#your benny and brax art made my day
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thebraxiatelcollection · 2 years ago
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@romanathree i might have a problem...😅❤️
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stillthesunkenstars · 3 years ago
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good evening bestie i want to get into benny but i'm not quite sure where to start (i've made a list of stuff i found on reddit that people said were essential) and as you're like. the staple of the bernice summerfield fanbase i've come to ask for advice. this is the list of vnas i assume i need to read before i start listening to the audios:
Love and War, The Highest Science (?), Theatre of War, All-Consuming Fire, The Shadow of the Scourge, The Dark Flame, Bernice Summerfield and the Criminal Code, The Hesitation Deviation, Set Piece (?), Human Nature, Original Sin, The Dying Days, Buried Treasures
if you like, could you maybe recommend anything else/point out if anything's missing/surplus? considering the fact that the dweu is as convoluted as wired earphones in a pocket, i felt like i should ask a person who knows about this stuff, and this fandom consists of like 5 people so you were the first one who came to mind. thank you so much, and have a great day! love your art btw ♥
(Awww thank you so much!!) To be honest I don’t think Benny series itself requires any vnas to read? While the VNAs have a lot of good Benny content reading the BSNAs (mostly set on dellah) would link much more directly to the big finish series I think, also for the BF series most of the plot are in the novellas and the anthologies so make sure u don’t miss those!!
Additional stuff… I think reading theatre of war and dragon’s wrath (book version for this!! The audio doesn’t have brax also the book links directly to the ending of gallifrey 4.2 disassembled which has brax backstory with dr who) which are benny and brax’s two first meetings would give a lot of context for Stuff (especially why brax reacted so strongly about ‘the good soldiers’ in life during wartime)
Most of the cast are introduced in the BF series itself but Jason has a lot of backstory in Dave Stone’s VNAs and BSNAs which I’m very interested in!! But not yet had the time to catch up on so I recommend asking someone else for him
Also if you want to ask further u can join my Benny discord server (there’s a Benny timeline there and Benny book links and stuff also I’m having finals these 2 weeks so I May be busy.. orz)
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magicofthepen · 4 years ago
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Gallifrey Relisten: The Inquiry
So this time I’m posting my reaction thoughts before listening to the corresponding @podofrassilon episode, so I’m curious to see if there’s anything that’s a) the same as someone’s thoughts on the podcast or b) in wild disagreement with someone thoughts on the podcast, because both are fun. And I might do a followup post if there are new things I want to talk about after listening to the podcast? Although mostly I’m just excited to hear other people talk about this episode because there are a few key things that fall under the category of “this is probably an interesting thing to theorize/speculate about but I haven’t really done that and it would be cool to hear other people do that.”
Spoilers for/mentions of: A Blind Eye, Lies, Enemy Lines, plus vague references to overall character arcs. 
“I am Lady Romanadvoratrelundar, President of the Supreme Council of Gallifrey and All Her Dominions, Holder of the Wisdom of Rassilon, Preserver of the Matrix, Guardian of the Legacy of Omega.” Romana, please.
“What is Narvin after? Why does he take part?” “Because he has no choice.” No, Narvin definitely was the one who called the inquiry, Leela has a valid point here. The motivations are a bit...weird, idk, in Weapon of Choice Narvin wants to hold Romana accountable, but this not-impartial inquiry with Brax in charge is definitely....not that. Was he hoping there would be a more genuine investigation into the Gryben incident but it didn’t work out? Did he care less about the inquiry after Romana didn’t actually end up starting a war or something in Weapon of Choice? Did he just want to make a point that when she crosses a line, he’ll make sure it isn’t forgotten? 
“He’s CIA, of course he’s up to something.” The venom directed towards the CIA here...it’s a bit hilarious. Listen, I know, I know that Romana has solid personal reasons to distrust the CIA at this point, but I’m still like...bold words from a future CIA Coordinator. 
