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weirdly-specific-but-ok · 4 months

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Pt VII good omens S1E3 but i'm in a fever-induced haze and i watched it four days ago

Hello maggots it turns out I may have a viral fever... or perchance I'm just going viral in the GO fandom and Crowley being so hot has given me a fever (this is what I learned from years of studying thermodynamics). BAHAHAHAHAHAH anyway this is a LOOOONG post.

EDIT: There are time inconsistencies, as some of you informed me. Paint before wall slam etc. But this show does not follow linear time, just like me. Time is cosmic Play-Doh, and @neil-gaiman, Einstein and I are toddlers playing with it all bendy-bendy. We may have eaten some. I blame Neil. So I will correct nothing.

(im sorry to all my followers, the maggots, and everyone reading this post, i'm afraid this level of quality will be sustained for the rest of the post)

Whatever it may be... haveth my summary of Good Omens Ep3, or whatever I remember of it, anyway.

The second the episode started streaming everyone was yelling about the cold open in the chat.

I could be conflating this with Ep 1 but I think it begins with Aziraphale's gaslight gatekeep girlboss moment where he straight up LIES TO GOD about giving the dumb humans a flaming sword right after they fell from grace.

Hot take from someone who has negligible biblical knowledge, look at it, guys. What harm has an apple ever done to mankind (except to doctors)? Nothing. *nods vigorously* And then our lovely angel goes and gIVES THEM A GODDAMN FLAMING SWORD. Nice, fire and weaponry, this is going to go well for the world!

Anyway lesson is Aziraphale is a chaotic lil bastard and it's why we and Crowley love him.

Fast forward to uh, Noah's Ark... There is a unicorn and it runs away, which Crowley/Crawly seems concerned about. Azi is just chilling there watching all of humanity be drowned and Crowley, looking gorgeous may I add, walks up and she's like CHILDREN? WHY ARE YOU KILLING CHILDREN?

Did I mention that she looks gorgeous with those flowing locks because she does. It gives kind of Disney Brave vibes, doesn't it? Wait is David Tennant Scottish I WANT A DAVID TENNANT/CROWLEY MERIDA COSPLAY.

Anyway so Aziraphale and Crowley watch everyone drown etc

I may have missed a few centuries but then we have ol' Bill Shakespeare and Hamlet (David!!) and Aziraphale like the bean he is wants to cheer them on, and does it badly.

Crowley is standing there thinking man this angel is a fucking doofus why do I love him, and then they make a deal that allows them to do NO work whatsoever since their work cancels out anyway.

Aziraphale pouts at Crowley and Crowley melts inside and makes Hamlet a success though he doesn't even like Shakespeare's tragedies but Azi does and that's all that matters.

OH YEAH FRENCH REVOLUTION. Just to fuck with Aziraphale and because the painkillers are getting to me, I'm gonna do this one in my shit French (et non, je ne peux pas utiliser les accents, j'utilise l'ordinateur et je ne veux pas ouvrir Google). Alors, la revolution est la, Aziraphale veut manger (quelle surprise) et ses vetements sont tres chers, les sans-culottes le tueront, mais Crowley vient et Aziraphale dis "Crowley! Mon hero"

Okay I ran out of French but yes so he was gonna be hanged but Crowley came and Aziraphale's face literally melted and then he switched clothes with the guard and left him to die while he and Crowley went to dine happily (Aziraphale dined, Crowley was hungry for Azi because he has a watching-angel-eat kink).

Aziraphale being a casual accessory to murder/murderer is the most underrated part of good omens.

Fast forward and it's the holocaust and Aziraphale is tricked by some Nazis and they're about to kill him. But Crowley walks down the aisle to their groom, well, more like skips while yelping, and burns the place down for Aziraphale. Naturally Azi's like OH NO MY BOOKS and is ready to cry, then Crowley gently hands him the suitcase full of books unharmed and says just a little miracle for you, baby, want a ride home? And Aziraphale is left holding the books (which by the by Crowley does not care about, they do NOT read books, again, just for Azi) and looking like the happiest man alive and like he would die for Crowley.

Fast forward and we have Crowley in the sixties SERVING with her bob cut, anyone who doesn't like it can fight me to the DEATH, I LOVE HER, and anyway Crowley manipulates, manslaughters and manwhores her way into getting into the car with Aziraphale. He hands her a bottle of holy water because fuck heaven he would do anything for Crowley, and Crowley offers to drive him anywhere (mmmhm Crowley sure you're just being a gentledemon) and Aziraphale tells her that she goes too fast for him. IF THIS ISN'T CALLBACKED IN S3 WITH CROWLEY SAYING "YOU RIDE TOO FAST FOR ME, ANGEL" on a motorbike or horse or his peepee ANYTHING IDC im gonna throw hands.

I'm choosing to forget all the breakups so end cold open back in present day

They're in a paintball arena and Crowley presses Aziraphale into the wall while growling I'm not nice (ok Crowley bro maybe it's time to take a break from 2010s wattpad) and Aziraphale is just gazing adoringly at him. Ex-Satanic nun comes and is like oh my bad this is an intimate moment and Crowley turns around immediately cross that someone's interrupting them but Aziraphale continues to stare at Crowley's face hornily until he reluctantly looks at the nun too. Thanks for the acting choices Michael Sheen.

They hypnotise her and Azi melts when she mentions the antichrist's toesy-woesies and then they leave and Azi is hit by paint, Crowley circles him devouring him with his gaze and finally blows away the paint with an air kiss. I see you, Azi, I KNOW you can get rid of it yourself. Anyway then Crowley turns all the paintball guns into rifles and people start shooting and Azi is like THIS is my husband and they walk away to have drinks while the police swarms.

People were like 'Crowley only ensured no one got killed because of the look Azi gave him' like LMAO have you MET them? Aziraphale is always fucking down for murder, Crowley is the one being like FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AZIRAPHALE NO. Azi was like "shit we gotta kill the antichrist you do it" and crowley's like "bitch slow down we can literally just raise the kid right"

Anyway Crowley gaslights some demons about seeing the hellhound and ig whatever I said happened in Ep 2 with Dog actually happened here etc

The bandstand scene, fuck me. Crowley asks Aziraphale to run away together from the end of the world and Aziraphale says no and they're both sad

we're all sad too

the end

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wrengrif · 3 days

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You know what we haven't done for awhile?

