#I’m also doing this to tell Netflix to get on these adaptions

[chance-lard]

Book!Lucy & Lockwood vs Show!Lucy & Lockwood: A VERY LONG Deep Dive

So I finished the Netflix adaptation of Lockwood & Co.

Overall, I think it was a respectful adaptation, which, despite some plot changes, kept largely to the spirit of the books. At minimum, Joe Cornish actually seems to like L&Co, which is way more than can be said about most adaptations these days. Hooray!

But I wanted to write a bit about one of the bigger changes they made: namely the dynamic between Lucy and Lockwood.

I’ve seen people saying that the Locklyle adaptation to screen was very true to the books, just without Lucy’s close personal voice, and sped up a little in the romance department (“Stroud doesn’t mention what Lucy was doing with her hands! They could have been on Lockwood’s face in the books!” etc).

Respectfully, I disagree quite a bit with this. While some argument could be made about it having shades of their relationship from THB/TCS onwards, I actually think Show!Lucy’s attitude towards Lockwood is a 180 from the way she views him in TSS and TWS.

IDK, this might be a bit of a controversial opinion judging by what I’ve been seeing in the L&Co tag and general ways people have interpreted TSS and TWS in the years since their publication, but I’m going to try to back my argument as best as I can, focusing only on those books.

I’m using the original paperback UK editions of both the Screaming Staircase (2013) and The Whispering Skull (2014).

Spoilers for the show and VERY mild spoilers for books 3+ (literally just the name of a new character/type of ghost + stuff already shown in the show that wasn’t shown until later in the books)

Another warning: this analysis is 5500(!!!) words long, and mostly quotes from the book. If you’d like to just read the main bits, look at the intro/conclusion to each section and read the TLDR; at the end.

PART 1: THE NETFLIX SHOW

Before diving into differences, there are things I do think stayed the same between the show and the books:

Lucy and Lockwood banter, swap one-liners and occasionally squabble.

Lucy remains unimpressed with some of Lockwood’s more slapdash schemes.

During missions, they work equally and trust each other with their lives and the job.

They care about each other’s wellbeing.

Basically, when things are going well between them, or when they are in high-stakes circumstances and need to cooperate, there isn’t too much of a difference between Show!Locklyle and Book!Locklyle.

But as Tolstoy (lmao) says, all happy families agents are alike, all unhappy families agents are unique in their own way. With that said, I think the differences between Show!Locklyle and Book!Locklyle are best explored through the way conflicts are handled.

In the show, there are 5 major arguments between Lucy and Lockwood:

Episode 2: Lucy feels upset and hurt because she thinks Lockwood only views her as an “asset”.

Episode 4: Lucy is upset that Lockwood doesn’t believe/doesn’t want to admit that she is talented enough to talk to the Skull

Episode 5: Lucy gets mad at Lockwood being self-sacrificing/death-seeking after they escape from the Winkmans.

Episode 7: Lucy calls Lockwood a boy with a “cold dead heart of stone”, and is upset that he won’t let her and George in on his past.

Episode 8: Lucy is furious at Lockwood using dangerous methods at the auction, that “every relic hunter in London is out to kill us”, and that Lockwood is acting self-sacrificially again.

There are also the following minor squabbles:*

Episode 1: Lucy rolls her eyes at Lockwood for forgetting the chains at Mrs Hope’s house.

Episode 1: Lucy mad at Lockwood and George for the toothbrush cup initiation test.

Episode 2: Lockwood gets annoyed and brusque with Lucy for keeping Annabel’s source and trying to communicate with her ghost. After Lucy is nearly possessed, he flintily tells her he will burn the source, and that they have more important bills to pay.

*Note there might be some more minor squabbles, but they weren’t significant enough to make their way into my notes

The most important takeaway here is that Lucy is the one who initiates most of the arguments! We can also note Lockwood’s response to Lucy’s anger: mostly he mutely self-reflects as she shouts and storms away, then later he comes to her to apologise and promises to do better. 

