#trickster genderbend

[gamerstale]

Female Trickster cosplay!

[coldalbion]

Tricksters Exist

Somebody: Many cultures have Trickster figures who break sociocultural rules, serving as both scapegoats and exemplars of the capricious and cryptic nature of existence. The can be supremely free and also bound by their own nature, dangerous and taboo, and also liberators. Sometimes the mutual tension between their polarities is the point. Somebody Else: Oh, yeah, they're not just characters from Supernatural. Some cultures even have more than one, and they're often associated with magic and linguistic skill. A Northern European example would be Loki. Somebody: Oh, yeah that's right. Loki's the Trickster figure in Norse Myth. He's always playing tricks and causing trouble for the Norse gods, and genderbending in defiance of norms isn't he? Me: There's more... Somebody Else: Oh yes, don't forget the shapechanging Loki does. Somebody: Or the ambivalent sexuality. That's often a feature, too. Me: I mean...you're kind of leaving someo-... Somebody Else: Or the doublecrossing! Me: I...

Somebody: haha funny meme...

Somebody Else: ...Anyway, back to Loki... Me:Ok...what about...?

Somebody: Sorry, what has this to do with Trickster figures? Me *sighs*:...never mind

[of-gods-and-gamemasters]

Gods: Filing off the Serial Numbers (Worldbuilding 1)

WorldbuildingRega

Greetings. I'm Jack Kellum, @JackGogsbane over on Twitter. This is the first installment of a series on worldbuilding, from my particular point of view.

From my perspective, one of the most important foundations of a world, whether for fiction or gaming, is its religion. In settings where such things are unknown and unknowable, the religion tells us a lot about what the people of that setting find important. In settings where the gods are objectively, provably real...the religion can tell us a lot about the world itself. What kind of world would those gods make, and administer?

So starting with the gods, in a setting where they are worshiped, and especially a setting where they truly exist, can be a great first step. But devising a whole pantheon of gods, with their own personalities, mythology, and interactions, can be daunting. It can be difficult to make gods that feel real, that inspire, that are gripping. But there's an easy solution to that.

In short, use gods that already exist. I'm not talking about the gods people invented for their worlds. I'm talking about gods humans really worshiped at one point. They come with complicated backstories, interpersonal relationships, and stories that illustrate those. Sadly, they also come with baggage, unintended implications etc. So what do we do?

We file off the serial numbers. Find mythological gods that resonate with you. That feel like how people might actually see their purviews in the world you envision. They don't even have to be from the same pantheon. Imagine, for instance, how Thor as a storm god might interact with, say, Nergal, as a sun god, or Amaterasu. An important part here, though, is changing the names. (Sometimes. If you want a straight up Viking game or setting, use the Aesir as is.) But for a lot of fictional and game worlds, you want consistent naming conventions between the gods (though they might have different names in different places), because you really only need one pantheon. If the gods are real, it can mess with suspension of disbelief to have two or more sun gods. Which one is really in charge?

So. Assume we have one pantheon, made up of your favorite gods. We might use the following, say, Thor for the storm god and god of strength, Nergal as the sun god, Geb as the earth god. If we have a male earth god, let's make the ocean and the sky female, giving us Tethys and Asherah, respectively. Throw in Brigit as a goddess of fire, craft, and healing. We'll need a moon or night deity, we could go a bit further afield here from the Sumerian, Egyptian, Norse, Greek, and Egyptian, to say, Japanese. Genderbend the moon god Tsuki-Yomi to a female or nonbinary (not a huge stretch, because accounts differ on the god already), and you have a somewhat uncivilized unpredictable moon. Grab Inari for another nonbinary, and you have a marvelous fox/rabbit/shapeshifter/trickster god.

What kind of a world does that give us? Well, Thor and Asherah would probably be married. People would call on An to sooth his temper, but in general the sky gods would be beneficent protectors, especially from otherworldly threats. Geb might be paired with Tethys, and both would be worshipped for fertility and prosperity. Tethys would be the feared one of that pair. Not everyone is married, though. Let's say Nergal and Brigit are siblings. Also, since Nergal is a god of disease and harsh sun, he and his sister, the goddess of healing and fire, would be generally opposed. Tsuki-yomi is mysterious, and becomes a patron of magic, while Inari is beloved, a trickster who brings food and fertility. Only Nergal is possibly 'evil', although even he may actually only be a harsh judge. Mostly folks don't worship gods they see as evil. But those gods are in the religion. So Nergal if is harsh but not evil...what god do we have representing evil, then? You'll note that while Thor is a warrior's god...he isn't a god of war. Maybe, like the Greeks, the people of our setting see war as inherently evil. In that case, we could do worse than grabbing Ares as the BBEG of the religion.