That's right. It's WHAT IF time.

Okay, but let me preface this What If with saying, I don't believe in the coffee theory. That it was poisoned or held some mystical juice or whatever. I believe Aziraphale went to Heaven because one, he really didn't have a choice and two, he thinks there is some way to really turn Heaven around. To make it an actual Good Place.

However ... I have read some compelling theories lately about not taking the Final Fifteen at face value and I got to say, it's gotten me to wondering.

I keep coming back to Neil and the other Good Omen creators saying, nothing in the story is accidental. Which got me thinking about themes. Themes that interwoven all throughout Season 2, emphasized in the background. One of the main themes was, in fact, subterfuge.

Hiding Gabriel from Heaven and Hell.

Saving Job's children.

The bullet catch, the photograph, the 'magical words' caught being lipped through a shop window.

Even Edinburgh, where they pulled a couple of flim-flams on the surgeon and on Elspeth. If Season One was about the power of them coming together, Season Two was about their ability to out-smart both Heaven and Hell on multiple occasions. Not always perfectly, as seen by Crowley getting dragged back down to Hell, or in fact the entire Armageddon plan.

The point is though, that Crowley and Aziraphale are old hands at subterfuge. They were able to carry on a friendship, for over 6000 years, without getting caught by Heaven or Hell (note, I don't think they pulled a fast one on God. I'm pretty sure She knows and she's all for it. Number one shipper, Her.) They trust each other, implicitly.

So, when the Final Fifteen happened ... how are we to know that they weren't already communicating on an entirely different level? What they said, I have no real proof. However, I do think that Crowley and Aziraphale perhaps knew, from the get-go, that they were saying good-bye to one another. That Aziraphale was going to try and fix the problem from the inside, not Heaven itself per say, but the issue of them finally being free of Heaven and Hell so they could be together.

The whole fight was Crowley not arguing with Aziraphale about 'taking a new job', but instead about Aziraphale going alone. Begging Aziraphale not to go into the lion's den, that they could figure out a different way together, there, on Earth. Escape the Metatron, regroup, make up a plan. Aziraphale knew, though, that they were being watched and there was no way for them to get out of the Bookshop without both being destroyed. They went through the motions of fighting about one thing, while fighting about something else entirely.

They nearly made it through the whole fight within a fight, until Crowley cracked. He was scared he'd never see Aziraphale again and he had to let his angel know how he felt. Thus, The Kiss. The desperate, 'I love you, don't do this, don't leave me' kiss. Aziraphale kissed back, half-apology, half-confession, 'I love you too, I have to, they'll kill you'. When he pulls back he's mouthing, 'do it again', and he nearly says 'I love you', but says 'I forgive you'. Perhaps, I forgive you for making this even harder for me.

Crowley's mad, to be sure, but he plays it to the hilt. 'Don't bother'. 'No nightingales', perhaps code letting Aziraphale know not to to contact him until they knew it was safe, really safe. He walks out the door and then stands by The Bentley. Another message letting Aziraphale know he'll be there, on Earth, waiting. Aziraphale pausing, perhaps mouthing, 'Trust me', before disappearing into the elevator with the Metatron.

Honestly, this is all conjecture, but What If? What if they're already playing Nefertiti and the three shell game? Look here, at Aziraphale, but don't look over here, to see what Crowley is doing. Magic! Smoke and mirrors!

Aim for my mouth, but shoot past my ear.

What if?

(Note, NO ONE SHARE THIS WITH NEIL GAIMAN. This is just brain thoughts. Leave the man to his creative process and don't fuck with him.)

#good omens #aziraphale #crowley #good omens fandom #meta #good omens meta #moar sugar-induced theories

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writing-for-life · 8 months

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So, you mentioned something about Thessaly in a 90s context in one of your responses to another post, and I was wondering if you could expand on that. Because yeah, I have no problem with her *existing* as a character, because obviously she has a role in the narrative, but I highly suspect that her perceived role has changed a LOT in the intervening years since the initial writing.

As someone who first read Sandman in 2022, I figured that her character role was to get us to question what we think we know about Morpheus. Can we really trust that he's changed or improved, or that he's even all that likeable, if he's literally jumping into bed with this thoroughly unpleasant woman who likes violent murder *way* too much and also seems to be transphobic to boot?

At the same time, though, I got the uncomfortable sense that we were supposed to *like* Thessaly. In a sort of, "You go girl, be a #girlboss, let's show these boys we can be JUST as good at killing as them!" sort of way. Which I rationalized as "well, that probably was progressive in the 90s, but the idea of cold blooded violence and emphasis on the possession of a womb being feminist ideals has aged poorly."

So, yeah, I'm wondering if that is anywhere close to how she seemed in the "intended" context.

[As always: Send me asks about everything Sandman-related!]

This is such a good ask, and I feel there are a lot of bases to cover here. Not sure if I’ll do it justice, but here goes…

Disclaimer straightaway: I absolutely detest Thessaly and everything she’s done narratively, and I’m neither a Thessaly-apologist, nor someone who loves her as a character. But I think we need to discuss her with a bit more nuance than I see in lot of fandom spaces.

I think first of all, we need to look at:

Thessaly as a fictional character

As you already pointed out, she naturally has a role in the narrative. I also think parts of her role in said narrative are sometimes a bit misunderstood. One prime example would be the idea she never loved Morpheus. And yes, she absolutely always put herself and her own interests first, so from that angle, she loved herself more than she loved him. That doesn’t mean she never loved him at any point though. Many people quote her saying that she never did as proof that she didn’t. But what people say doesn’t always align with what they feel or do: She says at his wake she swore she’ll never cry over him again—and cries while she’s saying it. That tells us two things: She *did* cry because of him before. And she *does* cry now.

Again, she is a selfish, utterly horrid bitch, but she loved him at some point, and she was mad at him for neglecting her and not paying her enough attention. That’s when it turned sour (and we know how absolutely shit at communicating with women Morpheus is, so they’re both as bad as each other in that regard).

