#we don’t talk enough about him being canonically Jewish
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theshadowrealmitself · 2 years ago
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Making myself laugh at an au where it’s Peter Parker, became a vigilante at age 10, has been one for like 16 years now, so 26 years old max. and still, inexplicably, has his identity a complete secret, and so his file with SHIELD, if they knew him, should have stuff about him having spider abilities and a healing factor and a spider sense that helps him sense danger even without seeing it, etc
And so Spiderman thinks that his file, because they don’t know anything, just looks like a ton of question marks
But instead, it’s full of their observations that they’re 100% sure are correct based on misunderstandings and misconceptions, and that file just keeps leading to wild rumors, which end up just hiding Spiderman’s identity better, so the file’s like:
Spiderman must be about 50+, clearly knows how to fight, knows First Aid, has trouble working with others, knows military lingo (he figured it out as a kid due to various vigilante situations that put him near them), is clearly trained (they mostly think this because of the experience he picked up and because of his spidey sense), is a genius super scientist who makes his own equipment (this parts true but they don’t know he’s been mutated, they think it’s all equipment), etc
So they’re all like, obviously, Spiderman used to work for SHIELD or something (maybe there’s a rumor or they did actually used to use a weaker version of the soldier serum on agents, so they all think at most Spidey has weak super strength), definitely a government scientist at the very least, went on the run as lone wolf soldier after he witnessed some corruption*, maybe the government even killed off his family when he refused to do something corrupt, and now he wears bright clothes because he’s sick of working in the shadows, etc
(*misunderstanding based on the fact that one of the reasons why Spidey refuses to join SHIELD is because of how often it gets revealed that Hydra infiltrated it but then it gets covered up, and it’s getting covered up because they don’t want citizens to lose faith in SHIELD, like I have no doubts every single time Nick Fury is going out there and getting rid of them all, but to outsiders it just looks like SHIELD refuses to take accountability and is covering it up because they’re still there, and Peter’s Jewish ass can’t take any chances with that)
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alaskan-wallflower · 8 months ago
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dude i hate the chubby kyle headcanon so much like i really hate it and it’s not because i have anything against chubby headcanons in general (i hc stan, butters, clyde, and sometimes bebe as being chubby) it just does NOT make any sense to me based on his actual character. he’s canonically very athletic. and as for the diabetes thing some of these people actually have no idea how diabetes works. he has TYPE 1 DIABETES and people with t1 diabetes are more often than not thin/underweight because they don’t produce insulin which converts glucose to energy and they can’t regulate blood sugar levels so instead their bodies burn fat and muscle rapidly for energy instead. also overweight people with t1 diabetes are at higher risk of developing serious heart issues and double diabetes, so i don’t think sheila would feed and spoil him to that point. little science lesson for you all. but lately i’m realizing i think the real reason i hate it so much because makes him look like and have the vibes of kyle schwartz who’s entire existence serves as an over the top stereotype meant to be a foil to kyle who is not a stereotype. why is chubby kyle is always fucking portrayed with some gayass sweatervest on. if people really desperately want their chubby, nerdy, IBS-having, sweatervest wearing, investment banker jewish boy kyle s. is RIGHT THERE. there’s also a million other jewish characters in media that are canonically portrayed that way so can we please just have this one. kyle s. even refers to kyle as a redneck jock!! which he isn’t of course but obviously it would seem that way to kyle s, who is everything this fandom tries to force kyle to be. god sorry for ranting, i’m lowkey expecting to get flamed in the notes but we ball
…honestly yeah. me as well.
i’m a bit of a biology nerd myself. it’s a special interest of mine. i have family with diabetes (albeit type 2) and my father is a diabetes specialist. so i believe i’m qualified to talk on behalf of the diabetes aspect. not only does it make more sense for kyle to be underweight but it’s also spreading the false narrative that everyone with diabetes is overweight when that isn’t the case. apologies for the upcoming ramble. but t1 diabetes is typically childhood exclusive. it’s diagnosed at a young age for the most part, especially as seen with kyle. type 1 means that no insulin is formed at all. like…none. like anon said. and don’t think i’m regurgitating what they said. i could literally write up a whole ass essay on how to write kyle’s diabetes and i will if you guys want. i think many people think of type 2 diabetes when writing kyle. the difference between type 1 and type 2 is that people with type 2 diabetes can actually make insulin. but it isn’t enough to fully cancel out the sugar levels in the body. type 2 is also more often than not a somewhat curable disease. you can get rid of type 2 in some cases. you can’t get rid of type 1. and yeah. like anon said. i think sheila cares more about kyle’s health than she does about spoiling him with food.
and yeah. i guess the argument that ‘Ph BuT hEs OnLy 7 lBs lIgHtEr tHaN cArTmAn’ but you can really only say that he’s overweight if you know his height too. they look to be the same height. but you don’t know his exact height therefore you can’t make a case for or against it. like comparing someone who’s 5’6’’ and 120 lbs and someone who’s 5’1’’ and 127 lbs has a BMI difference of more than 6 units. cartman could be shorter. it’s hard to say. but yes. i agree with anon. i hate the chubby kyle headcanon. flame me in the notes. i don’t care. leave anon alone though. shit on my behalf. not theirs.
also yeah . it’s stereotypical as fuck. it’s kinda gross at some point. i agree with anon tho about chubby butters and clyde. maybe stan too because his father insists on feeding him ‘rich kid food’ but yeah. they’re right about kyle s. too. kyle s. is right there. or there’s mort from family guy. go slap your based hdcs on them ig. leave kyle b. out of it. the stereotype that all nerds are chubby and weak is overdone especially when it’s done to the only jewish kid in the show (kyle s doesn’t exist in fanon clearly.
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tiptapricot · 1 year ago
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Hi!! I saw your MK mystery swap and was going through the doc and saw the red eye Jake is not to be featured? I haven’t been back to this fandom in a long while so I’m not aware if Jake having the red eye depicts him seriously wrong..?
Hi! Totally no worries, it’s something that’s become pretty ubiquitous and widespread and on platforms where there’s less discussion or talk ab it it’s not as, well, talked about!
Essentially, giving Jake the red eye is harmful for a mix of reasons, all generally tying into that it contributes to the idea of him being sinister or evil or “other” in some way. From what I know the trend of it started from a mix of those in more anime-art communities giving it to him (as a shorthand/visual of him being more sinister, violent, unhinged, etc) and then people either followed that after seeing it enough or went with it off the behind the scenes image showing Oscar as Jake wearing some kind of dark contact. Whatever the reason, it has a whole lot of connotations in the end that aren't great.
From the start its a differentiation detail thats not needed. It's not canon, and Jake is probably the system member with the most visual cues to indicate Its Him (hat, mustache, gloves or jacket, etc.). From there we get into implications and connotations. The one red eye is often used or helps to imply something off or sinister, most often seen in extra violent/"evil" or bloody art of Jake, or as a visual to make him seem out of place or like he's hiding something. It's a glare, a twinge of villainy or “madness” etc. And even if that is not the intent when giving it to him (I’ve seen plenty of art that’s chill and fine where it’s a choice that’s been made) it's easy to have it be read that way anyway, as that is not only the culture that has grown around it on a larger scale, but as a visual shorthand it still gives him an offputting feature that separates him from the others for no real reason. Why does he have it? What does it mean? Why is he the one given it and for what reason, etc.
In the end it all overall contributes to the wider view or stereotype of him as the "evil alter,” again, even if the depictions of him with it do not do that intentionally. Jake is the outsider, the one with madness in his eye, with some kind of hidden violence. It also can contribute to some antisemitic stereotypes, depicting a Jewish man with a sinister feature or the "evil eye,” especially if tying into his shooting of Harrow as some “unhinged” thing instead of rightful revenge.
This post and the additions and discussion below go further in depth on certain things and have points of view from others as well, but overall it’s just something better to avoid as it’s not needed as a detail and has become a wider hallmark of evil alter Jake depictions in fandom (similar to only giving MCU!Jake the nose bandage, perpetuating that he’s the one in the Duat scene with the broken nose, which can b blurrier but I can also talk ab if needed!) so it’s better to steer clear of!
But not knowing about it before is not a bad awful “you suck” thing, again, it’s extremely widespread due to a bunch of different factors, and if you don’t know you don’t know! Tumblr is also the main space I’ve seen any mentions or discussion of it happening due to the blogging nature. I hope this helps and if you have further Q’s I’m happy to answer as well :-)
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writebackatya · 2 years ago
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How about a director’s cut for Home for the Holidays? How did you decide on the different kinds of stories you wrote for it? Are there any story ideas for it that you wanted to do but didn’t get to?
Oh my gosh, there are so many stories I didn’t get to finish that didn’t make the cut! But the good news is that I’m not done with Home for the Holidays! will most likely add more stories next December! I might try to get some of these done throughout the year so I can have some ready by December
So I really love the holiday season. And I just really wanted to capture the different wonderful feelings that I get during that time of the year when I do certain things with the people I love
DuckTales has a huge found family with their own found families within that found family and I just figured it’d be fun to highlight that with various holiday things
The first story, When Siblings Reunite! is all about being reunited with your loved ones. To me this had to be the first story in the anthology. One because this is a post-canon story (I love making those) and we all know Donald went on that sea voyage with Daisy and Webby’s two sisters and now I have a reason why they’re here! They’re visiting Home for the Holidays! Hey that’s the name of the fanfic! And I wanted the first story to center around the core family of DuckTales, the McDucks and the Ducks. I myself have a lot of siblings and cousins and I always love those moments when we get together over the holidays and meet up and just start talking with one another. Like a million conversations can happening at once and yet somehow we can all follow along with what everyone is saying. It’s great
The second story, The Gift of the Mad Sci(entist)s! has the work found family, Team Science! I wanted to do a story that involved a Secret Santa and I figured Team Science would be a perfect group to do that with, generic office Christmas party and all!
The third story, It’s All Downhill from Here! was inspired by one of my favorite activities to do with my family on Christmas Day, sledding. Almost every Christmas my family would go to our grandma’s house and if there was enough snow on the ground, my sibs and my cousins would go to this hill at this school near her house where we’d go sledding. I always had fun doing that. I really wanted this one to have all the kids from the show: The Duck boys, Webby and her sisters, Lena and Violet, Gosalyn, and B.O.Y.D. They all deserve to have winter fun
Finally, we got Christmas Rapping! and I gotta be honest, when it comes to karaoke, I rarely like to sing. I don’t mind watching though. Karaoke is a staple for holiday parties and honestly parties in general. But since this is a holiday themed fanfic I decided the song to be sung was my personal favorite Christmas song, Christmas in Hollis by Run DMC (Also the title is a reference to my second favorite Christmas song, Christmas Wrapping by The Waitresses) Picking the two characters to sing it was a no-brainer for me. Della because it’s well established she’s an 80s/90s kid and would totally jam out to that song. Fenton was picked because we never got to hear him sing on the show and I just like to think he’s secretly a really gifted rapper. And we gotta have Dewey’s DJ Daft Duck hosting this thing. And since Della, Fenton, and Dewey are performing this song we might as well put Penumbra, Gandra, and Gosalyn together reacting to everything. They’re fun characters that would totally play off each other well
Cut stories will be after the break:
So many stories. Hopefully I can actually get some of these done this year:
I really wanted to do a Hanukkah related story starring the Mallard family. We saw Launchpad wearing a Hanukkah sweater in the Christmas episode, he’s Jewish. I also headcanon Drake as Jewish. At least I was able to show Gosalyn representing Hanukkah in Christmas Rapping! with her sweater
You know how the first story ended with the two sets of triplets going to frost cookies? Well I thought of doing a story that would be them just frosting and decorating cookies, but I couldn’t start it for some reason
You know how Donald gets into a lot of comedic slapstick in everything he’s ever been in? Especially during those moments when he gets waaaayyy too cocky? Well anyway, one story would involve Donald decking the halls of McDuck Manor; and Della and Louie cannot wait to see what will happen when Donald tells Uncle Scrooge that he will single handedly decorate the house himself since this’ll be the first year he won’t have to worry about any Santa traps
Here’s a fun fact about Home for the Holidays!, I decided that I would write this anthology fic while I was watching the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode where Joel & the Bots watch Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. Anyway, one story idea I had was one where Louie, Lena, Gosalyn, and Gandra are all watching The Courage of the Cosmos Christmas Special and making fun of the cheesy 80s Christmas TV special. B.O.Y.D. is also there
I had a few heartwarming fluff story ideas that would involve first Christmases with some groups. One of which would be Gyro visiting the Drakes on Christmas Eve. Another would be about Santa’s first visit back to McDuck Manor one year after The Night Santa Stole Christmas! (things might get a little shippy~). And another would be about Gandra spending Christmas Eve with the Cabreras
Back to the funny stuff, one story I REALLY wanna do will star Louie and it’s about him trying to have a quiet Christmas only to be constantly interrupted by Christmas related adventures his family is currently having. This story will have two parts and I cannot wait to write the second part of the story
Lastly, I got a story idea based on entirely on the song by Garfunkel and Oates, aka May and Webby’s voice actors, Present Face:
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In this story will we see many different characters get a case of Present Face
Thanks again for the ask @tokuvivor! I hope you have a Merry Oh My God I Can’t Believe February is Almost Over!
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bowiewashington · 6 months ago
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Drabble: Scenes from a Weekend
Title: Scenes from a Weekend Rating: Mature-ish? Word Count: 2400-ish
Characters: Bennett "Bowie" Washington, Olivia Erwin Washington, Benjamin "Benny" Monroe, Ruth “Bubbe” Goldstein Washington, Ezra Cohen, Kenny the Bodyguard, Daniel Radcliffe (yeah, you read that right), Darlene Cohen,  (mentioned), Avery Erwin (mentioned)
Relationships: Bennett "Bowie" Washington/Benjamin "Benny" Monroe (implied), Bennett "Bowie" Washington & Ruth “Bubbe” Goldstein Washington, Bennett "Bowie" Washington & Olivia Erwin Washington, Bennett "Bowie" Washington/Avery Erwin (past)
Triggers: Religion (Judaism), use of a kind of derogatory word for non-Jews, use of Yiddish/Ashkenazi words by reform Jews, references to sex, domestic violence, spousal abuse, emotional abuse, non-consensual free use, victim guilt, child loss, infant loss, over medicating, references to canon underage sex, age difference, #metoo vibes, child marriage/grooming, and a vague reference to a canon suicide attempt.
Notes: So even before the show aired, I told myself that whatever Jonathan Groff won, that’s what Benny would win. Somehow this turned into Merrily We Roll Along being the show Benny was in on Broadway. I have no regrets. Feel free to imagine Benny as Jonathan Groff for now. I have more I want to add, but that’s going to be a next-week project.
Yiddish/Hebrew words: Shabbos - Sabbath, the Jewish day of rest (Friday sundown to Saturday Sundown), also the formal Friday night dinner. Bubbe - grandmother, fondly. Bubeleh - a term of endearment for a grandchild. Goy - a non-Jewish person, can be offensive.
FRIDAY
Friday nights in Brooklyn at Bubbe’s house were always chaotic, and every time Bowie forgot just how popular his grandmother was. She’d owned her apartment in Brooklyn, just outside the Jewish Quarter, for longer than Bowie had been alive. Everyone in the building knew who she was, and he swore everyone stopped by her apartment before going up to the roof for Shabbos. It was making Kenny, the bodyguard that Benny hired for Bowie earlier this year, extremely nervous. Of course, not a single person was paying him any mind.
“A Jewish actor nominated for a Tony dining in Brooklyn?” Bubbe’s neighbor, Gilda, rolled her eyes before shoving a casserole dish into Kenny’s arms. “Throw a rock. You’ll hit another one. Take that to the roof, handsome.”
Kenny shot Bowie a helpless look, and all Bowie could do was laugh, before waving him off. As much as Charlotte was home, so was anywhere Bubbe was living. It definitely felt like home tonight, and for the first time in weeks, Bowie actually felt alive and not like the walking corpse he’d been since the twins were stillborn. 