Nergal, as the harsh male sun god, suggests a land where the sun is shining often enough, and warmly enough, that it is considered one of the trials of life. Tsuki-Yomi as the moon god suggests night as a time of mystery when anything can happen, but not evil by nature.

At any rate, with the above set of gods, I see a predominantly agricultural culture, probably more southerly than Northern Europe or Japan, because of the harshness of the sun. Maybe something vaguely Mediterranean. But we can get to that later.

So, let's assume we're building a pantheon like this for D&D 5e. We have nine gods, and we can figure out what their domains and alignments are. They don't actually have to cover all the alignments, but you do want them to provide all the domains. And in this same process we can chisel the nameplates off.

Let's use a Mediterranean sounding naming convention. The names of the gods might have been established, for instance, by a fallen Romanesque empire. All these are actually lightly butchered Latin.

Saevios, “He Who Rages” King of the gods, god of storm, protector of the world. Defeated the ancient demon-dragon. (Referential to Thor and Jormungandr as well as Marduk and Tiamat).His domains would be Tempest, and maybe War. He's probably Chaotic Good.

Caela “She Who is Heaven”, Queen of the Gods, soother of tempers, intercessor for mortals.Her domains would be Knowledge and Peace. (Sky gods are often associated with wisdom) She's Neutral Good.

Tellus “Lord of Earth”, master of green growing things. His domains are Nature and Life.His alignment is Neutral.

Marea, “Lady of the Sea” Mistress of waves and all that lives below them. She carrieds the dead to the afterlife. Her domains are Tempest and Grave. Her alignment is Chaotic Neutral.

Lunos, “Deity of the Moon” They are unpredictable and obscured. Their domains are Twilight and Light. Their alignment is Chaotic Good.

Vulpos, “The Trickster” Shapeshifting fox deity who lives with Lunos in the Moon Palace.Their domains are Trickery and Arcana. Their alignment is Chaotic Good.

Solis, “The Angry Sun”. God of the sun, and of disease, and of the afterlife itself. His domains are Light, and Death.His alignment is Lawful Neutral.

Ignia, “Mistress Fire” Goddess of fire, healing, and crafting. Her domains are Forge, Light, and Life. Her alignment is Lawful Good.

Finally, we have Interitus, “God of War and Destruction”. His chosen animal is snakes, and his domains are War and Death. His alignment is Chaotic Evil.

Next time we can talk about the world and society such individuals might have crafted, and some of their mythology.

[ara-tatata]

The Trickster

[nana2009]

beansblsbesnasddskdsdfsnfjnfkasdisjfioskdl.sadsa;asdas

[toxic-gaymer]

Genderbent version of trickster, new vs. old

[dcordchat]

THE GREAT AND POWERFUL ABRA KADABRA Come here for a moment. I have questions for you.

JAMES JESSE [ she waddles up wearing a penguin suit.] 

 sup.

THE GREAT AND POWERFUL ABRA KADABRA You seem to be the smartest of the pathetic rogues, correct?

JAMES JESSE absolutely.

[ask-princibaldi-daughter]

Sunshine: Who are you ?

Sun: I’m you, but as a boy

Human!Sunshine: I’m you, but I’m like your Daddy

Human!Witch!Goddess!Sunshine: I’m you, but I’m like your Dad

Killer!Sunshine: I’m you, but with bloodlust

Trickster!Sunshine: I’m you, but insane

Felicita: I’m you but older, with science and glasses.

Ageswap!Sunshine: I’m you, but as an adult and your dads are my sons.

[goobijen]

A friend’s girlfriend’s cosplay!

(Commission for Shomicosplay)

[magusmacabre]

Anakis “Dagger” and M!Anakis “Dagger” Anakis is my Dungeons and Dragons rogue Tiefling. She’s an Arcane Trickster and she got the name Dagger because she collects aghem... Daggers. Her male counterpart lives in a parallel universe where everything is the same except the genders are the opposite. They met on a mission gone wrong and since they’re both lonewolfs they actually like hanging out because it’s so much like hanging out with yourself. His horn is partly removed due to a ritual in his family which only the males take part in.