I see her as someone who is totally disconnected/dissociated from her emotions, to the extent that she probably really believes what she says, out of some deep-rooted fear of any kind of vulnerability. Why that is—we can only speculate, because Neil never went into it, hence nothing we assume will ever be canon.

What can be considered canon, however, is that Neil has confirmed the fact that she *did* love him at some point—most notably in the Sandman Companion:

Hy Bender: […] Of course, she’s lying when she says she never loved the Sandman.

Neil Gaiman: Of course; I think that’s made explicit by the final panel, where she says, `I swore I would never shed another tear for him’ while crying. But after he’s won her and then returned to his duties, he wasn’t enough for her anymore. She wanted attention; and when she wasn’t getting it, she said, “Right. We’re done,” and walked out on him.”

I’d also like to point out that the most trans-exclusionary prick in the whole of AGoY is actually George, just that he’s not a woman, and hence, no one ever seems to mention it (he’s actually the one egging Wanda on, not Thessaly). Plus, walking the moon road is maiden, mother and crone to a T, and consciously so. Foxglove is the maiden, Hazel is pregnant, and Thessaly is ancient. So Thessaly’s choice was also based on that, and the only one who Wanda really could have *potentially* replaced would have been Foxglove; she presumably never had penetrative sex, unlike Hazel (in the archaic definition of what penetration means, so we don’t need to argue about lesbian sex practices now). We don’t know that about Wanda, no matter if someone sees her as a man or a woman. I didn’t mean to get that explicit about maiden status, but I guess it *is* important in this context (although yes, of course Thessaly said Wanda is a man, and I’m not arguing that either, but I still think it was grounded in her belief how moon magic works).

Which brings me to a very important point: Thessaly is ancient. Culturally, we can’t compare her to someone who grew up in the 20th century, also with regard to her violent inclinations. She is thousands of years old. She’s seen it all. She has a fierce sense of self-preservation, maybe even rooted in some fears or trauma of her own. All not very nice character traits, no, but that’s not the yardstick, and probably was never supposed to be. I also remember Neil saying he consciously wanted to oppose neopaganism and the watered down, new wave witchcraft of the time (late 1980s/early 1990s, and that, I really remember), which was all about the “divine feminine”, female empowerment, tarot cards and incense sticks. I’m being a bit flippant now, but it isn’t far off. It was more of a trend than anything. He wanted to consciously oppose it with someone who would still act according to ancient, rather violent codes and rules. And Morpheus will have known those, and probably found them less surprising than we do (doesn’t necessarily mean he’d condone them either).

The fact whether Thessaly should make us question Morpheus in the comics is a tricky one. What she definitely *should* make us question is: Morpheus could have quite easily broken some rules in the Kindly Ones when Thessaly had set up the protection circle for Lyta, and the consequences probably would have been less disastrous than playing by said rules. And we can safely presume he knew. We are also supposed to question the same when he lets Nuala call in her boon and doesn’t just say: “This isn’t really a good time, can we do this later?” (and he absolutely COULD have done that), but actually follows through with going ,“Well, what gives, I basically grant you your boon now and leave the Dreaming, even though I know the potential consequences.” So yes, Thessaly is supposed to make us question Dream’s choices, but probably not the way we think. And for that, we perhaps should look deeper into…

Thessaly the TERF and Feminism in the late 1980s/early 1990s

This might get a bit longwinded, and I am showing my age here. I grew up at the intersection of second wave and third wave feminism, and as a bisexual woman, I made a lot of experiences during the early 90s that feel wholly aligned with the plot of AGoY (which was written during that time). I don’t want to write a whole essay about feminism here, but second wave feminism was on its way out in the late 80s. A lot of the bad associations some people have with feminism today stem from that time (not always justified, because a lot of good was achieved during that period. But parts of it in specific sub-communities—definitely problematic). Equality vs equity discussions within the feminist movement were dominating everything, and the divide between radfems and libfems was getting deeper. People like Audre Lorde IMHO rightly criticised that failing to understand that not all women start on equal footing, that not all women are the same, is problematic (so you could easily see how this is incorporated into the narrative of AGoY).

Second wave feminism wasn’t just about making sure women had rights. It was very much about “all of us can do everything men do, and we want the same a man gets”. It was all about the workspace (so often very white, CIS, middle class), not being at home with the kids etc (of course there were also other topics, but this one was really quite dominant). You could even see it fashion (massive shoulder pads etc). All the while, actually *being* a man was vilified (again, just in certain quarters).

So I feel you’re on to something with your #girlboss comment, only that I don’t think it was intentionally set up to like her, but rather as a criticism of what certain quarters of the feminist movement were like at the time.

Personal anecdote: I got that type of schtick from WITHIN the LGBT community at the time. Bi-erasure was big. And there were radfem lesbians that would actually tell you that being bi doesn’t exist, that you are basically a traitor to your “sisters” and just a lesbian who isn’t fully out. The same shite they used to criticise about men who would say you’re only a lesbian because you haven’t found the right guy yet. And here they went, telling you that you can’t be attracted to men if you’re also attracted to women.

Third wave feminism has a much stronger focus on the individual woman and what it means to be a woman to HER. This also included trans women, much more than during the second wave. Judith Butler’s work is actually exemplary for this (in essence, there is no such woman as “the” woman—we’re all different despite sharing common traits and problems. Trying to make us all the same will only harm us in the long run).

And with AGoY and Thessaly, we are exactly at the moment in time (in the comics) where that shift happens. I think Neil got it right for the time, and understood a lot of what was going on. Many people in queer communities felt really understood and seen, myself included. I absolutely see how that translates differently today. But it always saddens me when the historical context gets completely stripped away, and people don’t take the time a work of fiction was written into consideration and only measure it from today’s viewpoint. We can, and absolutely have to be critical if the TV shows fails to address these points and just translates everything 1-2-1. Which I am fairly certain won’t happen, because Thessaly has already been stripped off a lot of her obvious TERFiness in the Audible. I’m not even sure if we’ll get her in the show—we’ll hopefully find out.

Phew, that was long, I’m gonna lie down 😂

#sandman meta #sandman #the sandman #thessaly #sandman and feminism #agoy #a game of you #Wanda #the wake

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insanelyadd · 5 months

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I’ve a feeling that Collector’s resentment of their siblings due to their imprisonment for hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of years would not probably never go away. We’d like to think that amount of time wouldn’t be anything to a being as old as the universe, a mere drop in the ocean, but… it could very well be the opposite.

