towel and grimaces when most of the sand travels back towards his face. He hopes this isn't a metaphor for how bad your plan is.

"Let's try to remember everyone who stayed late that night. A lot of us had to finish our sculptures before the deadline."

Renjun hummed, "Me, you, Ten, Joy, Jungkook, and Lisa."

"Great! So that's our suspect list."

Great," Renjun deadpans. "Now what do we do?"

☼

There comes a time in every artists life when one has to get messy. Renjun thinks about this as some sauce drips out of his burger and onto his hand. He grimaces at the cold, gross feeling and reaches for a napkin.

He's sitting across from you at the small diner near his home, listening as you ramble on about alibis and allegations and other things Renjun really has no knack for. He tries to keep up, but you seem to be in your own little world.

"...my point is that unless someone left after Lisa dropped me and Ten off at our homes, it has to be one of them..." you were saying. "Now if I could only remember the last person to get in the car. It could've even been an inside job."

Renjun feels stressed. First of all, he's afraid of confrontation, so he has no real clue as to why he agreed to your dumb sleuthing plan in the first place. He really wishes he had just gone to the officials. Maybe they have security cameras.

When Renjun brings this up to you, you sound skeptical: "I doubt they'd have them on the beach. Let's not bother them."

Renjun is beginning to think you like the chase, while he's only hoping for the prize at the end of it all. He really needs this scholarship. He was made to be an art student, and he wants to get that scholarship fairly.

Maybe you're right. Maybe confrontation is best. Maybe Renjun just doesn't want to get his hands dirty.

But every artist gets messy, so Renjun finds himself knocking on Ten's door, hoping for some answers. You previously agreed to confront Lisa. Renjun hopes this means he'll find the culprit soon, and all of this can be over.

Ten is a nice guy who works in Salos during the summer. In fact, he is the person who encouraged Renjun to begin sand sculptures in the first place. Renjun has always kept in contact with him throughout the school year, where the two usually talked about art and horror movies.

The point is that Ten is a friend, and he always has been. The thought of him being the one to sabotage Renjun tears him up inside. He feels awkward on Ten's doorstep; out of place.

And when Ten opens the door with a bright smile, Renjun just feels guilty. "Hi, Ten."

"Hey, Bub. I was wondering when you'd show up. That contest blows, doesn't it?"

And Renjun can't say much, because he knows Ten's dream is to be an artist too. Ten could do a lot with that scholarship, and somewhere in the back of his mind, Renjun wants Ten to win, fair and square.

The guilt comes back, so Renjun swallows it down and steps into Ten's living room. He takes in the scent of whatever candle Ten is burning, and for a moment he gets lost looking at Ten's art on the wall.

He doesn't want to be here. He doesn't want to blame anyone, especially not his friends. "I know it wasn't you."

It's an accusation, but a positive one. The wording makes Ten laugh and pull Renjun into a hug. The feeling of being in someone bigger — someone older and wiser's arms makes Renjun feel safer. Maybe everything will be okay.

"Lisa called me just before you came in. I guess Y/n wants to help you find the culprit?"

Renjun sighs. "I don't know what I got myself into."

"Do you not want to find the culprit?"

"I do, but the contest has already restarted. At this point, I feel like I should just let one of you win and wait for next year." He feels defeated, and discouraged. Maybe he's chasing the wrong leads, and if all this sleuthing does is make him distrust his friends, he doesn't want any part of it.

Ten pouts in a sympathetic way and ruffles Renjun's hair. "Just tell Y/n that. Spend the remainder of your summer with your friends. Don't worry about anything, okay?"

Renjun finds himself smiling, despite his circumstances. "Yeah. Thanks, Ten."

☼

There comes a time in every artist's life when he finds his muse. Some artists know their muse all their life, for that person is never far from them. Others meet and form friendships in unlikely circumstances, much like the friendship of you and Renjun.

It's been a few days, and while the contest is nearly finished, Renjun has found a bit of comfort in helping you with your sculpture. Of course he can't participate, but during your free time he gives you tips and techniques that might help you.

Meanwhile, you're still caught up in finding the suspect. "I bet it's Lisa. She was very suspicious when I went over to her house. D'you reckon we should talk to her again?"

