Hello peeps! Long time no see. I'm running a 2Doc week prompt list for anyone interested. Anyone deciding to participate, please tag your post with '2docweek2022' or @ me and I will reblog any wonderful artwork people create! Posting it earlier so people who want to try and do all the prompts have some head start! I look forward to what people create :D

making plans for the band in the dingy corner of a bar, crawley new town circa 1998

ver. 2, in color

happy trans awareness week, trans siblings!!! 🏳️‍⚧️ here’s some hc art of the boyz

- murdoc: genderqueer, gay, demiromantic

-2d: pre-op trans man. he wears binders though isn’t upset to be seen without one. he’s bisexual

-russel: post-op trans man 20 years on t. queer

-ace: post op trans man 8 years on t. bisexual

-snake: genderfluid masc presenting. gay, demisexual

I read All Up The Seething Coast on the train a few weeks back (cried heavily after the fact, mostly unrelated) and decided to go through all your other 2doc fics. Excellent shit, really appreciate how accurately you got their characters down + as a brit I love how you write their dialogue lol. Neat stuff, love your work :] Forever changed 2doc for me I love these nasty men in a mutually unbeneficial relationship

Thank you so much! I still feel I can't properly express what messages like this mean to me. This ask in particular came at a strangely divined time-- I had just looked through a few of the "stat" tabs on AO3 for the first time in a long long while, a bit wistful, and then navigated to Tumblr and here was this ask! I really am so glad you enjoyed, and er, also sorry about some of the clunkier Brit dialogue and narration, haha. There is an ocean between our dialects and sometimes I think I was just throwing the oar in the water and seeing how far it floated. I truly still yearn to see these nasty men in their mutually unbeneficial relationship drag each other down like anchors, and I'm grateful if anyone else is finding this weird catalogue and giving it the old college try.

Thank you for reading (especially Seething Coast, which unraveled my brain in irreversible ways) and for taking the time to reach out. It means more than you know!

will u ever write for gorillaz again? i hope im not intruding/demanding or anything its just ur 2doc is possibly like. the only one i feel like i will ever ever enjoy. its so good. i miss it so much. but either way, i totally understand if u wont. hope you're well <3

Hello! It's not intruding at all; it's very meaningful to me to know there are people out there who enjoy my writing. I know I've lamented so much about it on my other blog (non-Gorillaz followers of this blog who didn't even know I wrote sad grotty fic, look away) that it must become tedious, it must feel overdramatized, but... it is true that writing carries a certain loneliness in it. At least, writing as I interacted with it did. It was difficult to put such a daunting amount of time and vulnerability into a more serious piece of writing, any piece of writing, and to then think it just disappears; it falls off the front page, and anyone who encounters it again for the rest of the internet's lifespan views it as "old," and therefore the author has ceased to exist in more than a few letters at the top of the page. All of that is to say that it really, really does mean something to me when someone like yourself reaches out. I never have anything but gratitude for that.

Will I write 2Doc again? Maybe! I certainly haven't thrown the characters away entirely, and I still have hope alive in my heart that something can stir my love in coming phases... one really great piece of Jamie art or really tawdry interview that catches something of the characters I loved could pull me back, I like to think! It's not really a question of whether I'd write 2Doc, but more whether I'll find the time to write again at all. I had many ambitions for personal writing that I never saw through, and even felt a spark and began drafting ideas for mostly-unrelated fic... but I'm sorry to offer the unglamorous reveal that working 40-50 hours a week can really tire you out mentally, and I haven't made the time for writing. I will never say never! But at the moment, writing has been more of a theoretical thing for me.

When we do get more Gorillaz news and art with a new phase, if there's something worthwhile there, I'd like to at least whip up some joking dialogue, maybe some short drabbles if I don't feel up to a full fic again! And I'm always happy to talk about the characters over on @tothedarkdarkseas if you give me the opportunity to ramble!