“Bubeleh.” And that was the only warning Bowie got before Bubbe grabbed him by the elbow and guided him over to an older woman and a guy his age who he assumed was her son or grandson. Aw, shit. “There’s someone I want you to meet. This is Peggy, and her grandson, Yoel. This is my Bennett.” She introduced, and fuck. This was definitely a set up. “He’s an actor with his own little show and everything.” Please don’t let her pinch his cheek. “He just got out of a long term relationship, but she was a goy. So she doesn’t count.”
And fucking ouch. “Bubbe, let’s not call Livvie’s mom that. People really don’t use that word any more.” He shot Yoel a small smile. He seemed nice enough, but he also was about Bowie’s age, which meant he could probably chase him off without Benny getting involved. Actually someone must have been distracting Benny because he hadn’t seen him in awhile. “Livvie is my seven year-old.”
Those were the magic words. Almost immediately Yoel and his grandma were moving along to talk to someone else. “Well, I didn’t like him for you anyway.” Bubbe dismissed. “Have you seen your brother? There’s a girl who’s in her last year at Columbia that I want him to meet.” 
Happy to pass off her scheming to someone else, he pointed in the last direction he’d seen Ezra in. Almost as soon as she was gone, arms wrapped around his waist. He tensed, until the familiar scent of Benny’s cologne calmed him. With a sigh he relaxed into his ex-husband (partner again?). “What did you say to her during Passover?” He asked. “She’s bolder than normal tonight.”
Benny buried his face against his neck for a moment, just breathing Bowie in. “You’re telling me. She roped little Washington into making me braid her hair over and over. It took me far too long to realize she was purposely distracting me.” He admitted, sounding sheepish.
Well, that answered a couple of questions. “If they really wanted to, I think they could take over the world.” Before Benny could reply, Bowie was dragged off by Olivia to rescue Ezra.
SATURDAY
“Uncle Ez.” Today it was just Bowie, Ezra and Olivia. Well, and Kenny, but he was sitting in the corner while they got manicures and pedicures at the little hole in the wall place Darlene swore by when she lived in Brooklyn. And… okay, Ezra wasn’t getting a manicure. Even though his cuticles were disgusting. “Can I pick the color for your toes?”
A smile worked its way onto Bowie’s face. Much like the night before Bowie was feeling a bit more like himself. He was still in mourning, but he felt like he could breathe. Or maybe it was because he stopped taking the medications his therapist prescribed after the twin’s passing. His head felt clear. 
“Is it going to be pink?” Ezra asked skeptically. 
Olivia rolled her eyes. “Nooooo.” She drew out the ‘oh’ sound for as long as she could. “BoBo’s letting me pick his colors. No pink for him either.” She giggled as her feet were lifted out of the basin by the nail tech. 
“Want to look at colors?” They asked her.
Immediately Olivia looked at him for permission, and wasn’t that something. It made him feel like a dad, which he theoretically knew he was, but it still felt novel every time she did something to remind him. “Go on. I’ll try to talk your uncle into getting his fingers done, too.”
As soon as Olivia was out of earshot, Ezra turned to glare at him. “I thought the whole Ben thing was because of the studio.” He hissed out. “Yeah, I know he’s your longest relationship so there’s that safety and comfort thing, but I didn’t actually think you were back together for real until last night.”
Bowie closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the spa chair. “C’mon, Ez. I thought you were gonna lay off until filming was done.” He whined out. “It’s complicated.”
Ezra glanced around to make sure that Olivia was still out of earshot. “His hand was down your fucking pants. That doesn’t look complicated to me. It looks like you’re screwing your ex again.” And yeah… Ezra was a kid when Bowie and Benny were married, but he saw just how much Benny put him through the first time around. 
“We didn’t do anything. I wasn't gonna let him do anything in Bubbe’s bathroom.” He whispered back.
His brother’s eyes narrowed. “And when you’re staying in midtown tomorrow night?” He countered back. “You’re going to let him bend you over the closest surface and fu- FEED you all sorts of different delicious new foods.”
Wait. What? Bowie frowned, but then he saw Olivia bounding over, cradling nail polish bottles in her hands. “I got all sorts of options!”
SUNDAY
Bowie had never actually been to the Tony Awards before. Sure, he’d been to award shows, but he almost felt like he was sitting in tech rehearsals or something. There was a certain vibe in the air. Bowie wasn’t sure if he was excited or if he was going to throw up.
“You okay?” Benny asked him as he gave Bowie’s hand a squeeze as they went down the paparazzi line. And fuck. His brother was right. Sure, he’d announced to the world that he and Benny were back together, but he never actually felt like they were together. Until now. Benny pressed a kiss to Bowie’s knuckles. He’d been obsessed with how soft Bowie's hands were after the manicure. He had no idea what the other man was going to do when he felt his feet.
It was right there, with cameras flashing, that Bowie realized his mistake. He knew Benny was a good shield from people asking probing questions about the loss of his twins, but he didn’t have an exit plan. Now that he wasn’t taking the meds the therapist had prescribed, he realized he’d taken his abuser back. What was that scary statistic Bubbe sent him when someone told her what he’d done? People who went back to their abusers didn’t get out of the relationship alive?
Fuck. He was going to have to actually stay with Benny through filming, and the media shit, too. If he tried to end things with him sooner than that, it was going to cause issues with Death After Life. But if he stayed with him too long… would a repeat of the sex tape happen? How long until Benny started whoring him out again? How long until he tried to convince him to get rid of Olivia? Fuck. He knew he wouldn’t actually hurt Olivia; as long as he could use her to control Bowie. 
“I’m fine, baby.” Bowie cooed out when he realized there were cameras on them. He leaned up and pressed a kiss to the corner of Benny’s mouth. “Just a little overwhelmed.” 
Benny smiled at him before kissing him properly. “Why don’t you go inside? Go grab some water, and take your anxiety meds. I have to do a couple more interviews.” He suggested.
He forced a smile, and gave him another kiss before disappearing into the Lincoln Center. Instead of taking his meds, he slipped up to the bar and grabbed a whiskey sour. He was three drinks deep, and chatting with some producer Bowie was pretty sure he’d slept with when he was still underage when Benny reappeared. 
“You’re not supposed to be drinking on your meds.” He reminded him, stealing his drink.
Bowie rolled his eyes, but nuzzled into him anyway. “I stopped taking them a couple days ago so I could drink tonight.” Sure, he’d been off his meds for a couple of days, but it had been a total accident.
A kiss was pressed to the side of his neck. “That’s my smart boy.”
-
Seven nominations. Somehow Bowie didn’t realize that Benny’s show had seven nominations. For so long he’d purposely avoided everything Benny related. Now that he was back in his orbit he supposed he should have been paying attention. Seven nominations meant two things: 1) their section was pure chaotic energy and 2) Benny was out of his seat more than he was in it. He couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or not.
As soon as the first award was won by Benny’s co-star, Bowie knew it was going to be a wild night. Even if Benny didn’t win his award, Dan did, which meant they were definitely going to the afterparties. He could feel Benny grip his thigh as Dan thanked him and started crying. Instinctively, Bowie leaned into Benny’s side as his ex-husband sniffled. There was definitely a camera on them, and he knew what it looked like. Darlene was gonna say something when he got back to Charlotte.
Most of the night from there was a blur. Benny had to go backstage for a costume change and to perform. He knew there would likely be a camera on him for his reaction just in case something happened. And sure enough, right there on live television, Benny accidentally sang the not for live TV lyrics to the song they were performing. Bowie felt his hands covering his face, and he knew the slightly time delayed air version would be showing his reaction as the entire line was muted out. And then… he was clapping and cheering as the number finished.
It took awhile before Benny was back in his seat. He pressed a kiss to the side of his head as he slid back into his seat, still slightly sweaty from running around on stage. “You said the wrong liiiine.” He whisper-sang, nudging him. Oh yeah, those drinks had hit him hard.
Benny was laughing into his shoulder, but they didn’t have too much time together before Merrily We Roll Along won Best Revival of a Musical. There was a roar of noise around them, and Benny was kissing him before running up on stage with the rest of the cast. Bowie could feel the fond smile on his face. Fuck. He really was too deep in it now, wasn’t he?
He didn’t have too much time to think about that before Benny was back, and they were reading the nominees for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical. The cameras were definitely on them now. As they said his name and showed a clip from Merrily, Benny was holding onto Bowie’s hand, his lips pressed against his knuckles again. And then… then it was pandemonium. Benny won. Benny fucking won. Somehow he was standing and Benny’s arms were around him, and there was a firm kiss pressed to Bowie’s lips and then Benny was off to the stage.
Disconnected from reality. That was the only way Bowie could think to describe how he was feeling, and he wasn’t even the one who won. He watched as Benny stopped to hug Dan on his way to the stage. People were grabbing Bowie’s hands nearby and congratulating him on Benny’s win as the announcer stated that this was Benny’s third nomination but first win. It was bizarre, but then he was being pushed back to sitting, and Benny was at the podium.
“Wow. Uh, okay. Paper, paper.” He was crying as he patted down his pockets for his speech. “Victory!” He straightened out his speech. “Live theater has always been my first love. My second love is sitting over there.” There was laughter and Bowie knew there was a camera on him again. Bowie couldn’t tear his eyes away from Benny. Fuck. He didn’t think he was actually going to win, and now… now whatever Benny said on live television was going to be true. Just like how Bowie blurting out that they were back together when they weren’t had instantly become the truth.
“There are so many people I need to thank, but I’m in disbelief. I remember being eighteen, and telling my brand new costar that I was going to be an EGOT winner one day. Now I just need a Grammy. It blows my mind. And that’s not on my paper.” He shook his head to get back on track. “But I told that same costar I was going to marry him one day, and look at us now.” There was more laughter and then Benny was reading out his list of people to thank. Bowie zoned out for a minute until Benny got to the end. “And last, but definitely never least, Bee. Happy Father’s Day, baby. I know it looks differently than you imagined, but I’m so proud of you for getting out of the house and coming with me tonight. I love you, Bowie Monroe. Everything I do is for you. You make me want to be a better man, a better person. This award is for you.” He blew an air kiss towards Bowie and then he was being escorted off the stage for interviews.
Tears were streaming down Bowie’s face. He fucked up. What had he been thinking? Benny wasn’t going to let him leave again. Bowie had barely got out alive the first time around. Something told him it wasn’t going to be as easy this time.
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theoncomingchaos · 3 years ago
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Future Cartman Theory
Cartman has been queer coded for so long on this show it’s pretty undeniable that he isn’t completely straight. I mean there is an ABUNDANCE of evidence to show that he has sexual interest in men; for example, his obsession with getting Kyle to suck him off (Imaginationland) or finger him (Anal probe), the notebook drawings in the game of boys he knows fucking (including several drawings of Kyle), and his experience with cupid me where even his mother’s reaction suggests that he was exploring his sexuality through masturbation (Tweek & Craig-literally done as a beautiful parallel between LGBT kids who have supportive environments and the struggles some individuals still face with their sexuality). These are also, of course, only some of the more blatant examples. 
So, that being said, why the wife and kids?
Honestly, just because he has a wife and kids doesn’t mean he is magically suddenly straight. If anything, it seems even more like a desperate attempt to try and convince himself that he is straight while still struggling with old obsessions and natural urges. (This tendency of trying to fit in and be what others want is also something we have seen him do many times, the most obvious example being when he destroyed his dolls (queer coded interest) to “grow up” like the others said to do.) 
A lot of his relationship seems to be a mixture of his ongoing obsession with Kyle and his desperate need to fit in. Finding a Jewish woman and living a life fully committed to the religion is somewhat like “having your cake and eating it too.” He gets to be straight, normal, and have a “perfect family” through a female and therefore “normal” and safe version of Kyle. 
The reason behind this interpretation is that he is constantly getting sexual with her in front of Kyle, even continuing to fuck her knowing that Kyle can hear them and going so far as to mix in bits of the Jewish faith into their sex talk. In many ways, going beyond using her as a stand-in for Kyle, to crossing the boundaries and bringing Kyle into their sexual relationship. Even all of the lovey dovey scenes with the kids are basically in front of Kyle and or involving Kyle directly.
It’s a show. It’s classic performative Cartman.
Sure, maybe someone could say he just wants to show off how he has the life Kyle should have had, and it’s all just his usual power play, but if that’s the case, why get so sexual about it? If i’s just ordinary rivalry, why not talk more about his new faith, his success with the synagogue, or even about his moral growth (things Kyle would care about and actually be jealous about)? Because as we’ve seen over and over again, part of his obsession with Kyle is sexual. 
At the end of the episode, the idea of going back in time and changing things, going on adventures with his friends like old times, even the whole “someone needing to finger Kenny,” made Cartman feel that he was getting all too close to opening up that box that he’s been trying so hard to keep locked up and buried. If he were truly confident in his new life, wouldn’t he feel comfortable enough to go on the adventure and even explain his concerns to his friends? Wouldn’t he perhaps even believe that he would be led back to his family no matter what? Why run away? If he’s so scared of losing them, it would make more sense to stay and sabotage Stan and Kyle- something Cartman would know full well and be fully capable of doing. The problem is, he can’t because being with them brings back too much of who he really is underneath everything he tries to be. It reminds him of what he really wants, and how different and wrong he feels because of it. 
Not that I ever expect his story to canonically show this struggle, but the subtext has always been there, and I don’t think it is going to go away. Most likely, the group will find a way to go back in time and that is how they will be friends again and have learned a lesson from the pandemic. 
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nevermindirah · 3 years ago
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Do you have any thoughts on the use of AAVE for Nile (or lack thereof) in TOG fanfiction? I've been reading some Book of Nile fic and some writers seem to write her as a Millennial™ (using words like "fave" and "woke") but never acknowledge her Blackness in her patterns of speech. I know we don't see her use as much AAVE in the films, but I would argue she's in situations where code-switching would be valued (first in a "professional" environment in the army, then around a group of non-Black strangers).
Hi anon! I have many thoughts on this and I'm honored you asked me! But I should start by saying I'm white and any thoughts Black fans and especially Black American fans have on this that they want to share would be beyond lovely. (I'm not gonna tag anybody bc that feels rude but please add onto this post if any of y'all see this and want to!)
The main reason I personally avoid AAVE for Nile in my own fics is because I'm not Black. But Nile-centric fics by Black writers tend to avoid using much of it too, at least from what I've noticed/understood, and my guess is it's largely for the reason you mention, that she's in situations that encourage code-switching.
In movie canon Nile is highly competent at tailoring her language to each situation she finds herself in. This fantastic linguistics analysis meta shows how skillfully Nile chooses her vocabulary and grammar to meet her goals with different conversation partners in different contexts. In comics canon Nile had a bunch of different civilian jobs before joining the Marines, so she would've had experience code-switching in the ways that made sense for all those different contexts as well as the Marines and her family and high school and wherever else she spent her time before we met her. And now she's spending her time with a handful of immortals none of whom are native English speakers and a fellow Black American but one with a Queen's English UK accent whose professional experience is in the CIA where high-status code-switching is often an absolute must for success or even survival.
Fics featuring Nile are charged with extrapolating from that to how it might show up in her use of language that she's coping with a traumatic separation from her family and her career and pretty much everything she's ever known and now she needs to be able to make herself understood to people who seem to care about her and each other but are super duper in crisis, three (soon to be four) of whom predate Modern English entirely and the only one who's anywhere near her contemporary she's not supposed to talk to for a century. All of these people are telling her that pretty much any contact with any mortals poses an existential threat to her and the rest of the group. How the FUCK is she supposed to cope with that, like, generally? And would it be a more effective way for her to cope if she talked to Andy Joe and Nicky using the speech patterns that she used to use with her mom and brother, to at least retain that part of her identity even if it means having to do a lot of explaining, or would it meet her needs better to prioritize Andy Joe and Nicky understanding what she means with her words over using the particular words and grammar forms she used with her family?
I've seen several fics, both Nile-centric / BoN and otherwise, explore this a little bit in how/whether Nile uses Millennial™ speak. It's often a theme in Nile texting Booker despite the exile because of the popular headcanon that he as The Tech Guy is the only other immortal who understands memes. But Nile's much-younger-than-Booker mom probably uses Boomer and/or Gen X memes and Andy has been adapting to new communication styles for forever as evidenced by her canon high level of fluency with standard-American-accented English.