Renjun hasn't thought about it since his talk with Ten. Right now, he finds himself paying more attention to you. He can't help but look forward to the moments of the day when you have time for him and only him.

It makes him happy and forgetful of the unforeseen future. Somehow you've molded yourself into his everyday routine. You've met most of his friends, but especially Mark, since the skate park is where both he and Renjun seem to live.

Right now you and him are at the diner again, and you've taken the liberty of ordering fries along with two chocolate shakes. When the food arrives, you grab one of the crinkle fries and hold it up for Renjun to see. "Now, we dip it in the shake, and it becomes a masterpiece of its own."

Renjun finds himself chuckling at the dramatic way you unwrap your straw. He finds himself distracted by your easygoing spirit and uncanny ability to have no care at all in the world. He thinks it's admirable. "So what will you do if you don't win the scholarship?"

Panic seems to flash in your eyes before you return to your normal expression. "I suppose I'll wait until next year's contest."

"Then we'll be against each other," Renjun says, but suddenly his heart is thumping at the thought of being with you for an entire year. He thinks of a fun and competitive relationship, where the two of you can push each other's limits with the safety net of love beneath you two. Maybe love is a strong word, but Renjun knows he at least likes you, and like almost always turns into love.

When you're done eating, Renjun drags you to the pier and kisses you in the warm Salos breeze.

You kiss him back.

☼

There comes a time in every artist's life when an artist is used for their craft alone.

The feeling comes when you win the sand competition.

Renjun picks you up and spins you around in glee, congratulating you on your scholarship. If he couldn't get it, he's glad you did.

"It was all thanks to you," you say, gleaming at the trophy in your hand, "I never knew sabotaging you would get me this far, so thanks."

Renjun stills.

It's almost like someone has dumped cold water over his head. He wants to shiver. He wants to run and hide. He wants to find warmth again but all the blood is draining out of his face and he finds himself tearing up. "You... You used me?"

You shrug. "C'mon, Renjun. Everyone knew you were going to win. With you gone I had better chances, but then when you decided to help me with my techniques? You won this contest for me, Renjun. I'm getting a scholarship!"

Renjun blinks. "No, Y/n, you stole that scholarship from me. You understand that, right?"

"I thought you'd be happy for me," you pout.

"I am," Renjun sighs, "It's just—"

"Great!" You cut him off and kiss his cheek, but it doesn't feel as sweet as it did the day before. "Then I'll call you later?"

Renjun nods, because quite frankly he doesn't have the energy to fight you. He'll head to Jaemin's house and cry there, and the latter will make sure he blocks your number.

He'll get over it, he assumes, if the pain and ache of his heart ever still.

He thinks of the way you refused to ask about security tapes, and your insistence on finding a guilty party. It all distracted him from the blatant fact that you were there that night, and you had taken down the sculptures.

But he has no proof, and no true confession. He only has his shattered hopes and a broken heart.

[stereogeekspodcast]

[Transcript] Season 2, Episode 1. Stereo Geeks Special: Previewing YTV's The Hardy Boys

In this Stereo Geeks Special, we preview the first two episodes of YTV's Hardy Boys. The first season of the show is already available on Hulu, but it's airing weekly in Canada on YTV. What is it about? What did we think about the initial episodes?

Since we found ourselves comparing the show to Netflix's Locke & Key, check out Ron's recaps of the show on Show Snob.

Listen to the episode on Anchor.

[Continuum by Audionautix plays]

Ron: Welcome to our Stereo Geeks Special! In this episode we’ll be previewing YTV’s The Hardy Boys. I’m Ron.

Mon: And I’m Mon.

Ron: This show, adapted from the famous book series, dropped its first season on Hulu in December 2020. But here in Canada, the show has only just debuted.

Mon: We hadn’t heard about this show till the press release and screeners landed in our inboxes. I do wonder why the promotion for this show has been so under the radar.  It’s quite similar to how the Nancy Drew adaptation also made its way to screens, but with almost zero hype.

Ron: Well, Corus sent us the first two episodes to preview. So here we are. The story follows Frank and Joe Hardy, played by Rohan Campbell and Alexander Elliot, as they deal with their mother's death, while also secretly investigating who killed her. This is definitely not The Hardy Boys of our childhood.