Talking about 2Ds eyes

I’ve seen a lot of people with different theories on why 2Ds eyes change from black to white in different phases and stuff and there was one that really stuck out to me, so I’m gonna add my two cents. I wanna preface this by saying while it makes somewhat sense that 2D could be possessed, I dislike that that theory and I’ll elaborate later on why.

Gonna split this into sections as well so it’s easier to read, it’ll probably end up rantish anyways.

TW: Mentions of abuse, addiction, eye injury and most cannon typical Gorillaz stuff

(This is not a 2Doc post, I heavily dislike that ship and none of my Gorillaz posts will be about shipping)

Why are 2Ds eyes black anyways?

If you are into the Gorillaz lore at all you’ll probably know the backstory to this. 2Ds black eyes are from 8-ball fractures (also known as a level 4 hyphema), which can be caused by a number of things but most namely blunt force trauma to your eye or head. Before the band was officially formed, Murdoc planned to rob an instrument store by driving through the window, stealing as many keyboards as he could and driving away. In the process of driving through the window he hit 2D, fracturing his first eye and sending him into a catatonic state. His punishment was many community service hours and to take care of 2D, which he abused by “bullying him within an inch of his catatonic life”. While trying to impress some ladies he did donuts in a lot, and while going 90 2D flew out of the window and hit his other eye on the curb, fracturing it too. Somehow this also caused him to come out of his catatonic state, and when he stood up Murdoc knew he had to be the frontman, a tall, black eyed, blue haired man. He also gave 2D (formerly Stuart pot) the name 2D for the two dents in his head.

Now we’re getting to the theories part. I’ve done some looking into hyphemas myself since I didn’t want to take all my sources from YouTube comments and tumblr posts. Most times hyphemas clear up in a week or so, around 5 to 6 days or so. Theoretically speaking 2Ds eyes should have gone back to normal relatively quickly, but we see his eyes stay consistently black for all of phase 1 and phase 2. This could easily be explained by cartoon and storytelling logic, that they just have conveniently stayed black for the sake of the character. (Cartoon logic will probably be my biggest downfall in this argument anyways, since I’m gonna use it to explain one or two things I don’t have solid proof for.) I’ll come back to this later however.

Murdoc most likely consistantly hit 2D to keep up the appearance.

We all know Murdoc is a piece of shit! We’ve seen/heard Murdoc hit 2D multiple times before (MTV cribs, iTunes interview, dressing room, etc), so I don’t think it’s out of the question at all. I’ve seen a few people say that hyphemas can come back easily if your hit in the head (once you’ve already have one), and while that might be true I haven’t been able to find anything on it (please send me a source if anyone has one). Due to this I’m gonna come from a slightly different approach. Hyphemas are commonly caused by sports, whether it be being hit in the eye region with a ball (or a fist) or falling hard on your face. Interestingly people can also be more prone to hyphemas if they are taking any medication or drug that acts as a blood thinner. Hyphemas can also be caused by taking blood thinners. It’s also known that through at least phase 1 and 2, 2D is addicted to painkillers (which do have blood thinning properties most of the time). Putting all these pieces together 2Ds consistent 8-ball fractures could be caused by a combination of abuse and addiction.

Phase 3

Phase 3 is the first time we see some artwork of 2D with white eyes, though his eyes are mainly black.

Quick break for 2Ds plastic beach lore, feel free to skip if you know plastic beach lore.

Plastic Beach is a big lump of plastic and garbage that formed an island in the ocean at Point Nemo (the farthest point from any landmass). Upon finding it Murdoc spray painted it pink and put the Gorillaz hq there after Kong studios was destroyed. He needed his singer though, and through collaborating with the boogieman, gassed 2D and sent him in a suitcase to plastic beach. He was kept in a room under the island, guarded by a whale (one of his biggest fears) and basically forced to sing and compose for the album. During this time he was also made to go cold turkey from his painkiller addiction.

Okay cool that’s covered. Moving on.