Quoting Dream of the Endless, from Neil Gaiman’s “The Sandman”:

“Can you have any idea what it was like? Can you have any idea? Confined in a glass box for three score years and ten. A human lifetime. Time moves no faster for my kind than it does for humanity, and in prison it crawled at a snail's pace.”

And Dream was only trapped for a few decades.

On another topic, I can see Collector seeing Luz as a much healthier big sister figure (he probably already sees King as a big brother). Reached out to them despite everything they did, and even sacrificed herself to protect them. Odds are, at least one of their siblings are going to become very spiteful of that, especially since Collector might potentially disown them for leaving them behind. Might even try to find the first excuse to end her…

“Oh, this mortal was given the Titan’s power! Abd there’s tiny residual energy from it in her body! We’d best kill her, or she’ll become half-Titan again and try to kill us! Whoopsy, them’s the breaks! Sorry, Collie!”

Oh, I don't think they were imprisoned for that long. I have some evidence to support this, so I hope you don't mind me rambling about my timeline a bit in this answer.

I think the Collector was imprisoned for 2-5 thousand years and no more than that. Bat queen very obviously was the Titan's palisman and very much was the one who built King’s island and she said it's only been thousands of years, not tens of or hundreds of thousands. King was also incubating this entire time. Also, Bill. Bill claims to have been alive to see Papa Titan die, which means he must be as old as they have been dead plus a decade or so. Since he never personally slayed any Titans, I hc he was a child during this time, and I also HC that he managed to be long lived because. Well, it's quite morbid and horrifying, but hunters do normally eat the meat of the creatures they kill. And that's how I think he could have lived for thousands of years.

Also yeah he absolutely should feel resentful towards them, since they completely fucked up everything. Personally, I feel a bit merciful about his time imprisoned, and I usually imagine that until a tablet is activated, they are completely in stasis, a dreamless sleep. If the activated tablet is destroyed and no other tablet is active, then they go back into stasis. I HC it this way because the tablet feels like a Titan made Collection spell, and Collection spells keep the Collected in stasis. Still, there was a significant amount of non-stasis time with just Belos, which is perhaps 5x longer than what Dream went through in Sandman, with my current favored estimate being 350.

You're so right, I'm sure the Collector feels like King and Luz are like siblings to him. But he might also want to not associate them that way because of past experiences.

I think, though, that the Collector is prone to being easy to forgive, and if the circumstances are right, he might forgive his siblings. Depending on your characterization of the four of them, one to all might qualify for life shattering betrayal forgiveness (infomercial voice). Like with my own interpretation of the Archivists, Satellite and Solari were both young teens when everything happened, they had no say in what happened, they argued against what the elder two chose, and they would give up everything to keep their brother safe. Especially since their plan for if their brother returns is to take him and run away from Crescent and Penumbra. I think the Collector might forgive them.

I mean, he forgave belos who lied to and manipulated him for hundreds of years, who attempted to kill him basically, who did it all again just a few hours before he tried forgiving him. It's a reoccurring character flaw, but I think if any of the Archivists would turn against the others for the Collector and/or didn't participate in what happened to the Titans, then there might be a bit worth forgiving? Since at least then, he'd have people to live with who can raise him without worry they would die before he physically ages even a single year (that's a lot of pain for a small child).

They're far too young to be living on their own. It's not good for childhood development to be without a caretaker.

But if your version of the Archivists aren't worth forgiving then. Well. Obviously, he's justified for being as resentful as he wants to be and never forgiving them. This is still the case even if some turn out to not be completely vile bastards, but the Collector’s endless forgiveness and trust just doesn't show up at all wrt to his terrible siblings. Because they still were horrible to them.

My interpretation is just one where there may be room to forgive two of the four, mostly for practical reasons like the protagonists of the series being far better off fighting only two adult Collectors especially if they have the help of another two (though they might, justifiably, not be warmly welcomed to stay or drop by whenever they want). And also, genuinely by complete coincidence, their backstories and actions all sort of put them in a gradient of culpability for their terrible atrocities, and the twins just both happen to be on the low end, with Satellite being the absolute least evil.

#toh #the owl house #toh the collector #the Collector #toh the archivists #the archivists #toh spoilers #character analysis #toh theory #toh headcanon #sorry for any formatting weirdness i am answering this on my phone while i wait in a queue #its a long queue #answears

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bitterkarella · 1 year

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Midnight Pals: Mr Electric

Ray Bradbury: Submitted for the approval of the midnight Society, I call this the tale of the eternal summer, the last vestiges of muggy august giving way to the bluster of autumn, the twinkling lights of town below in the humid night, young lovers stealing kisses in the dark, old men on the porch, jawin and chewin and chuckling at remembrances of romances long past Barker: you’re literally just describing a Thomas Kinkade painting Poe: clive

Stephen King: wow ray you really come up with some evocative imagery! King: whatever inspired you to become a writer anyway? Bradbury: well, it all started when I went to the county fair and met a wizard Koontz: whoa! A real wizard! King: no dean he’s talking about a magician Bradbury: [chuckling] am I? Bradbury: mr electrico was no mere magician! Bradbury: he had the REAL power!!! Bradbury: the power Bradbury: to fire a young boy’s IMAGINATION! Neil Gaiman: [clapping] right, right! Good show! Right on!

Ray Bradbury: and Mr Electrico pointed a flaming electrical sword at me and said Bradbury: “LIVE FOREVER!!” Bradbury: now I cannot be killed Gretchen Felker-Martin: oh yeah, big mood

Bradbury: Mr Electrico said “Live Forever!” Bradbury: Now I cannot be killed Bradbury: and it’s true Bradbury: c’mon try it out Stephen King: no no I couldn’t Bradbury: c’mon Bradbury: c’mon!!! Bradbury: come at me bro!!! Bradbury: I can take it!!