Mon: There have been some significant changes made to the characters. For one, there is a four-year age difference between Frank and Joe, whereas in the books it's consistently been just a year. Their mom, from being a librarian, is now a journalist. Their dad, Fenton Hardy, played by James Tupper, works with the police force as a detective. But once they moved to Bridgeport, which is his hometown, as well as his wife Laura's hometown, he turns into a private detective. He appears to be investigating the cause of his wife's death, which involves some treasure hunting, some secret mystery that we don't know about. Does he have a license in Bridgeport? Who knows?

There are a lot of characters who have been adapted from the books to the screen. So, we have their friends, Chet, Biff, Callie. They also have their aunt, Gertrude. Everyone is slightly different from what we expected in the books. Chet in the books was always written as a plus-size character but somehow here, he's not. I like the fact that Biff was a boy in the books but here she is a girl, and that too, she is a girl of color, and her mom is a cop in Bridgeport. Tthere are a few changes which are weird. Why is Aunt Gertrude so young? Just like the actor's ages. James Tupper, who plays Fenton Hardy, and is supposed to be Gertrude’s older brother, is 25 years older than the actor playing Gertrude. Let that sink in. Especially since in the books, Gertrude is Fenton’s older sister. It also makes it a little bit weird that Aunt Gertrude is being played by an actress who is only seven years older than the actor playing Frank Hardy. I mean, it just looks weird. And we haven't even got to the story yet.

Ron: A lot happens in the first episode. We’re introduced to the family dynamic. Obviously, Laura is very close to her sons. Closer somewhat to Frank than to Joe? The younger boy seems to be left behind a lot. The focus very much is on Frank's baseball, Frank's game playing, Frank and Laura. That's central to the story. Fenton kind of flips in and out. I guess, because he's a cop, he's busy all the time. It seems to be that Laura used to be a journalist but for the last couple of years she hasn't been doing any writing. As we find out in the second episode, she was apparently still doing her work. She was doing it in secret and away from her family. We presume that the rest of the season will explain why that was.

But then the first episode also has another plot point. And that is of a ship called the Astghik, which is attacked, blown up. Somebody escapes, but they've also found some kind of treasure. What does that have to do with Laura, her death? Who are these people who attacked the board? What is their connection to the Hardys? There's a lot of setup. I feel like the first episode didn't have to bring that in at all. Since the first episode was setting up the dynamic of the Hardy family, and was showing how Laura's death was going to impact them, that should have been the only story. Bringing in the mystery kinda muddy the waters a little bit.

Especially because we kind of go back and forth a little bit, right at the start, between the Hardy family and the ship incident. But then once Laura's death happens, the ship is completely forgotten till much later. While I was watching it, I was literally like, oh, hang on, what happened to that ship? And then suddenly, somebody was talking about it. And by the end of that episode, we figure out that there's actually a connection. It may have been an editing thing, but I feel like story wise, the narrative just didn't flow.

Mon: Here's the thing. What do we know about the Hardy Boys? We know that they are amateur sleuths. That's where this show should have started. By kicking off the show with the kids playing video games, with Laura being this fun mom, with the focus on Frank's baseball, with Joe being bullied, when is the sleuthing? And then you go into Laura's death, but instead of focusing on the kids’ grief, suddenly they are upped and offed to a whole new town. We are introduced to a whole new bunch of characters, and we have the setup for the mystery. Why does it have to be so convoluted?

I understand the need to put characters first. You want people to become attached to them, to relate to them, especially if your audience is likely to be of a varied age range. But when you're adapting something which is so famous, and when it has just one core feature, that of being young amateur detectives, then why make it so complicated? Why make it so intense? Where's the fun in this?

Ron: The opening scene actually feels a lot more fun than I expected it to be. There's this really sweet, fun-loving dynamic between Laura and her children. Well, Laura and Frank, more than Joe. They seem to be teasing him more than anything else. But then it kind of gets derailed, because obviously there's a death, there's a funeral, there's grief. But it all seems like somebody is going through a checklist, ticking things off as the episode is progressing. I don't think it needed to be like that.