Which brings us back to people avoiding AAVE because they're not Black and they don't want to make mistakes (or they're not Black and they don't want to get yelled at for making mistakes, though I think many people overestimate how much they'll get yelled at while underestimating how much these mistakes can hurt). I can imagine some Black fans hold back from using much AAVE in fic because they don't want to share in-group stuff with white people who are likely to then adopt and ruin it, as white people so often do with Black cultural stuff. Some links about this including a great Khadija Mbowe video. I'm saying this gently, anon, because you might not know: woke, an example you cited as Millennial™ speak, is AAVE, and that's gotten erased by so many white people appropriating it and using it incorrectly online.
And also there's the part where fandom is a hobby and you never know when you're reading a fic that's the very first thing someone's ever written outside of a school assignment. This cultural considerations of language shit takes a level of effort and skill that not everybody puts into every fic, or even could if they wanted to because they haven't had time to build their skills yet. It's definitely easier for non-Black fans to project our millennial feels onto Nile than to do the layers of research and self-reflection it requires to depict what Blackness might mean to Nile, and it's not surprising that often people sharing their hobby creations on the internet have gone the easier route. There's not even necessarily shame in doing what's easier. It's just frustrating and often hurtful when structural white supremacy means that 3-dimensional Black characters are rare in media and thoughtful explorations of them in fandom are seen by the majority of fans as not-easy to make and therefore Nile Freeman, the main character in The Old Guard (2020) dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood, has the least fic and meta and art made about her of our 5 main immortals.
I've been active in different fandoms off and on for twenty years and I barely managed to write 5,000 words about Sam Wilson across multiple different fics in the 7 years since I fell in love with him. There's an alchemy to which characters we connect with, and on top of that which characters we connect with in a way that causes us to create stuff about them. Something about Nile Freeman finally tipped me over the edge from a voracious reader to a voracious writer. It's not for me to judge which characters speak to other individuals to the level of creating content about them, but I do think it's important for us to notice, and then work to fight, the pattern where across this fandom as a whole Nile gets way less content, and way less depth in so much of the content that's in theory about her, than any of these other characters.
Anyway, back to language. My two long fics feature Nile with several Black friends — Copley and OCs and cameos from other media — but all of those characters except Alec Hardison from Leverage aren't American. It's very possible I'm guilty of stereotyping Black British speech patterns in I See Your Eyes Seek a Distant Shore. I watched hours and hours of Black haircare YouTube videos in the research for that fic and I modeled my OCs' speech patterns on what I heard from some of those YouTubers as well as what I've heard people like John Boyega and Idris Elba saying in interviews, but the thing about doing your best is you still might fuck up.
I'm slowly making progress on my WIP where Nile and Sam Wilson are cousins, and what ways of talking with a family member might be authentic for Nile is a major question I need to figure out. For that, I'm largely modeling my writing choices on how I hear my Black friends and colleagues talking to each other. I haven't overheard colleagues talking in an office in a long-ass time, but back when that was a thing, I remember seeing a ton of nuance in the different ways many of my Black colleagues would talk to each other. Different people have different personalities! And backgrounds! And priorities! A few jobs ago my department was about 1/3 Black and we worked closely with Obama administration staff many of whom were Black and there was SO MUCH VARIETY in how Black people talked to each other, about work and workplace-appropriate personal stuff, where I and other white coworkers could hear. There are a few work friends in particular who I have in my head when I'm trying to imagine how Sam and Nile might talk to each other. From the outside looking in, God DAMN is shit complicated, intellectually and interpersonally and spiritually, for Black people who are devoting their professional lives to public service in the United States.
One more aspect of this that I have big thoughts on but I need to take extra care in talking about is the idea of acknowledging Nile's Blackness in her patterns of speech. There's no one right way to be Black, and Nile's a fictional character created by a white dude but there are plenty of real-life Black Americans who don't use much or even any AAVE, for reasons that are complicated because of white supremacy. (Highly highly recommend this video by Shanspeare on the harms of the Oreo stereotype.)
Something that's not the same but has enough similarity that I think it's worth talking about is my personal experience with authenticity and American Jewish speech patterns. My Jewish family members don't talk like they're in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and I've known lots of people who do talk that way (or the millennial version of it), some of whom have questioned my Jewishness because I don't talk that way. That hurts me. Sometimes when another Jew tells me some shit like "I've never heard a Jew say y'all'd've," I can respond with "well now you have asshole, bless your Yankee-ass heart," because the myth of Dixie is a racist lie but I will totally call white Northerners Yankees when they're being shitty to me for being Southern, and this particular Jew fucking revels in using "bless your heart" with maximum polite aggression, especially with said Yankees. But sometimes I don't have it in me to say anything and it just quietly hurts having an important part of me disbelieved by someone who shares that important part of me. The sting isn't quite the same when non-Jews disbelieve or discount my Jewishness, but that hurts too.
Who counts as authentically Jewish is a messy in-group conversation and it doesn't really make sense to explain it all here. Who counts as authentically Jewish is a matter of legal status for immigration, citizenship, and civil rights in Israel, and it's my number 2 reason after horrific treatment of Palestinians that I'm antizionist. But outside that extremely high-stakes legal situation, it can just feel really shitty to not be recognized as One Of Us, especially by your own people.
It can also feel really shitty to be The Only One of Your Kind in a group, even if that group is an immortal chosen family who all loves each other dearly. Sometimes especially in a situation like that where you know those people love you but there are certain things they don't get about you and will never quite be able to. I'm definitely projecting at least a little bit of my "lonely Jew who will be alone again for yet another Jewish holiday" stuff onto Nile when at the end of I See Your Eyes Seek a Distant Shore she's thinking about being the only Black immortal and moving away from the community she'd built with a mostly-Black group of mortals in that fic. Maybe that tracks, or maybe that's fucked up of me.
Basically, this got very long but it's complicated, writing about experiences that aren't your own takes skill which in turn takes time and practice to build, writing about experiences not your own that our society maligns can cause a lot of harm if done badly, it can also cause a lot of harm when a large enough portion of a fandom just decides to nope out of something that's difficult and risky because then there's just not much content about a character who deserves just a shit ton of loving and nuanced content, people are individuals and two people who come from the exact same cultural context might show that influence in all kinds of different ways, identity is complicated, language is complicated, writing is hard, and empathy and humility and doing our best aren't a guarantee of avoiding harm but they do go a long way in helping people create thoughtful content about a character as awesome and powerful and kind and messy and scared and curious and WORTHY as Nile Freeman.
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dahlias-and-spidermums · 4 years ago
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do u notice something about the leads/ human characters.....
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that’s a little different from the characters playing objects/castle servants.....
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or even the character who’s offscreen most of the show now......
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hmmm let’s review:
EJ
-straight
-white
-man
Ashlyn
-straight
-white
although also
-plus size
(from certain details of her lines in the show it’s become apparent that while julia is jewish ashlyn is not)
Ricky
-straight
-white
-man
Big Red
-straight
-white
-man
(is Jewish but also playing the lackey)
Now let’s look at the other roles
Gina
-black
-woman
We’ve all seen the “not innocent enough to play Gabriela” bs but now we have the very flirty kinda sexual Babette being played by the black girl who people have already previously criticized the show for making her into a Jezebel
Kourtney
-black
-woman
Let’s see if this sounds familiar: plus sized dark skin black woman who’s a servant and often cares for the children (in case it wasn’t obvious im talking about the mammie stereotype)
And if we remove the black part it sounds like Mrs. Potts who as we know is a plus size older woman who is a maternal figure to not only the other teacup children but even to beast as well. So in other words they have the plus size black girl being a maternal servant to the beast and the other kids in the castle...
Speaking of kids let’s talk about one of them
Seb
- gay
One of the only two canon gay characters playing perhaps the least significant of the side characters
Carlos
-gay
-latino
Lumiere is already known for being quite over-bearing and eccentric and LOUD but now we have the loud, over-bearing to the other characters, and eccentric role going to the gay brown latino...
And then there’s:
Nini
-asian
-woman
who’s away for most of the time.
In other words, you know what isn’t in their show? Poc playing human non-servant characters. But you know what IS in their show? ✨Incest✨
Yup. With nothing more than an offhand comment this show is gonna have two literal cousins play love interests. Idc if they change the cast later on like how was hinted at in an interview the normalization and nonchalance attitude about COUSINS playing those roles was already established as just something u can brush off with a “not thinking about it”.
And there’s a lot of servant object roles and also a lot of poc/minority roles so obviously it was bound to happen for a myriad of reasons that some of the white characters get leads and some of the poc get the objects. That’s normal. What ISNT normal is how they could bend over backwards to justify why the plus size white girl getting belle is revolutionary and inclusive but not even attempt to 1. Not have incest and 2. Cast even one poc character as a lead.
They tried to make us out as crazy when people got mad Kourtney wasn’t Belle by trying to be like “oh we were throwing you off” but the reason that excuse fell short was because they didn’t throw us off at all. The case scenario was NOT that one week they dropped something that had us thinking it was one girl and the next week had us thinking it was another. It was that they always had us thinking it was going to be Kourtney. They weren’t throwing us off they were leading us on. In the end it comes off as we rather have a weird incest vibe going on than have the black girl we baited you with be an actual lead.
And Tim would probably see this and say something like “That’s not what I meant. I didn’t think of it that way when I cast this person as this and that person as that.” and it’s like of COURSE you didn’t. Of course you didn’t think of what the black people, and the latino people, or the asian people might think of how you’re portraying the characters that look like them on screen. You’ve never had to. Tim may be gay but he is also white and a man and that awards him privileges even within his own minority group. So of course it’s not even slightly surprising to me that all these things slipped by him without any notice. It’s cuz he can afford not to notice. But it being unsurprising doesn’t make it any less upsetting. It’s still bullsh** that they would literally rather contradict their own plot points than have the minority characters be anything other than harmful stereotypes just because THEY don’t see why it’s so bad.
P.S. this is not for any hate directed towards the actors. All of them are just workers locked under contract trying to do their jobs and get payed. They have no control over the stories that Tim and his writing team decide to write. If you take anything other than that the writers are responsible and try to go after the actors for just doing their jobs then you’ve completely missed the point of ALL of this.
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wienerbarnes · 4 years ago
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Italian Heart
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Pairing: Bucky x Italian!MobBoss!Reader
Word Count: 4,867
Warnings: canon level violence, possible inaccurate italian slang lol
A/N: ive been watching a lot of the sopranos lately and i feel like ive never seen a bucky x mob boss reader au (ive only rlly seen em where buckys the mob boss. if there are ones where reader is the mob boss PLS SEND EM TO ME I BEG) a lot of the slang and mob stuff here is from sopranos bc... im not in the fucking mafia so forgive me anyway enjoy :)<3
MAIN MASTERLIST
Bucky’s never seen a woman quite like yourself.
Dressed in expensive satin and jewelry that hangs between your breasts, an angry look on your face at the fact you’re sitting before him and Sam in an interrogation room in the tower. Freshly done nails, clean and crisp lipstick, spicy perfume, and an expression of annoyance.
As put together as you look, you don’t look like someone to be fucked with. Which, he supposes is good for a mobster; the Boss of Newark.
Looking at you, though, he’d never thought you to be such a figure of intimidation. While the mafia is still alive, despite how the media tries to deny this, he always pictured an old Italian man that chain smokes cigars. He doesn’t think he’s too far off, to his credit; he can smell the remnants of smoke on you.
“Mind if we make this fast? My cousin’s comin’ for dinner and I was gonna make ziti.” You huff, crossing your legs under the table.
“Sounds delicious. Sorry for dragging you all the way out here.” Sam says, a calm look on his face even though he’s well aware of what you’re capable of.
When hunting down the last traces of the super soldier serum, he never thought Nick Fury himself would suggest getting in touch with you. He didn’t think it was worth the time to question how the two of you knew each other.
Theft. Drugs. Murder. Bribery. The list goes on, and there’s not a single thing that ties you to any of it.
A shrug of your shoulders, “So, what exactly is this about?” You ask.
“What is it that you do for a living?” Sam asks.
“I work in waste management.” You respond, a rehearsed answer.
Not exactly a lie, the environmental facility you manage is one of hundreds of covers used by your crew for your crimes. Environmental facilities, deli shops, strip clubs, auto shops. There isn’t a business in Jersey you aren’t tied to.
“Waste management? Like, garbage disposal?” Bucky asks, knowing exactly what it is you do for work.
You smirk, “Yeah, we dispose of garbage sometimes. What’s that got to do with me being here?”
“It’s to my understanding that you’re in the business of… buying and selling things. You and… the people you hang around got a real knack for it.” Sam tells you.
Bucky holds back a roll of his eyes. More like stealing and selling. Expensive Italian suits, antique watches, cars, electronics, illegal cigars. Who knows what else.
“I don’t know where you heard that… but I’m a popular gal, maybe I know a guy who might know a guy. What are you lookin’ for?” You ask.
You know this game, after being in the mob for so long. After being a part of your own crew for years, your patience and hard work paid off, working your way up to a captain and finally a boss. It didn’t take you long to learn in this business that government officials are jokes. Always wanting to bust my balls and then come crying to my corner for help, it’s a bunch of ugatz.
“Serums.” Bucky finally speaks.
A laugh escapes you, “What, like vitamin C?” You teasingly smirk at him.
His chair makes a loud sound in the small room as he pushes it back harshly and stands, resting his hands on the table in between the two of you. You don’t flinch.
“Enough with the bullshit. Super serums. To create super soldiers. We need to get them before they end up in the wrong hands and make a big ass mess.” He snaps at you, but you don’t seem phased in the slightest. In fact, you seem rather amused.
“You must have a lot of agita with all that anger, Sergeant Barnes.”
He doesn’t hold back this time and rolls his eyes before you speak up again, “Your first name is James, isn’t it? Ain’t that Italian?”
“No, it’s English. Or Scottish. Or Jewish - I don’t know, who cares? Are you gonna help us or not?” Bucky takes his seat again, crossing his thick arms over his broad chest.
“What’s in it for me?” You ask, leaning back in your chair.
“Not being arrested for all the shit we know you’re caught up in.” Sam offers.
You roll your own eyes this time, “I’ll take my chances. Thanks for wasting my time, boys, don’t let it happen again.” You stand, prepared to make your way back to the train station to go back to Jersey.
“Wait,” Sam stops you, “What is it that you want?”
You smile innocently and take your seat again, taking a minute to think before answering, “My little sister’s a big fan of yours. I’m sure she and all her friends would think it’s cool if you showed up to her prom as her date.” You wink at Sam.
Silence fills the room as the men think about your request.
“You’re gonna do it, right?” Bucky looks over at him and sees Sam rubbing the crease in between his eyes. He was expecting you to ask for immunity, protection, money, guns. But after hearing your request, he supposes you have enough of all that stuff anyway.
“Man -” Sam begins to refuse.
“Sam, it’s a fucking school dance in exchange for some of the most powerful and sought after serums on the planet - go to the fucking prom.” He tells him, eyebrows scrunching in confusion as to how he would hesitate on something so simple.
“She’s eighteen, so you won’t have any problems with the media or none of that.” You add, the information not really making Sam feel any better.
“Alright, alright, fine. I’ll go to the dance with your sister if you help us get these serums.”
You smile, happy to have done business with the two men, “What information do ya got for me?”
Bucky and Sam wait outside a back room in the facility you own. They passed the garbage trucks parked neatly outside, but could hear your screaming and the smell of Cuban cigars as soon as they entered the building.
She’s with a customer, they were told, by someone in your crew, them meeting Bucky’s expectations for mobsters more than you did. None of them ask any questions, but Bucky and Sam aren’t stupid, they’re sure your crew is aware of what’s going on and know the exact reason they’re there.
“You’re a fuckin’ asshole, you know that? The Bible says, Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit -”
“You listen to me, you take your Bible and your quotations book and shove it up your fat fucking ass! Now get the fuck out of my face!”