Bradbury: [slapping chest] c’mon, take a swing at me! Stephen King: I really don’t want to fight you Ray Bradbury: do it! Do it! Barker: I’ll do it Poe: clive Barker: I’m just giving him what he wants! Poe: clive Poe: clive he’s like 100 years old

Mary Shelley: sup fuckers Bradbury: mary!!! Come at me! Mary Shelley: okie dokie [immediately shivs Bradbury, blade snaps] Mary Shelley: what the fuck Bradbury: ha! this isn’t even a tenth of my power!!! Bradbury: what did I tell you?! Bradbury: not a single one of you could defeat you!! Mary Shelley: oh yeah? Mary Shelley: guess we’ll have to gang up on you!! Get ‘im boys! [Ann Radcliffe and Monk Lewis approach with chain and billy club respectively] [Bradbury effortlessly blocks roundhouse kick by Wrath James White] Bradbury: ha! Laughable! [Bradbury effortlessly sidesteps kung fu chop by Alan Baxter] Bradbury: ha! Pathetic!

Bradbury: come on! Come at me! Robert E Howard: you sure about this pardna? Howard: this ain’t no pea shooter hombre Bradbury: [slapping chest] what’s the matter, ya pussy? Bradbury: Fuckin do it!! Howard: hold on thar pardna Howard: I think ya might wanna calm down Bradbury: [grabbing gun and pulling Robert E Howard closer] Bradbury: DO Bradbury: IT Howard: [aiming gun] okay pilgrim you asked fer it Poe: bob Poe: bob this is getting ridiculous Poe: bob don’t Howard: [cocking gun] sorry pardna Howard: I gotta Howard: it’s the law of the west

Ray Bradbury: [flexing] Behold!!! The power of Mr. Electrico!!! The electric man!!! Barker: so ray Barker: I hear this magician’s fake Poe: clive Bradbury: he’s a real magician Barker: is he now Barker: then why hasn’t anyone ever heard of him Bradbury: he Bradbury: he lives in Canada

#midnight pals #midnight society #the midnight society #ray bradbury #stephen king #dean koontz #edgar allan poe #clive barker #neil gaiman #gretchen felker-martin #alan baxter #wrath james white #robert e howard #mary shelley #ann radcliffe #matthew “monk” lewis

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theonevoice · 8 months

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Rumination n. 5 - Is the Metatron the skylark from Romeo and Juliet (and are we going to cry)?

I don't know if someone has already pointed this out, but I think I stumbled upon something regarding the Metatron (may he step on legos for the rest of his eternal existence).

I was in the middle of one my regular cycles of Neil Gaiman Cultural References Game appreciation, thinking of how much Romeo-and-Juliet-like is our ineffable husbands- love story. The parallel is obvious: forbidden love between two members of families in violent open conflict, side characters constantly stepping in and adding fuel to the fire, a masquerade ball (you know, where everyone shows up in different clothes than usual), a secret encounter in the garden... even a nightingale that doesn't sing, because the long-awaited night of love has come to an end and in place of a nightingale now a skylark is singing, and its song tears the lovers apart.

And then it struck me.

In classical, medieval, and romantic immagination, the skylark is the symbol of the Triumph of Good over Evil, and many cultures consider it a messenger from the gods. Are you seeing what I'm seeing?

Look at how Percy Bysshe Shelly describes the skylark:

Hail to thee, blithe Spirit! Bird thou never wert, That from Heaven, or near it, Pourest thy full heart In profuse strains of unpremeditated art. Higher still and higher From the earth thou springest Like a cloud of fire; [...] Like a star of Heaven, In the broad day-light Thou art unseen, but yet I hear thy shrill delight, [...] Better than all measures Of delightful sound, Better than all treasures That in books are found, Thy skill to poet were, thou scorner of the ground!

Am I spiraling, or does it ring a bell? A metaphisical bird "like a cloud of fire" (reminder that the Holy Spirit, alternative form of God's voice, is canonically depicted in art as a bird, often a flaming one) that speaks "from Heaven, or near it" (like as God or almost, remember "you are the voice of the Almighty in the same way as a presidential spokesman is the voice of the President") and pours mezmerizing melodies from above. A bird that cannot be seen but only heard, as if it was pure voice, that scorns the earth and can mysteriously entrance you with spellbinding promises that are better than "all treasures that in books are found."

And who is casually popping up early in the morning, after the long-awaited night of love and dancing (and occasional demon smiting) has come to an end, singing a mesmerizing song (the offer of restoring Crowley to his former angelic status) that is better than books and silences the nightingale, if not the Voice of God, harald of capital-G-Good, freaking Metatron himself?

My friends, I want to trust Neil Gaiman when he says that everything will be ok but, in perfect "it must get worse before it gets better" style, I am afraid that we are going to witness a nearly Romeo and Juliet double death ending that will scare the living daylight out of us.

Maybe Juliet-Crowley (Juliet is the one who wants Romeo to ignore the skylark, remember?) will be threaten with a permanent imprisonment in Hell (like the forced wedding of Juliet with Paris) and will have to fake his own death in order to leave his old lot behind once and for all, possibly involving fake holy water in place of Friar Laurence's fake death potion. Maybe a fatal miscommunication (I don't need to explain why miscommunication is plausible in this scenario) will lead Aziraphale-Romeo, coming back from Heaven (where he went after almost declaring war on the opposite side, much like Romeo went to Mantua after killing the Capulet Tybalt) just a moment too late and incorrectly informed, to believe that the love of his life is gone for real and to contemplate his own death, possibly throwing himself on his own flaming sword or willingly stepping into hellfire.

I will be honest, I can see Neil Gaiman pulling a shakespearian move on them (and on us). And, as someone said just before a bomb fell on a certain group of people in 1941, it will take a real miracle for them to survive it.

#good omens #go2 #good omens 2 #good omens thoughts #go 2 speculation #go2 spoilers #good omens 2 spoilers #aziraphale #crowley #romeo and juliet #shakespeare #the metatron #metatron #good omens theory

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pasiphile · 7 months

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>.> Can you say more words about GO2

Oh, I can, but they're not very nice words.