And you made a really good point about the fact that Frank and Joe are supposed to be sleuths. At the end of the first episode when they’re like, we need to investigate what happened to our mom, I'm like, why? Your dad is on the case; why do you need to get involved at all? Just try and adapt to the whole new place that you’re living in. You’ve just moved to Bridgeport; you've lost your mom; you’re making new friends. It's a lot! You don't need to take this on. The good thing is that the friends that they have are very into it. They immediately want to help them; they want to investigate. They ended up, in the second episode, being in a little bit of danger because of the investigation. But it's a good thing that we're seeing a support system around these two.

Mon: Honestly, my favorite part of the first two episodes was the bit in the hotel in the second episode when they're trying to get some information about the mystery that they're solving. The way the entire crew work together, how intelligent and smart they are, the work like a well-oiled machine, even though they've just met. And I enjoyed that. That's kind of the fun aspect that we were looking for when we heard about this show.

Ron: And that's actually what made The Hardy Boys books so much fun to read. Of course, in the books, it was really just Frank and Joe; their friends used to come in and out. But here, I feel like there's a lot more room for them to have a group around them. Having seen the first two episodes, I kind of wish that it had only been set in Bridgeport, that there wasn't, you know, the whole moving to another town scenario. Because that scene in the hotel, it really works and it was fun. I would have loved for that to have been introduced in the first episode. That we see that this group is already working together so well. They know how to do these investigations, and it doesn't have to be something huge like their mom’s death. It can be something smaller, but you can see that they're working together as a team. On the other hand, let us gradually move towards that. The fact that these guys just met, and they’re already working so well, it doesn't quite fit. Mon: You and I, we grew up reading Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys, and seeing these shows adapted into rather dark and intense series for, I guess, younger audiences, I feel like the message is lost. And the message is simply that kids like role-playing. Kids are smart; they like having a little bit of fun. And if they're solving some mysteries on the side, what's so bad about that?

Ron: But I think that all the mysteries on the side should have been the main thrust, because that's what made these books so much fun to read. Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys, their stories were all about their little investigations. Everything else that happened around it was part of the investigation or fueled their information or their knowledge. This is going the opposite way. And I feel like they're just adding darkness, for the sake of it. In The Hardy Boys books, their mom has already passed away, a long time ago. They've learned to adapt to life with just their father and their aunt. That could have been a starting point to this series, as well. And it would have been nice to see a father bringing up his children on his own; it’s still something we don't see, and it would have been nice to avoid the dead mom trope. I'm honestly a little bit surprised that we’re still getting TV shows about it. That's what I liked about Locke & Key. Of course, that was based on a comic book series. But over there, it's the father who's passed away, and it’s the mom who is trying to cope, and she's kind of struggling a little bit. But at least there was that subversion. Here, not only do you have the dead mom trope, you have the absent father trope, so the aunt has to step in. And she's like, super young and not able to do this job because it's not her job to do. Two episodes in and we still don't know what Aunt Trudy does for a living, though. So yeah, it's feeling a bit tropey.

Mon: It's funny you mentioned Locke & Key because I got a lot of Locke & Key vibes from this show. It has a lot of similar beats, be it the family moving from one town to their hometown, discovering all these new places, reuniting with a long-lost relative, some family wealth spoken of, meeting new friends, discovering mysteries, and stuff. It was so derivative. And I don't mean derivative of just Locke & Key. I mean, in general.

Anytime you're dealing with a series or a film which has kids dealing with the death of a parent, it always falls into the same category of events. They're whisked away from the environment that they know and then, instead of grieving, suddenly they're investigating stuff or they're very good at compartmentalizing what just happened to them. I guess I just wanted something a little bit more original. And so far, two episodes in, the most interesting fact is that, yeah, we have a more diverse cast among the friends, but that's it.

Ron: So there appear to be a few mysteries happening, and I'm guessing that they are interconnected. The ship incident in the first episode has some vague connection to the plane incident in the second episode, in the sense that the same man was involved in both. In the first, he was killing the ship captain. In the second episode, the treasure that the man had stolen was stolen from him. So, there's a connection there which is interesting. But it's kind of a stretch of the imagination that both those events would somehow be connected to Frank and Joe Hardy.