[mornyavie]

Glossary of references in The Bifrost Incident

 It’s Very Long and yet also not really complete. If there are any questions / clarifications I can add, or I’ve messed anything up and need to fix it, let me know!

The tl;dr is that nearly every word in the album draws from either Norse mythology or the Lovecraft / Cthulhu mythos, directly or indirectly.

@moony221b here’s that glossary that I promised forever and a day ago.

Edit: I decided to create this document of annotations (x). Lyrics taken from Genius; I’m not totally sure how accurate they are, but hopefully they help get the point across! Again, questions and complaints both welcome.

Arcomba

I can’t find anything on this, would be interested if someone knows.

Asgard

One of the Nine Worlds, specifically the one where most of the Æsir (the subset of gods most associated with humans, including the well-known ones like Thor and Odin) live.

Thus Asgard is the planet on which the most powerful inhabitants of the Yggdrasil system, and those named after the gods, are found (though the subjugation / colonization relationship does not exist in myth).

Azathoth

This one’s from Lovecraft; Azathoth is the greatest of the Outer Gods, often served and worshiped by other gods themselves. Often described as mad, a demon, a sultan, or putting it all together as the Mad Demon Sultan. Resides at “the center of the universe,” where he appears as some sort of vast, amorphous, bubbling, roiling mass of “nuclear chaos.” (Nuclear probably refers to center, not nuclear power, which didn’t really exist when this was written). Servants about him play drums and flutes.

Mentioned briefly as the train travels through the Bifrost and into his realm, and a lot of the narration in those few verses draws directly from Lovecraft’s descriptions.

Baldur

The god of light and beloved by all, Baldr was killed by Loki in his final betrayal of the gods. After the murder Loki was tracked down and imprisoned, and will escape at the start of Ragnarok. In particular, Loki used a spear made of mistletoe... or, in the album, missile two. And tricked another god into throwing it, which I think is mimicked in the distance and impersonality of the crime. Look up more of his story if you want, it’s interesting and important, but that’s the relevant info here.

Bifrost

The rainbow bridge that the gods use to travel between worlds. 

Which is, of course, directly analogous to the wormhole-ish extradimensional-ish space of “shifting, undulating hues” through which the train travels.

Edda

The Prose Edda and the Poetic Edda are the names given to two pieces of literature that are most people’s main source for Norse mythology. The Prose Edda was written by Snorri Sturluson around 1200 to teach his (mostly Christian) contemporaries about the mythology and mythological references that made up a big chunk of Norse literature. The Poetic Edda is a set of poems that serve as a major source for Norse tales.

This is partially just a way to connect our hero Lyfrassir Edda to the Norse traditions, but also definitely a reference to their (presumed) role as the main “recorder” and source of information to get out of the Yggdrasil system.

Fate

Honestly the way the Mechanisms deal with fate in general is very interesting and arguably sometimes quite Nordic... but in particular, Bifrost Incident references fate or destiny a number of times and features a number of situations where the outcome is fixed and can’t be changed, but you have to fight anyways: “Killing me won’t save your world” “I don’t care” or how Loki and Sigyn can’t stop the train, but can only delay it. A lot of Norse tragedy revolves around people heading into battle knowing that they’re doomed and fighting anyways, or around the cycle of conflict that marked the cultural requirements for avenging insults. And the myth cycle is notable for the fact that the gods know, explicitly, exactly what Ragnarok is, what’s going to happen, and how they’re going to die, but will fight in it anyways. 

Inevitability and helplessness in the face of what you can’t possibly understand, let alone fight, which is a depiction slightly sideways of the Nordic version, are very Lovecraftian themes.

Fenrir

A wolf, child of Loki and father of Skoll and Hati, who was chained by the gods (particularly by Tyr, who placed his hand in the wolf’s mouth as “hostage” to assure him they would unchain him later, and lost the hand). He will break free at Ragnarok to join the battle against them and kill Odin.

With his association with monsters and with Loki, it’s fairly clear why he was aligned with the resistance movement. He’s serving “five life sentences” as a reference to his being chained, and the whole motif of the train’s journey being hijacked for a prison break certainly references the various characters who will be freed or break free as Ragnarok begins.

Frey

The brief reference of Frey being killed by the raging fire of the sun, with “no weapon, no defense,” is a direct translation of the god’s role in Ragnarok, when he will be killed by Surtr. Frey gave away his sword for the opportunity to woo his eventual wife, and so will be armed only with a stag’s antlers in his final combat. Also called Freyr.