Bucky can’t help but scoff listening to you scream at whoever’s inside. Sam elbows him, silently telling him that now isn’t the time to find your work funny, especially not in front of the rest of your crew.
Bucky knows he’s old-fashioned, and while things that were taboo such as body modifications or certain fashion styles don’t phase him anymore, he doesn’t think he’ll ever get used to hearing a woman talk like that. He doesn’t think he’s ever even heard anybody talk like you do.
Suddenly a man bursts out of the room, huffing and puffing, and you walk slowly behind him, as if to make sure he makes it outside okay.
“Grab his plate for me, will you?” You say not to anyone in particular, voice smooth and calm as if you hadn’t been yelling and threatening that man’s life for the past twenty minutes.
One of the men from your crew follows outside, seemingly to collect the license plate of the man who just left.
“Nothing’s gonna happen to that guy, right?” Sam asks as he and Bucky enter the room, taking a seat in front of the desk you have in there. He knows there’s no point in asking, that you’ll do whatever you want regardless because it’s obvious you’re passionate about receiving respect, but it was worth a shot.
“Is that what you came all the way to Jersey to ask me? Christ, I’m fuckin’ starving, you boys want anything to eat?” You ask, accent heavy as you reach into the side drawer of your desk and pull out what seems to be some kind of meat wrapped in paper.
“Gabagool?” You offer to them, picking out a slice for yourself and placing it in your mouth.
“Gesundheit.” Sam responds.
“It’s pork, you asshole.”
Bucky silently reaches over and picks off a slice of the cured cold cut, putting the meat in his mouth and savoring the flavor. While he can’t stand the way you make a living or the sailor’s mouth you have, he loves Italian food, and actually chose a neighborhood in New York that has plenty of traditional cold cut markets and restaurants to live in in order to fulfill his cravings.
“There’s a big party staged downtown this weekend, we think that’s when the drop is going to happen.” Sam tells you, bringing the focus to their reason for coming here in the first place.
“I’ll send one of my boys.” You reply in between your chews.
“That wasn’t the deal. The deal was you get the serums.” Bucky speaks up.
“Buck, you know how many people want her dead?” Sam tries to reason.
“What the fuck do I have a crew for then? - No, if pretty boy wants me to do it myself, then I will. The same people that want my head are the same fucks who are terrified to be within twenty feet of me in fear they’ll make eye contact. I’m not scared of nothin’.” You say, narrowing your eyes at Bucky.
“What did you guys come here to talk about?” You ask.
Sam looks confused at your expression, “...To go over the plan? Hash out details? So you know how everything’s gonna go?”
“I’ll be fine; I’ve seen The Godfather once or twice,” You tell him, wrapping up the cappo, after Bucky picks off one last slice, and replacing it in the drawer, “Don’t worry Captain, this ain’t my first rodeo. I’ll get the serums for you.” You open a different drawer and pull out a cigar and a lighter.
Bucky watches as you place the large cigar in between your red-painted lips, bringing the flame of your lighter to the end and hollowing your cheeks until smoke exits from the corner of your mouth. Bucky feels blood travel south as his eyes glaze over your hand grab the cigar out of your mouth and blow out a long string of smoke.
“I guess we’ll be in touch then,” Sam stands and Bucky follows after.
“My sister’s wearing blue, so find yourself a nice tie.” You call out, lifting your feet up to cross them on the desk, dress rising and showing your legs.
Bucky blushes, and then laughs as he exits when he hears you, in a deep and more exaggerated accent than your own, “Just when I thought I was out… they pull me back in!”
The morning of the party, Sam and Bucky pick you up from your house, planning to take you into New York to discuss final details before tonight.
You get in the passenger seat, Sam offering it to you and climbing in the backseat. As Bucky begins to drive off, your phone rings.
“I told you to leave that.” Bucky says, telling you explicitly to leave electronics here to prevent anyone finding out where you are, and also to avoid any distractions.
“Wanted to see what you’d about it, Sarge,” You wink at him, pulling out a flip phone and answering the call.
“Yeah… Uh huh… He what? Are you fucking kidding me?... Alright… Tell him not to move a fucking muscle.” You hang up, slamming the phone closed.
“Stop at the facility for a sec, I gotta take care of something.” Bucky sighs and turns away from the route to head to your facility.
“Bucky’s going to be going with you tonight, by the way, he’ll be in disguise. Just in case anything goes wrong.” Sam tells you, not really caring anymore about having to make a stop for you to take care of whatever business you need to take care of.
Your only response is a hum as Bucky can feel the anger radiating off your now tense body.
You slam the car door shut as Bucky parks behind a garbage truck outside, not even waiting for him to fully put the car in park before you exit.
Him and Sam follow quickly behind you to see what’s going on. You enter through a side door that leads to a large room, a garage for the trucks, Bucky assumes.
There’s a large truck inside, and racks of suits wrapped in plastic scattered around. A younger man stands near the truck as your crew peruses around the racks, he couldn’t be older than twenty-five years old. Your heels click on the ground as you approach, slowing down as you glance between the suits and the young man. Bucky and Sam hang around a few feet behind your trail.
You stop, fuming, staring at the man before you speak, “You wanna tell me what the fuck happened?”
“I -” He begins, but you cut him off, raising an open hand at him.
“Actually, I don’t even want to hear your fucking voice right now. Because if what I heard you did is true; if what you did to Vinny’s guy is true, you’re gonna be a fuck load of trouble.”
“Can I -”
“Shut the fuck up.”
“But -”
“I said shut the fuck up, Christopher! What part of that don’t you understand?” You yell, and even Bucky feels intimidated.
You turn to your crew, “What the fuck happened.” You demand, more than ask.
“Kid says he tried to take the truck, Vinny’s guy had a gun that fell outta the seat, went off, shot him.” One of the men summarizes, not looking up from the rack of suits.
You raise a manicured hand to pinch between your eyes, “You keep me skinny, Christopher, with all the fucking stress you cause me.”
“Would you let me explain?” He tries.
“If you don’t do as I told you and shut your fucking mouth, you’re gonna be buried with two assholes,” You threaten before continuing.
“They were fuckin’ suits! All you had to do was take the truck! How did you fuck that up -” You stop yourself and sigh, attempting to calm yourself down.
“Here’s what’s gonna happen. You’re gonna take all this shit, you’re gonna take it back to Vinny, and you’re gonna tell him what happened yourself.” You finish.
“Marone!” He exclaims, rubbing his face with his hands.
“Enough with the theatrics! You’re lucky I don’t put a bullet in your ass! Now, I don’t see you grabbing that rack and that rack and that rack and putting it back in the truck!” You wave your arms around the room.
The kid sighs and begins grabbing the racks one by one and rolling them back in the truck.
“Would it be such a shame if they all went back?” An older man from your crew asks, already wearing one of the expensive suits. You scoff and laugh.
“Bucky, pick yourself somethin’ nice for tonight,'' You turn to face him, and he jumps at the sound of your now calmer voice being directed at him, as opposed to the harsh one used on Christopher, “On me.” You wink.
...
Sam and Bucky sit on the bed and watch as you get ready. A small apartment near the party that’s already been swept for bugs. A favor, you called it, from someone you know.
They don’t question it.
“You and Bucky will go in together and I’ll be waiting at a secondary location watching and listening to everything.”
Bucky can’t tear his eyes away from your dress. A mermaid dress, he thinks it is, black and tight and hugging you in all the right places, curving around your ass and sleeveless at the top, allowing you to show off a nice necklace and your cleavage. It’s an understatement to say that he’ll enjoy accompanying you tonight, even if it’s in a costume.
His mother probably would’ve loved it if he would’ve gotten with someone like you. Someone who loves their family, a spitfire that wouldn’t take any of his shit, and whose god damn gorgeous. She might’ve had to wash your mouth out with soap, though.
“So, why is Bucky goin’ again?”
“Safety.” Bucky answers.
“Is he going for my safety or am I going for his?” You tease, finishing the last few curls of your hair, smoke coming from the iron after each time you pull your hair away from it.
“Once you find our guy, get talking with him and see if you can get him to make you an offer,” He begins.
“One I can’t refuse?”
“Then, you’ll try and get him alone, see if he’ll show you the serums, and once you do, we’ll be taking care of the rest.” Sam finishes explaining.
Bucky plucks a box from his pocket and opens it to reveal a pair of diamond earrings. One, a camera, and the other, a microphone. You’re also given a comm to hide in your ear so both him and Sam can hear everything and you can hear them.
“Easy - peasy.” You respond.
The ballroom is lively, loud music and people everywhere, and Bucky attunes all the action overwhelming him to a sweat and not that fact that you’re pressed up against him, his arm wrapped around your waist.
About a hundred different people come up to greet you, asking about your family, offering you drinks and food. Bucky can see right through all of them though; they’re all putting on the act out of fear. Everyone’s attention is on you, and Bucky’s sure if he wasn’t in disguise right now, no one would even notice.
You bring him to the middle of the crowd and he can’t be surprised when you start to dance with him, pulling at his arms to get him to loosen up. He complies, wrapping his arms around your waist and pulling you close as the two of you move together.
“I’ll let you know when I spot him.” He tells you, voice causing goosebumps to rise on your neck; goosebumps that he notices but doesn’t point out.
It only takes a song or two before he spots who he’s looking for and sends you over, making sure your com is on, and choosing to stick by the bar, giving him a good view of you and allowing himself a break of having your body pressed against his.
He’s impressed listening to you talk to this guy, voice smooth and sultry, yet still commanding.
He knows there was a lot of talk when you took position as boss; not a lot of people in the mob took you seriously and didn’t think you or a woman in general would be good in that kind of position in power. So, you use that to your advantage to get shit done, and Bucky applauds you for that.
It’s not long before the guy offers to go somewhere more private to discuss business and Bucky follows far behind, Sam praising you through the coms from where he waits in the car outside, watching through the camera in your earring.
Bucky waits outside of a closed office door upstairs, listening to the conversation through the coms but hearing your exclamation through the door when the guys give you his asking price.
“5 mil each?! What do you take me for, some kinda stunad?”
“Take it or leave it.”
“Take it or leave it, yeah, I can put a bullet between your eyes and take it, alright.”
“Stop messing around and take the offer, it’s not real anyway!” Sam tells you, not wanting to lose their chance on the serums.
You ignore him prioritizing your need for respect over the stupid mission, “How do I know these aren’t Kool-Aid pouches poured in glass bottles?”
“Well, I’m certainly not going to test ‘em out for you.” The guy scoffs.
“Stronzo. You’re outta your fucking mind offering me that.”
“I’ll lower the price for you if you give me a little dance, how ‘bout that?”
“Vaffanculo.” You curse at him.
“Up yours, lady!” He yells back, and Sam sees through the camera, he grabs at you.
“Buck, get in there.” Sam tells him, and it only takes Bucky a second to kick open the door.
He’s a bit taken aback when he not only sees the case of serums out on the table, but you holding the man bent over the small table in the middle of the room next to the serums, gun held to the back of his head.
He very quickly decides that you’re fine and moves to grab the serums, closing the case and holding it securely in his left hand.
“Don’t kill the guy.”
You stay silent and Bucky looks at you again. He can almost see the steam coming out of your ears and he notices a small cut on your cheek bone. He looks down to the man’s cowering figure and notices a large ring on his hand.
You mumble something in Italian to the man, a threat of some kind that Bucky can guess given how the man shuts his eyes and shakes a bit under your hold. Sam finally enters the room, military grade handcuffs in hand.
“Feds are on their way, get her out of here.” He tells Bucky.
You slowly lift the gun off the man’s head and stand up straighter, walking over to brush past Bucky in the direction of the back door.
He makes eye contact with Sam and gives him a nod before following after you, watching as you scrunch up the bottom of your dress to replace the gun in an ankle holster. Once outside, he stops you under a street light near the car and raises his hand to look at your cheek.
“We gotta get going,” You swat at his hand.
“You’re still bleeding.” He says, using his thumb to brush away the line of blood, smearing a red tinge on your skin.
He looks into your eyes and for a second he sees the tough exterior drop. The face of someone who got smacked across the cheek all for mouthing off at some asshole.
Your vulnerability doesn’t last long, though, as you sniff and walk towards the car, opening the passenger door and sitting inside before Bucky can make it over there to open the door for you.
The drive back to the apartment is silent, and Bucky doesn’t know what to do or say to fill the silence. Stepping into the apartment, you immediately go to change and collect your things. Bucky moves to the bathroom to look for a first aid kit of some kind.
He meets you in the room and you’re now in cotton pants and a large t-shirt, sandals on your feet showing the bright red color of your toenails and the lines indented in your skin from how tight your heels were. You’re hanging up the dress and zipping it back in the cover when Bucky drops the first aid kit on the bed.
“Christ, it’s only a small cut.” You mumble.
“Just - Let me, would you?”
He takes out the liquid of disinfectant and soaks a cotton pad, cleaning off your cheek bone with it before covering it with healing ointment and a bandaid.
You don’t thank him when he finishes and he huffs as he closes the kit, “When do you drop the act, huh?”
“I don’t.”
“Really?” Bucky asks in annoyed disbelief.
“No. People tend to try and have me whacked when I drop the act.”
He sighs, “So, what, nobody ever takes care of you? Treats you? You don’t have any days off? Time to be yourself?”
“This lifestyle doesn’t really allow me to have days off, Sergeant Barnes.” You snap, gathering the dress in your hands and turning to face him completely.
“Take me home, I’m tired and my feet hurt.”
You leave him in the room and he waits an extra few seconds before dropping the conversation and following you out.
...
Bucky opens the back door to the environmental facility with his right hand and sees the door to your office open, you and your crew sitting together surrounded by cigar smoke and he can hear a TV on.
“Sir, please step into the vehicle.”
“Like the cop would be callin’ this asshole Sir if the fuckin’ cameras weren’t around!” You wave a hand at the TV, not yet seeing Bucky standing there.
He finds it funny that the gnarliest criminals - the literal Mafia - spend their time watching shitty, scripted cop shows.
It’s been about two weeks since the mission with you where you retrieved the serums. Sam went to prom with your sister five days ago, which was hilarious for him, especially when he got photo prints of different sizes in the mail at his apartment. He didn’t bother thinking about how you found his address.
One of the men sitting next to you glances his way and sees him standing there, smirking at the vision of him; hair combed slightly back and to the side, and a large bouquet of flowers in his right hand and a small paper box in his left.
“You got company, Boss.” He says.
You look over to the doorway and your jaw drops in an open-mouthed smile.
“Look at googootz! Now this is a man that knows how to treat a lady, are you boys paying attention?” You tease, scurrying over to him and pinching one of his cheeks, resting your free hand on his large bicep to guide him into the room, the rest of your crew ushering out to give the two of you privacy.
“What’s in the box?”
“Cannoli.”
You throw your head back with an exaggerated moan, “You know the way to an Italian woman’s heart, Sergeant Barnes. What’s with all the gifts?”
“Thought I’d treat you.” Is all his response is.
You narrow your eyes at him and stand up a little straighter, crossing your arms over your chest.
The last conversation before he dropped you off that night hasn’t escaped his mind. He understands the difficulties of life - how it’s hard to find time for yourself among the busy schedule that is existing. He catches himself sometimes, too, forcing his body to run with no sleep, burning through all of his energy until he’s completely drained and blaming it on life.
But life’s not always like that. Life allows for days off. For treats. For a bit of kindness. And Bucky’s come to show you just that.
“What, a beautiful woman like you never received flowers and pastries before?” He says, taking a half-step forward to be close enough to look you closer in the eyes.
“Are you flirting with me?” You whisper in amusement.
His eyes glance away from yours to look down at your red-painted lips. He gives you a shy smirk, really turning up the charm. For a big, bad, boss, you’re pretty easy to break down.
“Let me take you out tonight.”
“Maybe I’ve got plans.”
“Cancel ‘em.”
“What makes you think you’re worth canceling plans for?”
“Why don’t you trust me and find out?”
“You should know by now, Sergeant Barnes, that I don’t trust.”