In the second episode, we see that the man who stole the treasure and jumped off a plane lands up randomly in Bridgeport, on the beach and is found by Joe's friend, Biff, who then Joe helps out. My suspension of disbelief can only be suspended so far.

Mon: In general, I think the whole Joe Hardy-Biff Hopper thing just isn't working for me. I mean, they're trying to do the whole-antagonistic-relationship but become-best-friends kind of thing, that's not working anyway. And then these two kids sort of being involved with this strange man who's stealing people's treasure? I’m just not comfortable. At least Frank, when he's on his investigations, he has three to four people with him. And Joe and Biff are little kids, they should be at home.

Also, this being the summer, none of them have school. So, what exactly was Fenton thinking? They have nothing to occupy their minds, and no adult supervision. Fenton’s run off on his investigation, the grandmother, obviously has some kind of hate for the Hardy family, except for Frank. I don't know why. And Gertrude, I guess, actually has a life, though we don’t know what she does with it. So, what are these two kids doing? This is family negligence!

Ron: Also, I feel like now that Joe is here in Bridgeport, whatever growth that Biff was probably looking forward to is not happening. She doesn't do anything. She's literally been shunted out of her own story. That's kind of annoying.

Mon: It's bad enough that we only have two female characters, at the moment, among the friends’ groups. But I also feel like it's so obvious that they're being touted as love interests. First of all, I really hope we don't have any romantic storyline for the little kids because nobody needs that. And even with Callie Shaw, I mean, we know that in the books, Callie and Frank do have a relationship but who wants that? We really want them to be fleshed out as characters with their own interests and their own skills.

Ron: Especially since we know that Frank had a girlfriend for a while back in his hometown. And for him to have another girlfriend, so soon after losing his mom and his former life, it'd just be odd. And so far, it seems like in Frank's friends’ group, everybody has a skill and Callie is ‘the girl’. What is her skill exactly? We don't know that yet. We need more for Callie and Biff before they become love interests. Is this show going to give us that? I know we're only two episodes in but considering that this first season is only 13 episodes, I don't think that's enough time.

Mon: And this show has a lot of characters. Just around the main cast, we have four members of the Hardy family, plus the grandmom. Frank's friends include Chet, Phil, and Callie. Joe’s friends with Beth, who also has her mom, Officer Hooper. And then there're all the bad guys. It's a lot of people. How much screen time are they going to get? How much growth are they going to get? Who's going to be sacrificed along the way?

And these aren't like short episodes either; they're 45 minutes long. There's a lot going in there, and still I felt like the first episode—despite having so much in there—was very, very slow paced. The second one definitely picked up, but it still had the issue of being overly convoluted by going back and forth and trying very hard to show us all this family drama, when it's kind of obvious that they prefer the mystery.

Ron: There are a few things that I enjoyed. In the first episode we see Laura and Frank have a conversation about peoples tells. And in the second episode that actually helps Frank interrogate a suspect. Of course, the issue with that scene was that Callie kind of became a bystander. So yeah, there's goods and bads.

I am curious to know why Joe is so cynical. In the first episode, we see during the funeral for Laura, Joe doesn’t actually want to talk to any of the funeral goers because he thinks they're all here for “the show” and not because they actually cared for their mom. Where is a 12-year-old coming with this? How does he feel like this already? I was kind of hoping that the second episode would explain something, but it goes full-on sleuth version of Joe, and we didn’t get to find out his inner life.

I think my issue with the first and second episode was that there were moments in the pilot where Frank and Joe did try and process their grief, whereas the second episode it feels like they’re overcome some amount of their grief. But it's not possible, the timeframe is too short.

And also, let's not forget some really scary stuff is happening with Joe. In the opening episode he gets nabbed at knifepoint by a very scary man. He's eventually rescued, but that's traumatic. And this is shortly after his mother's funeral. That's two different kinds of trauma happening to a very small boy. And in the second episode, the man who he’s helping breaks into his room. It's just creepy! Why aren’t we dealing with this? I don't care if the series is set in the 90s it's still pretty creepy.