Phase 3 literally kills me and I’ve been spinning it around in my brain for like a week now, it’s horribly sad if your a 2D fan.. which also backs up my theories here so I’m just a mess atm. It would make some sense for 2Ds eyes to be white occasionally in phase 3, as he was locked in a room and left alone for a good bit. At other times though he was definitely still being abused. (See the iTunes interveiw). His eyes are also black during the dressing room video, when they were on tour and Murdoc needed to need up the “image” of the band and 2D.

There’s not much to talk about with phase 4, so it’s time to move onto what everyone’s been waiting forrrrrrrrrrr

Phase 5- namely the humility video !

Fucking love the humility video omfg. It’s such a banger song and 2D skating around and being happy gives me so much joy.

Murdoc is in jail and we get to celebrate!!! Wahoo! 2D is clean, and gets a break from Murdoc and here is when we get to consistently see his design with white eyes. I’ve seen a lot of theories that he was possessed (ie Russell being possessed and having white eyes), but considering his entire eye was black (which is not how hyphemas work, they only effect the iris) it would make sense his normal eye color is his entire eye. (I’ve also heard that Hewit hates drawing eyes so like slight cartoon logic here). I also think 2D being possessed would have come out of nowhere, it seems odd that the tripe would be repeated when that’s already Russels thing. His eyes are also white consistently through phase 6 and 7, and I don’t think he would be possessed for that long.

I’ve also seen that 2D can change his eye color when he feels strong emotions, and I’d take that over the possession one. It makes sense from an emotion side, but I think it also erases the bit of his hyphemas and the original cause of his black eyes. (Just wanted to cover this).

In the humility video he’s happy and he’s skating around having a great time, he’s skating well so it’s implied his vision is better (as hyphemas can cause impaired vision) and that his eyes are healed. At the end he’s tripped by Russel, falls on his face multiple times and when he stands up his eyes blink back to black. Boom. Mic drop. (/j)

Once Murdoc gets back from jail and such it seems he had a bit of a change of heart, you can see from how he interacts with the group and he also has some other goals (cough phase 7 cults). We see the dynamic change a bit between the two of them (exclusion being the Aries incident) especially in the lost chord where 2D saved Murdoc.

I could go more into phase 5 and even phase 6, but that might be another post.

I think this theory adds more to the lore and stays more consistent than the possession theory- especially with 2Ds 8-ball fractures being slightly more realistic. I think it also fits a bit more with Murdocs character. The only plot hole here and in general would be 2D should theoretically be blind by now but cartoon logic 🤷. It’s a sad theory but it fits with what we know is cannon regardless, and some of the best stories are even a bit sad.

If you took the time to read this, thanks, really! I’d love to hear other theories if people have them, maybe I’ll come around to the possession theory eventually. Sorry if this was kinda rantish or doesn’t full make sense as well, I wrote this on a road trip. Byeeee!!

Oh, what made the 2Doc shippers win? 👀

Late to this, but it's because Cass okay'd the release of the D-Day script, which afaik, had never been public before this past week. So, we now have the script for the comic shown int ROTO. Pretty neat!

source

for the ship bingo:

Either 2doc or 2dace depending on what you prefer ✨️✨️

I will do both actually, hehe

First: 2Doc

OK, I will say that I am pretty neutral on this one, I don't really have THAT much of an opinion. Ok, I think that the aspect that I like more would probably be their messy relationship itself, because while I don't have strong opinions on their ship, their dynamic (both platonically and romantically) is really intriguing. For them in a romantic sense I don't really know, I am quite neutral, but I understand why people would like their dynamic and the way they really play on each other, so yea, I understand the reasoning.

Anyway, sorry for the rambling: here's the bingo

Ok: 2Dace

OK, I actually kinda like them, the vibes that this gives me I like them a lot (expecially in case of phase 5 and those phase 1 fanart). Still would have liked them to interact more in canon, but I think Ace could be a sort of balance to Murdoc (in the relationship department more than in the personality one). I like this ship expecially for 2D himself and the dynamic I picture is because of all the fanart/fanfic I saw/read with their dynamic in this light (I picture it as the "cat of the week" meme but murdoc is the one that bites 2D's ass and Ace is the one that cuddles nicely).

