#but I also have a soft spot for the murder arc if only for Arthur
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#I left out the first Black Butler arc since there weren’t enough answer options#but imma be honest#I don’t think that’s anyone’s fave#love the luxury liner arc and the green witch arc#but I also have a soft spot for the murder arc if only for Arthur#kuroshitsuji#black butler#ciel phantomhive#sebastian michaelis#grell sutcliff#madame red#yana toboso#Kuroshitsuji 203#Kuroshitsuji 202#black butler 202#black butler 203#polls#our ciel#real ciel#o!ciel#r!ciel#elizabeth midford
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Canon Era - Single Fic Arcs
Rheged
Author: McShame
Description:
Post S5 (AU): canon to the end of S4 & part of the way through S5.
Gwen and Arthur have been married for several years, Merlin’s magic has been revealed and Arthur has now reached a kind of cold peace with it. Then a delegation arrives from a kingdom based on magic, and suddenly Destiny is starkly and ruthlessly thrust to the fore. The question is should - can - it be avoided?
Word Count: 124,383
Completed: Yes
Comment(s):
Definitely might want to pay attention to the tags on this one; one scene can be interpreted both as dubious consent (but more like a I want this, but I can’t do this type of situation), as well as mentions of infidelity and attempted suicide by magic because Merlin just doesn’t want to deal with the fallout and aftermath of his and Arthur’s actions and the consequences it has on their relationships with Gwen and Gwaine. But if you can handle the rough spots, this fic is truly spectacular.
Whispering Your Name
Author: CaffeinatedFlumadiddle
Description:
A different take on the dorocha. Instead of them being faceless screams that attack you, they are actually figures of the dead. Merlin doesn’t quite realize how much death affected him until him and the knights go to close the veil.
Word Count: 22,517
Completed: Yes
Comment(s):
One of my absolute favorite fics of all time. It also has a bit of Uther redemption in it and Lancelot lives! It also has one of my favorite interactions in a fanfiction:
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Arthur growled, throwing up his hands. “That thing murdered my people and you allowed it to live--”
“You murdered my people and I allowed you to live,” Merlin said sharply. Gwaine felt his eyes widen. Bold words. Part of him wanted to ‘ooh’ at it but knew it would lead to a very bad outcome.
Dower the Stars
Author: RurouniHime
Description:
During a time of great prosperity in Albion, the Druids offer Emrys a precious gift. Arthur is not amused.
Word Count: 40,654
Completed: Yes
Comment(s):
A super fun but also very romantic fic. Druids far and wide come in and kiss Merlin, hoping that their magic will react a certain way with Merlin’s and he’ll bond with one of them. Merlin however decides to throw a wrench in his plan when he chooses to bond with Arthur instead after almost losing him.
Overstepping
Author: Masked_Mayhem
Description:
Merlin knew he was pushing his limits, that he was millimetres away from overstepping the invisible line that Arthur had wordlessly set and the warlock had been careful not to cross, but he was never one to listen to the rules that were set for him. Especially not when he was afraid.
Agravaine had managed to weasel his way into his king’s mind and ingrain doubts in the people he loved, the people that loved him...doubts that only took place and bloomed as the traitor lied and deceived and planted things against them. He had gotten rid of Gwen easily enough, and had almost gotten rid of Gaius. Merlin was afraid. Were a few words and items all it would take for Arthur to turn against him too?
Word Count: 51,915
Completed: Yes
Comment(s):
Merlin steps over a line and Arthur punishes him for it. Later, when Merlin was right, Arthur regrets his decision and saves him. Romance blooms between the two, but a wrench gets thrown in along the way with the reveal of Merlin’s magic and deeds in Arthur’s name. There is a lot of angst, but I like to feel as if it’s a happy ending for the two.
Springes to Catch Woodcocks
Author: myashke
Description:
When Arthur pushes Merlin away to protect him, what lengths will Merlin go to remain in his life
Word Count: 83,292
Completed: No
Comment(s):
Unfortunately the only negative that this fic has going for it is that it doesn’t seem as if it’ll ever be finished. There are 7 chapters and they were last updated in December of 2011. Still worth the read.
Two Souls
Author: Naelyn
Description:
A few days after Camlann, Merlin and Morgana find themselves imprisoned in the same place, and forced to spend their days together. Basically, this is just a pretext for non-stop Merlin and Morgana interaction once the Emrys reveal has been made.
“I’ve gone soft over the day, you know. A few months ago, I would have killed you where you stood.”
“A few months ago, you did try to kill me where I stood,” Merlin reminded her, and she could hear the smirk in his tone.
Word Count: 11,417
Completed: Yes
Comment(s):
One of the only fics on this list that won’t be specifically a Merthur fic; but it still isn’t Mergana either. The idea is that after the revelation at Camlann, one can assume that Arthur lived and that Morgana wasn’t killed; that Merlin had been banished or sent away for the lies he told and somehow was subsequently captured.
What starts out as a hostile interactions between Merlin and Morgana leads to understanding and apologies that lead on a path to healing. The end is left open ended, it’s implied that they are sent to their deaths in another kingdom without hope of being rescued, but you can use your imagination to decide if you wanted them to have a happier ending.
The Patter of Tiny Feet on Cold Stone Floors
Author: TheAvalonian
Description:
When Guinevere finds that she is unable to bear Arthur a child, Merlin offers her the perfect solution: an ancient spell which can create new life out of love, if that love is pure and powerful enough. But after the ritual, it becomes increasingly obvious that while Gwen has indeed become pregnant, the child she carries might not have been created from the love between Arthur and his wife - but rather from the love between Arthur and his Court Sorcerer.
Word Count: 79,131
Completed: Yes
Comment(s):
Merlin and Arthur have a baby! But it’s not an mpreg fic. Guinevere discovers that Arthur and Merlin are more tied together than she and Arthur are - and while that is difficult for her to come to terms with, she concedes that Arthur has the chance that she never had with Lancelot and doesn’t want to stand in the way. Queue of course evil plotting on behalf of Morgana and a kidnapping of the queen and princess - who happens to have shown gifts of her own - and it’s a rollercoaster of a tale that leaves you wanting more.
Metamorphose
Author: clotpolesonly
Description:
When Merlin falls into bed with Arthur, he doesn’t expect to wake up alone. He doesn’t expect Arthur to give him the cold shoulder either, but there is something else he expects even less which forces him out of the kingdom for over a year.
He returns to find a traitor in the court, an army on the way, and a love he’d thought all but lost waiting for him with open arms.
Word Count: 33,753
Completed: Yes
Comment(s):
I don’t usually enjoy mpreg fics because they don’t make sense to me from a biological stand point and usually get explained away as “because reasons”. This fic is an exception, it does a good job of explaining why it is that Merlin might wound up in his situation and it deals with difficult question about how to handle the knowledge and who to share it with.
Flowers in the Wind
Author: the_seaworthy_muffin
Description:
A thousand and five-hundred years ago, Arthur Pendragon is sent to the god Emrys as Camelot’s yearly tribute. He comes to befriend the god, and as the prince continues to spend time on the god’s island, something more seems to blossom between them. But then the Lady Morgana goes missing, and Arthur betrays Emrys to his father in a moment of misguided trust. Emrys’ island burns, the heart-broken god refusing to fight for his life. In dying, he puts a terrible curse upon the prince: to live forever, and never forget.
A millennium and a half has passed. Arthur is being slowly torn apart from the inside-out, memories of the past an ever-growing weight in his chest. When he finally finds Emrys again, he is elated - he’s ready to beg, weep, anything, if only he can find blissful forgetfulness. But while the god’s power has not faded, his memories have, and he lives his life as young artist Merlin Emrys, believing himself to be a simple man with interesting gifts. And Arthur’s hopes are dashed. But there is one last way: Arthur can try, and make Merlin remember again.
Word Count: 67,366
Completed: No - but it is being continuously updated
Comment(s):
This is a truly spectacular work of fiction and I almost didn’t give it a chance. I am so glad that I did. Honestly, this is now one of my favorite authors on AO3.
Peace, Plum, Pear
Author: sweetestdrain
Description:
How in his tenth year of rule King Arthur chose a man to take the role of Court’s Magician, and how Arthur made his decision.
Word Count: 13,700
Completed: Yes
Comment(s):
Merlin fled the kingdom after Uther found out about his magic, and now it’s been ten years since the old king’s death and Arthur’s ascension to the throne, and yet Merlin is still nowhere to be found.
Arthur gives in and holds trials for the new Court Sorcerer and in walks in an old man named Myrddin Wyllt. But, there’s more than meets the eye to this strange and mysterious magician.
Deluge
Author: Suaine
Description:
In the aftermath of Merlin’s battle against Nimueh, the rain seems a minor complication, perhaps even a cleansing influence. When the rain doesn’t stop, Camelot is pushed to the brink once more. This time, Arthur may be in over his head.
Contains: a lot of wet boys in emotional scenes, Arthur knowing more than he lets on, Merlin being an idiot, both of them being a bit stupidly heroic, telepathic chess, rain (lots of), war, making out against a tree, coincidental druids, co-opted history, co-opted myths, magic, coming of age (metaphorically), and more magically annoying yet surprisingly un-floody water than you can shake a stick at.
Word Count: 50,565
Completed: Yes
Comment(s):
Beautifully written fic, truly a great addition to the fandom.
Idiosyncratic Romance
Author: F0rcryinoutloud
Description:
“And what about your destiny?” Gaius asked softly. “Merlin, you know Arthur needs you - whether he realizes it or not. You won’t have to hide from him forever.”
Word Count: 13,942
Completed: Yes
Comment(s):
Beauty in the Ashes of our Lives
Author: Fulgance
Description:
After Merlin is executed for Uther’s murder, Arthur’s world falls apart.
Word Count: 21,599
Completed: Yes
Comment(s):
Arthur makes a huge mistake when he executes Merlin following the reveal of his magic.
Tiercel
Author: waldorph
Description:
Arthur is constantly at war.
Word Count: 6,571
Completed: Yes
Comment(s):
This is a wonderful magic reveal fic where Merlin goes out and discovers more about magic while still taking care of Arthur and protecting him; Arthur is constantly at war because Uther has decided he wants to take over and unite Albion.
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1, 7, 25 for the fanfic end of year ask :)
001. favorite fic you wrote this year
i have a soft spot for take my hand (take my everything) which was the first fic i wrote this year! and kind of the first step back into writing creatively on something new that wasn’t the 7 year monster sterek fic. also my first foray into 9-1-1 fic and was just a lot of fun!
007. longest completed fic you wrote this year
the longest fic i wrote was my second for the year! so show me (family) wound up being around 16k+ for 9-1-1 which kind of burst out of me over the course of one 48 hour window unlike take my hand which took a few weeks to crank out.