Mon: And Joe doesn't react. He doesn't react at all. Is he emotionless? Is he numb? What's going on? Because we don't know these characters from before their mother's death, we don't understand them after.

Ron: We have one emotional outburst from Joe, that's at the scene of their mother's death. So first of all, why did Fenton take them there? And he leaves them alone when he goes to check out what happened. That doesn't make any sense, why would you do that? You would hang on to your children, you just lost their mother! Fenton does not seem like a good character, and I'm actually wondering whether they’re leaning into Fenton is a bad person.

Like, he literally tells them that they're moving to Bridgeport, on the day of Laura's funeral. Who does that? I don't get it.

Mon: Just prior to Laura's death, she has a conversation with Fenton about how he needs to be careful because she literally cannot take care of the kids on her own. I honestly think the foreshadowing was completely incorrectly done there, because Fenton’s the one who's been a negligent father.

And they don't have to even say it in words, you can get from how he's behaving that he does not want any responsibility for these kids, his own kids.

Ron: Fenton has hardly had, what, three scenes with the children? And all of them were after Laura's death. We have no idea how he and the children actually react to each other. We see Frank and Joe breaking into his suitcase to find out information; he figures out that they've done that, but he kinda just lets them go. And he's like, ‘Oh, don't do this again’. And that's just before he's going off to a foreign country to investigate Laura's death. This is not good parenting.

Mon: The show has outlined Fenton and Laura as such: Fenton is a good cop; Laura is a good mother.

Ron: I think if the angle for the first season is that Frank and Joe are going to investigate their mom's death, then we need to know how this family worked before she died. We don't see Fenton in the first episode till well after a lot of the events have happened; why should we care about this person?

And even when, in the second episode, he calls Joe and Frank from his investigation, he has a short conversation with Joe, but he wants to talk to Frank. He doesn't ask them how they're feeling, how they're doing what they do. He just wants to find out from Frank if Frank knew that Laura was actually still working; and she had something to do with this huge case and maybe that's why she got killed. Dude, you have one phone call to make, this is what you talk about?

Again, you can’t help but compare it to Locke & Key. In that series, Nina is not a very good mom; she struggled with alcoholism before; she has taken her husband's death very badly. She is sometimes absent, but she’s really trying to be there for them. Fenton is the antithesis of what Nina is trying to do in that show. It's really making me struggle with this character, and it's taking me away from the show, actually.

Mon: We were so annoyed with how Quentin has been portrayed that honestly, it is hard to be invested in this character at all. And I guess that's why we keep comparing it to Locke & Key which also has its problems—the source material, we definitely had a lot of issues with—but because it's so similar in its essential feeling, we can’t actually help to compare how the two parents behave.

Ron: What about the mystery? Are we feeling like there's enough there for us to continue watching? I don't feel like I'm that taken with it. What is this treasure? Why are people being killed over it? What is this other man in the second episode doing with the treasure? I wish we had a little bit more information. Also, is it actually tied into Laura's death? And what does the grandmom have to do with all this, because apparently it was her boat, but she didn't know about it because she doesn't manage it. I’m so confused.

There’s a way to outline a mystery, especially if it's going to continue for an entire season of 13 episodes. I don't think that what we've got so far has done it justice. Mon: The production values of this show? Brilliant. And you can see the amount of effort that has gone into making the show. The trouble is that the execution is quite lackluster and a little bit haphazard. Which is why you don't know whether you should be immersed in the drama or in the central investigation, because neither of them are getting their due.

As you mentioned before, it does feel like the writing and the editing is desperately trying to tick off a whole bunch of checks on a checklist. Are they succeeding? Maybe, internally they are, but the audience is not getting that cohesive feel that a story like this should have. Even if something is going to be playing out over 13 episodes, you should still feel like you are on a journey.

Right now, you feel like you're on a roller coaster, and you keep getting shoved from one car to the other.

Ron: I know we've already compared The Hardy Boys to Locke & Key, but there's another show that I wanted to talk about and that's Walker. Hopefully, we'll have the time to do an episode just on Walker because it's not what we expected.

Now that's another show where the pilot did way too much but gave us enough to want to come back for more. And the second episode was brilliant—so good that we’re actually looking forward to catching it every week. I really, really wanted the second episode of The Hardy Boys to do that for me; it didn't. And it was also disconnected from the first episode, so it really took me out of the whole experience and I just don't think we're gonna see anymore.