The one time Lockwood gets mad at Lucy (Ep 2) we are a) not shown the bulk of the argument (there’s a cutaway after the fight with the ghost to Lucy justifying herself), b) it’s anger born of worry, and c) Cameron’s delivery of the lines is quite measured and muted.

In essence, when it comes to conflict, Lucy is the one holding the cards in the relationship between the two of them.

We also know the show is set much earlier than the books (which take place over the span of a whole year). Show!Lucy isn’t acting this way out of concern for a Lockwood who she’s known and loved for ages. Rather, Lockwood is someone she is not impressed by at all from the outset. The show is setting up what makes Lucy special here: unlike the adults, the other agents, and maybe even George, she’s the only one who can see through his “prodigious entrepreneur” mythos to the hurting teenager beneath.

Within the logic of the show’s universe this makes sense. Unlike Book!Lucy who is a judgemental grump (and is why she has “no female friends”; TWS p80), Show!Lucy is a more confident girl coming right off the back of losing someone she loves dearly.

Having experienced an arguably greater loss than Book!Lucy at this stage in her life, Show!Lucy seems adamant to prevent anyone else she cares about going down the same path. For Book!Lucy, this is a realisation she only comes to near the end of THB.

So to summarise, in the show, Lucy is a hurting, no-nonsense girl, unimpressed with Lockwood’s antics and objective enough to act as his “chain to earth”. From the way Lockwood responds to Lucy’s upsets, we get the sense that he’s quite sincere and maybe more in touch with his emotions than he shows on the surface.

The show portrays two people gradually learning to trust each other and perhaps slowly, mutually discovering their feelings as they do.

PART 2: BOOK: ACTIONS

The show uses disagreements as watersheds for character development, but they don’t play as significant a role in the books. Still, I went through TSS and TWS and made notes of every time there’s conflict between Lucy and Lockwood because the differences are quite telling.

TSS:

Lucy is mildly irritated/snarky at Lockwood for the entirety of the Hope case in TSS, and is angry when he forgets to bring the chains.

Lucy is angry at Lockwood for talking about the Annabel case and getting her name in the papers (TSS, 231)

Lockwood gets angry and berates Lucy for keeping the Annabel source (TSS, 179-181)

Lockwood calls Lucy “too sensitive” and accuses her of getting too close to ghosts (TSS, 248-249)

Lockwood is furious at Lucy for trying to talk to Annabel again (TSS, 284)

TWS:

Lockwood angry at Lucy for talking about the door on the landing (TWS, 116)

Lucy angry at Lockwood (and George) for taking her Listening for granted (TWS, 258)

Lucy scolds Lockwood for brushing off/slapping down George (TWS, 398)

Purely by numbers, they get mad at each other fairly evenly (rather than it being one-sided from Lucy, a la the show).

But numbers themselves don’t tell a full story. In fact, after looking at the particulars, I was surprised to see just how unbalanced their relationship is in the first 2 books (TSS in particular), and how much Lucy sits under Lockwood’s thumb for the whole thing.

Let’s look:

THE SCREAMING STAIRCASE

The Hope House - Lockwood forgetting to bring the chains.

This is the argument that plays out most similarly to how it does in the books. Lockwood asserts that filings “will be fine” for a job like this. In both mediums Lucy lets him go, but in the show she rolls her eyes and tuts, while in the books she tells herself “now (isn’t) the time”, takes a deep breath and changes the subject. In my opinion, this difference is insignificant.

BUT: in the book, the chains get brought up again. On p39, Lockwood suggests they should leave the house because it’s too dangerous, it is Lucy disagrees and thinks they should stay (as an aside, compare this with Lockwood’s behaviour in the show, particularly when escaping Winkman at the auction!).

Lockwood “condescendingly” tells her that her head isn’t in the right place, and Lucy once again accuses him of making bad decisions by leaving the chains out. Lockwood in turn first blames George (as he does in the show), then goes on to blame Lucy!

How the argument resolves is also interesting. Lockwood smiles at Lucy, and ribs her:

‘How’s your anger management going, Luce?’ (p40).

This effectively defuses Lucy’s rage (she likens his smile to “the sun coming out”).