While I had my issues with the first season, the second season is just so... bafflingly bad? Like, so strangely bad. Plotwise it feels like something written by a beginner. Like for some reason they've given a huge budget to some mediocre fanfic. There are just so many instances where they obviously had to get from point A to point B and just made up a quick shortcut without thinking too much about the implications or it, you know, making sense. Some of it is because of the honestly strange decision to let other writers take care of the flashbacks, with the worst contender the WWII flashback (zombies exist now? with no repercussions? so much gratuitous gore? Also the whole sequence with the gun would be so dramatic if, you know, demons actually died instead of being discorporated being nothing but a minor administrative setback). But it's also there in the main plot. Fire extinguishers work against demons for some reason? Aziraphale goes all the way to Scotland and back to learn basically nothing? The whole contrived romantic subplot with Nina and Maggie? The fucking Gabriel/Beelzebub thing? It's all either so heavy handed or just plain lazy. And I'm all for suspension of disbelief but if it's just one thing after another...

To me it feels like the basic plot of the whole second season could've over and done with in half an episode, and they just put in filler after filler to fluff it out into a full season where, in fact, barely anything happens.

And it's so odd! I know John Finnemore's work, he's good at intricate little plot connections! And Neil Gaiman can hardly be called an inexperienced writer either! It just feels like they were too lazy to actually bother writing a plot that works.

Meanwhile characterisation-wise, they've gone further on the path they'd already started in season one and wandered even farther away from what made the book characterisation interesting. In the book, Crowley is the nice one, who's generally polite and friendly and very fond of humans, while Aziraphale is, honestly, a bit of a dick and a recluse who prefers not interacting with humans and is 100% down to kill a child if it means he can keep his comfy lifestyle going. Aziraphale accidentally kills a dove and doesn't care about it. Crowley is the one that revives it. It's that kind of contradiction that makes it so fun, and to see that reversed into Aziraphale being a bleeding heart saving-the-poor-humans and Crowley acting all tough and sarcastic really erases a lot of what makes the pairing so charming.

But the thing that bothers me the most is how much they included the Big Conflict between Heaven and Hell. In the books, both Crowley and Aziraphale are low in the hierarchy. You only catch a glimpse of the big players and only at the end. Plus, they're lazy. It's a plot point that they both have human agents to take care of the work for them and that they don't get involved. They're not remotely interested by the overarching conflict or wanting either side to win. The whole point of the Agreement is that they take over a bit of each other's work for ease and convenience. And they're not particularly involved in humanity's welbeing either, and they definitely don't go around saving individual humans. They're disturbed by it, sure, but they don't think about interfering in any way. They only start taking an active role when their comfy lifestyle is threatened. And that's what I like about the whole thing. It's small, in a way. It's contained. Meanwhile the TV series went full out with Hell and Heaven fighting against each other and Crowley and Aziraphale suddenly becoming major agents in that conflict, catching the interest of demons and angels all the way up. It feels very at odds with the central theme and message of the book.

I did enjoy watching it. About 50% for the little things that did work, and about 50% to point and laugh at the ridiculousness of it all.

And to spot the Pratchett references, of course. Those were nice.

#Anonymous #good omens negativity #is that a tag? it should be a tag #i dont wanna shit on people who are enjoying it #good for you!#i would have also maybe enjoyed it a lot if i hadn't read the books first #and imprinted on them #but even then it would have felt like. sort of all right fan fiction #the writer wants to characters to kiss #and has a vague idea that there has to plot to get them there #so they quickly rehash some things from the original (jukebox) and make up some conflict #writing mediocre fanfiction of the book you co-wrote thirty years ago? wild. next level. Totally incomprehensible but i am intrigued #will probably watch the 3rd season too #out of morbid curiosity

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mt10lt20 · 3 months

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Finally, an Ace Combat Fanfic (or two)

Finally got my AO3 account approved, so I posted my first (two? Do 2 Chapters count) fanfics, and its of Ace Combat Zero & 6 (Ciphixy & TaliSham) - Featuring... some plot with subtle horror AND smut. Also, I realized that I cannot write pure vanilla T_T

AO3 link here - F*ck like you fly

Additional notes that were not mentioned on AO3 as they were linked to HCs: under the cut.

The protags are technically male. But because I sometimes also draw them as females + because they are faceless, they are written to also have some feminine qualities in their appearance. Or, they may not be human at all, considering the way they fly; and their wingmen will do well not to forget that they are predators, no matter how alluring or nice they seem to be.

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AC6’s Shamrock/Talisman are my rare pair. Their story started out when I was thinking about how they’d ever get together, considering how much baggage Shamrock has. And I just happened to write it down, and by that time it was already a full-length fic. Might as well dump it on AO3.

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ACZ and AC6 go together for me. I find them like mirror images of each other and hence, easier to write or draw as a “set”. Besides a weakness for the Angel and Demon trope (I blame Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett for writing Good Omens), I think ACZ and AC6 were purposeful corporate “mirror projects”: ACZ and 6 were developed around the same time (release date 2006/2007 - the only 2 main platform games in the AC series developed so close to each other), and both teams prob practically, in a very corporate fashion, were given tasks to focus on building FACELESS protagonists that were opposite just to ensure no overlaps when the biz was running 2 similar projects. As a testimony to some of the development similarities, the Garuda team even had a 3rd wingman (but dropped), very similar to the Galm Team.

Note: This a hypothesis based on understanding & practical experience of messy, large corporate cultures. Unproven in the Namco (pre-merger) context, but I guess similar patterns prevail across industries?

So, I think the Demon of Ustio was conceived first and management just went like ok, corporate has a demon now, this faceless thing is gonna be a challenge if we’re running 2 concurrent games cos we just can’t make them LOOK different, let’s do an angel/ angels for the other one so there will absolutely be no way we can clash the characterizations. The Angel and Demon trope was just too convenient and I think that resulted in Cipher and Talisman being developed to achieve the same outcome (ace pilots who are a cut above the rest, instrumental to winning the wars they were in etc), while being the exact opposite of each other.

A feared mercenary bound to no rules | An admired leader in the air force. Lone contributor | Strategist. Fear inspiring | Awe inspiring. Faces off against a wingman who breaks orders | Stays together with a wingman who breaks orders. Both their wingmen are also highly effective but one turned out to want to kill them | the other will die for them.

At the end of the day, Ciph & Tali would both be annoyed at how similar they really are despite trying to be so different (affectionate) - hence the basis of their beef in the chaotic ACZ/6/7 AU that sometimes features here. But they do have a grudging respect for each other and might bond over their shared love for capable-idiot wingmen (again affectionate), and TROUNT lol.