Freya (“weeps tears of red-gold”)

Like her brother Frey (and yeah, these names get confusing), Freya is associated with harvest and fertility, though unlike him she also gets battle. In the song she weeps red-gold tears at the death of her husband Odr, which in myth she is said to do when her husband is absent. Also called Freyja.

Garm

Garm is another wolf, who guards Hel’s gates. He also breaks free at Ragnarok, and his howling heralds its coming. As in the album, he will fight and kill Tyr. Also called Garmr.

Hati

There’s a lot of wolves in Norse mythology. This one is a child of Fenrir. He chases the moon across the sky, and will swallow it when Ragnarok comes.

Mentioned briefly only as one of the resistance members on the train.

Heimdall

Heimdall is the watchman of the gods, with keen eyes and foresight, and guards the Bifrost as the entrance to Asgard. He will blow his horn to summon the gods to the final battle during Ragnarok, and he and Loki will kill one another. Also called Heimdallr; you’re probably noticing a pattern. It’s a grammar thing.

Mentioned as guarding the train and “doing his part.” His dying screams initiate the train’s destruction and echo throughout it, which presumably recalls the horn thing.

Hel

Another daughter of Loki, and, as the name will imply to English speakers, a guardian of the dead. She refuses to give Baldur back to the world of the living after Loki kills him. Also the name of the realm in which she resides, and to which go those who die of disease or old age. Doesn’t necessarily have the same bad-punishment connotation as modern Hell. I don’t know whether there’s any indication of what she herself is doing in Ragnarok, but many of her people and associates are certainly fighting against the gods, and I’m fairly certain the ship Naglfar, which carries Loki and his allies to Ragnarok, sets sail from Hel.

Hel as a prison colony clearly references the various characters the gods have chained or otherwise imprisoned (though, in myth, not all within Hel) as well as her alignment with “other side” during Ragnarok, and the jailbreak the resistance members are planning recalls the breaking of all these bonds as Ragnarok begins.

Hoddmimis

The woods in which Líf and Lífþrasir (see Lyfrassir) will shelter to survive Ragnarok and the various disasters accompanying it. 

So, good news! We can be marginally assured of Lyfrassir’s survival after taking shelter at the mining-colony of Hoddmimis.

Jormungandr

The world serpent, which lives in the seas and encircles the earth. Will arise during Ragnarok, causing great floods, and fight Thor; Thor will slay the serpent, but in turn the serpent’s poison will cause his death, after he staggers “nine steps back.”

Thor’s fight with Odin-turned-serpent is pretty clearly analogous to this, especially the taking nine steps to the window before destroying it with his hammer, resulting in both their deaths. I don’t think there’s any mythological basis to Odin turning into the serpent, though

Kvasir (“blood drained out”)

Kvasir was a very wise man/god and the originator of poetry. I’m leaving out a fair amount of his birth and life; the important information here is that two dwarves who were jealous of his knowledge tricked him, killed him, drained his blood, and mixed it with honey to make mead. Any who drank of the mead gained the gift of poetry / scholarship; eventually the gods stole it.

I’m not sure if there’s a reason they decided to specifically describe him as a resistance member, but there’s a clear parallel in Kvasir’s blood being drained and used to power the train, especially with the language of glyphs and sigils providing power.

Loki

Ah, Loki. Male in the general canon, though not without genderbending (he turns into a mare and gives birth to Fenrir, Hel, and Jormungandr, for instance). Inasmuch as the Norse myths we have can be organized into a “chronology,” you could do it (in my opinion) along Loki’s path from a mostly benevolent trickster god whose antics occasionally cause trouble to a genuinely malevolent figure. Associated with wit, magic, and trickery. Despite how modern lore (I suspect influenced by Marvel) often portrays Thor and Loki as brothers and children of Odin, in the myth Loki and Odin are bonded as blood-brothers. But Loki also often appears alongside Thor. As mentioned, parent of three of the main figures of Ragnarok. In the “final” myth, he jealously arranges the death of the god Baldr, who was loved by all; then he appears at a feast, where he exchanges insults with the other gods. This is the last straw; they capture him and chain him to a stone, over which they tie a serpent. Venom drips from the serpent’s fangs, causing him great agony. His wife Sigyn stays by his side, catching the venom in a bowl, but when she is forced to leave for a moment to dump it out his thrashing causes earthquakes. He will break free at the start of Ragnarok and sail to Asgard, where he and Heimdall will kill each other.