Only after she’s no longer at the peak of her anger does he admit fault:

“He clapped his gloved hands together briskly. ‘Alright, you win'” (about staying at the house). (p40).

Even in the very first pages, we see Lockwood comporting himself as Lucy’s superior. We get the sense he doesn’t take her anger very seriously. Lucy also doesn’t seem to be able to stay mad at him for long.

Now, I've seen readings of Lockwood smiling in this moment as him being simply unable to stay mad at Lucy. That's definitely one interpretation, but I personally don't agree with it. Lockwood has a patterned habit of using his smile to get out of trouble:

“Lockwood took a deep breath; perhaps he realized he had to explain himself to George and me, as well as to Barnes…(Explanation). He switched on his fullest, most radiant smile.

Barnes winced. ‘Put those teeth away’” (TSS, p426)

And:

“‘Papers that almost certainly don’t exist,’ I growled…I didn’t look at him; if I had, he would have given me the smile, and I wasn’t in the mood for that.” (TWS, p258)

Though as we can see, by TWS Lucy has definitely wised up haha

Lucy’s name in the article

On paper, this argument is similar to the one in the show. The major difference is at no point in the books does Lucy explicitly tell Lockwood to keep her name out of the papers.

In the show, this argument leads to one of its biggest disagreements (Ep 2):

Lucy: I told you to leave me out of it.

Lockwood: And I told you I'd handle it. What are you so worried about? It's all true.

Lucy: We haven't even solved the case yet. What if Hugo Blake sees that and comes after me?

Lockwood: Well, then, we'll look after you, Luce. You're our biggest asset.

Lucy: Asset? Is that all I am, then? Just something to make you money? You think that you do things so differently. But you're just like the rest of them. You're as bad as everyone back home.

In the books, Lucy does not get angry when the article comes out (p217). She only gets upset after she’s pulled in by DEPRAC to see Hugo Blake. When the argument erupts, George is also there and it plays out like this (p232):

Lucy: “Don’t touch me. Because of your article, I came face to face with a murderer tonight, and funnily enough, I didn’t enjoy the experience.” 

Lockwood: “Blake is not going to come after us”.

George: “Or if he does, it’ll be very, very slowly, hobbling on a stick. He’s over seventy years old.”

After Lockwood and George’s further justifications about why Blake is not going to “get them” (p232-233) Lucy thinks:

“What (Lockwood) said made sense, as usual. It was good to be out in the night again, with my sword and my colleagues at my side. The distress of my brief encounter at Scotland Yard was slowly fading. I felt a little better.”

We know from this that Lucy’s anger was one borne from worry and fear of Blake. By successfully alleviating that fear, Lucy’s anger at Lockwood dissipates. At no point is she mad at being treated as a showpony or asset by Lockwood. In fact, going back to when the article comes out (p 217), we’re presented with the following:

Lucy: “I still don’t know why you mentioned me but not the necklace.”

Lockwood: “It doesn’t hurt to emphasise what a star you are. We want other clients to come running, eager for your services.”

He doesn’t use the word “asset” here, but you can easily replace the word “star” with the word “asset" to get the original lines that triggered the argument in the show. To this statement, Book!Lucy has no reaction at all (the topic changes).

[As an aside, Lockwood also obliquely calls Lucy and George “inessential” on p214, which they also don’t comment on. Also, at various points he calls George and Lucy “fishwives” (p 272) and Lucy “sensitive” because she’s a girl (p 353) (lmaooo what an ass).]

Lockwood, Lucy and Annabel

I’m lumping these three arguments together because they follow the same pattern: Lucy tries to talk to Annabel, Lockwood gets upset that she keeps trying. What is absolutely fascinating is just how he treats Lucy when he is upset, and how Lucy responds to his anger in turn.

The first argument begins the morning after the fight. Lockwood says:

“Why, Lucy? I just don’t understand! You know an agent has to report any artefact she finds. Particularly one so intimately connected with a Visitor. They must be properly contained.” (p179)

He continues berating her like this (with a lot more anger than he ever displays on the show).