“Whatever happened, the CIA recruited Narvin and he never looked back.” This is flagged purely to note that I’m excited to hear people’s Narvin backstory headcanons. And also, I’m not sure if I just never pay attention to this, but who was running Project Alpha, if not the CIA? That kind of weapon feels like it would already fall under the CIA’s supervision. 
There’s definitely a messy dynamic there with Narvin and "Torvald” and trust — Narvin lets “Torvald” hang around, but doesn’t actually want to tell him everything about Project Alpha. Obviously Narvin doesn’t know "Torvald’s” real identity, but at what point does he realize that Real Torvald was in league with Free Time? Is there a time when he shifts from some semblance of trust to strictly pretending to trust him? Does Narvin really trust anyone ever at this point? 
Romana figures out a way to track the device, but like. Has no one been looking for it this whole time? 
Darkel agrees to let Leela go as an impartial observer, and is generally pretty chill with Leela? Also pretty chill in general? Another big “I want to hear Thoughts about this” thing is Darkel’s shift in attitude towards Romana and Leela between The Inquiry and Lies — I think I’ve seen some ideas about it, but it isn’t set up in the same way that you can hear Narvin getting increasingly pissed at Romana the longer series one goes on. 
There are these recurring discussion of trust in this episode — Romana: Don’t trust Narvin. Or Torvald. Leela: I do not. They have let me down before. / Narvin: Do you trust the President? Leela: Why do you ask? / Leela to Brax: I trust you. And actually, it’s all about who Leela trusts (or is being told to trust, or doesn’t trust), which is super interesting considering the end of the next episode is going to leave Leela with some major trust issues. 
“Trust is something that is earned. Perhaps one day [Braxiatel] and Romana will earn your trust.” “I doubt it.” Well, Leela and Narvin are both half right. 
I wrote down “Andred you asshole” and now I genuinely can’t remember what I was referring to, but it sounds right. 
Narvin has moments where he’s almost being respectful towards Leela, but ruins it — i.e. “That Savage knows more about the art of war than you do.” 
Romana’s insistence that “Andred is probably dead and really you should move on” is uhhhhhh not the most supportive behavior but also dear god she really wants to be Leela’s favorite doesn’t she. 
The iconic: “One thing our President cannot be accused of is incompetence.” speech. :)
“I can make mistakes. And my mistakes have consequences.” A flickering moment of self-awareness from our favorite disaster president. 
Romana: “I’m going, Narvin, and you can’t stop me.” Me: yeah that’s the show isn’t it.
When exactly does the “metaphorical bridge at midnight” scene take place for Brax? He doesn’t seem to know about the threat of the data bomb yet, and he’s already dealt with the sculpture by the end of the episode in Present Times, and the meeting is clearly meant to be close to the present, but I’ve never really thought about when exactly it falls.
Kind of related: I am in general really interested in hearing other people talk about Brax because I don’t have many Brax thoughts myself? Mainly because I’ve only listened to Gallifrey (haven’t listened to Benny, haven’t read any of the books), so I feel like I can’t really form strong opinions or headcanons or theories about Brax’s character because there’s so much I don’t know about him. 
This is something I’ve seen other people talk about, but Narvin is actually being considerate of Leela’s feelings in this episode? “With all due respect to your late husband” — it backfires, but he is trying to acknowledge her loss even while he’s criticizing the Chancellery Guard. And then the whole bit where he hesitates to tell her exactly what Andred said to him, and quickly reassures her that Andred was lying when he was saying terrible things about Leela. I think Narvin’s behavior in that latter scene is partially motivated by trying to keep her calm and drag out telling her about Andred until Torvald can get there for backup (she was threatening him), but there’s another part of it that does seem quite genuine.   
Yet another episode this season where the solution is to let the bomb go off, to let events run their course. 
So if Brax and Narvin were the only people who knew about Project Alpha, how did Arkadian know to steal the device to try to provoke a war? Certain Theories About Arkadian aside...the question of how the heck he knew it existed and how to go after it is an interesting one. All questions about Arkadian are interesting ones tbh, considering there are no answers about Arkadian. 