025. a fic you read this year you would recommend everyone read
SO MANY FICS DUDE!!! i’m gonna rec a couple, some that i re-read this year and some that i discovered for the first time, all from a variety of fandoms. BUT heads up, you didn’t specify a fandom so it’s gonna be a little scattered. also someone else sent me this same question but specified 9-1-1, so i’m gonna reserve those recs for that ask. GET READY!!
and this, your living kiss by opal_bullets (7/7 | 84k+ | M)
destiel; AU: college/university; john winchester’s A+ parenting; angst with a happy ending
only a very few people in the world know that the celebrated and reclusive poet jack allen is just kansas mechanic dean winchester, a high school dropout with a few bucks to his name. not that it matters anymore; life has left him so wrung out he never wants to pick up another pen.
until, that is, a string of coincidences leads dean to auditing a poetry course with one dr. castiel novak. the professor is wildly intelligent, devastatingly handsome...and just so happens to be academia’s foremost expert on the poetry of jack allen.
note: i discovered this fic back in the pre-pandemic times of feb 2020 and i’ve read this fic TWICE since, leaving a lengthy comment each time. the poetry in the fic itself is stunningly gorgeous and i have a habit of reading it out loud to myself while reading bc it begs to be heard. this fic is seriously beautiful and makes me want to read all the poet!dean au’s out there in the world. unfortunately there aren’t that many so i just keep coming back to this well. i don’t think i can express enough how much i love this fic.
lost time by ARCurren (105/105 | 350k+ | T)
bransonxsybil; AU: canon divergent; outsider POVs; original characters; slow burn
the story of a free spirit who was asked to give up the man she loved for a system she didn’t believe in and what happened next. AU after 3.04.
note: did i think, when i stumbled across this fic years ago, that it would wind up being one of my all time favorites that i return to time and again to re-read? never. did i re-read it for like the dozenth time this year?? 110%. this fic is everything i want from fanfiction—it’s beautifully written, expands on canon, and shows me all the hidden moments the cameras never did (not to mention it’s historically accurate and delves deep into irish politics of the time). the first third or so of this fic is all about tom and sybil’s slow burn romance at downton, but the fic really bursts into its own when we follow the two to dublin and get introduced to all of the author’s deliciously detailed oc’s. heads up warning: this fic was never officially completed, though the final chapter is a beautifully written summary of the final arc of the fic. even so, it’s fucking worth it.
misfire by mothlights & unpossible (6/6 | 28k+ | T)
sterek; time travel; angst with a happy ending; alive hale family; magic; alternating POV
“the debt must be repaid,” she says, and it has the weight of a vow. the words resonate through him, ringing through his ribcage and the bones of his jaw, and stiles loses his breath and maybe his grip on reality because she draws herself upright and where there had once stood a supermodel-level MILK now there is galadriel’s much hotter older sister, a presence of unmistakable power in their ordinary, smells-vaguely-of-thai-takeout hallway.
“oh shit,” stiles says.
note: this fic is the first in the misfire ‘verse and i need you to understand that it literally broke me when i binge read these fics a month or so ago. i am a sucker for a solid time travel fic especially bc there are such few good ones in fandom. but this gets at the heart of it all by exploring the idea of stiles getting the chance to save derek’s family and taking it...after he and derek are romantically together in his true timeline and then actually dealing with the ramifications of how that alters everything and how stiles survives in this new present where he and derek are virtual strangers. everyone should definitely read this, but you should also know that i fucking sobbed while reading the sequel (which also has a happy ending, but really digs deep into the nitty gritty angst of the repercussions).
map of the world by seperis (11/11 | 154k+ | M)
destiel; end!verse; alternate universe; canon divergent; original characters; slow burn
the world’s already over and they’re already dead. all they’re doing now is marking time until the end.
note: look, if you don’t know about down to agincourt by @seperis, what are you doing with your life?? the series is over 1M+ words so far, the fic author is on book 4 out of a planned 8, and it’s fucking phenomenal. i know i’ve tagged a couple of these recs as slow burn but...this is the slowest slow burn to ever burn. canon!dean travels back into the end!verse timeline just as lucifer kills dean and somehow cas made it out alive and has to keep dean safe while he learns to become his end!verse counterpoint. the world building in this series is intense and i cannot recommend it enough. i’m still in the midst of my re-read bc it’s SUCH an endeavor but i highly recommend it to everybody.
invictus by ellanasan (116/116 | 355+ | M)
hayffie; au: alive abernathy family; pre-hunger games; canon prostitution; slow burn
“so then, before i can even think about doing something stupid like trying to stab him with his fucking golden paperknife, he gives me a choice, see?” haymitch continued, almost detached. “either i play nice like all the other victors or he’ll kill my family. i could either become his puppet—greatest punishment he could give me, according to him—or i could become the example.”
AU in which haymitch’s family lives.
note: hello, have you ever wondered what the hunger games series would be like if haymitch’s family were alive? i fucking hadn’t until 2 years ago when i stumbled across this fic and fell head over heels in love with this ship. @ellanainthetardis is my go to hunger games fic writer for anything exploring canon and i’m obsessed with anything she writes about the OG victors pre-canon (finnick, joanna, chaff, etc). this fic is just 300k+ exploring that world and all the intricate details of how cruel the games could really be. HIGHLY recommend. i definitely re-read it this fall when i needed a pick me up.
don’t know what i’m supposed to do (haunted by the ghost of you) by crazyassmurdererwall (1/1 | 30k+ | T)
sterek; canon divergent; angst with a happy ending; ghosts; stiles POV
stiles sees dead people. yep. seriously.
(he’s got this. he’s totally got this. so what if one of them is derek’s mom?)
note: did you know that @crazyassmurdererwall is one of my all time favorite people? and that she’s wicked talented? and that in our spare time she’ll send me a billion fic ideas that are amazing and i get to hear all the intricate details of her plot bunnies? but i digress. this fic is one of my all time fave sterek fics i’ve re-read it sooo many times. there’s just something about the heartache and stiles’ insecurity and the way he tries to shoulder it all on his own. and then there’s alli’s brilliant writing, the way she weaves through a scene and paints a picture just so and manages to tug at your heart strings with her precise word choice. there’s some amazing world building in this fic as it explores this other facet of the supernatural that canon teen wolf never touched upon, and i’m so grateful for that bc alli is the only one who should be allowed to write about ghosts and teen wolf together.
lagavulin and guinness by snarfle (10/10 | 163k+ | explicit)
hartwin; slow burn; PTSD; suicidal thoughts; graphic depictions of violence; domestic abuse
plenty of people had looked down on eggsy throughout his life. he had gotten fairly used to it. didn’t mean it was fair, but he knew how these things worked. what really sucked was that the new arthur was worse than the old one.
“eggsy grimaced. he didn’t know how to explain to harry—who seemed like he hadn’t been discriminated against a day in his life—that the new arthur kept giving him what amounted to suicide missions, and that he was currently bleeding out in a warehouse because of the deliberately bad intel she had given him.”
also featuring: dean is harder to get rid of than eggsy thought, his mum is going off the deep end, there are way too many nefarious plots in play, and eggsy is really beginning to wish that harry would stop holding his hand and kiss him instead.
note: look, i know i recced this literally less than a week ago but i ALSO stayed up til 5AM re-reading this last night and it was a-m-a-z-i-n-g. i was on a bit of a kingsman kick earlier this year, so i’ve actually re-read this fic TWICE so far in 2020. i will give you a serious warning in that this fic delves deep into domestic abuse through the lens of a variety of different relationships. it also explores the potential for abuse in hartwin, bc this fic is one of the few that actually commits to the fact that they’re literal spies who murder people. actively. a lot. but seriously, this fic is one of my fave in the fandom and i STRONGLY recommend it.
waste of breath by bryrosea (1/1 | 22k+ | M)
loganxveronica; canon compliant; missing scenes; navy; past child abuse
logan echolls, the nine years, and the navy.
note: bryrosea has an obscene number of amazing logan and veronica fics (her canon divergent series stay with me is another i re-read this year), but i’ve found myself returning to this fic a lot over the years. i’m a sucker for canon compliant fics that explore the missing scenes in between canon and this fic hits all the right buttons by diving deep into how logan echolls went from being a trash fire at hearst college at the end of s3 to being a decorated navy pilot by the movie. it explores logan seeking out therapy and making a life for himself that he can be proud of, all while pining after the girl who got away. and bc this author is amazing, she followed it up with a sequel from veronica’s point of view in the series done by only me.
the law of equivalent exchange by awed_frog (8/8 | 60k+ | M)
destiel; POV castiel; pre-canon; post-canon; canon compliant; immortality; reincarnation
“and what’s the point of it?”
“of love? there isn’t one. loving is its own purpose.”
note: i mean??? i don’t really know what to say except that this is one of the truly most beautiful fics i have ever read. it follows castiel through time as he meets different reincarnations of sam and dean across history and falls ever more deeply in love. it is achingly tender and so ecstatically written that i die just thinking about it. and that summary? i mean. holy fuck break my heart why don’t you? i don’t know how i missed out on this fic for so long since it was published in 2015 but i only learned about it for the first time back in july and it was. life changing?? when the fic finally reaches the canon timeline and he meets THIS dean it’s peak yearning. 10/10 will read again.
ahead in the count by elisela (17/17 | 50k+ | E)
sterek; AU: sports; pitcher!stiles; teacher!derek; long distance relationship; getting together
“yankee fan,” derek says, laughing when stiles makes a disgusted face. “the bronx bombers, stiles, you can’t be a new yorker and—”
“stop talking right now,” stiles sighs, shaking his head. “i can’t believe i still want to kiss you after that,” he says, pulling derek in by his coat. “this is making me rethink everything.”
“i’ll never watch them again,” derek promises, and stiles laughs against his mouth.
or: stiles is a starting pitcher for the NY mets when he meets and falls in love with derek. derek doesn’t know.
note: i read SO MANY of @elisela’s 911 fics this summer, which i loved, and then she got into teen wolf and started writing sterek and i just about died. this fic is amazing, one of my fave sterek AU’s that i’ve read in years. it’s just the right amount of drama and angst and fluff filled with all the joys of miscommunication and character relationships that makes reading sterek such a joy. reading this fic and finding out eli needed fic recs pushed me to dive back in to reading sterek fics for a bit this fall so i can say with the utmost authority that this is one of the best i’ve read in a long time.
i used to think one day we’d tell the story of us by notequitegucci (2/2 | 32k+ | M)
gendrya; alternate universe—modern setting; outsider POV; friends to lovers; friends to lovers
9 times a stark encounters gendry + 1 time he meets the starks.
note: again, this is the first in a 2 part series titled love me like you do that explores arya and gendry’s dynamics together through the point of view of her family. game of thrones ended last year with a whimper but i keep returning to the gendrya tag on ao3 to seek out new, amazing content and also to re-read some old favorites. i can’t remember if i came across this for the first time last year or this one, but i’ve read it and re-read it more times than i can count since and i love it more than i can describe. i’m a total sucker for outsider POV fics and my biggest pet peeve in canon is the fact that none of the stark’s ever found out that arya and gendry had a history together. this modern au fic almost makes up for it by giving me a gendry encounter with every family member and then the big reveal. it’s peak content.
theeeeeeese recs got a little away from me. i wasn’t originally intending on adding lengthy notes to each entry but ... oh well!! these are all amazing so please enjoy.
fanfic end of the year asks
#lilolilyr#ask#if i knew an authors tumblr i tried to tag them in this#seriously my reclist got away from me for a bit#also if you're looking for 911 recs#like i said they will be in another ask where someone specified!!#fic rec#about kat writes
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I honestly believe that antis don’t know what dramione is actually about, and believe we just ship a bully with his victim–and refuse to deviate from their reasoning.