He doesn’t respond for a moment, setting the box of cannoli on your desk before reaching his now free hand up to your face, using his finger to brush away a stray hair and push it behind your ear.
He then takes a hold of one of your hands, turning it over to place a kiss on the top of it, before wrapping your fingers around the flowers in his other hand, forcing you to take them.
“No restaurant you’ve been to a hundred times over, no drama, no business. Just a man trying to treat a lady.” You look down at the flowers before meeting his eyes again.
“I get to pick the place.”
“No.”
“The kind of food.”
“No.”
“The -”
“No. Let me take care of everything.” Bucky insists, determined to get you to give up control for the first time in what he can only imagine has been a very long time.
Bucky knows better than anyone how terrifying it is to give up control. It was terrifying when he was forced to give up control, his free will taken away from him in the war for decades upon decades, but it’s terrifying even now when he has to do it as a free man. It makes a person vulnerable. When was the last time you were allowed to be vulnerable for somebody?
“I’m gonna pick you up here at six. Wear something nice and leave the executive attitude at home.” He finishes, leaving you with the flowers and cannoli before returning back outside, ignoring the stares he receives from you crew who wait patiently outside your office.
He feels your eyes follow him at the door, and he can’t wait to sweep you off your feet tonight.
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vickyvicarious · 3 years ago
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Leverage Redemption Pros/Cons List
Okay! Now that I've finally finished watching the first half of Leverage: Redemption, I thought I'd kind of sum up my overall impression. Sort of a pro/con list, except a little more just loosely structured rambles on each bullet point rather than a simple list.
This got way out of hand from what I expected so I'm going to put it all under a cut. If you want the actual bulletpoint list, here it is:
PROS
References
Continuity
Nate
Representation
Themes
New Characters
General Vibe
CONS
'Maker and Fixer'
Episode Twins
Sophie's Stagefright
Thiefsome
You might notice the pros list is longer, and that's because I do love the show! I really like most of what it does, and my gripes are fewer in number and mostly smaller in size. But they do exist and I felt like talking about them as well as the stuff I loved.
PROS
References
There is clearly so much love and respect for the original show here. Quite aside from the general situation, there's a lot of references to individual episodes or character traits from the first show. For example, Parker's comments on disliking clowns, liking puppets, disliking horses, stabbing vs. tasing people. The tasing was an ongoing thing in the original, the stabbing happened once (S1) but was referenced later in the original show, the clown thing only had a few mentions scattered across the entire original show. The puppet thing was mentioned once in S5, and the horses thing in particular was only brought up in S1 once. But they didn't miss the chance to put the nod to it in there; in fact with those alone we see a good mix of common/ongoing jokes and smaller details.
We got "dammit Hardison" and "it's a very distinctive..." but also Eliot and Parker arguing about him catering a mob wedding, and Eliot being delighted by lemon as a secret ingredient in a dish in that same episode (another reference to the mob episode). Hardison and Eliot banter about "plan M", an ongoing joke starting from the very first episode of the original show. We see Sophie bring up Hardison's accent in the Ice Job, Parker also makes reference to an early episode when describing "backlash effect" to Breanna, in an episode that also references her brother slightly if you look for it.
Heck, the last episode of these first eight makes a big deal out of nearly reproducing the iconic opening lines of the original show with Fake Nate's "we provide... an advantage." And I mean, all the "let's go steal a ___" with Harry being confused about how to use them.
Some of the lines are more obviously references to the original show, but they strike a decent balance with smaller or unspoken stuff as well, and also mix in some references between the team to events we the audience have never seen. If someone was coming into this show for the first time, they wouldn't get all the easter egg joy but most of the references would stand on their own as dialogue anyway. In general, I think they struck a good balance of restating needed context for new viewers while still having enough standalone good lines and more-fun-if-you-get-it callbacks.
Continuity
Similar to the last point, but slightly different. The characters' development from the original to now is shown so well. I'm not going to go on about this too long, but the writers clearly didn't want to let the original characters stagnate during the offscreen years. There was a lot of real thought put into how they would change or not.
It's really written well. We can see just how cohesive a team Parker, Hardison, and Eliot became. We get a sense of how they've spent their time, and there's plenty of evidence that they remained incredibly close with Sophie and Nate until this past year. The way everyone defers to Parker is different from the original show and clearly demonstrates how she's been well established as the leader for years now - they show this well even as Parker is stepping back to let Sophie take point in these episodes. Eventually that is actually called out by Sophie in the eighth episode, so we might see more mastermind Parker in the back half of the show, maybe. But even with her leading, it's clear how collaborative the team has become, with everyone bouncing ideas off one another and adding their input freely. Sometimes they even get so caught up they leave the newbies completely in the dust. But for the most part we get a good sense of how the Parker/Hardison/Eliot team worked with her having final say on plans but the others discussing everything together. A little bit more collaborative than it was with Nate at the helm.
Meanwhile Sophie has built a home and is deeply attached to it. She and Nate really did retire, at least for the most part, and she was living her happy ending until he died. She's out of practice but still as skilled as ever, and we're shown how much her grief has changed her and how concerned the others are for her.
There's a lot of emphasis on how they all look after one another and the found family is clearer than ever. Sophie even calls Hardison "his father's son" - clearly referring to Nate.
Nate
Speaking of Nate! They handled his loss so, so well. His story was the most complete at the end of the last show, and just from a narrative point, losing him makes the most sense of all the characters. But the way he dies and his impact on the show and the characters continues. It's very respectful to who he was - who he truly was.
Nate was someone they all loved, but he was a deeply flawed individual. Sophie talks about how he burned too hot, but at least he burned - possibly implying to me that his drinking was related to his death. In any case, there's no mystery to it. We don't know how he died but that's not what's most important about his death. This isn't a quest for revenge or anything... it's just a study of grief and trying to heal.
Back to who he really was real quick - the show doesn't eulogize him as better than he was. They're honest about him. From the first episode's toast they raise in his memory, to the final episode where Sophie and Eliot are deeply confused by Fake Nate singing his praises, the team knows who he was. They don't erase his flaws... but at the same time he was so clearly theirs. He was family, he was the man they trusted and loved and followed into incredibly dangerous situations, and whose loss they all still feel deeply.
That said, the show doesn't harp on this point. They reference him, but they don't overwhelm new viewers with a constant barrage of Nate talk. It always serves a purpose, primarily for Sophie's storyline of moving through her grief. Anyway, @robinasnyder said all of this way better than me here, so go read that as well.
Representation
Or should I say, Jewish Hardison, Autistic Parker, Queer Breanna!
Granted, Hardison's religion isn't quite explicitly stated to be Jewish so much as he mentions that his "Nana runs a multi-denominational household", but nonetheless. He gets the shows big thesis statement moment, he gets a beautiful speech about redemption that is the emotional cornerstone of that episode and probably Harry's entire arc throughout the show. And while I'm not Jewish myself, most of what I've seen from Jewish fans is saying that Hardison's words here were excellent representation of their beliefs. (@featherquillpen does a great job in that meta of contextualizing this with his depiction in the original show as well.)
Autistic Parker, however, is shown pretty dang blatantly. She already was very much coded as autistic in the original show, but the reboot has if anything gone further. She sees a child psychologist because she likes using puppets to represent emotions, she stims, she uses cue cards and pre-written scripts for social interactions, there's mention of possible texture sensitivity and her clothes are generally more loose and comfortable. She's gotten better at performing empathy and understanding how people typically work, but it's specifically described as something she learned how to do and she views her brain as being different from ones that work that way (same link). Again, not autistic myself but from what I've seen autistic fans find a lot to relate to in her portrayal. And best of all, this well-rounded and respectful depiction does not show any of these qualities as a lack on her part. There's no more of those kinda ableist comments or "what's wrong with you" jokes that were in the original show. Parker is the way she is, and that allows her to do things differently. She's loved for who she is, and any effort made to fit in is more just to know how so that she can use it to her advantage when she wants to on the job - for her convenience, not others' comfort.
Speaking of loved for who you are.... okay, again, queer Breanna isn't confirmed onscreen yet, and I don't count Word of God as true canon. But I can definitely believe we're building there. Breanna dresses in a very GNC way, and just her dialogue and, I dunno, vibes seem very queer to me. She has a beautiful speech in the Card Game Job about not belonging or being accepted and specifically mentions "the way they love" as one of those things that made her feel like she didn't belong. And that scene is given so much weight and respect. (Not to mention other hints throughout the episode about how much finding her own space meant to her.) Also, the whole theme of feeling rejected and the key for her to begin really flourishing is acceptance for who she is, not any desire for her to be anyone else, is made into another big moment. Yeah, textually that moment is about her feeling like she has to fill Hardison's shoes and worrying about her past, but the themes are there, man.
Themes
I talked a bit about this yesterday, so I'm mostly just going to link to that post, but... this series so far is doing a really good job in my opinion of giving people arcs and having some good themes. Namely the redemption one, from Hardison's speech (which I'm gonna talk a little more about in the next point), and this overall theme of growing up and looking to the future (from above the linked post).
New Characters
Harry and Breanna are fantastic characters. I was kind of worried about Harry being a replacement Nate, but... he really isn't. Sure, he's the older white guy who has an angsty past but it's in a very different way and his personality and relationships with the rest of the crew are correspondingly different. I think the dynamic of a very friendly, cheerful, kind, but still bad guy (as @soundsfaebutokay points out) is a great one to show, and he's got a really cool arc I think of learning to be a better person, and truly understanding Hardison's point about redemption being a process not a goal. His role on the team also has some interesting applications and drawbacks, as @allegorymetaphor talked about. I've kind of grown to think that the show is gradually building up to an eventual Sophie/Harry romance a ways down the line, and I'm actually here for it. Regardless, his relationships with everyone are really interesting.
As for Breanna, first of all and most importantly I love her. Secondly, I think she's got a really interesting story. She's a link to Hardison's past, and provides a really interesting perspective for us as someone younger who has grown up a) looking up to Leverage and b) in a bleaker and more hopeless world. Breanna's not an optimist, and she's not someone who was self-sufficient and unconcerned with the rest of the world at the start, like everyone else. She believes that the world sucks and she wants it to be better, but she doesn't know how to make that happen. She outright says she's desperate and that's why she's working with Leverage. At the same time, Breanna is pretty down on herself and wants to prove herself but gets easily shaken by mistakes or being scolded, which is a stark contrast to Hardison's general self-confidence. There are several times when she starts to have an idea then hesitates to share it, or expects her emotions to be dismissed, or gets really disheartened when she's corrected or rejected, or dwells on her mistakes, or when she is accepted or praised she usually takes a surprised beat and is shy about it (she almost always looks down and away from the person, and her smile is often small or startled). Breanna looks up to the team so much (Parker especially, then probably Eliot) and she wants to prove herself. It's going to be so good to see her grow.
General Vibe
A brief note, but it seems a fitting one to end on. The show keeps it's overall tone and feeling from the original show. The fun, the competency porn, the bad guys and clever plans and happy endings. It's got differences for sure, but the characters are recognizably themselves and the show as a whole is recognizably still Leverage. For the most part they just got the feeling right, and it's really nice.
CONS (no, not that kind)
'Maker and Fixer'
So when I started writing this meta earlier today, I was actually a lot more annoyed by the lack of unique 'maker' skills being shown by Breanna. Basically the only time she tries to use a drone, the very thing she introduced herself as being good at, it breaks instantly. I was concerned about her being relegated into just doing what Hardison did, instead of bringing her own stuff to the table. But the seventh episode eased some of those fears, and the meta I just wrote for someone else asking about Breanna's 'maker' skills as shown this season made me realize there's more nuance than that. I'd still like to have seen more of that from her, but for now the fact that we don't see a lot of 'maker' from her so far seems more like a character decision based in Breanna's insecurities.
Harry definitely gets more 'inside man' usage. His knowledge as a 'fixer' comes in handy several times. Nonetheless, I'm really curious if there are any bigger ways to use it, aside from him just adding in some exposition/insight from time to time. I'm not even entirely sure how much more they can pull from this premise in terms of relevant skills, but I hope there's more and I'd like to see it. Maybe a con built more around him playing a longer role playing his old self, like they tried in the Tower Job? Maybe it's more a matter of him needed distance from that part of his past, being unable to face it without lashing out - in that case it could be a good character growth moment possibly for him to succeed in being Scummy Lawyer again down the line? I dunno.
Episode Twins
This was something small that kind of bothered me a little earlier in the season. It's kind of the negative side to the references, I guess? And I'm not even sure how much it annoys me really, but I just kinda noticed and felt sort of weird about it.
Rollin' on the River has a lot of references/callbacks to the The Wedding Job.
The Tower Job has a lot of references/callbacks to The White Rabbit Job.
The Paranormal Hacktivity Job has a lot of references/callbacks to the Future Job.
I guess I was getting a little concerned that there would be a 'match this episode' situation where almost every new Redemption episode is very reminiscent of an old one. I love the callbacks, but I don't want to see a lack of creativity in this new show, and this worried me for a minute. Especially when it was combined with all three of those episodes dealing with housing issues of some kind. Now, that's a huge concern for a lot of people, and each episode has its own take on a different problem within that huge umbrella, but it still got me worried about a lack of variety in topics/cases.
The rest of the episodes failing to line up so neatly in my head with older episodes helped a lot to ease this one, though. Still, this is my complaining section so I figured I'd express my concerns as they were at the time. Even if I no longer really worry about it much.
Sophie's Stagefright
Yeah, I know this is just a small moment in a single episode, but it annoyed me! Eliot made a bit of a face at Sophie going onstage, but I thought it was just him being annoyed at the general situation. However, they started out with her being awful up there until she realized the poem was relevant to the con - at which point her reading got so much better.
This felt like a complete betrayal of Sophie's beautiful moment at the end of the original show where she got over her trouble with regular acting and played Lady Macbeth beautifully in front of a full theater of audience members. This was part of the con, but only in the sense that it gave her an alibi/place to hide, and I always interpreted it as her genuinely getting over her stagefright problems. It felt like such a beautiful place to end her arc for that show, especially after all her time spent directing.
Now, her difficulty onstage in the Card Game Job was brief and at the very beginning of being up on stage. @rinahale suggested to me that maybe it was a deliberate tactic to draw the guy's attention, and the later skill was simply her shifting focus to make the sonnet easier for Breanna to listen to and interpret, but he seemed more enraptured when she was doing well than otherwise in my opinion and it just doesn't quite sit well with me. My other theory was that maybe she just hasn't been up on stage in a long time, and much like she complaining about being rusty at grifting before the team pushed her into trying, she got nervous for a moment at the very beginning. The problem there is that I think she'd definitely still get involved in theater even when she and Nate were retired. I guess she could've quit after he died, and a year might be long enough to make her doubt herself again, but... still.
I just resent that they even left it ambiguous at all. Sophie's skills should be solid on stage at this point in my opinion.
Thiefsome
...And now we come to my main complaint. This is, by far, the biggest issue I have with the show.
I feel like I should put a disclaimer here that I had my doubts from the beginning about the thiefsome becoming canon onscreen. I thought the famous "the OT3 is safe" tweet could easily just mean that they are all still alive and well, or all still working together, without giving us confirmation of a romantic relationship. Despite this, the general fandom expectations/hopes really got to me, especially with the whole "lock/pick/key" thing. I tried to temper my expectations again when the character descriptions came out and only mentioned Hardison loving Parker, not Eliot, but I still got my hopes up.
The thing is, I was disappointed pretty quickly.
The very first episode told me that in all likelihood we would never see Hardison and Parker and Eliot together in a romantic sense. Oh, there was so much coding. So much hinting. So much in the way of conversations that were about Parker/Hardison's relationship but then Eliot kept getting brought into them. They were portrayed as a unit of three.
But then there was this.
I love all of those scenes of Parker and Hardison being intimate and loving and comfortable with one another and their relationship. I really do. But it didn't escape my notice that there's nothing of the sort with Eliot. If they wanted a canon onscreen thiefsome, it would by far make the most sense to just have it established from the start. But there aren't any scenes where Eliot shares the same kind of physical closeness with either of them like they do each other. Parker and Hardison kiss; he doesn't kiss anyone. They have several clearly romantic conversations when alone; he gets important conversations with both but the sense of it being romantic isn't there.