Mon: I almost feel like this show deserved to have a classic treatment. Go with episodic investigations. Make it fun. Make it humorous. Make it smart.

Ron: Where is the fun? I just need some fun.

The thing about Locke & Key was—I know, we again comparing the two, but I can’t help it. But Locke & Key, the first three episodes, I struggled a little bit with. I did like the aesthetic, and though I found the characters a little bit stale, I liked the entire story that we'd been told in those first few episodes.

But then it just got so much better. The characters became more interesting, the story was more interesting. Of course, the visuals are great, it's a Netflix show. But this series, I'm just not feeling that. And the other thing that I really liked bout Locke & Key was that they somehow managed to bring the fun in. Yes, they had a little bit of magic to play with, and that helped, but there was also this sinister angle with a very very scary villain. But despite that, they still managed to have so much fun. And it was bright and colourful. I think The Hardy Boys needs to bring that lightness in much earlier. Of course, it becomes very hard when you had a huge death in the first episode. But the second episode could have done it.

Mon: I think our expectations were pretty low going into the series, especially since there was no hype and we were surprised that this series even existed. But you always want to give everything a chance. No one goes out there to make a bad product, but sometimes you need to take a step back and see what you're doing.

The Hardy Boys book series have been around since 1927, they've gone through several reimaginings, they've had their own issues, their own problems, but the essence of it remains. So many of us literally grew up with these characters. So, when you bring them to the screen, you need to boil it down to one pitch perfect angle and just run with it.

I think this over reliance on being dark and edgy in every single product that you create is honestly making the entertainment industry boring and one note.

While I do think that some people can find themselves invested in this series, I honestly don't find myself, going back to this. I may not even have given it a chance if we hadn't received the screeners. I'm glad that we did. But I think it could have been a much more imaginative and innovative show if they just thought a little bit harder about it.

Ron: I also feel like this is not a show that works on a weekly basis. I know that Hulu dropped all episodes on the same day maybe this is a marathon watch. I'm actually interested to go back to the show once we get all 13 episodes here in Canada, and then maybe our views will change.

Have you watched the first two episodes of The Hardy Boys? What did you think? We'd love to hear from you.

You can find us on Twitter @Stereo_Geeks. Or send us an email stereogeekspodcast@gmail.com. We hope you enjoyed this episode. And see you next week!

Mon: The Stereo Geeks logo was created using Canva. The music for our podcast comes courtesy Audionautix.

[Continuum by Audionautix plays]

[blackjack-15]

What are some of your favorite plot twists or unexpected moments in Nancy Drew games?

Hi Anon! Thanks for the question! I’m always up for talking about Nancy Drew (even if the metas do take me forever to write) and this was an awesome prompt to think about.

It’s safe to say that there will be spoilers afoot, so beware if you haven’t played the following games: DDI, WAC, TMB, DED, and SPY.

With the spoiler warning out of the way, here’s a roughly numbered list of my top 5 plot twists or unexpected moments in the Nancy Drew games!

#5. It’s Katie! …or not. (DDI)

This plot twist goes by so quickly that it really can’t be any higher on this list, but it’s still a great moment that got me good when my sister and I first played this game.

Near the end of the game, Nancy gets down to the Lair of the Bad Guy and sees Katie Firestone’s head over the back of the chair. For a moment you’re completely convinced that she’s behind everything — but when Nancy walks up to confront her and spins the chair around, Katie’s duct-taped and tied up, signaling that she’s not the mastermind after all.

It’s…it’s not a subtle moment, per se, but it is much less grand than some of the other options on the list, which is why it rests comfortably on the #5 spot. It’s well played and well executed, however, and totally suckers you in the first time you play DDI.

#4: Bess gets real with Nancy (TMB)

This one doesn’t count as a plot twist, but it is an unexpected moment, so I feel like it fits in with this ask.