But dramione is NOT about that, because literally NO ONE in the dramione fandom (except a few bad apples) would ship a childhood bully draco with hermione. We understand that yes, doing that would make it toxic/abusive.
draco’s racism was taught to him, just like the weasley children were taught that muggles and wizards and muggleborns were equal. the first eleven years of his life, he grew up with lucius malfoy as a role model–one of the chief blood supremacists. we know that canonically draco worshipped his dad. he learnt that muggleborns were scum of the earth. why would he question that? when we’re kids, we don’t question what our parents teach us–we just assume they’re right and that’s how the world works.
the same concept applies to his classism. the first thing he said to ron was “red hair. hand-me-down robes. you must be a weasley.” now, keep in mind that this is the first time draco is meeting ron. how is an eleven-year-old who’s never met the other child before, know exactly who the child is, and how the child would look?
again, the parents. lucius malfoy worked with arthur weasley in the ministry. he would obviously go home and complain about the “blood traitor and his poverty” to narcissa, and draco would probably overhear, and assume that that’s how you treat the weasleys, because they’re “bad people” in his father’s book, and by extension, his.
the second book: at the start, lucius puts draco down because his marks were lower than hermione’s. draco is obviously put off, but he understands why–he’s a pureblood. he’s a malfoy. he’s supposed to be doing better than the muggleborns, because according to his father, they don’t deserve to attend hogwarts. later, he calls hermione a mudblood–again, where would he learn that type of language? definitely not the internet, because that didn’t exist. that takes us to his parents.
now, the question probably is why wouldn’t draco see other non-racist people in school and change? because he didn’t hang out with other houses. slytherins are very isolated, and usually pitted against the rest of the school. draco’s friends, children of death eaters, were probably raised in the same way he was. if his parents taught him pureblood supremacy, and his friends’ parents taught them the same thing, why would he think to question it?
draco malfoy was taught right from wrong, but those values just happened to be the opposite of what everyone else, like the weasleys, was taught. but just as the weasleys went in knowing that draco was wrong for believing in them, draco went in knowing that the weasleys were wrong for believing in theirs.
in the third book, I think the whole buckbeak incident was realistic. if a child provokes a dog, and the dog bites it, the dog is the one that’s put down no matter what the child did. I’m not saying it’s “right”–I definitely thin draco 100% deserved to be punched by hermione–but it’s how the world currently works–maybe it will change later but for now, it’s reality.
and as for the slytherins’ hatred towards hagrid–I’d say it was justified, because hagrid himself was no sweetheart to them. don’t get me wrong–I love hagrid, but he didn’t like the slytherins–you can see this when he talks about them in the first book. again, the books are from harry’s pov, so even if hagrid didn’t like the slytherins and said something about them, it would be biased. but yes, the slytherins often took it too far.
the fourth book–draco’s bullying wasn’t even that bad. he actually warned hermione to get away at the world cup, in his own twisted way. he accidentally hit her with a curse meant for harry. he made “potter stinks” badges–juvenile things.
now for the fifth. let me get this absolutely straight: I hate umbridge. I hate the inquistorial squad. I hate that the slytherins joined them.
but we have to go back to slytherin inequality for this. the slytherins are booed at quidditch matches. the whole school, including most of the teachers and their headmaster, are against them. in fact, I could say that the only teacher that favoured the house was snape, and have canonical evidence. it’s basically the slytherins vs the rest of the school.
now, comes along a lady that actually seems to favour slytherins. for the first time, they’re made to feel important. she wants to form a little group to catch their worst enemy in an illegal act. who would say no?
but again–the golden trio was no less. they purposely excluded the slytherins from the DA. forget malfoy and his cronies. not EVERY slytherin would be devoted to umbridge/malfoy. but the trio didn’t invite ANY of them–and not all their parents were death eaters.
now, put yourself in their place. imagine your school formed a club excluding your house. why would you protect them, instead of catching them? they had no reason to protect the DA, so they didn’t.
in the sixth book–I think at this point, draco’s grown out of his blood prejudice and realised that it isn’t a game. his father, probably the person he expects the most to protect him is in azkaban. voldemort has his mum, and will kill her if he doesn’t murder the wizarding world’s most powerful wizard. but why did he continue his discrimination?
do you really think that draco malfoy, bully and blood supremacist for five years, suddenly stopped bullying muggleborns, that word wouldn’t reach his house? his friends/housemates would tell their death eater parents, and somehow, it would reach his father, or worse–voldemort, who would just find it an excuse to kill his mum.
but admittedly, he didn’t bully the trio that much that year, and I think he called hermione a mudbblood only once–at the top of the astronomy tower, when he was trying to kill dumbledore.
also dumbledore KNEW that draco malfoy had been ordered to murder him. he knew who had been making those attempts the entire year. and then five minutes before the death eaters got them, he offered protection. draco was expected to make a life-changing, life-threatening decision in five minutes? when he didn’t even know whether he could trust the order? for all he knew, they could hold his family hostage to draw voldemort out.
but even then, he began to lower his wand, but it was too late.
IMHO, I think draco only referred to her as “mudblood granger” at that time as a last-ditch attempt to constrain to his father’s beliefs–which would be VERY advantageous to him at that point, because then he would be able to find a reason to murder dumbledore. but we all know he wasn’t able to do it.
in the seventh book, he refuses to identify harry, even though it’s obvious he recognises him and his family could gain EVERYTHING–but that’s a flimsy redemption arc at best. he stands by while hermione’s being tortured, yes, but that’s because it’s bellatrix lestrange–probably the most feared death eater of all time. would you do anything? I think not.
draco malfoy was brought up in a different way, having different beliefs ingrained into him. do you actually blame a child for doing what his father said, when the child should have been old enough to make his own choices? do you still blame that child for having been exposed to only one sort of right their whole lives, and having a biased opinion because they were never taught to see from a different perspective? and do you still blame that boy, despite everything he’s faced, that he never went through with it?
people who say “draco had a choice and he made the wrong one” are just wrong. what kinda choice would they make if a genocidal maniac was sitting at their dinner table, holding their mum hostage, until they killed the president of their country?
to me, I think draco and ron were both very insecure people, though for different reasons, and just had different ways of showing it. ron cut people off when he thought they were going to succeed without him, and draco made comments about the other person’s insecurities, probably to make himself feel better. ron was insecure about harry’s fame, but since he was harry’s best friend, he just had to put up with it (until the 4th book). draco had no such obligations.
and to say that draco malfoy isn’t redeemable, is saying that people who mess up when they’re kids, will remain that way for the rest of their lives. it’s sending a message to all young people out there telling them the consequences of making a mistake–no one will like them.
I’m not “excusing” draco’s racism. he was a piece of shit, plain and simple. but I’d say 98% of that is because of the way he was brought up.
also isn’t it the whole point that we want people to wake up and realise their mistakes? half of america would have LOVED for donald trump to get up one day and realise that he’s a racist misogynist. ofc it wouldn’t change the past, but it would change the future.
now, onto the dramione argument.
first off, saying that hermione wouldn’t forgive draco for the past is going against every aspect of her character. she had a soft spot for kreacher, the house-elf that grew up in a racist household and was therefore racist and called her and ron “mudblood” and “blood traitor” (quite similar to draco, actually). she understood where he was coming from, and why he was the way he is, and ultimately didn’t care. after that, how can you say that she wouldn’t forgive draco for having beliefs and values ingrained into him from when he was a child?
second, who is the real enemy in HP? yes, you could say voldemort, but it’s more about what he represents, which is prejudice. having draco, a former blood supremacist and the son and nephew of death eaters, getting together with hermione, a muggleborn girl, would show that he’s thrown his beliefs out of the window. it’s his character growth and how he matures through the war and its aftermath.
putting draco and hermione together as kids without any change to their characters is toxic and abusive, no doubt about it. but that’s not what dramione is about.
even in hogwarts fics like isolation, what the room requires, and clean, the authors make sure that he repents. they make sure to explicitly write his character arc, and to show that he is no longer a bully or blood supremacist.
hermione is NOT draco’s redemption, since canonically he shows signs of awakening, if not actual repentence. she’s the conclusion of his redemption. it’s officially showing the world and society that he is no longer a blood purist.
dramione isn’t about crazy fans thinking it’s adorable for a bully and a victim to fall for each other.
dramione is about change. and if you believe that people can’t change, that’s on you.
———-
Edit:
I agree with most of the points you’ve made except for the second paragraph. The majority of Dramione fans do indeed ship Hermione with redeemed Draco, but there’s nothing wrong with reading fics in which their relationship is toxic (I do that every once in a while) because neither Hermione nor Draco is a real person and you can put them in all types of circumstances. They’re both fictional characters and thus can’t be hurt.
- AgnMag
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2019 Writer’s Year in Review
tagged by @pikapeppa. thank you!! I always enjoy this exercise ^_^
Word count:
The Lily Farm - 163,580
That he may hold me by the hand - 29,146
Original fiction - 14,780
Total - 207,506
Number of smut scenes: I don’t really keep track? Probably a dozen or so. It is definitely true that I don’t write as much smut for Arthur as I did for Solas. My writing style has chilled out in that sense. I still write sex scenes for sure, but full blown smut is pretty rare for me. For Solas, sex was kind of like a theme. I went to it all the time to develop his character. For Arthur, it does not serve the same thematic function.
New things I tried this year: Using more tropes, like good old fashioned bed-sharing, fake relationships, etc. They work really well for my Arthur pairings, and I think it’s helped my plot writing a lot.
Also, this year I have been working consistently on a fic for a mlm pairing, Arthur x Albert (That he may hold me by the hand) I have never written a fullblown love story between two men before, only as a secondary-ship, so this is a first for me. I was nervous, but I did a lot of research in preparation, and I have learned a lot about the history of male sexuality and its various forms and perceptions in pioneer times and the late nineteenth century. It’s really been one of my favorite projects to date, and definitely the most straight up romantic love story I’ve ever written.
Favorite thing I wrote this year: I like all the stories I wrote this year. The Lily Farm has become a romantic but humorous fix-it with a big plot, as I’m literally rewriting the end of the game. I love everything I’ve gotten to do with Mary Beth’s character, and it’s given me the chance to just make her into a true heroine. Yours, Sadie Adler was a sad endeavor, and I cried while writing it, but it was a plotting challenge for me, and I am proud of what it became. That he may hold is a sort of smaller scope love story for me, but I love this about it best of all. I love Arthur and Albert and I always had a soft spot for the Arcadia for Amateurs mission, because it shows Arthur at his most charming and quintessentially chivalrous.
I also love the original stuff I’ve written and the story I’ve started to build. It’s a return to roots for me and exploration of a place and a family of characters that are all like people I grew up with. It’s not really a story I’ve told before, so I’m excited about that.
Favorite fic I read this year: I haven’t read nearly enough fics this year, but a few memorable experiences include
Temporal Arrangements by @thevikingwoman (A time travel AU for Solas and Iwyn Lavellan--clever in its plot and very emotional, a good redemption arc for Solas, and Iwyn is a most classic and stoic Lavellan who I love dearly. Neat Arlathan aesthetics.)
safe and sound by @cosmiclattes (A super good take on what could have happened with Arthur and Eliza all those years ago. Sad, beautiful details, will murder you.)
how to be a lion when you were born a wolf by @cosmiclattes (A beautiful alternate ending to the game. I won’t give anything else away, but read it!!)
Up on the Homestead (a series) by CedarTheBarefoot (Arthur/John. A smutty tale of country living and a quiet romance. Arthur and John are both very in-character here and it’s kind of like this renewed sense of pastoral innocence but its edges are not sanded down. Good realism and process-writing. Awesome smut. It is good to see them safe.)
Of Sons and Daughters by writehavoc (A sweet, romantic story in which Arthur accidentally falls in love with Dutch’s daughter. Emmeline is a very innocent OC who has been deeply sheltered and is now kind of working toward her own sense of independence. Very good chivalrous but conflicted Arthur. One of the coolest premises I’ve seen.)