And after all, both are still to be feared, bringing salvation and destruction in their own way. Cipher - all shall fear me and despair | Talisman - all shall love me and despair. Pun intended cos they fly Eagles, but not to Mordor.

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Would like to try writing Trount sometime, perhaps as a 3rd chapter. But due to their lighter hearted nature, they are a little more challenging to write with the subtle-horror undertone vs the ACZ and AC6 pairs. I will get there!

#ace combat #ace combat zero #ace combat 6 #fanfic #first time writing #and I do this #I am a degenerate lol #Ciphixy #TaliSham #Future Trount Maybe #Making the MOST of work commutes #these took so long frankly #Headcannon ramblings #shippy stuff #Supernatural and horror elements #I think their wingmen are done for lol

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landwriter · 1 year

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I've been really enjoying hearing you talk about your writing :) But I was a bit ?! to hear that you've never read the comics, for no reason other than I love them and think you would enjoy them.

If you have the opportunity, I would 8000% recommend Season of Mists to you and your lovely followers. It's so fun, and has so many wonderful character cameos from Egyptian, Norse, Japanese mythology, plus the Fae, plus Angels!, plus OCs, PLUS Hob. And it's a fucking lovely storyline.

And I do think it's Dream at his most, well, Dream. The premise is literally just:

Desire: Honestly sending Nada to Hell was a dick move.

Dream: Oh, fuck off.

Death: I mean. It was though.

Dream: ??? Like, actually...???

Dream:

Dream: Shit, my bad. Okay fuck it, guess I'm going to free Nada from Hell.

Everyone: You know Lucifer & co. are LITERALLY going to try to kill / imprison you, right? And like, will probably succeed?

Dream: ??? Okay, and...???

Thank you :) And I know, I know! I'm not averse to reading them at all but it's mostly a time thing. Maybe after next season or in preparation for it? I adore mythology and I'm sure I'd love it. Also that's an incredible pitch haha!

I did, actually, almost get into The Sandman comics once. It was a near miss. Years ago, I went on this date with a guy. From OkCupid. Remember OkCupid?? Longform online dating, what an era! And we had this super charming banter over messages. We talk about authors including Neil Gaiman (foreshadowing music). He riffs off of a dumb Shakespeare pun I had on my profile about my love for potatoes.* We decide to have a picnic.

There's a thunderstorm that day. Appropriately inauspicious. He invites me to his place to wait for the weather to improve. I head over to hang out.

It was not great. In hindsight, it was one of the worst dates of my life. (So far! Always room for improvement.) His personality was WILDLY divergent from what I had expected, and also generally enjoy being around. But I'm really good at muscling through awkward dates and really bad at being like "I never plan on seeing you again!" on the spot, so when he insisted on loaning me his Sandman comics as I was trying to leave, I took them. I took them. I'm sorry. I was in my early twenties. It's my only defense.

I went home, marinated, decided yes, I really do not want to go on another date with this guy, sent him a message politely saying as much, and said I'd return his books. He said he was home all weekend so I could just come by whenever. So I trek back to his a day or so later with the carrier bag of Sandman comics. I am not looking forward to this interaction. If the vibe wasn't so bad there would've been a second date you know? The vibe, it was bad.

But lo and behold, as I walk toward his apartment complex, I see someone a ways ahead going up the steps. I see them stop to fish out their keys. I see an opportunity. I walk faster. They open the door and go inside. I break into a Business Casual Sprint. I grab the door juuuust before it closes again. I'm breathing heavily. I try to breathe quieter. I tip-toe down the stairs to his basement unit (it was a basement unit) and delicately hang the bag on his doorknob like I'm playing a game of Operation. No buzzers go off. I turn on my heel and flee. My heart is soaring. The air tastes sweeter. I have pulled off my reverse heist. I text him from the warm comfort of public transportation that I left them outside his door.

And I never thought about The Sandman again for six years.

*'Stars, hide your fries' (He replied Let not oven black my deep desires. I mean, you can see why I went.)

#asks #the sandman #the sandman comic spoilers #gloam storytime #haven't thought about that in ages #similarly i once had a one night stand that turned into a two night stand exclusively because I was returning Hermann Hesse's Steppenwolf #he was a classics student #of course #i could honestly run a whole sideblog of dating stories i used to be OUT on the town my god #funny that of all the fandoms to finally participate in it was Awful Date Guy's #wonder how he likes the show

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thenightling · 10 months

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Venting about a pretentious fan of Irish folklore

I'm going to vent a little here. Yesterday in my Facebook group dedicated to Neil Gaiman's The Sandman we started on a conversation about Irish folklore. It was a fine enough conversation which, almost predictably drifted to Banshees. I mentioned how the original word was the Gaelic "Bean Sidhe" (still pronounced like the modern Banshee) so it's almost like just saying "Woman faery." Somehow this earned a very pretentious and condescending response from someone who was insistent that Sidhe are not faeries. She said "Obviously you're not Irish." and then went on to tell me that Sidhe aren't "Fluttery little things with wings" and how they are "Not Tinkerbell" and that they are "More like Titania and Oberon from Shakespeare's a Midsummer Night's Dream. Two things had me seeing red with this. The first is the "Obviously you're not Irish." It was very condescending and dismissive. I think she had seen my American location on my Facebook account and then decided that I must not know folklore no matter what I said.

The second issue is how wrong she was. For starters, I never once claimed that sidhe are "Tiny fluttering things with wings." and ironically we (others in the group and myself) had discussed Titania and Oberon previously in that very thread. The Fae Court turn up quite a few times in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman. Also it was kind of baffling that she felt the need to imply that Titania and Oberon are not faeries. "My Fairy Lord, this must be done with haste" is literally something Robin Goodfellow (Puck) says in Shakespeare's a Midsummer Night's Dream.

I think she, herself, was confusing the word faery and pixie. For though pixies are faeries not all faeries are pixies. Faery is a blanket term for many entities of Irish folklore including the Sidhe, and even the Dullahan (headless Horsemen). She felt the need to lecture me about how dangerous faeries can be. Ma'am, this is a Sandman group. Neil Gaiman's The Sandman features a homocidal hobgoblin version of The Puck. Most of us are well-aware of how dangerous these beings are in traditional folklore.