Hopefully that’s enough to give you a good background for Loki’s role in the album... it’s pretty clear why she’s framed as the opposition to the gods and the “leader” of the resistance movement, as a call to her role in Ragnarok. Her association with magic and trickery make sense for her being the “expert” in the twisted Lovecraftian “science” that produces the train. It also parallels her role in myth; her actions often get the gods into trouble, but they just as often need her wit and knowledge to get them out of it, as Odin needs her knowledge despite her taking action to destroy the train. And the setup at the end - drip, drip, drip, her face twisted in pain, her wife beside her, her “release” heralding the end of the world - precisely echoes the language of her bondage in myth; though her mind-destroying imprisonment by Odin also invokes this.

Lovecraft(ian)

A highly influential horror writer from the early 20th century. He’s largely credited with the creation of the creation of the “cosmic horror” genre, a type of horror which emphasises a vast, unknowable, uncaring universe against which we cannot hope to even begin to fight. His ideas and the gods / demons / creatures he created form the basis of the “Cthulhu mythos” or even “Lovecraft mythos,” which today is a sort of standard set of assumptions on which writers can build. Lovecraftian themes of apocalypse, inevitability, and powerlessness are highly prevalent in the album. Several of the gods in this mythos are used; in particular, Yog-Sothoth (see below). Also, a lot of the general description (madness, roiling chaos, undulating colors) draws from his distinctive vocabulary that remains staple of the genre. It’s worth noting that Lovecraft was a horrible and very racist person, but the genre today is widely used by people who are not terrible.

Lyfrassir

Líf and Lífþrasir in Norse mythology are the two humans who will survive Ragnarok and rebuild humanity; a hopeful sign for our album’s protagonist!

Midgard

In Norse mythology, the “middle” world where humans live. Earth.

Nagthrod

I don’t know this one.

@acorn-mushroom pointed out that it may be a mis-transcription of Naglfar, the name of the (ocean) ship which will carry Loki and his followers from the shores of Hel to the battlefield at Ragnarok. It’s made of dead men’s nails.

Odin

The king of the gods in Norse mythology. As the god of both wisdom and madness, Odin’s role in the album as a researcher and technological ruler whose discoveries drive her slowly mad is both very Lovecraftian and a reasonable leap. I could say a lot about the figure of Odin, but I think this character is one of the most divergent from the myth, in detail if not in role.

Odr

Óðr is Freya’s husband.

Outer gods

A Lovecraft thing referring to several of the most horrible and powerful gods, including Yog-Sothoth.

Ragnarok

The apocalypse, basically, in Norse mythology. Proceeded by various catastrophes, especially a very long winter, mentioned in the album, culminating in a great battle between the gods and their enemies, and resulting in the death of the majority of gods and other creatures of the world.

Ratatosk

A squirrel who runs up and down Yggdrasil, carrying messages between some of the tree’s other inhabitants and sowing discord. The Ratatosk Express links the worlds of the Yggdrasil System, and causes “discord” in the resistance’s opposition to it.

Sigyn

Loki’s wife. See Loki for her role in his imprisonment.

Skoll

Sköll in Norse mythology is the wolf that chases and will someday eat the sun. Association with Fenrir (another wolf) and other monsters motivates his inclusion in the list of resistance members.

Thor

A Norse god, associated with war, lightning/thunder, strength, and in general sort of... common people, as opposed to Odin’s association with kings and royalty. Prone to anger, which makes sense with his depiction as a volatile military leader in the album. He is heavily associated with his hammer mjölnir, hence jokes about “throwing a hammer in the works” and whatnot. Often associates with Loki, both as friends and as enemies as Loki progresses from a mostly-harmless trickster to actively opposing the other gods; thus how in the album he and Loki were once friends. See above for his death fighting Jormungandr.

Tyr

Another Norse god associated with war. He sacrificed a hand to bind Fenrir, and will be killed by Garmr during Ragnarok, both events referenced in the album.

Yggdrasil

The world-tree of Norse mythology, which supports the nine worlds of the cosmology. 

Yog-Sothoth

An Outer God of Lovecraftian mythos; also called the Gate and Key. It is associated as sort of the substance of time and space, binding together the cosmos. A lot of the description during the Ragnarok sequences draws directly from the “canonical” descriptions of this deity, and the invocation spoken by Lyfrassir in Red Signal draws from a story about this creature, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.