Ok, Bingo time:

Me and two friends chatting about old fanfiction we read back then, when we were all kinda edgy pre-teens

My best friend: Leo, that sounds a lot like fanfiction you'd read but also probably write

Me, obviously joking: 2doc enemies to lovers plastic beach fanfiction when?

My best friend: Write it. Give me something new, something creative, something innovative, something that makes me want more but I still kinda hate

Me: ...I mean- I could get it done until the end of the week if you really, really want it-

My best friend: Perfect, I know nothing about these characters but I want to read this now c:

My other friend: Yeah, hit us with what you got!

...remind me to keep my mouth shut next time. I don't even ship it, it was just a joke 😭😭😭

omg

usually i don't make recap posts of my fics until the end of the year for my yearly round-up, but this week I wrote A LOT so here's all that I wrote this week.

A King Who Wears a Crown: gen rated g Cherry Lips: 2doc rated T Excitement: russdoc rate g A Pain Burrowed in Your Head: gen rated T Sleep Together: gen rated g Till The Day I Die: 2doc rated g

also tidbit: Cherry Lips, Sleep Together, and Till The Day I Day are all Garbage songs

Week 4: Documentaire première: een gat in mijn hart

Beste lezers,

Zoals ik in de eerste week benoemde, kun geschiedenis je op vele manieren delen met het publiek. In week twee zagen we dat hoewel hetzelfde platform wordt gebruikt, er toch nog grote verschillen zijn in hoe je je publiek aanspreekt en de informatie met ze deelt, ook zagen we hoe een groot evenement verschillende platforms kan gebruiken om geschiedenis met het publiek te delen. Deze week wil ik me graag richten op een platform dat vaak wordt gebruikt om historische verhalen over te brengen: tv-documentaires. 

De nieuwe Nederlandse omroep Omroep ZWART zal dinsdag 4 oktober haar eerste documentaire uitzenden op NPO2. De documentaire Een gat in mijn hart draait om de Bijlmerramp die op 4 oktober exact dertig jaar geleden plaatsvond. Hoewel de documentaire nog niet uitgezonden is, wilde ik er heel graag over schrijven voor mijn portfolio deze week. Toen ik zag dat de documentaire op maandag 26 september in première ging op het Nederlands Film Festival wist ik dat ik daarbij moest zijn. Na heen en weer gemaild te hebben met Omroep ZWART kreeg ik zondagavond het verlossende mailtje: ik mocht, samen met mijn moeder, naar de première.  

Deze première was een hele bijzondere ervaring, en voordat ik verslag zal doen van de documentaire wil ik even benoemen dat het naast heel interessant, ook een hele emotionele avond was. Naast het bijzondere feit de makers van de film in de zaal zaten, waren de mensen die in de documentaire hun persoonlijke verhaal vertelden ook aanwezig. Dit zorgde ervoor dat de sfeer erg emotioneel geladen was, en de verhalen extra hard binnenkwamen. Als net nieuwe publiekshistoricus weet ik nog niet goed hoe ik mij verhoud binnen het objectief-subjectief debat, ik hoop echter dat ik in dit portfolio leer te reflecteren op de rol van emoties binnen historische producten.