There’s a great (and sadly easily missable) dialogue with Bess after Nancy finds out about the Daughters of Nefertari from Jamila. Nancy’s going on about how she doesn’t understand this secret society that passes on obligation from mother to daughter, and Bess cuts through with a simple truth: that she sees Jamila’s and Nancy’s quests as similar, positing that Nancy’s obsession with mysteries comes from her mother’s death.

It’s a moment that could, in the hands of a lesser writer, grind the game to a crashing halt and invite melodrama — but it doesn’t. Instead, Bess — who has been Noticeably Sassy with Nancy the entire game — lays it out simply and matter-of-factly, causing Nancy to stop and actually listen to a possible reason of why she’s so driven to solve mysteries.

It’s a great character moment for Bess (and for Nancy, but mostly Bess) and sets up the next few games (culminating in SPY), but it’s also unexpected in its place as a solid character development moment, and helps to open up the games further, establishing a world where things bounce off each other and comparisons like this can be made.

There’s shades of Jamila’s mother’s “she’ll never let you leave” in Kate’s last correspondences, and I think that the games and the world of the games are better for it.

3: Seeing double (WAC)

Truth be told, I prefer the #4 moment to this one, but this is definitely the stronger plot twist/unexpected moment out of the two, and deserves the #3 spot.

This is of course, the classic moment when Nancy sees the Hubbard Twins for the first time, realizing that she’s been dealing with not one but two girls the whole time she’s been there.

It’s a very Poe-inspired moment, hinging on Poe’s preferred themes of deceptions and shadow selves, and it suits WAC down to the ground.

Twins are also just fun in video games, since they’re two characters for the price of one, and they round out WAC’s extremely large (relative for a Nancy Drew Game) cast of wild and catty rich teenagers.

I love “secret” (unlockable?)  characters in the Nancy Drew games in general (the Hardy Boys in TRN/CRE, the twins here in WAC, the #1 spot on this list, to name a few), and the execution is perfect here.

#2: Benedict Arnold strikes back (SPY)

There is a much bigger plot twist in this game — Zoe Wolf — but as much as I love her and her alter egos, for me the more haunting plot twist in a haunting game is the reveal that Logan, Savannah’s assistant in SAW and a hilarious bit character who existed to slam the phone on you and to flirt with Bess, is actually a Cathedral Operative — a super spy, in other words, reporting on Nancy (and the worrying state of her psyche) to Cathedral.

Once again, this is a quick moment, and is actually quite easy to miss (it’s a sentence in an optional reading area — a testament to the fact that nothing in the Nik games is “optional reading”), but it casts SAW in a slightly different light as Nancy’s light-hearted battles with Logan are now a spy navigating around Nancy, exposing her weak points and sending them to the same organization that led to her mother’s death.

This is another moment where a plot twist opens up the world of Nancy Drew, and shows that the games connect and that there are consequences for each action Nancy takes. While dealing with Logan gets her the info she needs to talk to Savannah and solve the case in Kyoto, the trade off is that now Cathedral knows more about her psyche and how to manipulate her — and that’s the information that kicks off SPY in the first place.

#1: “Victor’s here.” (DED)

This is by far my favorite plot twist, not because I didn’t see it coming (I absolutely did because there’s no reason to animate a sprite just for a video call) but because it really throws a wrench into the “classic pattern” for a Nancy Drew game (for the better).

Deadly Device in general is a game dedicated to seemingly playing the Nancy Drew formula straight while actually subverting it at every turn (more on that in a future meta…though I’m only on DOG right now so maybe don’t mark it on your calendar), and Victor’s change from a phone contact to a physical suspect is the perfect example of exactly how far they subverted the formula.

Niko’s office and the lounge both represent safe areas for Nancy in the game, so it’s stunning (and not a little disconcerting) to have Victor take over Niko’s office, removing a safe area and the place closest to Niko (other than his secret office, but Nancy might not have discovered that at this point). 

It’s an actively antagonistic move against both Nancy and the player, and it forces Nancy to get a little more creative in how she snoops, and makes her trust the people that, up until now, she’s actively distrusted and even antagonized.

The last fourth of DED is half Nancy Drew game, half stealth game, and really hones in on the fear that Victor could show up at any moment (and he does in Style at the end, knocking out Gray and Nancy with his bare hands). It’s a unique experience in Nancy games, and I love it.