[sergeant-angels-trashcan]

spoilery loki and sylvie and show crit under the cut

i think the thing about sylvie/loki is that...like...there was no real need for there to be a romantic subplot for the show? of all the current MCU shows that really did not have the space for romance, it was this one. like, if you’re going to set up the entire next phase of the MCU you don’t need a romance, and if you’re not going to give us a romance in FATWS where the chemistry was off-the-wall bonkers, then Loki certainly didn’t. 

And it just didn’t feel...like...romantic? The romance part felt strained. Friendship I could believe. i would have loved that. not only do i love myself, I like myself, and want to spend time with them and make sure they’re okay and taken care of.

And idk. It just. Loki just got done trying to take over Asgard and then New York after being potentially brainwashed/tortured/compelled during Avengers. If he’d gone on a discovery of self-love that had been billed as such, I think that would have been more believable. Or if the thing with Sylvie had been pushed more as “yeah we all know this is a little odd, but what a Loki thing to do, amirite?” Mobius says something to that effect, and if there’d been more of it, like “of COURSE the only person Loki wants to make out with is another Loki”, that would have been better, I think.

As it is, it really felt like Sylvie was only female so they could have a romantic subplot and called her Sylvie so it would seem less weird. She’s the only Loki who isn’t called Loki. Loki is always Loki. Lady Loki is only “lady” because Lady is a title. It’s not because they are lady version of Loki.

This is the thing that happens in the comics with the Hawkeyes, actually. Kate isn’t Lady Hawkeye or Girl Hawkeye or Hawkette. She’s Hawkeye. Clint is also Hawkeye. It’s not hard. Loki is Loki regardless of appearance. 

And Sylvie didn’t need to be a Loki to be a compelling character. 

idk it just. it felt like Marvel gave us Sylvie so they could be like “see? we understand the gender fluids, we love Gay.” but then let’s make her the most selfish and least intelligent Loki! because SHE’LL do the thing that explodes the multiverse, which since she’s doing it is bad now

and as someone who is coming to terms with my “what is gender” fluidity, the way they were like “this is a cis man. this is a cis woman. they present as cis man and cis woman. genderqueer!” is frustrating. i would have LOVED to see both of them with genderbending makeup. make Loki more femme. Make Sylvie more masc.

and like, yeah, i don’t think I’d have as much of a problem with some of this if Marvel actually had, you know, real representation in their stuff. if you’re giving us a ~canon~ genderfluid bisexual Loki then I’d like to see that on screen! I’d like to be shown, not told! And I’d like for those characters to not be selfcest because in the larger context of how queerness is portrayed in media that’s not great! It feels like you tried to put your own spin on weird predatory gay tropes from the Code Era and I can smell that shit, Mouse Boy.

And yet at the same time it feels like they made Sylvie Sylvie instead of Loki to remove her as far from Loki as possible to make the romance okay? But at the same time I think that undermines her. Because if she’s really Loki, and not comic!Sylvie, aka Enchantress, then why should she be so ~different~ and ~special~ compared to the other Lokis? Yes, obviously, they’re all different in their own ways because of what they’ve gone through, and she was pruned very early compared to most of the other Lokis, except kid!Loki.

It’s weird because. Because on some level I’m okay with her being a ~superior~ Loki. She was literally cut from the timeline because of sexism!!! (but again that undermines the whole genderfluid thing. because that’s not really fluidity? that’s a “this loki is female. this loki is male” not “this loki is female, this loki is all genders”. does that make sense?) but for me it just fell flat. like we never got to know her well enough to know that she’s Loki, just her own kind of Loki. We never got to see her be Trickster. Or do mischief. Even as briefly as we saw the Void Lokis, you still got that impression of...well...Loki-ness. Be it weirdness, assholery, pomposity, they all had that flavor of Loki. and i just never felt that from Sylvie (which is why I’m still sitting here thinking “but was she really a Loki variant? or is she actually enchantress!sylvie???”)

anyway i’m not going to read through this for coherency, this is just me spitting out some thoughts

[fanficireadandrecommend]

Chapters: 8/8 Fandom: Supernatural Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Gabriel/Sam Winchester, Castiel/Dean Winchester Characters: Gabriel (Supernatural), Castiel (Supernatural), Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Bobby Singer, Chuck Shurley, Michael (Supernatural) Summary:

Gabriel was getting a first hand experience on just why Dean Winchester had always complained so avidly about Witches and how much they sucked. Naturally cursed with a smart-ass mouth, Gabriel finds himself stuck not in another vessel, but a female-version of his own, true vessel: the one he had crafted himself, so it wasn't like he could just 'Angel out' and find a new meatsuit. The Witches had made sure of that. Now, Gabriel had to find his Soulmate, or risk remaining in this female form for the rest of eternity.