Writing goals for 2020: To finish both The Lily Farm and That he may hold, and then to focus most of my energies on my original stuff for a while. I would like to finish a book. I am hoping 2020 is the year!! Or, well, I’m gonna work for it lol. (I will still be here, of course...hyperfixations will always call. lol)
tags for @thevikingwoman @bearly-tolerable @cosmiclattes @ladylike-foxes @squidproquoclarice @starsandskies @ma-sulevin @idrelle-miocovani @a-shakespearean-in-paris and anyone else who would like to do this. please tag me if you do!! ^_^
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BEHOLD the rest of the commentaries. They’re pretty short in comparison to the others, and I wrote them pretty stream of consciousness, so I can’t guarantee how much sense they make, but it’s done, dammit.
BTW, my overall favorite characters (in no particular order): Arthur, Charlie, Meredith, Alaster, Iggy, Bael, Mara, Junior, Solstice
My thoughts on 33 different characters below the cut:
The New Friends:
Kirk: Like Nick, probably could have been written out and not much would be changed. However, he gets a pass because he was never really meant to be in the main storyline to start with, being born of a short lived prompt based adventure on the MSPA forums, who got phased into the main storyline. However, unlike Nick he has a genuinely interesting motivation (evil goon gone good, determined to avenge his mistreated coworkers). I also love his overall cheery and easygoing personality, he seems like a very nice guy. Interesting backstory- he was apparently in the army reserves, but got hired by a private company, if I’m remembering correctly? That means that he might not have had any family in Ebon Creek- which means there may well be people still out there looking for him and worried about him, orrr they’ve just been told he’s dead, which is a sad thought. Also has an adorable dynamic with Morty- I could easily imagine him with that one gif along the lines of “I’ve only known Morty for 15 minutes, but if anything happened to him I would kill everyone in the room and then myself.” I also liked how he’s the only human member of the “good guys” to have any actual combat training- in an AU where nobody has demon powers or magic, he could probably wipe the floor with everyone else. Overall, very nice dude, love his abilities (cool weapons and shouting out power names is really fun), REALLY liked his aegis design, love his dynamic with Morty, grade A character.
Arrie- Another really cool lady! I really liked how she slowly went from confused but not incompetent, to really taking responsibility for the situation in Ebon Creek later in the storyline. It’s awesome to hear she’s going to get a more prominent role in the reboot, I ADORE her new design, and I’m quietly guessing her treasure chest motif pockets have bag of holding style portals in them. Would have loved to have seen her reunion with Azgrut, but ehn, we can’t have everything. Also love her clever use of portals- I think it works really well with her intelligent personality. I also really enjoyed her dynamic with Sally while they were teemed up- rough and tumble lady with a prim, proper and intelligent young woman, both happily beating up their opponents. Wonderful.
Victus- I’ve always had a soft spot for dry, logical characters, and Victus is no exception. I think as a fellow military dude, him and Kirk would have gotten along quite well if they had had more time to talk to each other. However, above all else I love his relationship with Bael- from how he initially turned Bael’s parasitism around on him, to how he, (in my opinion at least) ended up in a near-father figure position. It doesn’t matter how edgy Bael acts, Victus is there to pat him on the head in a patronizing fashion. Sure kid. You’re real cool. (While also taking into account his mental state and showing sympathy.) And frankly, if anyone needs that kind of support, it’s Bael.
Trevor- Always liked this guy! A very useful font of exposition, and a genuinely nice guy. I also really appreciate the fact that he’s not used to the chaos of Ebon Creek, and of horrible situations in general. His moments of vulnerability/near breakdowns (and Eric’s for that matter) remind the audience that everything that’s happening… isn’t normal. He’s the closest thing we have to an ‘audience insert’ in the Asylum arc. Loved his gadgetry based fighting style, would have been interesting to see what sort of demon powers he would have developed, but overall not too bummed about it. Really REALLY happy he got to rebuild his friendship with Azgrut, that was one of the things I was most pleased about with the ending.
Eric- Very similar to Trevor in terms of ‘audience insert’ and ‘nice guy’ and ‘hadn’t been completely traumatized by the start of the comic leading to mental breakdowns’, but rode along with the villains instead of the heroes. Poor thing ultimately ends up suffering more than Trevor though, for obvious reasons. It would have been cool to see someone actually learn how to be a zombie though; Sam and Jericho have been like that for years, and we missed Alaster’s adjustment period, but it would have been amusing to watch Eric slowly get used to it.
Also, he committed the biggest instance of ‘Nice job breaking it, hero’ in the whole comic. Way to revive King Law, Eric. Real smooth. Also very, very interesting in that he was one of the few that SIGVALDI found interesting. Eric’s likely up there on the list of cleverest characters, and I hope he’s doing ok after the end of Suppression.
Assorted Goons:
Grenner- I love this man. I draw him looking perpetually exhausted for a reason. He’s a very good man who blames himself for some very bad things, and while he outwardly holds himself together, is grasping at straws to figure out how to make things better. Is a man that’s plagued with guilt and also the actual plague, but has an INCREDIBLE mental fortitude- it’s been explained that perceiving one’s demonic infection as a separate entity is what kills you, but Dr.Grenner did that… and won. I also love his relationship with Iggy- once pretty good, now strained with Grenner trying very hard to put it back together. I’d really like to see them make up someday. (Iggy takes after his dad a lot tbh, loathe as he is to admit it.) ...Id also like to see Grenner show everyone Iggy’s baby pics. You know he’s got em somewhere.
Kolt- Noooooooo. Probably...my least favorite of the villains. Certainly the one I find the creepiest, for reasons I went over in my commentary with Sally, but also the one I found the least interesting in terms of characterization and backstory. Was really pleased to see his “death” and how he got repurposed into a different character, buuuut it’s less encouraging knowing he was going to come back. Please, you creepy bastard….just stay dead…..
Santris- Changing directions, one of my favorite villains. Unlike Nick, his small number of appearances works in his favor, considering he usually shows up during plot important moments, prodding things in one direction or another. This is a man who KNOWS things, and I love it. What is he up to? What’s his motivation? That’s all part of the intrigue. His power set links into this perfectly, which is to say he doesn’t really have one- he’s the only character that fights without magic or plague powers, leaving his real powers- if he has any- a mystery. There’s only one thing I feel fit to speculate on with this guy, and that’s the fact that he’s PROBABLY an elf, going by his eyes. Even that can’t be confirmed though, and makes things even more strange due to the fact that he seems to mostly work with humans, with little to no contact with Thal’nasia.
Azgrut- Another ‘not technically evil, just a victim of tragic circumstances’ character. Being murdered as a child, brought back as a zombie, and forced to build weapons or else be killed again doesn’t leave a guy with a lot of options. However, the weapons he’s building are his life’s work, and probably the only thing that brings him any real happiness or, failing that, satisfaction. It’s probably why he’s so protective of his work, and why he’s so pissy when anyone comes and bothers him. His magitech based fighting style is cool as heck to look at (And to compare/contrast with Trevor’s), and he has an EXCELLENT general aesthetic to him. Tron line zombie, hell yeah. Overall, his situation was even more miserable and ultimately hopeless than Sam’s, and I’m REALLY glad he got a happy ending. Though it’s a shame that because Arthur raised him, that means he’s still ultimately under control of the Wights, which was his whole goal with the phylactery thing. Wait. Azgrut’s still alive at the end. Which m…..FUCK. ARTHUR’S NOT DEAD, THE CAVE IN DIDN’T KILL HIM. I JUST FIGURED THAT OUT.
FUCK
Maggie- Okokokok I’m cool, it’s cool. It’s cool. Arthur’s not dead, fine. I’ll just pretend he’s stuck under a rock somewhere, it’s fine. Ok, Maggie. She’s so. Fucking cool. So goddamn cool, I love her so much. I love her ease and sense of confidence, and the implication that she’s the one wearing the pants in her business relationship with Bartleby, even if the people they work with get the initial impression otherwise. She also probably wears the pants in their romantic relationship too. Which like, might not be a thing, not confirmed for canon, but it’s fun to think about. Also has a bitchin outfit, and the coolest ‘element’ out of everyone in the comic, I think. Gravity powers? There is so much room for shenanigans and cool fight scenes out of that. I’m really looking forward to seeing her in the new comic- judging from the number of stripes on her shoulder, she seems to be the boss in the reboot as well. Keep on rockin, girl.
Bartleby- Look. In almost every piece of media with a lot of villains, there’s always one brightly colored, egotistical and flamboyant one. I think for Suppression, Bartleby is that dude. I’m not even kidding- if you look at the big reference sheet of Suppression characters on Degulus’s Deviantart, there’s only 3 patches of bright color and those are Overload Charlie, Azgrut, and Bartleby. However, unlike other villains of that type, where their biggest flaw is their sense of pride, Bartleby’s motive is that Thal’nasia isn’t proud ENOUGH. He believes that elves are genuinely better than humans, but aren’t acting like it, and that needs to be fixed immediately, by way of violent take over of the government. That is a DELIGHTFUL motivation to have. I’m aware that a lot of Suppression’s villains match up with the seven deadly sins (though it’s not too strictly enforced), and envy is a hard one to pull off. However, Bartleby does it and does it well! (Side note: love this dude’s outfit, and double love the fact that he’s the only character who’s teeth you see on a regular basis… where those teeth aren’t sharp. That’s wonderfully unnerving. A+. )
Tyburn- This dude’s more of an honorable mention because he never actually shows up. You only hear about him in passing, so there’s not a LOT for me to say. It’s some hilarious irony that Azgrut doesn’t know what happened after he died (and neither does Iggy for that matter) so he just lists the completely wrong generals and Iggy just essentially nods and goes “Sounds legit.”. I feel like there’s a lot of mysteries around Tyburn though… like I said, we never see him, so who WAS this guy? Why did he defect? (Is he secretly still alive…?) However, the Blood Red Rebellion seems like it was pretty much a feature exclusive to the original comic, so we’re not likely to get anymore info. I’m fine with that tbh- not everything has to be explained to death. Sometimes a dude is just a dude.
Lexi- First of all. Love this girl’s aesthetic. The cropped haircut? The >:3c face? The goggles? The outfit? Yes, yes, and yes. She’s also the only character in the comic that has a very… ‘big sister’ sort of feel to her. Really she’s just an overworked babysitter who got handed a kid that she is in no way equipped to handle, but she’s doing her best to not mess him up too bad regardless. I get the feeling that she’s a dumb kid who was asked “Hey you wanna do some Villainy (™) “ and she was totally down for it before realizing much too late that. Villainy is not as fun as you’d think and ESPECIALLY not when you’re the replaceable mook.
Junior- Hhhh I love this boy. Look, I love art and drawing. I also love robots n stuff in media. I also have Aspergers, and so I have a tendencies towards anxiety, seeming ‘odd’ to other people, being baffled in situations that others would find normal, and obsessing over certain topics. As a result, those who have seen Junior can see why I love this child so so much. It can be kind of embarrassing to admit it, but I see a lot of myself in this character. I’m glad that he has someone that “gets” him and is looking out for his best interests (you rock, Alaster). We don’t really find out what happened to him, Lexi, Alaster and Maggie after the comic, but I like to think that they all got out ok and are just chilling out there somewhere.