Establishing Eliot as part of the relationship after Hardison is gone just... doesn't make any sense. It would be more likely to confuse new viewers, to make them wonder if Parker is cheating on Hardison with Eliot, or if they have a Y shaped relationship rather that a triangle. It would be so much clumsier.
Still, up until the Double-Edged-Sword Job I believed the writers might keep it at this level of 'plausible hinting but not quite saying'. There's a lot of great stuff with all of them, and I never expecting making out or whatever anyway; a cheek-kiss was about the height of my hopes to be honest. I mostly just hoped for outright confirmation and, failing that, I was happy enough to have the many hints and implications.
But then Marshal Maria Shipp came along. And I don't really have anything against her as a character - in fact, I think she has interesting story potential and will definitely come back. But the episode framed her fight with Eliot as a sexyfight TM, much like his fight with Mikel back in the day. And then his flirting with her rode the line a little of "he's playing her for the con" and "he's genuinely flirting." The scene where he tells her his real name is particularly iffy, but actually was the one that convinced me he was playing her. Because he seems to be watching her really closely, and to be very concerned about her figuring out who he really is. I am very aware though that I'm doing a lot of work to interpret it the way I want. On surface appearance, Eliot's just flirting with an attractive woman, like he did on the last show. And that's probably the intention, too.
But the real nail in the coffin for me was when Sophie compared herself and Nate to Eliot and Maria. That was a genuine scene, not the continuation of the teasing from before. And Sophie is the one whose insight into people is always, always trustworthy. She is family to the thiefsome. For this to make any sense, either Eliot/Parker/Hardison isn't a thing, or they are and Sophie doesn't know - and I can't imagine why in the hell she wouldn't know.
Any argument to make them still canon leaves me unsatisfied. If she knows and they haven't admitted it to her - why wouldn't they, after all this time? Why would she not have picked up on it even without an outright announcement? Some people suggested they wouldn't admit it because they thought Nate would be weird about it, but that doesn't seem any more in character to me than the other possibilities. In fact, the only option that doesn't go against my understanding of these people and their observational abilities/the close relationship they share.... is that the thiefsome is not a thing.
And furthermore, the implication of this conversation - especially the way it ended, with Eliot stomping off looking embarrassed while Sophie smiled knowingly - is that Eliot will get into another relationship onscreen. Maybe not a full-blown romantic relationship. But the Maria Shipp tension is going to be resolved somehow, and at this point I'm half-expecting a hook-up simply because of Sophie's reaction and how much I trust her judgement of such things. Even if she's letting her grief cloud her usual perceptiveness... it feels iffy.
It just kinda feels like I wasn't even allowed to keep my "interpret these hints/maybe they are" thiefsome that I expected after the first couple episodes convinced me we wouldn't get outright confirmation. (I mean, I will anyway, and I love the hints and allusions regardless.) And while I'm definitely not the kind of fan who is dependent on canon for my ships, and still enjoy all their interactions/will keep right on headcanoning them all in a relationship, it's just.... a bummer.
Feels like a real cop-out. Like the hints of Breanna being queer are enough to meet their quota and they won't try anything 'risky' like a poly relationship. I dunno. It's annoying.
.
That's the end of the list! Again, overall I love the new show a lot and have few complaints.
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This is kind of a random question but...
Do you know why people hate Rick Riordan?
I just have no information, and I’ve seen a lot of stuff lately talking about how he’s problematic.
hi!! yes, I've seen things about this as well. I can list the reasons I've seen. I don't agree with all the points made, but its just what I've seen and I think it may answer your question. I also recommend going through the tag #rr crit, as it will give you a lot more and detailed information regarding him (beware: there are quite a few buzzwords. I recommend taking the facts and forming your own conclusions). I also think it's important to note that many people don't hate him, but they acknowledge that since he's a cishet white man there's things he didn't handle well and he needs to listen to critisicm.
Completely mishandled Piper's native American heritage. From the feather in her hair, to her dad being from a reservation that doesn't exist in Oklahoma, to having kaleidoscope eyes (some say that it suggests brown eyes aren't beautiful enough for aphrodite, more on this in the next bullet), to being a kleptomaniac, her character is, ignorantly or purposefully, chock full of stereotypes. having a cornucopia being her weapon. when Rick was told that this isn't good he became defensive and didn't listen to any critisicm
not giving female characters chances to be young, or not have a boyfriend or be unconventionally attractive. if they do get to not have a boyfriend, they're thrown into the Hunters of Artemis. their eyes are anything but brown (I do disagree with the eye thing but it's important to note), suggesting that having brown eyes should be considered less than. Sadie got a 1000 year old boyfriend when she was 14. 13 year old Hazel had a 16 year old boyfriend-- that could be a seventh grader and a junior or a freshman and sophomore depending on how you look at it (and I LOVE frazel, don't get me wrong. the age gap is just,,). in fact, the only female non-hunter without a significant other I can name is Meg, and she's 12.
Sadie Kane and the fanart he boosts of her. he frequently shows her looking completely white, despite saying she "stood out in class for being mixed." It honestly wouldn't surprise me if a white girl were cast to play her in the Netflix movies.
treatment of characters with invisible disabilities. this can range from the coment of "You anemic loser" targeted at Octavian (as someone with an iron deficiency, I don't see anything wrong with it, but cmon. kids can see that, rick. you can't control anemia) to Clovis' chronic fatigue being treated as a joke. invisible disabilities are hard and just as painful as physical ones. it doesn't help if you treat them like that.
too much misogyny to list all of it, but we can start with young girls being expected to be, and acting, more mature than they are; the strong female characters portraying the "I'm not like other girls" trope; the entire way Hera was treated.
The way Nico's outing was handled (this is one I especially disagree with, and this post said it best, thanks ghost). A violent outing by the God of love taking place before Nico was ready, according to some, was not what younger gay people needed to see. he should have had a loving environment and, at the very least, it should have been from his own point of view and not Jason's.
anti-acne and fat phobia: Apollo having a deep hatred towards his acne and Frank's glow up including severe weight loss (not being a cuddly teddybear anymore, getting taller) isn't the best thing for kids who have acne or are fat to see.
Samirah al-Abbas: "reversing the stereotype (Rick's words)" of an arranged marriage by having her be in love with a distant cousin is... not reversing the stereotype at all actually. it just falls into it. Having her take off her hijab around floor 19 because they feel like family is also not great, because, to my understanding as a non-hijabi and non-muslim, that is not how being hijabi works. similar to the piper situation, when Rick was told that this isn't good he became defensive and didn't listen to any critisicm
ANTISEMITISM, ANTISEMETISM, ANTISEMITISM. this is one of the ones I agree with the most. Having Hades' children be Nazis, having a plot point revolve around one of the most traumatic events in world history, ignoring the fact of generational trauma and ignoring the fact that It Didn't Matter That It Took Place In World War Three, it could have not had any correlation to the death of over six million Jewish people. it legitimizes evilsurrounding Hades and death, and -- well, this one makes me so mad, I can't explain all of it so here is a post explaining more in depth
Slavery issues: similar to the holocaust, Rick Riordan made one of the most terrible issues in American History into a fight between demigods. this lowers the legitimacy of the issue, makes it seem fictional, makes Camp Jupiter seem terrible and awful, except it doesn't. because camp Jupiter isn't terrible. but the confederacy was. if children, especially white children, learn about the confederacy through camp Jupiter, it makes it seem way less bad than it was.
again, I don't agree with all of this, it's just reasoning as to why. in my eyes, Rick Riordan is a man who has grown in his telling of his stories. he started with a canonical all white, all straight, all cis cast. he has now a series featuring a latino genderfluid queer person. This Post said it better than I ever could.
I know that it's impact over intent in so many situations. and this isn't to say I disagree with all, or even most of his critisim. I just think that he has good intent, and I hate him for absolutely none of it.
I am gay, I am Latino, and I am trans. that is all I can speak on, and I think his rep for that was great. I hope this answered your question, dear anon. again, I encourage you to do your own research and form your own opinions. I only touched on a few issues that Rick has had and there's a lot more to be talked about. I would say to keep in mind his intent and his growth. thank you for the ask, thank you for directing it to me that made me feel happy lol. ily I hope you have a good day
if anyone else has anything to add, by all means please do!!
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rebelbrat · 2 years ago
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Yo I am SO SORRY I didn’t get to this (or your other 2 asks) earlier--life since the beginning of this year has just been an endless series of misfortunes and it decided to give me one last fuck you on its way out in the form of a stomach illness and a head injury at the same time…But now that I’m officially on vacation, I can finally sit down and give you the answer that I’ve been thinking of giving this whole time! Here we go.
OK SO. Now that you’ve mentioned representation, I just have to lay out my entire story with how this dude came to be Jewish. I was planning to talk about this for a while, but I figured responding to your ask with it would be a great jumping off point. Way back when I first started writing human!Lotor, I made him Jewish for admittedly kind of a racist reason. Basically, I wanted him to have European-like features like he did in canon but didn't want to make him mixed with European. In hindsight this was racist to POC (not to mention highly emblematic of the biases I’m sure I have against white Europeans and which I still try to work on because I don’t want to hate anybody like that but it’s hard). Racist because the solution should have been to just give him POC features unlike in canon then, since Voltron and other cartoons aren't always so great at depicting POC features…But I digress.
So there I was. With the blessing of my one (1) close Jewish friend at the time, I had made what was probably the dumbest choice for representation I’ve ever made and most likely ever will make. Because Lotor is the sneaky, manipulative character, right? And Jews are stereotyped as sneaky and manipulative, right? But I literally just made him Jewish because I fucking hated Europeans but I still wanted him to look a certain way. And so like the past 4 years I've also been dreading someone telling me that making my human interpretation of Lotor Jewish is antisemitic. 
Surprisingly, that has never happened to me even once. Someone actually tried to put me on blast for the unintentional antisemitism in my writing, but even then they never once brought up the fact that I picked literally the worst character to make Jewish. I think the main reason why I’ve been able to write him like this for so long is because Tobias is different enough from Lotor that they don’t entirely feel like the same person--which is only par for the course because with my premise being “this is character X except with at least one decent parent and also an entirely different species,” there’s bound to be a massive change. Tobias can be incredibly toxic based on my own interpretation of Lotor's toxicity and he does have the capacity to be manipulative but he's someone whose first priority is fighting for justice and being loyal to anti-imperialism and other social justice causes, and he's a lot more relatable & personable than Lotor too due to the fact that he can talk and act like a normal person and you’re not constantly questioning whether that’s the real him or just a face he put on to get you to like him better. Granted, my canon divergent Lotor is also very anti-imperialist, but Tobias has the advantage in relatability because his left-leaning stance isn’t authoritarian. I guess in that way the representation turned out a lot better than it could have been--
Now here comes the plot twist.
When I first started writing Tobias as Jewish, I honestly had no idea what I was doing. I made a bunch of mistakes and was like this for about two years and, as I said before, someone actually tried to put me on blast over it. Which I absolutely deserved because past me was an idiot who should have learned a book before writing even a single iota of the shit that I dove headfirst into. I managed to escape from it relatively unscathed in my Internet life because within five minutes of the callout coming up it came down because the person behind it got exposed for only calling me out out of spite--but my real life is another story. I am spiritual and I suspect the amount of antisemitic shit I noticed since committing to a conversion has increased about 5000000000x as some sort of test, midah k’neged midah for my past behavior now coming back to me so I can see how shit like what I did affects Jewish people. But you know how I started wanting to convert in the first place? I actually started doing research on Judaism so I could portray Tobias properly and I was like "oh fuck this is super cool.” It was literally my character research for Tobias that inspired me to convert.
And now I'm here, studying Judaism as my hyperfixation, getting involved in the Jewish community (well as much as I could with my mom being here like 3 of the 4 months I’ve been in law school)…And thinking that when I choose my Hebrew name I want it to be Toviyah because he was what brought me here.
So sometimes I looked back at …wow I can't believe this happened, I made a really bad choice for a really bad reason but it ended up changing my life in an incredibly positive direction. 
As to how other people perceive (or would perceive) Tobias’ representation…Well, I don’t reach out to a lot of people because I’m scared to find out. LOL. My Jewish friends adore Tobias and I love having him to express my learning about Judaism with so I’d like to think he’s good representation (in spite of his canon self being the worst possible choice to write this with), but I’m afraid of having a bigger audience because I’m worried that people will automatically jump to conclusions about me and my work. Maybe there are serious flaws in my portrayal that need fixing, but I’m still scared of people telling me that because usually on the Internet feedback is never given as constructive criticism, it’s usually given in the form of telling people to kill themselves. But I would hope that my representation is good enough (or will become good enough) that, just like you say, the only substantial complainers about it would be dumb people imposing their opinions on others and non-Jewish voices speaking over Jewish people being the loudest.
Thank you so much for this ask <3 Being able to write this all up means a lot.
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idanit · 3 years ago
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possibly underappreciated Good Omens fics I enjoyed once upon a time
Indirectly inspired by a video series about fanfiction I watched, I decided to pull together a list of Good Omens fics I have bookmarked as stories I enjoyed, but which have less than 250-300 kudos at the time I’m writing this. No particular order. They’re accompanied by short excerpts from my private fic reading notes (not originally intended to be read by anyone but me, mind), sometimes slightly edited for clarity—and, sometimes, the comments I left on the fics.
This list sat in my drafts for a long time and the recent S2 announcement reminded me of it. I’d love it if it inspired you to do something similar! Spread the love.
And mind the tags, please.
△ = general and teen ▲ = mature and explicit 
thermodynamic equilibrium ▲ 7K the author has such an ear for dialogue and is unapologetic about what they want to write the characters like. They think of the characters as a mix of TV and book canon, but they feel like a homemade blend to me. (...) It’s very funny.
such dear follies ▲ 6K I can really picture this Aziraphale—Crowley as well, but her especially. She’s rather distinct. (...) Nice writing.
The Words Were With - △ 1.2K post-Blitz vignette, Aziraphale realizes what he feels and wonders if they're human enough for this. I liked it, and I liked the tag "transhumanism, but in reverse?", too—what an interesting idea. I'd say it's a vignette in a dire need of a follow-up, but, well, there's the show. The show is the follow-up. It fits very nicely within the canon and I totally believe it could have happened, like a deleted scene.
Gossip and Good Counsel △ 19K/? I love their companionship and how they're set up to be opposites by the management even though they get on pretty well. It feels very in keeping with the canon, but I feel like the fact that it's an F/F set in this particular time period adds a meaningful layer to the situation. It's women supporting each other in the world of men, working with the personas that are created for them, but, privately, being normal, well-rounded people. (...) and of course your writing is always a pleasure to read. (...) SDHDGDHDHDG Maisie is truly an Aziraphale.
Crowley Went Down to Georgia (he was looking for a soul to steal) △ 6K This was nice. Based on a song I didn’t know. Crowley goes to a funeral in the USA, one of a fiddler he knew and lost a bet to once. (...) The fic has not one but two songs composed for it and embedded inside it and that makes it even better. I really enjoyed the experience.
The Thing With Feathers △ 18K WARLOCK you'rE HORRIBLE AND I LOVE IT I would read an entire novel-length fic just of Crowley fighting his battles with Warlock. Written like this? It would be a blast. (...) The OCs are believably characterized and well-loved by the story. (...) Everyone seems to need a friend in this house. (...) This was so fun, and at the same time, their mission has weight here (...) We wonder about what the future holds even though we know it.
Here Quiet Find △ 11K This fic aimed for my head and the aim was sure precise. It was a story of Crowley sensing Aziraphale's distress and finding him in a self-quarantined English village in the seventeenth century, tired and anxious. It's hurt/comfort, so there was washing and bedsharing and I had to love it, so I did.
outside of time △ 2K Post-Almostgeddon, (...) nicely-written, short, but strung with a soft kind of tension and unspoken words. There's no drama, just "can we really", and "do you really" of sudden freedom. They fall into being inseparable. Book canon, which I like for this story (sitting on a tarmac). I liked the footnotes. There's a mention of Eliot. All in all, very much yes.