It genuinely took me several times listening through Gallifrey before I realized that they did actually destroy a planet at the end of the episode because they’re very chill about it? Oh, this device is So Terrible, but yeah, it’s cool if it kills everybody on that planet because that’s how Time Goes. It’s not even really made into a moral dilemma? Idk it always felt a bit tonally inconsistent with the other episodes this series, which I think is why I genuinely did not follow this bit of plot for so long.
Okay, so when the timonic fusion device was stolen, it was snatched right before detonation? And wasn’t there a whole thing in episode one about how the detonation sequence couldn’t be stopped? (I mean, it wasn’t a real detonation sequence in episode one, but still). The point is: they stole it like a second before it blew up and really quickly turned it off...how? (This is mostly just me being nitpicky for fun, I don’t actually care that much about the details, this is Doctor Who.)
Kind of alluded to this above, but yet another episode that ends with Narvin being pissed at Romana (here for disregarding Brax breaking the rules). 
Next Episode Reaction: A Blind Eye
Previous Episode Reaction: Square One
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stillthesunkenstars · 5 years ago
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Bev!!
How I feel about this character: ‘I’m a bev Tarrant Stan first and human second’ quoth me circa 2019. My first strong impression of her is from Judas gift where she outwitted brax who tried to manipulate her to death and that audio made me love her so much. She was born of aristocracy (been taught violin as ‘another accessory for a successful society lady to a gifted daughter’ in parallel lives) and eventually became the art thief we met in the Bellotron incident. To be honest her personality is really similar to brax’s: born in a higher power but still forced to fight for their lives to survive in harsh situations, and both of those experiences gave them trauma and insecurity but they manifests in wholly different ways.
During her time during early collection era, she developed a sense of belonging during the occupation and choosing to be a leader of the resistance from day one. She is fiercely loyal to the home she chosen and does everything within her power to protect it from harm. This is similar to brax’s whole survival shenanigans but her drive to protect isn’t about control, it’s about resisting with your allies, fighting from the dark and doing everything with the direct purpose to fight back. This is influenced by her time as a mercenary/art thief and that way of forming small squads with people you can trust back to back and fighting in a world where everyone fends for themselves. Just like Brax’s thing about control is linked to his lack of security being controlled as a soldier. After brax left the collection, she stepped up and became the director of the collection, taking brax’s place and trying to lead everyone out from his shadows. She feels the same responsibility as brax does but she wants to display power and restore order without the having brax’s tendency to control everything, instead forms a close support group with Benny, Jason and adrian and trusts them. She takes the best path possible but fails because she doesn’t have brax’s fame and connections, and the collection is malfunctioning without brax (which I think brax purposefully caused to make for a reason for Benny to bring him back)
And even in Judas gift when her cunning and insecurity saves her, her suspicions is towards people other than the ones in her own clique (possibly a suspicion about brax after fear of corners) and she was right!!!! Bev and brax both do not trust the world because they had experiences about cruel betrayal, but bev is firm in her trust to her friends and opens up to them while brax isolates himself and with only himself(sometimes literally) to speak to, this reinforces his paranoia to the point where it’s impossible to change his mindset. She only does things which methods and goal she believes in (without the brax’s twisted mindset) and I think that’s v sexy of her. QUEEN OF GETTING IT RIGHT
All the people I ship romantically with this character: Uh none bro I literally can not comprehend romance
My non-romantic OTP for this character: bevadrian is v good one!!! Their bonds deepen in parallel lives and collected works and it’s solely share experience, tenderness and a fierce want to protect each other and it’s really nice to see... bevbenny is also really good though, their tension at the start over Adrian is resolved and they bond through fighting for the same cause... glory days is truely epic bevbenny shit. Also I like to think about braxbev simply for the animosity(without love but a grudging respect) and that they were both the head of the collection?? Bev literally tried to defend the gang from brax’s seemingly murderous ghost?? And brax tried to kill bev first thing he came back?? I Would Like to see them Fight
My unpopular opinion about this character: uhhh none??? I lov her a lot wholly
One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: I really want more of her during and after the Deindum arc... like just a sentence mentioning her marrying Adrian is pretty disappointing I would like her to have a Proper Goodbye... (maybe not the same level as brax and Jason because like for her to say something herself?