Wight Family
Maxwell- Stern, serious, imposing heads of families are relatively common villains, and it’s pretty easy for it to become a boring, flat stereotype; for a character to become nothing more than, essentially, a villainous rock. Max is not this. Max is trying very hard to be this, but doesn’t always measure up, and that is infinitely more interesting than the evil boulder archetype. His character profile straight up says that he’s only trying to be cool and collected. In reality, he’s surrounded by (what he considers) idiots and is trying very hard to keep this show on the road, and his facade of dignity isn’t nearly as impregnable as he thinks. I love the idea of a cold, collected villain going from complex swordplay to an undignified bar brawl the moment he thinks no one’s looking. Just “Fuck it, fine, I’ll do this the easy way. This idiot doesn’t deserve me at my best anyway.” Unfortunately, while his character is very fun to read, the downfall of having a character that doesn’t go into villainous monologues...means that he never explains his evil plans. Which means I’m STILL not really sure… what it was he was trying to DO. Most of my ideas come from Degulus’s explanations in the comments, which is uhhh probably not the best way to communicate that to one’s audience. I’m pretty sure he was planning on altering the course of the leyline to change the laws of nature, and then controlling the world as an immortal zombie but… trusting Arthur to manage that? Yikes. Maybe not the best plan buddy, but you tried your best.
Arthur- Ohhh this bastard. Who is apparently still alive/undead. This bastard… is actually one of my most favorite characters. Like, irrevocably top 5 (I could never pick a #1, but he’s up there). He is an absolutely terrible person. Lazy and cowardly, but in a way that is loathable and malicious instead of sympathetic. Doesn’t seem to think highly of himself, but...doesn’t seem to have a high opinion of anyone else either. Killed his own kids. Killed his brother (s...sort of. It wasn’t very clear.). And today I figured out he didn’t even get comeuppance for it. (Unless, of course, he’s just trapped under a rock in a caved in cave for all eternity with his phylactery sitting on a desk somewhere. That’s kind of hilarious.) However… despite all that, he is an incredibly fun character to hate. His dialogue and reactions were always funny to read, and there’s something about his desire to just lie down and do nothing that appeals to everyone, I think. In a way, he’s similar to an audience insert or ‘straight man’- the one that says “You realize this plan is stupid and never going to work, right.” and is promptly ignored. In summary, terrible person, HORRENDOUS father, but a GREAT character.
William- Ok technically not a person, but will still be giving commentary. A golem made of souls is an amazingly clever concept, though probably my most favorite part of William is getting to describe him as a “sack of angry ghosts” to my friends. It’s interesting how William appears to be at least partially sentient though- either that collection of souls does have some hivemind sort of consciousness, or that’s some faaaancy spell coding on Sigvaldi’s part. However, due to the fact that he’s a juggernaut superweapon of necromancy, he’s less a character and more a...almost environmental hazard that the characters have to work around. A unique and interesting superweapon that was a blast to read about how they worked around him, but… doesn’t leave me a lot to talk about in terms of character commentary.
Jericho- Ah, the poor narratively-proclaimed D-list villain. Nobody really likes him. Got waylaid by the events of the story, and as a result never did anything of much significance, but it was lampshaded and he later got a huge upgrade. I feel like that matches his personality quite well though. He takes after his dad a lot more than he’d like to admit; he has pride in being undead, and as a member of the Wight family, expects everyone to cower before him… and it’s really funny to watch how frustrated he gets when people don’t immediately do that. I think the combo with Kolt was a good idea; it gave him a much needed power boost and source of intrigue, being a possessed zombie. I was also really interested in seeing where his relationship with Iggy and Azgrut was gonna go! On an unrelated note though...I found out the other day that he’s only 2 years older than Samantha. However, Samantha’s backstory showed that she died as a little girl, and I thought it was implied by the “go get your brother” comment that Jericho died shortly after… but that would make Jericho have the body of a young teen/preteen at most. Sooo I guess that either wasn’t the day Jericho died and Arthur wanted him for something else, or acid zombies can age. Hmmm.
(PS. If Alastair calls Samantha Sam and Meredith Merry, does that mean he calls Jericho Jerry? Because if so, that’s hilarious.)
Samantha- The undying voice of nihilism, in a travel sized package. Sam didn’t get a huge role or a ton of appearances, but she’s one of the few who got what I considered a complete character arc. She had a problem, finally admitted that problem, got assistance with the problem and got her comeuppance. Her story was sad, but god if that didn’t make it all the more satisfying watching Arthur get thrown around like a toy by King Law. You could almost hear the squeaky toy sounds.
Alaster- I have a lot of respect for this guy. In the beginning of the story, he comes off as one of those mysterious, unhinged villains that gives a dramatic speech and then vanishes. However, the course of the story revealed layers of personality and backstory that made me genuinely feel for this guy. He’s proud to be a Wight, but somewhat paradoxically hates his family- this later turns out to be because his dad and uncle are terrible people, even to their own children, and he’s trying to actually create something resembling a “family” instead of...well, a soul-drowning pit of misery. He’s trying to make the Wight family a better place for the members of his generation. He’s trying to be a good brother, a good role model, and is friendly to Sam even though she doesn’t seem to want his kindness. He doesn’t mind though, he gets it. It’s so nice to see the younger members of “villain” half of the cast have someone in their corner willing to throw down for them no matter what. Alaster is an A+ older brother, A+ babysitter, and honestly probably would have made a good dad if he ever got the chance.
Well, except for the ‘teaching kids how to murder’ part. But that’s just a traditional part of Wight education, I can give that the slip.
Meredith- My first thought upon seeing Meredith was “Oh my god she’s adorable.” Since then, my opinion has not changed in the slightest. She’s like Sabrina the Teenage Witch but evil. She wants to make a team of US presidents with chainsaw arms. I want to SEE her make a team of US presidents with chainsaw arms. Honestly, she’s a breath of fresh air in the Wight team. She’s good at her job, but young and enthusiastic. After so many dreary, depressed, gothass villains, it’s nice to see one that’s a straight up ray of bubbly sunshine who also wants to rip out your soul and use you as her cute lil familiar. I bet she can ride that scythe like a broomstick. She’s got the wind powers, it could work. The sad part is though is that...while the old Wights might have survived the cave in, and Arthur definitely survived, Meredith was the only one in the room who wasn’t undead or a lich which means she’s probably. Permadead by the end of the comi- AW FUCK THAT MEANS ALASTER’S DEAD TOO. AUUUGH. Oh fffuck I hope Alaster managed to get Junior back home before he just. Dropped dead next to him.
King Law- Unlike Max, this guy is a lot closer to the “villainous rock” stereotype; he even has an elemental affinity to Earth! While I find him a little more boring than Max though, I’m still drawn to him by his bitchin character design, and intriguing sense of ethics; he honestly has some good points on the nature of goodness and the fact that having a sense of right and wrong is worthless if “right” isn’t being defended. He seems to be the concept of “lawful evil” taken to a reasonable endpoint, whereas Sigvaldi would be the “chaotic” end of the scale.
Nora- Ohhh yes that’s the ticket. This is exactly what I wanted. It’s implied that...terrible things happened to the Wight kids’ mothers. (Ok they’re not really kids but you get what I mean.) However, that leaves a very obvious dearth of Wight ladies, leaving me with a hankering for more. Nora hits that spot so well. She’s elegant, refined, but also has a giant, badass fuckin’ sword (ok well she is the sword but still), and will happily kick the crap out of everyone that messes with her family, despite the drama. Is there a ton of depth and backstory? Nah, she was there for like...10 pages and died (thanks, Charlie), but her very existence is a much needed breath of fresh air. Also I need to draw her in a bunch of fancy outfits starting, like. Now.
Sigvaldi- So, I got one of my friends to read the reboot with me entirely on the off chance that Sigvaldi shows up in it based on the few snippets of the old comic that I showed him, so that certainly speaks wonders for Sigvaldi’s character. Granted, it’s mostly because he’s a lich and this friend loves those, but my point stands. Sigvaldi is great. I love characters with a unique worldview and sense of morality, and Sigvaldi is no exception. He is well aware that he creates monsters and commits sins against the laws of nature, and accepts this...what he truly loathes is those who do monstrous things and try to make it look like justice. Now THATS interesting. I also just generally enjoy his omniscient observer role in the story, popping up to give warnings and make predictions. I should also talk about the end of Suppression, while I’m talking about him, specifically those mysterious voices who’s ranks he joined at the end of the story… I’m not sure who they are, but I sure as hell cant wait to find out! I have a few guesses, but 0 evidence, so I’m gonna hold those cards close to my chest for now.
Other Characters
These guys diiiidn’t get a lot of screentime and also I’m feeling really crappy and sick right now so I might not have a lot to say, sorry.
Figaro- An elf with a BEARD. So good. I like how self aware he is about the nature of his job, and how light hearted he stays about it all. Sometimes, your coworkers are incredibly powerful mages that can control the very forces of nature themselves. And sometimes they’re idiots. And sometimes they’re both at the same time and you just kinda gotta roll with it.
Coin- Had pretty much just one conversation so I don’t have a lot to say about this guy. I like his near-naive dedication to heroics and justice though. That can be interesting in done right, especially if it’s from a character who isn’t actually naive and is instead willing to fight for that ideal. I actually find his family more interesting- he has a last name that’s been mentioned a couple times in different contexts. His family certainly gets around, huh?
Mara- Probably my favorite of the elves. I can understand both sides of peoples opinions of her. On one hand, she’s absolutely a child soldier. There’s definite negative effects to this that she straight up doesn’t have the experience or maturity to understand completely, and even though this frustrates her, the people claiming it are absolutely right. However, I can also understand her desire to be taken seriously as a person, the difficulty in repairing the good name of the Red part of the army, and the massive pressure on her as the last remaining heiress of the Kuin family. She’s got a lot of weight on her, and while I want to see her do well… I also wish she had the opportunity to. Well, be a dumb teenager. Very interesting character, but also very specific to the pre-reboot continuity, so I’m not sure what’s going to happen to her now.
Phylo- This is also a reaaaally good one. I love how much care was taken to write his disabilities- he’s competent and well respected, but his missing arm and blindness are taken into account and addressed reasonably. I especially loved how he has to take his arm off during the winter because of the chill that creeps up it- that shows a lot of thought put in, that not a lot of other comics would. A+ writing on that front. Normally I don’t think I’d like his grumpy, but still managing to brag sort of personality, but in this case I think it works because the other characters mentioned that he was the grumpy one; his behavior isn’t treated by the narrative as being a good thing.
Kevin- Admittedly not a huge fan of this guy. I mean he’s ok, I liked the kamen rider leystone power suit, that’s cool. And granted, we might not have gotten the best introduction to him, considering he was exhausted and it was the middle of the night when we met him. But overall, he seemed to me to be a guy where people kept saying that “he was a nice guy, really” despite being whiny and aggressive the whole time. He kept acting really distrustful, but none of his protestations really affected the plot, so I just spent most of the time waiting to move on from this guy. I get the feeling I also would like him more if I watched any episodes of Kamen Rider, as there’s supposed to be a lot of similarities buuuut I haven’t, so. Still, he’s supposed to be getting a lot of focus in the reboot, so hopefully he’ll be able to stand up on his own virtues.
Roni- Noooot a lot to say about this one. I’m interested in seeing what animal-based life magic looks like in practice though. Plant life magic is easy enough, it’s just plants, but is animal husbandry magic like...being able to control/talk to animals? Or is it kind of horrifying fleshcrafting. I also didn’t think she and Cerene were that similar, but I’m still looking forward to the sister relationship they’ll have! (I’ve also always wondered if that promised hang session with her and Cerene was going to lead up to a meeting and confrontation with Lexi… that would have been interesting.)