She'asani Yisrael △ 2K It’s Crowley going through a two-hour service and drinking blessed wine. He also keeps an eye on a boy he was asked to. It’s 1946. It was pretty good, so far the best Jewish GO fic, I think, from the ones I’ve read.
To Guard The Eastern Gate △ 11K  I loved it. You really made Sodom feel lived-in; the description of Keret, Hurriya and Yassib's house and relationship were great. I got attached to both them and the city (...) Aziraphale and Crawley’s interactions were generally very entertaining. I laughed (...) Your rendering of their voices just lands so well (...) But then oh, the entire ending (...) hurt, hurt a lot, and your descriptions are so vivid.
If you’ve been waiting (for falling in love) △ 14K AAAAA a good ending line. The whole paragraph, in fact. I love a good smattering of philosophy in my fics, and this was really nice. I can get behind Thomas Aequinus's and Crowley's view on eternity. It's (...) a pretty simple fic (...) - the courage to express yourself and take a risk is awarded with winning what was at stake by the virtue of reciprocity - but the way it was intertwined with a study of how they would experience a forever was done well. 
Holy unnecessary ▲ 2.2K It's well-written. (...) this is my type of sexual humour if I have any. So subtle. Blink and you'll miss it. Lovely.
The Parting Glass △ 17K Through the ages, they're dancing around their relationship until after the Armageddoff. (...) Wow, this was really, really nice. Very simple in its concept and nothing I haven't read before, but very well-executed. (...) AAAAH I LOVED the first chapter. I always like abbeys as settings, that's a given, but the banter, the good writing, the moral ambiguity!
Name The Sky △ 33K This Crowley is different, but very intriguing. Without his sarcastic talk, and much more animalistic. (...) I love how expressive Crowley is. (...) This fic has a very nice balance of drama and levity. I don't love Crowley-before-the-Fall stories very much, but with this execution I can read about it. (...) Okay I've read Crowley offering fruits, and even Aziraphale biting fruits, but the two of them sharing the apple? Outstanding. Ingenious. What a take.
A Flame in Your Heart △ 5K post-Blitz (why are so many dance fics post-Blitz?), they go to the bookshop and have an actually believable conversation. Then they dance the gavotte. It was really nice! Believable writing, emotions, the dancing! (...) Of course it's too early for them, (...) but the author's note? yeah.
Put down the apple, Adam, and come away with me ▲ 32K At this point it's just reading original stories with characters with names and some personality traits that I recognize. (...) I really enjoy this, the careful dance, the opposition between their views. (...) This is well-written, wow. (...) it's not an easy read (...) this story feels very believably 50s, but also reaches out to the present time. 
Liebestraum ▲ 10K/? It really is like music. I'm enjoying the writing a lot. (...) oh my actual god. This, this? Wow, uh. This came for my throat. (...) THE MUSICAL COMPOSITION, THE MOTIF RETURNING, THE AUTHOR KNOWS WHERE IT'S AT (...) Excellent. This hits the right beats so precisely, (...) and with feeling, too.
Down Comforter △ 2.4K and they lay down in angeldown, a soft rug ‘neath their heads– alright. Well, Crowley lies under Aziraphale's wing on a Persian rug after the Apocalypse, and they talk (...). It was sweet.
The Corsair of Carcosa △ 5K Crowley wakes up from a nap, visits Aziraphale for some drinking, and they read The King in Yellow that he happens to own. Good writing, so I'm bought. Aziraphale mentions Beardsley, so I'm bought twice over. My god, a discussion of etheral/occult madness? Caused by some wrong/true reading? Yes.
Very Good, Omens! △ 6K It's rather well-written, well-pastiched. People don't do that too often, nowadays - try to write in the style of a particular writer. (...) I love wordplay like this.
Reviving Robin Hood: The Complicated Process of Crème Brûlée △ 30K it's well-written (...), has a rhythm to it, and quiet humour. (...) Finally some nice, good, light writing. The attention to detail! (...) I'm still reading most of it aloud, the rhythm of it compels me to. (...) okay this does sound like Pratchett&Gaiman, the Good Omens itself (...) The fic is meandering, hilarious, sensitive in all the right places, and overall lovely.
my dear acquaintance △ 1K Oh. Oh. Yes, yes! Aziraphale in Russia, Russia I've never been in, but I can feel the snow and the evening of. Very real, and the bar, too. Attention to detail - vodka flavoured with dill, what on earth? Yes. He would totally have a distinct taste in operas and he would totally complain about a subpar one. I'm glad Tchaikovsky's there.
there is a crack in everything △ 1.8K This was good! Ah. Inspired by a comment (...), I went looking for Mr. Harrison and Mr. Cortese fics—really, what a big brain moment someone had and why have I never thought to look for them? This is Crowley getting suddenly anxious and Aziraphale going out of his way, through all his layers of not-thinking and denial, to console him. I also really liked how the Arrangement is a carefully unacknowledged partnership-marriage.
Scales And Gold And Wings And Scars △ 6K  No conflict, no plot, one tiny arc like a ripple on the surface of water on a calm sunny day - of Aziraphale discovering Crowley’s scars. It's the South Downs and it's early summer. They bask and swim in a spring. Non-sexual nudity, love in the air like a scent. Nice.
Nineteen Footnotes In Search Of A Story △ 0.4K This is a Good Omens story told only through footnotes. Your mind can fill in the gaps. Fascinating (...). Also, it’s an experiment so apt for this particular fandom.
Hell on Earth △ 6.5K Oh, I loved it! How could I not love it: it's Beelzebub-centric, it's historical, it has classical painting, and even a hilarious scene with a cuneiform phrase, as if I didn't enjoy this story enough already. There are so few Beelzebub fics out there and I find searching for them very difficult (I accept recs if anyone has any), and it's such a shame, so this was really like a gift to the fandom. I absolutely adore the way you portrayed them, small, frightening, powerful, and confident. Also, it was super fun to see how different Crowley seems when we're not in his POV or in a story about him and Aziraphale. (...)
Go Up to Ramoth-Gilead and Triumph △ 24K Daegaer is... pure class. (...) hdhdhdh what pfttt why you so funny (...) I love this Crowley. (...) This got unexpectedly intense. (...) I love the little nods to the fact that Israelites, especially the poorer ones, still believe in other gods. I also really like that they sleep on roofs. It's just the kind of detail that grounds the story and shows that the author is, in fact, a historian. 
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palmett-hoes · 4 years ago
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i said in this post that i have original characters and backstories for neil's extended family. it took me,, a really long time to write it all down. it's been a full month since the original post, and this is still just a run through of things, not full prose, which i might be interested in doing one day but not anytime soon
now, some things to note about what i'm writing, why, and how. methodology, basically. this might not have come through yet in my posts, because i just don't post about my half-finished ideas, but i research a LOT. i like to base what i write about on real life, even if it's just headcanons and fanfic
also, i love helping people with research, so if anyone wants help with research for a fic or just their personal headcanons or anything hit me up!!
as a white person who wants to write characters from different ethnic backgrounds, i feel i have a responsibility to really do my due diligence and research as much as possible to consider things from every angle. and part of that for me is making sure that every character of color has a backstory. they don't just appear somewhere, i have to give them a reason for being there and a story for how they got there, even if that's not what i write their STORY about. people, come from places, basically. i follow a lot of demographic census information and population averages, as well as a lot of history, from as general as transatlantic trade in the last 500 years to as specific as the changes in a single city in a certain year
talking to other writers in the fandom i know i'm a little overzealous, but this is what gives me peace of mind to feel like i am putting the effort in to get things right
so anyway, as for what that means here:
i like writing neil as mixed black/jewish. it works well thematically for his character, as well as just what FEELS right for how i visualize him in my head
only, that can't simply come from nowhere. we know who his parents are. they need to also be poc for neil to be one, and they're a complicated pair to handle in that lens
one choice i made about that, for multiple reasons, is that everything about neil's parents' backgrounds should mirror each other. it can't simply be that one if them is black and one is jewish, or even that mary is both and nathan is white, because that says something i don't want to say any way you slice it. additionally, i want both facets of his ethnicity to be important to neil, and i feel as though he would want to ignore the half of himself from his father.
so: they both have to be mixed, giving them a sort of,, ideological equal footing, as it were. that way, i can also write three different experiences, rather than accidentally implying that This is what being black is, or This is what being jewish is, or This is what being mixed is. and that's also important to me, even if it's just in my head or not even directly addressed. it's still a big consideration of mine anytime i write about any of them
now, finally, onto mary and nathan! i'll put it below a cut because this is already long enough, the under-the-cut is much longer, and i don't want to wear out your thumbs if you don't care
mary hatford
canon timeline, neil was born in 1988. as a tentative number let's say mary was around 30 when he was born, meaning she would be born in the 50s. say her parents were roughly the same age, so they were born around the 20s
like i said, what's happening where in history is very important to me for building these backstories, and major historical events tend to have a lot of influence on population shifts. and well,, jews and europeans in the early-to-mid 20th century? there's no getting around involving world war II. nothing explicit, but it is mentioned and part of the story
mary’s paternal family are the hatfords. they're from the british west indies, largely jamaica, but they've been involved with shipping and trade all over the trans-atlantic region for generations.
they have a complicated relationship with the british empire, having both worked for them and against them at various points, sometimes both at once. similarly, they've tried multiple times through the generations to relocate the family to england permanently, but have been turned away or pressured out
they associate england and the british empire with power, and they both disagree with and desire that power in degrees which vary person to person. they do have a general idea between them though that living in england is a sign of status and authenticity, and while they don't want to leave jamaica permanently they do want their center of power to be in england, and there is a deep resentment against the anglos for not allowing them to stay permanently despite their wealth and influence, the fact that their work will always be looked down on and seen as lesser
i did come into building the hatfords with the primary idea of them being black british, and looking into the organized crime connection second. them being jamaican/west indies is a reference to the jamaican posse, who have a large presence in the london crime scene, although that's really the only connection. the hatfords aren't really yardies in any sense
the hatfords' status as organized crime is a little iffy. mostly they skirt the line between legal and illegal, owning legal trading companies and doing plenty of legal shipping. their main business in the criminal underworld is being middlemen moving supplies for other groups. they have a lot of contacts, and they serve an invaluable role in international smuggling, but they rarely get their own hands dirty. they move things from one place to the other and don't question too much what it is, though they don't deal in people
mary's father is named samuel hatford (first name in reference to samuel bellamy, the gentleman pirate king of the early 18th century). he was born in England, raised largely in Jamaica, then moved back to England as a teenager/young man. he's light-hearted and a bit idealistic for someone from a crime family, seeing the best in people even when they're cold and often believing in principle over profit, which at times put him in conflict with what's best for business
he almost enlisted in world war II, but instead convinced the family to work as weapons and supplies runners supporting the Allies and guerilla resistance groups
mary's mother is named cima ben nahman (ladino/judeo-spanish/sephardic names, doesn't really reference anything or anyone in particular). She's is an algerian jew. Born in algeria (city undecided, though algiers had the largest jewish community at the time), she moved to france for a few years as a young woman, probably for education. she joined anti-fascist organizations which became resistance groups once germany invaded
she's stoic, and has a ruthless mind for strategy. like most algerian jews, she's caught between her home country and its colonizer. the french empire played the algerian muslim majority against the jewish minority as a way to create infighting and distract the algerians from uniting and turning against them, but the algerian jews also then became reliant on the french for protection. (it's a really, really complicated situation)
cima sort of hates them both, both algeria and france. her only allegiance is to being jewish
(contrast this to samuel, who feels that he is BOTH british and caribbean, even when those two identities may be in conflict)
cima and samuel met when samuel provided weapons and supplies to cima's militia group. he took particular interest in them and went out of his way to help, above and beyond the other groups the hatfords were supplying
in the waning period of the war, cima was seriously injured, i'm currently thinking a land mine accident. she survived, but her recovery was slow. she lost an arm and had burns across half her torso, neck, and face. samuel brought her to england supported her through her recovery. in the hospital, they spoke a lot about why they each chose to fight, and the ways they did because neither were formal soldiers fighting for a country. samuel was in many ways fighting for an ideal, while cima was fighting for her people. cima also talked to him a lot about judaism and religion during this time, which samuel took an interest in. eventually, cima decided to stay
they got married. samuel converted, which was somewhat controversial with his family. however, cima agreed to join the family business, where she became an integral but sometimes ruthless member. after algerian independence, she brought some of her trusted family and community into the fold as well, some moving to england and others to france
both cima and samuel believed very heavily in responsibility, though what it meant for each of them was different. cima believed in preparedness and follow-through, samuel believed in family and protection, doing what's right outside of the bounds of the law. this contributed a lot to how they raised their children
when they were born, mary and stuart were raised in england (and i like to think they have an oldest brother). the hatfords were a big family, and influential, although careful about balancing the legal and less-legal sides of their business. the ben nahmans were smaller, and most of them were in france so mary and her brothers saw them less often. they were raised very religiously and culturally jewish, though close with the caribbean side of their family too, as well as being the first generation who were born and raised in england. this put them at a cross-section of three very different cultures, and was where mary first learned about changing and blending in with different groups
mary was the youngest and a little bit spoiled by her father, aunties, and uncles. her mother however was much less tolerant of her. clearly very affected by her time in the war, cima became extremely distrustful and suspicious, and tried to instill in her children a similar sentiment of secrecy and self-sufficiency, avoiding attention and casual relationships. she could be harsh on them, especially mary, who was the most resistant to this
growing up, mary was irresponsible and fun-loving, goading her brothers and cousins, getting in trouble, and starting fights. she didn't understand the tenuous balance of being organized crime, and at times put the whole family at risk by overestimating their sway. her mistakes affected the whole family but it was usually her mother who confronted her about them first and most harshly
she resented her mother's control, and didn't understand the reasons behind it. she also couldn't differentiate between the boundaries her mother sets as a result of her own trauma, and the necessary boundaries she set for the safety of the family, viewing them as one and the same, and leading her to hate any kind of control exerted over her
really, a lot of cima's character is just who mary ends up becoming after being married to nathan and being on the run. i like the story of a child becoming the parent they once hated. rather than learn from her mother, both her failures and her successes, mary becomes her, doomed to make the same mistakes. this is also why cima is wounded by a landmine, because mary dies in fire
---
nathan wesninski
nathan was HARD to come up with a story for, mostly because,,, WHY THE FUCK DOES THIS GUY WORK FOR THE JAPANESE YAKUZA
wesninski is a VERY polish name. the japanese-polish connection is,, not super strong
so anyway, working off the idea of the wesninski family being a polish jewish one, WHERE is he going to meet a japanese crimelord to get into a multi-generation debt/business arrangement with?