The boy Braxiatel and Bev Tarrant for the character meme :D
thank u for asking!!!!!!
Brax
How I feel about this character: I think his development is very cool. No seriously I love his characterization from dellah to collection. He had foreseen his arc since axis (hence the... fish incident) and everything he tried to do to avoid it had only led him to become what he feared the most, it appears to have started only after axis but it is foreshadowed(?) since gallifrey. On gallifrey he trained as a soldier under Danna and from from what he said about the minefield it’s pretty unforgiving. Her learnt that simply being a pawn for the greater powers cannot do anything to the outcome of a war, he was cannon fodder for the commanders no matter how good he might be at combat or strategy. And though Danna may had thought the minefield incident taught him to be cautious but brax learnt never to trust those in power again because they do not care about the sacrifices of their pawns. In his insecurity, brax sought to know more and control more and ultimately, become the person in power so he would not be manipulated and sacrificed again without knowing why. (hubris that under his control everything would be better/he would be a benevolent god and paranoia of what disasters could happen if he doesnt take control)
but how does he act in the collection where he controls all? He did exactly what his past superiors had done in wartimes, taking peoples lives and using them as pawns not out of selfishness, but under the genuine belief that it would be better for the greater good. Once in crisis his anxiety took control of him and while he is fully aware of that he is becoming (and they became monsters), he is also fully fixiated on the thought that this would be the only way to a good future. (P much copy-pasted from my Twitter thread)
Brax is a very ironic and tragic character and everything about him (his presentation/demeanor/actions) are ultimately forged for security, he doesn’t believe in what he does but he does believe the results of doing those things would be one that he hoped for. His original personality is still there (like a piece of metal) but he fashions himself into a sword and fights for an ultimate bloodied peace. And that irony also makes him pretty comedic like he could be doing yoga and experimenting on babies in one audio story and see nothing conflicting lmao??? And turn into a rock??? Honestly he has the range!!
I could think about him all day but I have one(1) maths exam tmr and it’s lowkey killing me qwq
All the people I ship romantically with this character: uh. darkship with Veronica the plant??? ‘Love is not love if it’s forced’ what if in another interpretation he meant Veronica forced him to romantically love her? And there was Renee before that broke up with him due to different ideas on long term relationships... I Can and Will water my own crops by hc-in him as aro
My non-romantic OTP for this character: bennybrax cleanses my soul like no other dynamics. They are so different yet in their core they are so similar on a deeper level, their interactions with each other are brilliant too they bounce off each other too well the fuck!!!!!! Also johnbrax is a big one Bc they have big exes energy and the simple reason of John being the only one to outplay brax in the mysteryman game is enough and I respect him too much for it (also... face touching.. tender time lord gay shit???? I’m in)
My unpopular opinion about this character: uh I’m probably gonna get fucked for this but I don’t ship braxmana (not anymore). I esp don’t like their early gally dynamics with brax simping for her, I do like both of their characters though but there is not enough deep heart to heart shit for me to vibe with
One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: a good character death which already happend thank you bf for my life qwq... tbh I love meaningful character deaths at the end of arcs it’s way better than dragging stuff on. I don’t want him to die in gallifrey though because all his doings in the collection are for a chance to save gallifrey, which he gave up for benny’s plan to restore the universe. I Would like to see him doing something about it now that he’s given a second chance by the watchmaker?!! Also I would like him to meet Benny one more goddamn time... perhaps a recall to theatre of war which should’ve happened but is not impossible Bc the axis destroying the good soldiers?
I’ll do bev Tarrant later in reblogging this post!
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