Torblad and Esra- Wasn’t a huge fan of these two either. I’m not sure if Torblad was just pretending to have gone crazy, or if he was supposed to actually have some sort of illness from his time travel shenanigans, but overall it just felt weird to me. The tone of his ‘prophecies’ was so different from the rest of the comic that I thought he was a one off joke character or a cameo of some other thing (like how Kirk was a character who was originally from a MSPA fanventure, I thought Torblad was a character from the original RP a lot of the elf characters came from that was going to be a tip of the hat one-off, tonally inconsistent cameo and then we’d more on.). Imagine my surprise when he ended up being responsible for the end of the comic! With Cerene’s help, of course. Overall, he just seems...out of place to me. With the rest of the cast being written well enough in terms of physical disabilities, the effects of trauma, and mental illness, Torblad’s sort of… lolrandom sort of craziness feels cut from a different cloth. I don’t even really have anything to say about Esra- she seems to be there pretty much entirely to interpret for Torblad, soooo I got nothing. Sorry, Esra.
Solstice- Aw yeah, there’s the good stuff. Take this with a grain of salt though; I’m not entirely sure if I’m interpreting her backstory correctly, as we only got bits and pieces of it. She was an excellent introduction to how much things were going to change for our “heroes” when they walked into Thal’nasia- instead of snarky comments and scuffles, they got someone that was spooked, shy, and wondering why the hell they were there in the middle of the night. She’s a bit awkward, but seems friendly and genuine; a much needed change of pace and a breath of fresh air. However, the story is quick to give her more depth than that. She used to be a lot sadder, a lot angrier, a lot more aggressive, and it’s taken time and effort to recover from that. She has a useful, unique worldview due to her golden aura color, but is estranged from society due to her differences and her odd personality as a result. And yet… she’s still become a kind person, with a helpful personality, and I have a lot of respect for that. It’s one thing to become a snarling badass in the face of adversity. That’s cool, and I like that too. Hell yeah, punch those who hurt you. But something we don’t get to see a lot is people recovering, getting better, realizing that while that aggression helped them at the time, it can become self destructive. It’s really nice to see a character that shows that stronger isn’t the be all, end all solution to one’s problems.
(Though she could probably still kick your ass if she wanted to. Just sayin.)
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Why Harvey Keitel’s Lansky Looks for Goodness in Bad Men
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The biographical crime feature Lansky attempts to pull off a major heist: the historical legacy of the mob mastermind Meyer Lansky. One of the most notorious and infamous of the Jewish gangsters who rose during prohibition, Lansky was a businessman with a head for numbers. He was called “the Mob’s accountant,” and the film wants to set the record straight. Played by Harvey Keitel, we can count on an emotionally accurate portrayal of the man who helped set up the national crime syndicate.
John Magaro, who will be playing young Silvio Dante in the upcoming The Sopranos prequel, The Many Saints of Newark, plays young Meyer Lansky. Writer-director Eytan Rockaway’s crime drama is loosely based on the real-life story his father, Robert A. Rockaway, and the interviews he conducted before Lanksy died. His book was called But He Was Good to His Mother: The Lives and Crimes of Jewish Gangsters, and it included noteworthy figures like Waxey Gordon, Arthur “Dutch Schultz” Flegenheimer, Jack “Greasy Thumb” Guzlik and the Purple Gang out of Detroit.
Rockaway spoke with Den of Geek about those gangs and why Meyer Lansky’s life was the story which most needed to be told. He also explains why Lansky needed Harvey Keitel to tell it.
I appreciate the history behind Lansky, how much of your father’s encounter do you remember?
Eytan Rockaway: Well, I wasn’t born back then, but I did take his research and his transcripts and I interviewed my father at their meeting. The movie is mostly historically accurate, except for that part where my father was a down-on-his-luck reporter. And I did rely on his research and his transcripts, and he wrote a book about gangsters. Meyer Lansky was one of the dozens of big gangsters that he interviewed. I relied a lot actually on his feelings for Meyer Lanky just before he died when he was in his 80s.
The book was But He Was Good to His Mother. Which of the other Jewish mobsters in it do you think would be most cinematic?
I think Bugsy Siegel, but they covered him in that great movie. I think that the Purple Gang are an interesting group. I think that Murder, Inc. in general is a very, very interesting group because most of the people who started at the Bugs and Meyer gang then transferred to Murder, Inc., and then they brought the Italians.
But I think the people in Murder, Inc. are definitely some of the toughest and some of the most notorious killers. I mean, the FBI said they killed between 500 to 1,000 people. They were vicious killers. They’re not great guys, but I think it would be an interesting story. But there are so many. Dutch Schultz and Lepke Buchalter and all of them had interesting lives. But Meyer Lansky, by far, I think, surpassed not only them, but most gangsters in American history, just because of what he managed to achieve and accomplish.
I’ve read books on Lasky and I was actually surprised at the arc of Lansky’s son, Buddy.
Well, he loved his son Buddy. Lansky put a lot of love and effort in him and he was very close to him. I tried emphasizing that relationship specifically because I thought that it showed, even when he was in his ruthless years as a criminal and doing all these bad things, he still had a soft spot, especially for family and it still was the most important thing to him. And I think, the relationship with his son that had all these issues, health issues, that I emphasized that.
One of the things your father’s book points out is that the Jewish mobsters were only one generation of the children of immigrants. Why didn’t it continue in generations, the way the Italian mobs did?
It’s a cultural thing. I think that a lot of these Jewish gangsters, because they came to America and they were second-class citizens and immigrants and had a tougher time, most of them were ashamed of that life. Because culturally, they just came from a different place and are being persecuted around the world. It’s a good question.
I think many historians and Jewish historians could answer that better. But in general, what is true is that there was always one generation when you had a gangster and he wanted his children to not to be part of that world and become a doctor or become a lawyer, but they never wanted their children to continue in their footsteps.
What was most fascinating about Lansky the man?
I think that he had two different sides of him. Most gangsters, there’s good, there’s bad. Lansky played on that thin gray line. He did a lot of bad things. He did a lot of good things. One thing was that he wasn’t notorious and people think that he was an accountant. He wasn’t. He started one of the most ruthless gangs in Manhattan back in the day with Ben Siegel. He was a gangster and he was a criminal, but he also was an academic.
He was great with mathematics, almost to the genius level. He was a great businessman. He structured the underworld with Lucky Luciano. He structured it like a Fortune 500 company. If he wasn’t born in the slums of New York, he would probably run a Fortune 500 company. At one time, he gloated they were bigger than U.S. Steel because he really, with the National Crime Syndicate, created one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the world at that time, aside from pioneering gambling. He’s one of the founders of gambling in general, not only in America.
Was your father ever contacted by the FBI?
No, but my father was the first civilian to get access to the secret FBI files. He was a very well-known professor and he covered gangsters and the underworld all his life. He was one of the first ones. He never was contacted by the FBI in that capacity, but he did work a lot with the FBI. The FBI was searching for Lansky until he died. They were looking for his money. They were trying to catch him. But that storyline was the fictionalized element, the reporter dealing with the FBI.
The film captures the Bund attack very accurately from what I read. What did you do to maintain the accuracy?
I really did what he actually did. I mean, he was a patriot. He hated Nazis. And in general, not only was he Jewish, but he was a very, very proud American and he did everything that he could, not only to squash the Nazi presence in America but also help in the war efforts. I touched on it. It was much more involved and there were dealings with the American government back then, because back then in World War II, the Germans were sending spies and the gangs of New York controlled the docks.
And he was still never given citizenship in Israel?
I suspect, and I allude to that in the movie, that because of his cooperation with the American government, maybe that’s why they couldn’t catch him or put him in jail. In Israel, they didn’t allow him to get in. He was the only Jew not to be allowed to enter Israel and that was a political move. And I guess that it hurt him very much. It was a very embarrassing moment in his life. I was trying to be as objective as I could in this movie. I didn’t want to portray him in necessarily a bad way or good way. I presented the moral conflicts that he had and then I want the audience to decide they’d like him, hate him, or both.
How did you maintain period accuracy? The clothes, the cars, in general?
I had an amazing production designer, April Lasky, and set decorator Laurel Belle, and they did an amazing job.
We shot in Alabama for a reason. We needed Miami in the 1980s and we needed New York in the 1930s and Alabama afforded us both, because it borders Florida beaches. We shot in Gulf Shores, which looks like Miami 30 or 40 years ago. And then we shot in Mobile and other places there that have buildings from the 1920s, ’30s, and ’40s that are untouched. It was a perfect location to shoot it, but it was excruciating.
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Movies
Lansky: Harvey Keitel Gives a Gangster Legend a Subtle Farewell
By Tony Sokol
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By Tony Sokol
We had to shoot this entire movie in 20 days and the scope of the movie, it’s like this epic movie. and we had to condense it. Twenty days shooting three different time periods with action sequences, I don’t recommend.
How did Harvey Keitel get involved in the project?
There was an actor, Danny Abeckaser, who plays the young FBI agent. He put me in contact with him. Harvey read the screenplay and liked it, but from the moment that he read the screenplay, three years passed. And we lived in New York in the same area a few blocks away. Once in a while, I used to see him in the street and I’m like, “Harvey, it’s the director of Lansky.” And after a year, he was like, “Oh, here we go again. That guy.” And eventually he’s like, “Who is this crazy director?”
And then eventually, at the end of the shoot, he gave me a book, because three years passed from the moment he signed on. “Hey, Lansky! We’re doing Lansky!” And he gave me a book about [Elia] Kazan. He wrote inside, “To my dear friend, Eytan. The only stalker I was ever happy that caught up to me.” Because he thought it was the stalker director.
Working with him was probably a privilege and one of the greatest experiences in my life. He’s such a great actor and he’s such a great human being. It was just phenomenal. I learned so much from him.
Does he come on to the set with his character fully formed or does he like being directed?
He very much enjoys it. He’s respectful. He’s the type of guy, he walked on set, before we started the shoot, he shook every single person’s hand from the caterer to the grips, every single person before we shot the first scene.
And he’s very, very, very open. The one thing that he won’t allow you to do is, because he’s a method actor, he said, “Don’t ever tell me what to feel. Give me an action.” Every actor likes to work differently, but he’s such a great method actor and has been head of the Actors Studio for two decades. You learn a lot working with somebody like him, but he’s such a good human being and we became good friends. I see him once a week now, because we had such a good time.
In my review, I say, “In the hierarchy of gangster movies, Keitel is Lansky.” Not just from the movies. He grew up in this, he joined the marines at 16. Does it correspond to your father working with Meyer?
When Harvey takes on a character, he makes it his own and precedes it. But the way that I wrote the screenplay was along the lines of the way my father perceived Lansky. But again, my father, I don’t think was as objective as I am because he met Lansky when he was 82 years old, this aging gangster, and Lansky reminded him of my grandfather. So, he wasn’t completely objective. But I think that the way that my father meant, and what he perceived from him when he was older, is pretty accurate.
Now the young Lansky, that’s a whole different story. He was a different human being when he was in his 20s, 30s, and 40s. But I think everyone, when they get older, they start acting differently, looking at life differently. And I think that I was true to the way my father perceived him at an old age.
I remember my father told me a funny story. When Meyer Lansky set up a meeting with him, he was at my grandmother’s house and she got a call and he’s sitting, eating breakfast. My grandmother is older and she gets a call and she picks up the phone and she goes, “Hi, who is it?” And he said, “I’d like to speak with Robert Rockaway.” And she asked him, “Who is this?” And he says, “Meyer Lansky.” And she got scared, so she takes the phone and puts her hand on it and she goes to my father, “It’s Meyer Lansky.”
He was like, “Why are you whispering?” Back then, Meyer Lansky was such a scary individual for most people and she was terrified. And for my father, he was an 82-year-old, 81-year-old guy that he was wanting to interview.
What movies were you watching? Because I saw a nod to Miller’s Crossing and a few other movies.