Only problem was, Gabriel didn't believe in the concept of Soulmates, and he only has one year to find this person before the change is permanent.

[scribe-of-maat]

Rick Riordan Presents Thoughts

Been working my way through these for a while now. Will continue to do so. Here’re some unasked-for thoughts. Presented in the order I read them:

Dragon Pearl - My least favorite part of this book is that the setting makes it incompatible with the Riordanverse T__T. Loved Min and her using her wits to be a trickster hero and get to where she was going to go, but I was mainly a sucker for her gumiho powers. I felt like there was still room for more with Nari, but alas seems to be one-and-done.

The Storm Runner - My first Haven’t Finished of the list. There was just something unengaging about this. I’ve tried it twice and failed. Burn me at the stake, but I couldn’t connect with Zane or his love of dogs or his and Brooks’ clonky romance. I actually haven’t even gotten to where we find out who his dad is. The way it’s written has me fighting the prose, and every time I win we get more clonky text to grind through.

Race to the Sun - My second (and so far last) Haven’t Finished of the list. The author definitely has Gen Z-speak down, but it feels fanfictionier than the others. I wish we’d spent more time at ICCS. I wish we could be getting more tidbits about other First Nations, though I’m fine with the Navajo focus. Things are happening quickly but it feels like Rebecca Roanhorse is breezing through Navajo Mythology rather than trying to build something.

Aru Shah and the End of Time - The absolute STANDOUT of the offerings so far. Heart, soul, mind, body, if you were looking for something as memorable as PJO from these, this’ll give it to you. I want to BE a Pandava, which is the ultimate feeling I enjoy most from these. A fully-fleshed out world of young heroes being trained, found sisterhood, a genderbend of the Mahabarata. Roshani Chokshi has a very obvious passion for this project. It shows, and I’m hooked.

Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky - The most disappointing one on this list. I did not want to go to Alke or be an Anansesem. I realize this book is written for younger audiences, but Kwame Mbalia has written the main character so that Black men born anytime from the 90s back can see themselves in him, but it’s wholly divorced from the voice younger kids have. It wasn’t bad, but I wasn’t a fan of Ayanna and Thandie not having arcs and Tristan’s feeling inadequately resolved. I DID like the penultimate villain, but man.

Aru Shah and the Song of Death - Again, beautiful.

Sal and Gabi Break the Universe - Pleasantly surprised! In my adult like so far I’ve been around Spanish-speakers more often and the Spanglish feels true-to-life. Culeco is a school I’d have loved to go to, even if the only supernatural thing about it is Sal (and Gabi). But not only is Sal an amazing MC, but he and Gabi play off each other so well, and even though it’s not mythology focused in the slightest it gives that same feeling of a brujo and a bruja against the world.

[shimyereh]

Evens for the opera asks? Thank you!!

Thank you! Here they are, finally. (Under the cut for length.)

#2, 4, 6, 8, 10: [Already answered!]

12. Favorite clueless tenor?

It’s a tie between Hoffmann (Les contes d’Hoffmann) and the Duke of Dunstable (Gilbert & Sullivan’s Patience).

14. A mezzo-soprano character you love?

Marfa in Khovanshchina. The three basses may be more politically/historically significant, but Marfa is the heart of this opera (and she gets some fantastic music!).

16. Create a hypothetical opera adaptation off of a classic novel (and cast it if you want!)

Edward Rutherfurd’s historical novels could be interesting material. (*checks shelf* I have two: Sarum and Russka.) The structure is a series of novellas, with each novella set in a different historical period, but always centered on a particular location and the same set of (fictional) families, so that you’re following them across time and seeing how they’re affected by history. You’d have to narrow the scope for an opera, maybe choose one particular novella, or a small set of scenes across eras where there are strong thematic parallels. I haven’t engaged with these books in a while, but I remember being moved to set passages to music when I was reading them, like arias from a hypothetical opera.

18. Best tenor/baritone relationship?

Skula and Yeroshka in Prince Igor are not particularly nice people, and I’m not sure I even find them sympathetic, but I’ve always thought they have a certain potential for Shenanigans. (*checks libretto* …oops, Skula is technically a bass.)