Lucy tries to apologise:

“Yes. I said I’m sorry! I’ve never done that sort of thing before.” (p180)

But Lockwood is still angry:

“So why did you do it now?”

Lucy spends the next page trying to explain why she took Annabel’s source, but even after her apologies and justifications, Lockwood is still furious:

“You forgot? That’s it? That’s your excuse?” (p 181)

The three of them talk a bit more about the mechanics of how Annabel ended up in the house, then when Lucy is in the middle of talking, Lockwood cuts her off again, and they have this whopper of an exchange:

“I hope you’re not trying to change the subject, Lucy,” Lockwood said in a cold voice. “I’m in the middle of ticking you off here.”

I set the case down. “I know.”

“I’m not finished, either. Not by a long chalk. I’ve got a whole heap more to say.” (Lockwood loses his train of thought here). “The point is: don’t do it again. I’m disappointed in you.”

Lucy meekly takes Lockwood’s lecture:

“I nodded. I stared at the tablecloth. My face felt cold and hot at the same time”

Lockwood’s one-sided lecture of Lucy lasts a whole five pages!!!

But he’s not done. It comes up again on p248 where Lockwood accuses Lucy of being 'too sensitive’ (in both the psychic and emotional way), and of getting “too close to (the ghosts)”. Then, in a 180 from the dynamics of power in the show (remember, Lucy threatens to quit several times), Lockwood threatens to fire her!

“You need to be careful, Lucy,” Lockwood said, and his voice was flat and cold. “Wicked ghosts aren’t things to trifle with. You’re keeping secrets again, and any agent who does that is endangering the rest of us. I’m not having anyone on my team who can’t be trusted. You understand what I’m saying?”

Again, Lucy takes this lecture meekly and submissively:

I did understand. I looked away.

In the final argument about the matter (p284) we learn that Lucy is actually a bit scared of Lockwood.

“You deliberately let her free?” Lockwood said. “That was a stupid thing to do.”

When I looked at his face, my heart quailed. “Not free,” I said desperately. “Just…freer.” (emphasis mine)

On p285 Lucy starts crying/tearing up because she thinks Lockwood:

 “...Would not forgive me…this was the end of my employment at the company”. 

Ordinarily, you might be able to argue that her fears are misplaced and subjective (because of her narrow perspective). This rings a little hollow given Lockwood’s threat on p248.

Does Lockwood ever apologise to Lucy during the Annabel affair? Once, when at his suggestion, Lucy tries to talk to Anabel, and things go awry:

“I’m so sorry. I should have never asked you to do that. What happened? Are you OK?” (p192)

It’s a sign that Lockwood does care about her wellbeing, despite his general distance from Lucy and the way he carries himself, which is as a figure of authority, and more importantly, as Lucy’s employer.

Seriously. We like to joke in this fandom that Lucy is too wrapped up in her own head thinking that Lockwood is out of her league to notice that he actually likes her. But reading the books again with detailed notes, I think Lucy’s impression is actually accurate.

In fact, writing this up sparked a memory of reading TSS for the first time (prior to the release of TWS), I remember thinking there wasn’t going to be a romance between Lucy and Lockwood. I couldn’t articulate it fully at the time, but I imagine it was because of how much older Lockwood seemed and how much control her asserts over her behaviour, combined with the way early book Lucy (to borrow Holly’s words from THB) “can’t say no” to Lockwood.

It is only by the end of TSS, does Lockwood finally say to her:

“I trust your Talent and your judgement and I’m very proud to have you on my team. OK? So stop worrying about the past!” (p436)

It’s still a tad condescending (think: praise from kindergarten teacher) but it’s a momentous occasion because as shown, prior to the Combe Carey Hall case, Lockwood seems to respect and trust her very little. This bookend leads nicely into their growing dynamic in TWS.

THE WHISPERING SKULL

Lucy, Lockwood and the skull in Bickerstaff’s manor:

By The Whispering Skull, Lucy and Lockwood’s relationship has evolved (which would make sense given the 6 months between books 1 and 2) and consequently the way they conflict has too. However, they still don’t ever reach the level of direct conflict they do in the show. Take what I consider to be Lucy’s biggest upset at Lockwood in the first 2 books:

On page 258, Lucy says:

 “Forget it! What happened to us treading carefully, Lockwood? I’ve a good mind to go back home!”