I’m amazed that you got that. Miller’s Crossing was definitely one of the greatest inspirations for this movie, including that forest scene. The problem was, I had to shoot it in 20 days. Me and the DP had this whole visual feast of things that we wanted to do. But when you go on set, you have 15 or 20 setups, the assistant director says to you, “Listen, you have two or three.” So every morning, you wake up to throw your shot list in the garbage and you improvise. And luckily, I come from the independent world and when you have your back to the wall, we did it.
But I did try Miller’s Crossing, some other classics, but I did try also giving it a modern feel to it. So everything in the 1980s, I tried shooting classically to represent his slow-paced life and everything in the 1930s and forties, I tried as much as I could to give it kind of like this modern feel, handheld cameras when I could and stuff. And then the same thing with the coloring and also the music. If you notice, the electronic synthesizer score mixed with classical to give it that modern 1980s feel throughout.
Where do you see the gangster genre going?
I can tell you I love the genre. People like gangster movies, these mythical characters, these dangerous, adventurous lives. And they did a lot of good and bad. They had their own rules of conduct, and I think that’s what most people like about them.
I think there’s a great market and I really hope they put some money behind it and do some other big movies with historical figures that have depth in it. And it’s not about just killing people and shooting people, but there is depth. That’s what I tried doing with this movie. Show a man when he was young and a man when he was older. The aging Meyer Lansky is about a man dealing with his morality and the perception of his life, and the reporter learning what’s important.
Your last film, The Abandoned, was horror. Do you think we love gangster and horror movies because it gives us an excuse to root for the monsters, even in the old movies where we knew they had to die?
I think that’s a pretty good, accurate statement, to be honest. I think that it throws us into a world that we’re not used to. It’s almost like a rollercoaster. You’re on something scary and then it lands safe. And I think, especially horror these days, a lot of it is so elevated and there are so many things that you can get from it. Because life is not about black and white, good and bad. There’s a thin gray line between the two and I think gangster movies and horror movies can help kind of emphasize that.
A lot of people painted The Irishman as the swan song for gangster movies. Scorsese spoke about toxic masculinity and atonement. Do you think that that changes how gangsters will be portrayed moving forward?
I don’t think so. I think every filmmaker has his own take on gangster movies, his own messages. And also, it comes down to the person that you’re making the movie about. For me, Meyer Lansky wasn’t about that thing. It was completely different.
I think Scorsese has his storyline and he’s the greatest, I think, when it comes to the crime genre, but he has his story and he has his own evolution as an artist. I don’t know if I’ll do another gangster movie, but I’m sure that other filmmakers that come on board will bring a new take into it and their own different perceptions and stories and thoughts on it.
You have two completely different types of violence in this film, mob violence and domestic violence. Can you tell me about the difference in preparing to capture those?
Well, mob violence, at least in this movie, was mostly justified. So it was kind of fun. Domestic violence is a hard scene, it wasn’t fun and it’s not called for in any shape or form. Luckily, AnnaSophia Robb was just such an amazing actress, and John as well. They were just both amazing. And I just gave them the freedom to explore it in their own way.
When you shoot something like that, just like shooting other intimate scenes, you just let the actors, and especially if they’re great actors, do their thing and you give them the space. But for me, it was definitely harder.
Shooting the Nazi Bund scene, for instance. I am an Israeli Jew and suddenly I’m in the middle of Alabama with a hundred extras and this swastika sign. I remember walking into the room and then seeing that sign, it first gave me a kind of like that feeling. But when we started shooting, I made it my own. Suddenly it diminished. I remember a lot of these extras were just people that we picked up. When they had to do Heil Hitler and all of that, they were very ashamed. And I’m like the Israeli Jewish director on the stage: “You have to say Heil Hitler better.”
Those scenes were fun because it had a purpose for me and it was justified. Doing the domestic violence scene in the relationship with his wife, that was much harder, but that’s where the great acting comes in and you let the great actors do their thing.
How did you consciously approach the film to make it different from other gangster movies?
To be honest with you, I tried keeping it a bit lighthearted. The murder scene of Maranzano, I just wanted to show how Ben Siegel enjoyed killing people, which he did. When I was directing David Cade, I was telling him, “Look in his eye, I want it to show that he’s enjoying not only killing, but he also was enjoying killing a traitor.” But I tried, when I could, kind of leaving it lighthearted at one point.
I really enjoyed Magaro and Cade’s scenes together. They seemed to have a lot of fun. Was it a sociable set?
It was a sociable set, at least for them. When they weren’t shooting, they got to hang out and have fun. I was working 17, 18-hour days just getting the days done. The set, especially in the 1930s and ’40s, all of those scenes, it was a fun set. It was definitely much different when we were shooting in Miami with Sam and Harvey. It was much more serious. But when you have a younger cast and they’re having fun and everybody’s dressing up as gangsters and stuff and John and David had this connection because they were hanging out in the hotel so much and just drinking and having fun while I was working, I think that came on screen and you could see that they had a really great connection and chemistry in general.
Magaro is going to be playing Silvio Dante in The Sopranos prequel movie.
He’s a great actor. He is phenomenal. I mean, you see him and he looks one way and then he goes on set and you see that click. And you’re like, “Who the hell is that?”
A lot of the film runs like a documentary. Obviously, some of that is because of the budget, but did you have an eye towards true crime shows?
Yeah, when we finished shooting the movie, I had to cut 15 to 20 pages of the screenplay just because we didn’t have time to shoot, but they had so much information. I know that people are going to look at this movie and say, “You can make five movies about Meyer Lansky. It can be a miniseries.” There’s so much to cover. So, what I tried doing is finding the key moments in his life that I thought were important to at least understand and get a picture of who that man was.
Because I had to cut out so many scenes, we had to be creative in the editing room and I added a bunch of voiceovers to fill in the blanks. I wanted people to get a clear picture of how things happened. What was the history? What were the key moments? Scenes that I couldn’t shoot, I did with voiceover. So yeah, I tried playing with both. I think we achieved it and I think people will get a good picture of not only the organization, not only his rise to power, but also who he was at an old age and a young age and everything around it.
At one point in the movie, Lansky says, “I’m an angel with a dirty face.” And that’s almost the title of one of my favorite movies. What are some of your favorite gangster movies?
Well, I mean, Miller’s Crossing. The Godfather. There are just so many, but I think the one that really stayed with me the most was, for some reason, Miller’s Crossing. I don’t know. There was something about that movie that just stuck with me. And by the way, that line, “Angel with a dirty face,” that was Harvey’s idea. And he said, when he was in New York, gangsters used to say that to him, when he met a few of them.
And he said, “Meyer Lansky probably would have watched that movie and probably would have said that because I had other gangsters that I met in New York back in the day that said that line to me, because back then it was a famous movie.” So that’s Mr. Keitel and his improvisation at its best.
Lansky hits select theaters and will be available on demand on June 25.
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{A/N} ٩(♡ε♡ )۶
I~ have been playing (and just finished!) Batman: The Telltale Series, and I want to talk about it, because I just have...a lot of feelings about it.
So uhm, be mindful below the cut. (♡´艸`)
First things first, I will admit I wasn’t expecting to...get into this game, lol. I decided to play it on a whim, just to sorta...I consider myself “toes wet” with DC (I know Bunny tends to give me more credit than that because she’s a peach ♥) but I figure, this’ll get me more ankle deep, even if it’s not like “canon” or anything--which, comic canon is weird and fluid so whatever, I’m not being real strict with the Telltale TL being canon.
Anyway.
So I figured I’d just play it and see some babies and enjoy that...but I got into it. Being able to be in the driver’s seat, making decisions as Bruce and really simulating his life endeared me to him and his universe more than I anticipated.
It’s one thing, to read comics and see writer’s words coming out of character’s mouths and being all, “Yeah, okay,” but when you’re making the decisions, it personalizes it. And unsurprisingly, I played a compassionate, empathetic, emotional Bruce Wayne, not some stunted machismo machine in a bat cowl like some writers and fanboys want him to be.
So I guess it’s safe to say this made me love him more.
I noticed something, playing--and it’s true Telltale style, like the Walking Dead games, where you have a wheel of sentence choices that determine your path--and it’s that Bruce runs into the same sort of problem that I see with Steve Rogers. I don’t see it quite as much with Tony, but Steve has a problem with writers wanting him to be some white bread, bulging bicep “JUSTICE FOR BREAKFAST LUNCH AND DINNER” machine when there’s so much more to him than that. It’s like uh, like the recent Civil War re-read that I did with Monica, that line where he’s criticizing his soldiers by calling them “Nancies” and basically comparing them to women--but Steve Rogers, MY Steve Rogers, guzzles his respect women juice because he respected and loved the absolute fuck out of Peggy Carter. But it’s writers who put that shit in his mouth and make him say and do things that then make me side-eye the fuck out of him.
And I’m realizing Bruce has the same issue, and I realized that playing this game, and seeing how he talks to people and really playing up the fact that he does have a heart and he does have feelings--and don’t get me wrong. I’m fine with emotionally stunted characters, I think it’s cute, but I’m on about those buttplugs who like, don’t write Bruce treating his sons like his sons because it makes him “soft” or when they make him treat Alfred or Clark/his teammates like shit or when he openly beats his own kids, like??? Fuck off, that’s not what I’m interested in and to be honest I don’t think that’s who Bruce Wayne is supposed to be.
So playing this game and going the compassionate route, going the route of making Bruce appreciate Alfred and Lucius and Harvey, people who support him and are his friends/family, it reminds me when we were reading the War on Jokes arc and seeing Bruce initiate the “I love you’s”. That shit about melted my heart and to be honest was right up there with his penchant for adopting kids that really made me notice him. To make me give a shit about him and not just because he’s Batman.
Which, by the way, I fucking love that he says that? Like Tony says it, “I am Iron Man,” and it’s cute they share a catchphrase or whatever, but I love that Bruce says it with a straight face and at the most ridiculous times.
I won’t go into like, a full rundown of the game or anything--to be honest I wasn’t going to talk about the game at all, but I surprised myself being so into it and full of feelings about it that I just wanted to talk about it somewhere.
I think I’ll start with the character designs, because it was real hit or miss.
Hit:
Harvey Dent*
John Doe/Joker
Bruce Wayne (...eventually)
Miss:
Selina Kyle
Alfred Pennyworth
Oswald Cobblepot
Now, take my criticisms and compliments with a grain of salt, please~ My tastes are eclectic at best and I like things that are different/out of the norm, so. And it has nothing to do with the character, this is strictly aesthetic.
Let’s start with the hits--Harvey.
I’m sure my love for him here is unsurprising~ But lemme talk about it anyway.
He was a big beefy boi in this game and I was 👀 from freaking jump. I went into this game blind so I had no idea he was even in it, but he was noticeably the biggest boy (okay well almost, there was this one bigger Frankensteinesque dude I didn’t recognize and whose name WAS NEVER GIVEN TO ME) on the block--haha lemme give him Brenn’s title as the Buffest Boy on the Block. He filled his suits OUT and I was here for it. I loved his facial structure, which surprised me considering I didn’t think I’d be keen on Telltale’s art styles.
As for the * up there on his name, I want to say that I went the route of saving Harvey from himself, so I didn’t let him turn fully into Two Face (this go ‘round at least) but I did see that ridiculous mask they gave him and that’s a huge thumbs down for me.
Lemme see them beautiful scars pls.
He looks delectable as Two Face so the only negative is that mask they tried to give him for whatever reason. 0/10, would take that off immediately.
Next up is Mr. John Doe, aka Joker.