20. Favorite tenor singer?

I like Shicoff and Lemeshev a lot. They have pretty different timbres, so I like them in different sorts of things. Shicoff sings with so much passion, and has darker colors in his voice. Lemeshev is my go-to for a lot of Russian rep, including art songs. A lighter lyric voice, very well-suited to Lensky.

22. An opera that you do not vibe with. :(

I tried to watch Shchedrin’s Dead Souls when the Mariinsky had it up a few weeks ago, but I couldn’t quite get into it. It looked like a very dynamic staging, and I was curious about the folk music elements (I performed an aria from one of his other operas in a college recital once, and that was very folksy, too) — but this score didn’t catch my ear enough, and I was short on time while it was streaming, so I gave it a pass.

24. Favorite opera couple?

I’m not much of a shipper, but I think Ganna and Levko in May Night are a solid pairing. I also find Konchakovna and Vladimir in Prince Igor endearing, but maybe that’s less about character dynamics and more about how fabulously the voices blend in their duet. (Depending on the timbre of your mezzo and your tenor, it can be hard to tell who’s singing which lines! I love that.) I want to ship Olga and Lensky, but some productions of Onegin make that easier than others.

26. Favorite soprano singer?

I heard Krassimira Stoyanova in a few things recently, and thought her voice had some really interesting colors.

28. A character who deserved better?

So many. But isn’t that kind of the point in tragedies?

30. A Shakespeare play you’d like to see as an opera?

The Henry VI plays would be a *mess*, but I’d love to see someone try.

32. Your favorite secondary/minor character in an opera?

The Muse/Nicklausse in Les contes d’Hoffmann. Genderbending trickster sidekick whose goal is to get Hoffmann to stop falling in love with doomed ladies and focus on his writing. This character appeals to me in a lot of ways.

34. What would a gender-swapped version of your favorite opera (or any opera of your choice) look like?

Fun fact: There’s a discarded stanza from near the beginning of Ch.3 of the novel where Pushkin considered having Onegin fall in love with Tatyana after their first meeting, instead of the other way around. Maybe a gender-swapped Onegin could play off of that alternate storyline in some way? (I’m picturing a massive rewrite of the opera, with themes repurposed in meaningful ways. It would be highly controversial to a lot of people, but if done well it could be great fun.)

36. Favorite opera trope?

When they hang a lampshade on the tropes. Gilbert & Sullivan are very good at this.

38. Favorite mezzo-soprano singer?

Olga Borodina. A luxurious voice, somehow dark and bright at the same time.

40. You can steal one costume from an opera production to keep — what is it?

A few years ago, the local opera company had a costume sale to clear out some of their storage. I got this cravat for very cheap. It goes well with a number of my waistcoats and I have found many occasions to wear it.

42. Talk about an opera that you don’t normally talk about.

I watched a really interesting production of Charpentier’s David et Jonathas several years ago. The ballet sequences were repurposed into a series of staged flashbacks, which (among other things) introduced Saul’s wife and showed her death before the events of the main story. Then, in the scene where Saul consults with the Pythoness, the tenor who played the Pythoness was dressed as Saul’s wife. But his mannerisms made him read as some kind of otherworldly trickster. There was very much an unsettling sense of what are you and why are you wearing her face? The chorus women were also all dressed as Saul’s wife, and they drifted mindlessly around him as the walls of the set kept shifting and repartitioning into different rooms. The effect was fantastically creepy and contributed to the theme of Saul’s madness. I have no idea what this scene is usually like in a more traditional production.

44. An opera character you’d want for a best friend?

Muse/Nicklausse, again.

46. An opera you love more for the plot than for the music?

I saw the local opera company do Britten’s The Turn of the Screw a couple years ago. It was a very compelling piece of theater — wonderful acting from all the leads, shapeshifting dreamscape of a set. The music made very little impression on me.

48. Most musically difficult role you’ve seen/heard thus far?

Hermann in The Queen of Spades. He’s onstage almost constantly, and sings in every. single. scene. That must take incredible stamina.

50. An opera you’d recommend to opera newbies?

Maybe I’m not the best person to ask. I know what I like and I’m always excited to share my faves with people who seem interested, but the set of operas I’m familiar with is a little skewed. (As you can see by my other responses!)

[opera asks]

[toxic-gaymer]

Gender bent trickster : )