turns out, the answer is brazil
brazil actually has a large jewish population (roughly 10th largest in the world). it began with its colonization by the portuguese, but the 19th century to modern population largely comes from central and eastern europe. brazil ALSO has the largest japanese population outside of japan
also this story ended up being WAY more detailed and prosaic than samuel&cima's story, which is basically just bullet points. there's no reason for this i love both stories very much just for some reason the words flowed for me here and not there
to avoid having a second jewish story where wwII is prominent, the wesninskis get a page out of my own family's book: nathan's grandfather (neil's great grandfather) came to the americas fleeing the russian pograms around the turn of the 20th century
so
Wesninski came to brazil (city undecided, have a lot more research to do about individual cities in brazil). he had waardenburg syndrome(a hereditary genetic condition that can affect eyes and hearing) which runs very strongly in his family (his son, nathan, and neil will all inherit it), and he is completely Deaf. while he came to brazil alone, in his new home he connected both with the local jewish community and the local deaf community, and eventually marries another Deaf Jewish woman
eventually they were able to establish a kosher deli and restaurant in the city, one which became a common hangout for the Deaf community. then one day (probably around 1915), a group of japanese men came in, and kept returning
these were the moriyamas, recently arrived from japan, in a place with very few japanese people and businesses. they liked the wesninski deli because they didn't share a language with anyone in there, couldn't even be heard by most of them, and it would also be difficult for the authorities to question them. two layers of protection for a crime family in a vulnerable place
wesninski and the moriyamas were amicable to each other, but as they didn't actually have a way to communicate that was the extent of it. but the moriyamas were polite and payed well and didn't bother the other customers. als, as a jewish establishment, they had a lot of education resources, which were helpful to the moriyamas in learning about brazilian society, including beginning to understand portuguese
now, in japan, the moriyamas were a small yakuza family. they got driven out by their bigger and stronger and more established competition around the time when japanese immigration to brazil was just starting, so that was where they went. though they had little option in where they ended up, they also had little competition in establishing their business
i still have a lot of research to do about the moriyamas. about both how the yakuza operate and about how brazilian organized crime works, and about life in brazil for early japanese immigrants. so a lot of the moriyama details are pretty vague
now the wesninskis had a son, meyer (nathan's father. name in reference to meyer lansky, famous american jewish mobster of polish descent) who was around 14 when the moriyamas arrived. he himself was not fully deaf like his parents, though was hard of hearing and raised in the Deaf community. as he goes through his rebellious teenage years, well, the gangsters are right there
in the early days the moriyamas were still more concerned with mostly the japanese enclaves, but they had aspirations of expanding. meyer wasn't japanese, but he was helpful to the moriyamas who came into the deli to study. he was perceptive and bold, could keep a secret, knew his way around knives from working in the deli, and knew the city. he was a good asset to them, and he was interested in causing some trouble
over the next ten years or so, meyer got increasingly more involved, alongside the moriyamas becoming increasingly more established throughout the city. he goes from someone who helps out occasionally and relays information beyween parties to getting involved with minor shakedowns, bribery, evidence disposal. by the time he's in his 20s he's thoroughly enmeshed
his parents were older when they had him, and his father died relatively young, leaving meyer the store and his mother to take care of. they were vaguely aware of his connections to the moriyamas and didn't approve of what he did with them but he also kept the worst from them, and was always a diligent son, and the only one they had. he assured them no matter how far he went that he wasn't "really" part of the gang
"yakuza have tattoos, and see, ima? no tattoos. i'm still a good jewish son, not a gangster"
now the problem arises when meyer falls for camara da machado, a young Deaf woman who frequents the store
(based on/inspired by/FC yaya dacosta (where the name comes from) and rutina wesley)
she was a Deaf girl born to a hearing family who struggled to give her the support she needed, maybe even just a single mother, and she'd spent a lot of time alone at the deli from a young age (12-ish?). she was shy and quiet and a little bit of a shrinking violet, but the wesninskis became very fond of her. she started tentatively helping them out around the store which became a job. she was often included in family meals and holidays, and always had a bed in their apartment above the deli if she needed one, and more than once had helped patch meyer up after he got in trouble to hide the extent of it from his parents
she was a couple years younger than him but he'd always been sweet on her. and she'd had a crush on him from basically the moment she'd layed eyes on him. they'd known each for years and camara was basically family, and then one day when they were both in their 20s it just suddenly clicked for them
so meyer and camara fell in love. meyer was head of the house, had to keep the deli running, and had his mother, camara, and possibly camara's mother (undecided at this juncture) to worry about and he decided he didn't want to continue working with the moriyamas in case it dragged his family into danger. being a gangster was a fling of youth and he was ready to grow up
when he informed the moriyamas of this though, they,,, did not agree.
while MEYER might not have considered himself part of the gang, THEY didn't think he just got to walk away. he'd worked with them for too long and knew too much. there might even have been a desire to tie him to the family permanently through marriage. and well,, one man against a growing criminal empire can't do much
it was a huge shock to him, and made him truly realize how naive and reckless he'd been. he'd been a dumb kid who wanted to start some trouble, the moriyamas were career criminals. they expected that once you were in, you were in for life, and they did not take kindly to meyer disagreeing with this
he didn't know how to explain this to his family... so he didn't. they'd all told him they wanted him to stop, but he'd meant for the announcement to be a surprise. after learning that he would not be permitted to walk away, he chose to just hide it and continue with business as usual
it worked for a while, maybe a few years, a time during which the moriyamas were getting a lot more brutal as they got more established and increasingly looked to expand, putting them in competition with other gangs and greater law enforcement, until they were a true crime empire spread across whole regions of the country. meyer had lost a lot of esteem in their eyes by asking to leave, leading them to put him under increasing scrutiny and giving him more incriminating tasks, to ensure that he would be incriminated if he ever tried to turn them in. it's during this time that he first had to kill for them
then camara got pregnant
and meyer was terrified. he didn't know how the moriyamas would deal with a kid. the only marriages and children he knew of within the family were endorsed by the boss, many arranged by him, and he knew his wouldn't be approved. yakuza wives were heavily involved with the business too, and he absolutely did not want that for camara
he broke down and told her everything. she's horrified, and furious that he kept it from her, but she didn't want to give up her baby. it would be hard, but she believed they can keep it hidden, and if the moriyamas found out, maybe it wouln't be so bad?
(spoiler: it would)
they have a son, born natan da machado, under his mother's name
meyer and camara never got married. meyer was going to propose after he left the moriyamas but that obviously didn't happen. marriages were supposed to be blessed by the boss, and meyer never dared to ask. they already lived together, anyway
but with natan, they decided that meyer couldn't acknowledge him as his own. in the deli or in the streets, he didn't acknowledge natan. he was camara's bastard son, and meyer didn't want anything to do with him
it was a flimsy disguise at best. natan was mixed, but there was a strong enough resemblance to his father. even if his hair was a darker red or he had brown skin, they had the same eyes
they tried to keep him away from the moriyamas as he grew up, hoping they wouldn't see him and make the connection, but they also kept him very hidden in general, just in case. he spent a lot of time inside, with his grandmothers
and that was how natan grew up, feeling like a secret, his father cold and distant, only acknowledging him in their apartment. cut off from other kids his age. a hearing boy in a Deaf family (natan himself was HoH but still had most of his hearing. meyer and his maternal grandmother could both hear, but they had gotten out of the habit of it and mostly communicated through sign)
natan developed a deep feeling of resentment towards his father and shame about himself from a young age. he felt like a mistake, defective somehow. so wrong he had to be hidden away from everyone
there's only so long that you can hide a child, though, and when natan was around ten the moriyamas found out about him, and they were not happy.
they didn't like split attention or loyalty. they kept children and family under very tight wraps. they should be one hundred percent enmeshed in the moriyama empire, raised to be loyal and helpful in whatever way they were needed. the fact that meyer wanted and was willing to leave for this family, and then hid his son, was a huge betrayal
still, they gave him an opportunity to prove his loyalty: kill camara or the moriyamas would kill them all: her, natan, meyer, and both their mothers
but meyer couldn't do it, and instead he told camara to run and hope they didn't actually care enough to chase her down. and she did. and she couldn't take natan with her. (i haven't fully fleshed out why yet, currently thinking that meyer was given this ultimatium when they already had natan)
so camara left her son, and got away
i built the story of mary's mother as a reflection of mary's story if something had been different, and i built nathan's story the same way. his wife takes her son and runs away with him when the moriyamas try to take him from her. nathan's mother was in the same situation and left him behind
over the next forty years of his belonging to the moriyamas he gets to marinate in that resentment. from the father that ignored to the mother who ran away from him, he internalizes it as being something wrong with him, not the circumstances. the more he's taught to torture and kill and the more he excels at it, the more this belief gets cemented. he's good at killing, he was meant to kill. he's twisted and broken and wrong inside and he always was and his parents always knew
and then when it happens again but differently this time he throws away a decade and millions of dollars and his standing with his boss to hunt down his son and his wife because he didn't get to run away so why should they? why does mary love nathaniel more than camara loved natan?
from here, the exact detail's of nathan's story aren't quite solidified. whether he was raised by his father from then on or by his grandmothers (or whether his grandmothers left with his mother) or whether the moriyamas put him somewhere else entirely, but from then on he lived under the moriyamas' direct supervision, and they taught him how to turn a knife on a man
they took his mother's name from him, though, so he's natan wesninski, not natan da machado, because they own the wesninskis now
and when the moriyamas decided to expand beyond brazil when natan was a young man instead of a child, and settled on the east coast of the US, they renamed him nathan, because it sounded more "american"
---
so that's it. obviously there are still a lot of unfinished details in both stories, but they're strong enough at this point to stand on their own and i haven't changed or rethought a lot of the major details in a long time
i've become extremely attached to these OCs and their stories, and i hope they interest other people too. some day i'd like to write them out in prose properly, along with the story of nathan and mary meeting, but that'll be a while away considering the pace i move at
so until then i just wanted to put this out there
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backslashdelta · 4 years ago
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What do you like about Puck?
ALRIGHT JAS LET'S DO THIS
First, I just want to say... I always feel a bit nervous talking about how much I like Puck's character. A lot of people don't like him because of who he is portrayed by (which is understandable), and a lot of people don't like him because he has done some pretty questionable/problematic things in canon (also understandable). I'm not trying to say that people are wrong to dislike him; he's a fictional character, everybody is allowed to like who they like and dislike who they dislike. But I'm also not interested in arguing with anybody about why I shouldn't like him.
Now, on to the things I like about Noah Puckerman!
The first thing is easy; dude's got a great voice. I'm a sucker for a nice voice, so... that definitely doesn't hurt.
I think he shows a lot of character growth throughout the series. When we first meet him, he's this popular jock tossing other kids into dumpsters. By the end of the show (and long before that, really), he's not that person anymore. My Noah Puckerman is the guy who has no issue dressing in drag for Glee club without even being asked because he doesn't care what other people think, he just wants to help his friends.
He genuinely tries to be a good dad. Does he go about it in the best way all the time? No, definitely not. But he's still a kid, so I don't expect him to. He tries to step up and be like the father he never had, and I really respect him for that, especially because he really didn't know what he was doing but tried anyway.
I really like his storyline with Lauren. It's not perfect (nothing in Glee is), but I love that he's so clearly into her and that he's not ashamed of that. As someone who is also fat, I relate to her in a lot of ways, and seeing how obvious and direct he is in expressing his feelings for her is really meaningful and impactful for me.
I love the prom moments with Becky (unfortunately not me, but I wish). I think Puck is a really kind person, and this is a really good example of that.
I'll be honest in that I don't know very much about Judaism (or religion in general), but I have heard people say that he is, in general, a good example of a Jewish character, so I think that's good representation to have.
I think he has a lot of mental health issues that were literally never addressed in canon, and because people just don't like him, nobody thinks about that. His father left and only comes around (very rarely) when he needs something. It was played as a joke constantly that he had a thing for older women, but that's not funny. He is a kid, these women are taking advantage of him. And it wasn't a one time thing, it was frequent enough to basically be a running joke? And especially what went on with Shelby, none of that was okay. My boy deserved better. I think there have been a lot of things in his life that have probably kinda fucked him up emotionally, but nobody takes the time to notice because he's Puck, he's this tough guy who solves his problems with his fists, but I just think there's a lot more to him than that.
I'm sure there are more, but these are the things that come to mind right away. Essentially what it comes down to, though, is that I think Puck has a genuinely good heart, I think he is a genuinely kind person, and I think a lot of that is overlooked because of how he comes off on the surface.
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mcnuggyy · 4 years ago
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I don't understand how, besides being a character named after Tacos who really wants to make a Taco (which Justin admitted was racially insensitive on his part), and that being kind of a gag, how exactly is Taako racially coded at all? It kind of seems like it's all just based on his name being a joke by a white creator who wasn't thinking of the racial implications. I just don't understand why he can't really be any race anyone wants him to be (including latine btw) 1/2
2/2 The blue thing I get, btw, and I'm definitely not suggesting that as an alternative, or that we should whitewash a latine character for the sake of it-- I just don't think the McElroys have ever said he's latine. And I think judging people for being uncomfortable with their version of Taako being a representation of latine characters by assuming they have ill intent when they draw a non-latine coded Taako is maybe wrong.
-
Hey! So I actually kinda talked about this before, but I had a REALLY BIG thought about this in the morning actually, so hopefully I can shed a bit of light on this. (I am ignoring that canonically Taako is a Sun Elf for this)
Okay so, overall because of the McElroy's decision to keep the podcast as “race neutral” as possible, purposely living things up to interpretation, (except for the few canon characters of color (which is like 3 lmao)) This means that any slight deviation from this “neutrality” has very serious implications when it happens. It is NO coincidence that both Jewish people and Latine people have found themselves heavily relating to Taako, hc him as Jewish and/or Latine, etc. It would be foolish to think of this as simply coincidence when the text itself kind of gives us reason to. And in this “race neutral” world, that little bit is all you need. 
(i may be reaching a bit but again, i want to emphasize how BECAUSE, this world is MEANT to exist in a “race free” world, LMAO whatever the hell that means, any bit of reference to culture or ethnicity is a very big deal)
Taako says stuff in Yiddish, and one of his big character arcs, is looking for the lost connection of his sister (whether he realizes it or not) and reconnecting with those lost bonds through tex-mex food. He navigates the world through food, that’s kind of his thing. Which to me is a VERY first generation, second generation, child of mexican immigrants, etc. narrative to me. Like that is1000% a Tejano/Chicano narrative to have. Having a nickname/name like Taako, Lup, Tostada, etc. IS SOMETHING we MEXICANS DO TOO LIKE A LOT, I have cousins who are nicknamed Brownie, Dulce, Coco, Guayaba, and Manzanita, and other people have name’s like Concha, which is both shell and a type of bread that looks like a shell, like honestly whether Justin realizes it or not, SILLY NICKNAMES LIKE THIS ARE KIND OF A CULTURAL THING.... White people have nicknames sometimes sure, but for us, it is like a right of passage, it is a big part of who you are, and you can even end up with many different nicknames, some are just PLAIN MEAN, like Chachalaco (someone who never shuts up), Gordita, or mine being Guero (white boyyyy) Like I RELATE TO THEIR NAMES, and that might not make sense to you, but as someone who literally has oc’s named after Mexican food from when I was a kid (Takito, Flor, and Churro) ... well.... sorry but that’s Latine culture babeyyyy
(also own personal hc but like... i can totally picture these little Latine kid’s fucking choosing their own name’s / nickname’s cause that’s like exactly what me and my siblings were like as kid’s smh) 
( also Lup.... Lupita... Lupe.... Guadalupe.. Lupes.... Maria Guadalupe.... smhhh
it’s literally the most common name, it’s SO funny to me, that ALONE is enough in my opinion LMAO, you can’t name a character a common short hand for a name like Guadalupe and NOT expect me to gravitate towards her smh 
-respectfully, a fellow Guadalupe) 
I get what the brothers were trying to do by letting fans hc and come up with their own designs and stuff, but when it comes to race and ethnicity it can become kind of an issue... And as I said in the beginning, because they tried to keep the world as “blank” as possible (which often times really just means white lets be honest here) that means any small instance of a character breaking this neutrality, becomes very difficult to ignore. And I really think, ignoring how many Jewish and Latine fans relate to Taako and Lup, seems like a disservice .... there is clearly something going on here, and I don’t think we should ignore it.
At the end of the day, it is what it is, and there isn’t much else besides this, and Taako canonically being a Sun Elf, and his relationship to food, that to me feels very cultural and important, especially when it comes to trying to reconnect with something you lost (whether it’s family, or traditions), it’s all very metaphorical, but I think it does have some very strong references there that I and many others see themselves in. 
(and ofc Latin America is very diverse so there’s that too) 
Also I think it’s important to acknowledge that my biggest issue with blue Taako has always been the way the issue went about and what occurred. White peoples opinions on the matter were prioritized, and instead of LISTENING to poc, the McElroy’s let their white guilt take the lead... I would just like for them to have some creatives of color on their team at this point, is that too much to ask?
I think I am very much aloud to remain bitter and upset about this... I don’t want white people getting offended on my behalf over something that isn’t actually offensive, and would actually be pretty awesome representation in my opinion. But again, white voices, feelings, and opinions have been prioritized, and I just have to accept that lmao. 
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