And I have to say, like Bruce, he really surprised me--one, because I didn’t know he was in this either (IDK SHIT ABOUT DC STUFF, SO) but two, because I wasn’t prepared to really pay him all that much attention. Harvey’s a given; he, like Arthur, I had a soft spot for anyway because of Kayla’s rampant hatred (thus, giving me a need to love them as unloved characters) but Joker? Everyone loves Joker, so I was tipping toward, like, patting him on the head and sending him on his way kinda thing.
Nope. No. He showed up and I was like ???? WHY ARE YOU SO CUTE ALL OF THE SUDDEN.
Seriously, this art style fucked me up when it came to him. He’s stupid adorable in this game.
I MEAN WHO WOULDN’T WANT TO KISS THIS FACE?????
I’m fucking annoyed by it, I think because I was prepared to just breeze by him, but like I don’t wanna slap him or anything but it gives me the same cute aggression small humans and kitties do. I wanna squish his face and just coo over it, that smile is infuriatingly infectious.
Idk why I find him so cute in this particular style but it was like getting punched in the chest, like he showed up and saved me/Bruce and all the sudden I’m like, murder whoever you want just keep...smiling?
And don’t get me wrong, I’m all for his edgy styles, there are some where he’s almost monstrous-looking, grotesque and the like and you know that tickles my fancy but this particular Joker tickled another fancy of mine. He was almost like a puppy, here.
Eager.
So yeah. I guess I have a crush on Joker now.
And last but not least on the Hit list--Bruce Wayne.
And I’ll admit, as I did up here, that this look took me a little while to come to appreciate. Reminds me a lot of how I felt about Peter from ItSV, but I love that look on him now and that’s how I feel about Bruce. This grew on me the more I played, although when I started I thought he looked way too much like Archer.
And it seems I wasn’t the only one.
And while, like with Peter B., this particular incarnation won’t be my favorite Bruce Wayne look, there’s a softness to this particular incarnation that seemed to really suit the way I played him--which might be why I liked it.
There was a nice touch, though, because when he slipped on the cowl, when he became Batman, there was a decided shift not only in his personality but his physicality, too--
Which reminded me of something I’d read where Clark does the same thing.
So yeah, this incarnation took a little to grow on me, and it may not be my favorite, but I did come to at least appreciate it.
Now let’s talk about the Misses, starting with Miss Kyle.
And it’s weird, because as Catwoman she was stunning and there’s this one scene with her eyeliner on fucking point and it was SENDING ME. Good fucking god I was a dumb dyke through the whole scene, I doubt I could remember a word she said.
But there on the left, her hair was like some weird mix of a bob but too long and uneven to be one? And don’t get me started on her baby ponytail; it seemed too...childish? Sloppy? For her.
And something was off about her mouth. Idk if it was Telltale’s style or if the graphics were a little stiff but her mouth bothered me the entire freaking game.
I feel bad about saying Alfred was a miss but again, this is just from an aesthetic point. The man is a saint otherwise and I won’t say a cross word about him.
It’s not even that I dislike this particular look of his, it’s just, I have a favorite look of his and this is so far from it (and most of his normal looks) that sometimes through the game it would take me a half second to remember this is supposed to be Alfred.
It was like with Bruce, only it didn’t grow on me quite the same.
Like I said, I just have a favored look of Alfred’s (I’d dig up the picture but it’s on my phone and I’m lazy) and this just didn’t make the cut.
Uhm and lastly, Oswald.
Out of the Rogues of Gotham I feel like I don’t know Victor Freeze and Oswald Cobblepot...nearly well enough to be talking about them. But the game dealt with Oz so...I’m here talking about him.
And really my issue with him is that...to me he was barely recognizable because I only know Penguin by his typical outlandish look--short, round as a goddamn beach ball, and with that insane curved/hooked nose.
So I may be wrong in that he does look like this sometimes? I really wouldn’t know, like I said I don’t know Mr. Cobblepot very well at all. I just was surprised he looked like this and when Bruce was all, “Penguin?” I was also ?????? but for a different fucking reason, lmao.
I didn’t put Jim up here because he’s always on point regardless of what he looks like, so. 10/10, no notes for you, Jim. ♥
So moving beyond eye candy, the actual game itself, like I said, it was a surprisingly endearing way to be introduced to Gotham. It’s one thing to read the comics and see this particular writer’s vision of what Gotham is and who Bruce Wayne is, but with me in the driver’s seat and getting to make decisions, I got to shape Gotham and Bruce/Batman the way I would like them to be (at least as much as the game allows, lol) and there’s definitely something to be said about that.
I made sure to try and stick at least somewhat to how I think Bruce would have reacted to some things--especially as Batman. I like to stay true to superheroes’ brands (in terms of gameplay, writing is another story) so I kept the no-killing and tried to be...less violent than I might have been if I were, say, Frank. Which helped me win over Jim, so~ Haha but I uhm, I went the compassionate route with Bruce as Bruce Wayne, I was supportive of those around me and appreciative of them.
Unsurprisingly there was a Bruce/Selina aspect to the game, and I played that more as myself, because like Bunny I don’t really like them together. Selina is fine on her own, I see what she was saying about that, but seeing the way Selina is with people--she says things to hurt Bruce just to do it, and I’m...not down with that. Emotional maturity is a thing, lol, maybe she could steal some of that.
Ha-cha~ That joke isn’t funny but I said it anyway.
But I get it. I...palmed Bruce’s face out of the way and just gave the emotional answers as myself and I could see beyond Selina’s words to what she’s hiding--or trying to. You hurt others to keep yourself from being hurt, I’ve seen that sort of behavior before and I get she’s hiding her feelings by lashing out--a lot like a kitty with her claws out. So I have respect for her as a character because of the complexity, it’s just not how you go about having a relationship with someone, lol.
Like she stole some shit from Bruce, was fine to do it, so I retaliated by stealing some of her tech because i’m a petty ass bitch and she got bitey with me about it.
Like girl.
I also, like I said, went the route of supporting Harvey...because of course I did. I defended him every chance I got, funded his campaign...even after he told me he was distancing himself from me (let me LOVE YOU) and when he started to snap and Two Face was trying to get out, I refused to fight him and encouraged him to get help.
In the end, when Harvey turned on Bruce and literally tried to kill Alfred, Jim asked Batman if Harvey should “rot in prison,” or be sent to Arkham to get help.
I...know Arkham is corrupt and that’s a whole thing in and of itself but I went the compassionate route and sent Harvey to get help.
In the end, I saw Harvey in a cell. He refused to come out and help the inmates during a riot, but the poor baby actually looked kind of afraid?
And not to like, go off on a rant or anything but it was interesting seeing this take on Harvey/Two Face. I could relate to it, in a way, because it reminded me of my Alters and how I created Drette and especially misi to sort of allow myself to be and feel things that I typically try to hide.
Two Face started to show himself and though he...wasn’t nice to Harvey, he did defend him and insist he was there to protect Harvey, that “no one will ever hurt or take advantage of him again”.
Touched my heart. ♥
Selina was also playing Harvey, 100% using him for her own means and she said, about him, “Poor guy just wanted to fall in love so bad.”
AND THAT BROKE MY HEART.
He did seem very lost in this game, like this need to be Mayor and to be this big shot attorney was trying to fill a void, make up for some inadequacies he felt he had.
I’ve always been a sucker for broken toys.
And speaking of broken toys, Joker’s whole deal really wasn’t touched on much in this game (it is in the second one, which I’ll probably start after work) but I want to talk about the fact that I was like one of like 15% of people who promised Joker a favor and I’m fucking weak over it.
Lemme set the scene--Bruce, stuck in Arkham, befriends Joker (because I fucking made him) and Joker says he’ll get Bruce out of Arkham “but you’ll owe me a favor~ When I get out of here.”
And you had a choice, to owe him a favor or not.
I was 0% hesitation to shake his hand, lmao, and I didn’t think much of it until I got to the end of the chapter and it was like, “You and 15% of others agreed to owe Joker a favor.”
And I was like...? Oh shit that probably was a bad idea, lmao.
HE’S CUTE, LIKE I SAID. TF YOU WANT FROM ME.
And Bruce’s little Codex journal (which was adorable, btw) updated to include the favor I promised and he wrote, “Not a big deal to owe a favor to a psycho who will never get out of Arkham, right?”
Which-
1) You’re adorably naive if you think he’s not getting out.
2) I legit didn’t consider it being a bad idea.
So I owe Joker a favor to be collected later and I should probably be concerned because the end of the game showed Joker out and fanboying over Bruce in a bar.
SO. (oﾟ□ﾟ)o YEAH. TBC.
There were other highlights to the game, like getting to comfort and protect a little boy (BE STILL MY MATERNAL HEART) and for FUCK’S sake, Oswald taking over Wayne Enterprises for a bit.
The entire thing was infuriating as fuck, like I mildly wanted to kick Oz in the face repeatedly by the end of the game, but the scene where Bruce gets his company back and he’s looking at all the shit Oswald did while he had it--I was absolutely in hysterics.
First of all, Oswald used COMIC FUCKING SANS to cross out Bruce’s name and write “Cobblepot Enterprises” on the website. I fucking lost my mind. It was so childish and petty and the YELLOW font looked SO OUT OF PLACE WITH BRUCE’S SRS BUSINESS FONT EVERYWHERE ELSE.
But it gets better.
Oswald had his team hack Gotham’s public records and not only did he change Bruce’s Ivy League diploma to Sociology BUT HE FUCKING CHANGED BRUCE’S MEDICAL RECORDS TO SAY HE HAD SEVERAL STD’S.
WHEN I TELL YOU I FUCKING SCREAMED.
I had to pause the game because I was laughing so hard I couldn’t hear Alfred.
AND BRUCE FACEPALMED AS HE READ THE LIST and my god. I lost years off my laugh, laughing that hard.
I’ve talked quite a bit more than I intended to so I’ll wrap this up but before I do, I want to touch on one more thing and I think it’s that DC really did a good job with making Alfred the reason Bruce is a good man, a hero.
I haven’t read or seen or consumed all the Batman media that’s out there, but this is the fourth or fifth time I’ve seen Bruce’s parents turn out to be absolute shits. I mean this time it was only his father who was a dickhead, but the times his parents turn out to be garbage people vs actual decent human beings is like 6 to 1. And the one time I’m thinking of was some alternate dimension so I’m not even sure that counts.
So as someone who has pretty fucked up parents I think it’s nice to see a story where your parents don’t make you who you are. That timeline where Bruce’s parents lived and he turned into this spoiled, entitled brat, where it really showed that Alfred was the one who molded and shaped the good man who grew up to be Bruce Wayne, Gotham’s Golden Son...I think that’s so important. I really like that side of Bruce’s backstory, I think it’s something that isn’t as touched on as much as it should be.
There wouldn’t be a Batman without Alfred and it isn’t just because Alfred is always there at the end of the com when Bruce needs him.
And you can bet your sweet butt I made Bruce say that to Alfred at the end of the game. And Alfred got all teary and I got all teary and this is that qUALITY CONTENT.
Also? I’m super ashamed at the amount of people I saw in the stats who turned on Harvey and abandoned Alfred. I was in the minority a lot of time for shit I def shouldn’t have been in the minority for.
Half the time the stats would roll and I’m left looking at the PISS POOR CHOICES OF THE COMMON MAN LIKE
Y’all some worthless motherfuckers.
So yes! This was a lot of fun to play and I’m absolutely giddy to start the next game, especially since I get to see Puppy!Joker in it. And he’s going to be friends with Bruce because I’M IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT NOW, BATMAN.
Buckle up, Brucie, we’re full speed ahead toward Crazytown. ٩( ᐛ )و
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