What made it even more infuriating was in her effort to "correct" me even though there was nothing to correct, she had somehow earned eight likes and loves on the comment. I pride myself on my knowledge of folklore. I have read Dark Faeries by Dr. Robert Curran, An Encyclopedia of Fairies: Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures by Katherine Briggs, Irish Fairy and Folktales (leatherbound Barnes and Noble edition). And several others but those are the titles that come to mind.

What made this extra baffling is I said nothing that contradicts anything she said here about the Sidhe being dangerous, and closer to Oberon and Titania than Tinkerbell.

I think she, herself, was confusing the word faery and Pixie.

On a final note, I understand the frustration of those that think faeries are all tiny pixies but that's not what I had said at all and. And ironically, Tinkerbell isn't all that nice, herself. In the original story she tried to have Wendy killed out of jealousy.

#Faeries #Fae #Fairies #Sidhe #Fae Folk #Faery folk #Fairy #Folklore #Irish #A Midsummer Night's Dream #Folktales #Ireland

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bryndeavour · 9 months

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Tagged by @verecunda. Thanks! I’m not a huge reader these days but I used to be. This will likely be a trail of hyperfixations that just started at an early age. Some of these will be SERIES cause I can’t pick.

Rules: List ten books that have stayed with you in some way, don’t take but a few minutes, and don’t think too hard - they don’t have to be the “right” or “great” works, just the ones that have touched you.

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien (still more my fave than LotR)

Redwall by Brian Jacques (the entire redwall series!!!)

American Gods by Neil Gaiman (more gaiman should go on this list - he is my greatest writing inspiration)

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett

Who Killed Mr. Boddy (CLUE series) by Eric Weiner (absolutely obsessed with these as a kid)

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton (i went through a Crichton phase and read ALOT but this was the start)

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen (possibly the only assigned reading from school that I genuinely fell in love with immediately)

The Cat Who series by Lillian Jackson Braun (only fuel to my ‘grumpy single middle aged man with a mustache who loves cats’ fire)

Inspector Morse series by Colin Dexter (he had to go on here)

i guess this can go to the wizard books because they were a huge dominant force in a specific period of my life and led me to alot of the places i am now.

Tagging: @ronniebox, @greenapricot, @mr-iskender, @esvalotador, @lemonistas, @vita-s-west, @notajoinerofthings, @mcgstarroar, @essyromaine

#tag memes

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weirdly-specific-but-ok · 1 month

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julius caesar but i've never watched it

...either the play or the actual man. I am not a time-travelling voyeur. Why does that give Doctor Who vibes? I haven't watched that either.

Anyway, happy Ides of March, tumblr. I am about as enthusiastic about the celebration as Neil Gaiman is, but here we are. Doing what I do worst, making a summary of things I have no authority to summarise... WAHOO LET'S GO. Whatever it is I know about the play:

Caesar was vibing sometime around the '40s. 0040s, not 1940s.

He has a wife named Calpurnia. A maggot wants to be her because and I quote 'no one ever listens to me either'.

She tells him not to go to some kind of coronation or speech or something on the Ides. He's like nah wifey 'sall gucci.

I regret saying that sentence. As did Caesar, because he went and got stabbed in 44. Spoiler alert.

People ship Mark Antony with Caesar but some ship Brutus and Caesar. *youtuber voice* Comment below with your favourite ship.

Don't do it I don't want to know. Anyway, he's also married to Cleopatra, who is killed by snake venom that may not have been snake venom or something.

Idk they were cute. They had a kid that ran away and Asterix and Obelix had to take care of him. Caesarian?

WAIT IS A C-SECTION CALLED A CAESARIAN BECAUSE YOU CUT IT OPEN AND CAESAR WAS STABBED? WHAT?

There is a soothsayer. He tries to soothwarn Caesar.

Caesar does not soothlisten. Caesar is a lil bitch.

On the Ides of March, Caesar goes up to the soothsayer who is lurking on the steps of the maybe-coronation place. He soothsays The Ides of March are come!

The soothsayer soothsighs and soothsays Aye, Caesar, but not gone.

The senators, otherwise known as the soothslayers, have been plotting for a while. Brutus is a very dear friend of Caesar. He thinks Caesar slays.

But the other senators convince him this is what's best for Rome. So he thinks Caesar should be slayed.

So now the soothslayers at the maybe-coronation gather around Caesar and start stabbing him. Et tu, Brute? and all that (though I remember something about that phrase not meaning the same thing as it does in popular context...).

The soothslayers are a bit extra. Like bro. One stab to the heart would have soothsufficed.

Anyway, Caesar is soothslayed like the soothsayer soothsaid.

There is a funeral thing. The People of Rome are cranky.

A maggot once said Moots, maggots, countrymen! and it lives rent-free in my head.

Anyway what Mark Antony actually says is a whole ass speech. FRIENDS, ROMANS, COUNTRYMEN, LEND ME YOUR EARS. I COME TO BURY CAESAR, NOT TO PRAISE HIM! THE EVIL THAT MEN DO LIVES AFTER THEM, THE GOOD IS INTERR'D WITH THEIR BONES (I THINK I HAVEN'T HEARD THE SPEECH IN A WHILE OK) SO LET IT BE WITH CAESAR.

So he gives the soothspeech and everyone is emotional. IF YOU HAVE TEARS, PREPARE TO SHED THEM NOW. Damn bro. It's like playing villain music just as the camera focuses on the villain.

Anyway then there is a lot of chaos and blah blah blah Mark Antony does some stuff Caesar's adoptive son Octavian does some stuff.

There's some bloke named Augustus who may or may not be Octavian (if he was sorry for the deadname Auggy my bad).

Brutus is killed? Or he kills Mark Antony? One of them die.

They were totally not fighting over who was a better lover to Caesar.

Roman Republic gone byebye as I say to Roxie. Roman Empire starts. The end.

Er.

That was a thing. I rather like summarising my homeboy Shakespeare haven't read him in a while and I only read his comedies. Maybe I should do more in honour of the Globe Theatre Maggots.

Happy Ides. Please don't soothslay me. I've been a good Maggot Prince to you, haven't I?

*runs just in soothcase*

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