Oké, terug naar de film. De documentaire is een initiatief van Akwasi Ansah en gebaseerd op een boek die uitkwam een jaar na de Bijlmerramp. Dit boek bestond uit tekeningen en verhalen van kinderen van verschillende basisscholen uit het gebied rondom de plek van de vliegramp in Amsterdam Zuidoost. Akwasi gaat in de documentaire in gesprek met verschillende kinderen uit het boek, die nu volwassen zijn, om te bespreken wat de Bijlmerramp voor hen betekende. Als publiekshistorisch product vond ik de documentaire erg speciaal, de producent van de film benoemde namelijk ook achteraf dat de meeste documentaires en series over de Bijlmerramp alleen gefocust waren op het vertellen van een objectief, historisch feitelijk verhaal. Deze film richtte zich echter op pure, persoonlijke verhalen over de trauma’s die kinderen toentertijd hebben opgelopen. Er werden geen vingers gewezen naar bepaalde groepen of instanties, er werd enkel besproken wat de ramp voor de personen zelf had betekend. Dit sluit heel erg aan bij een van de doelen van Omroep ZWART: de omroep wil namelijk niet verhalen óver mensen vertellen, maar deze door mensen zélf laten vertellen. Als publiekshistoricus zou ik ook graag dat uitgangspunt willen nemen: in samenspraak met het publiek historische producten ontwikkelen, om deze verhalen zo inclusief en compleet mogelijk te kunnen vertellen. Wat vinden jullie van deze missie? Laat het weten in de vragenbus links in het scherm!

Tot volgende week!

Kadia

 Gebruikte bronnen

Garcia, O. S, ‘Een gat in mijn hart’ Omroep ZWART. (4 oktober 2022). https://www.npostart.nl/2doc-een-gat-in-mijn-hart/04-10-2022/POW_05457678

for all the sacred selfless days / only left with heartache

// day 1

doodles from insta/twt requests!

in order: 2doc beerpong, murdoc getting noodle fairy floss (he ate some, 2doc and a raccoon that hates murdoc, 2d murdoc and noodle playing spongebob monopoly and murdoc biblically losing, 2doc playing rock paper scissors to decide who tops (2d loses consistently)

plus some random stuff from this week

Okay weird question coming up: if you could storyboard the 2doc MV of your dreams, what song from their discography would you choose and how would it go??

Hi! This is a challenging one, as I like things to be... a tiny bit more subtle, at least by overt shipping standards, so even an "in my dreams" video would probably not be quite what the fanbase is hoping for. I tried to really consider a deep cut so I'd seem cooler, haha, but truly only one is really sticking out and I have to follow my heart.

I'll go with Every Planet We Reach Is Dead, and it would chronicle the in-universe separation of the band between phases 1 and 2, with a heavier focus on Stu and Murdoc; if we're just being fully fantastical here (er, living in fantasy I mean) I'd keep the focus almost entirely on Stuart with just enough memories of Murdoc to suggest the two have unfinished business. We'd follow Stuart and a summertime girlfriend meeting at the funfair and spending a week at the seaside, maybe even showcasing her point of view sporadically through the video; she looks at Stuart with a sort of warm-yellowish, nostalgic Polaroid filter, and it gradually grows grainer and duller each time we enter her perspective as Stu's wholehearted, juvenile joy becomes spotty and faded, his face seeming further away, his hand on her knee becoming forgettably light. We see a similar effect from Stuart's perspective, as the bright, neon, summery colours he sees the pills and the lights and himself and the girl(s) in are interrupted, very briefly, by black-edged flashes of Murdoc: Murdoc in Kong, in the Geep, a manic grin in the kitchen and a middle finger disappearing behind his lips on Stu's bedroom floor, and then small and thin and eerily closed-mouthed the last time he saw him. Police lights pass them at a distance as they're heading up from the beach toward the road, ice cream melted in their hands, and Stu's face is mostly expressionless but the camera's filter grows so grainy that it's almost impossible to recognize him.

They wouldn't meet in the video, but it would end on Stu leaving Brighton, with the implication that there is too much unresolved to keep living in summer forever. The last shot is Stu leaving a house (his or hers, hard to say) and pulling on an old threadbare jacket, the graininess escalating into pure static. The song fades to a buzzing hum as well.

Do you have any idea which song you'd most like to see a video for? I'll be interested to hear!

2doc week 2020 day 1 - favorite lyrics☀️

This is hands down just the most emotional lyrics ive heard in one of they songs. Not only that but to binge is my favorite track from this album❤

day 3: firsts

first kiss