Lockwood begs her to reconsider. Lucy remains angry. She says:

“You’re taking me for granted. Me and this house.”

However, it should be noted that although she mentions Lockwood by name, she’s actually angry at both Lockwood and George (yup, he’s there too). She calls them “both mad” for expecting her to agree to their scheme. She then stalks away from them in a rage, leaving “the others” (not just Lockwood) to follow.

In short, her anger isn’t directed at any particular trait of Lockwood’s (such as recklessness or foolhardiness), but rather at having been duped by both George and him. Nevertheless, it shows that she’s become more comfortable at expressing her anger in general by this point.

Lockwood’s door on the landing

As in the show, after the skull tells Lucy about Lockwood’s door, she confronts him about it.

In the show, after Lucy brings it up, Lockwood responds by diverting the subject:

Lockwood: That is not just a nick. You need to get that looked at. Could be some toxins got into your blood.

Then:

Lockwood: You're not Marissa Fittes.

Lucy: Cause you can't handle being my Tom Rotwell? Second best?

(This response is OOFT and also VERY Show!Lucy imo)

Another difference: in the show, Lockwood clearly believes Lucy, but doesn’t want to admit that she might be talented, because he’s used to being the most powerful one.

In the books, Lockwood just flat-out doesn’t believe her:

Lockwood lowered his mug; he spoke flintily. “Yes, I know (the door). The one you can’t stop asking about.” (p116)

He also calls her a “prima donna” (lmao LOCKWOOD).

Here, again, Lucy responds a bit more huffily than she probably would have in TSS:

We stood there, glaring at each other. (p117)

Lucy defends George

I think this argument, from page 398, though minor, nicely summarises Lockwood’s general attitude in conflict.

“Lockwood, we’ve been so blind! He’s desperate to investigate it. He’s been obsessed with it all this time. And you just kept criticising him, slapping him down.”

Lockwood responds at first by doing what he typically does (justify, accuse):

“Yes of course I did! Because George is always like that!...It’s just how he is! We couldn’t possibly have known.”

But compared to the chains argument in TSS where he deflects until the end, moments later:

His shoulders slumped. “You really think he’s affected by the ghost?”

Perhaps it’s because of the imminent danger George is in, but this time he takes Lucy’s anger seriously. Unlike the chains argument from the beginning of TSS, he doesn’t put on airs or “give permission” to Lucy when he senses he’s in the wrong. This way, they work together to prepare to get George back.

PART 3: BOOKS: THOUGHTS

“Wait,” you say, “Doesn’t this just prove that the show is like the books? Sure, it might have skipped that weird employer/employee stage from TSS, but it at least follows their relationship in TWS well, right?”

To this I say, yes, but also no. We need to take into account the role the arguments play in both mediums.

In the books, since Lucy is a very personal narrator, the arguments are a good way of showing the Locklyle relationship unmarked by her own thoughts. Although Lucy is quite inaccurate at judging what people feel and think (see: Holly), she’s not the kind of unreliable narrator that makes up things people say or do.

In the show, since we don’t get to see Lucy’s internal monologue; the arguments are instead used to show how Lucy feels. To that end, I can understand why they made her more direct/in touch with her emotions during them – if she didn’t say anything, the audience probably wouldn’t know.

SO: to get a full picture of her relationship with Lockwood, we need to examine both her acts AND her internal feelings.

What does Lucy feel in the show?

In the show, although Lucy does like Lockwood, she hates (or at least is troubled by) the following: he’s reckless, he’s (over) confident, he’s arrogant and loves the spotlight. But her two primary issues with his character seem to be:

His death-seeking nature:

“What does any of it mean if we end up stabbed or dead at the bottom of the Thames with nobody left to care?“ / “To be honest, the bottom of the Thames used to be a far more appealing place to be.”(Ep 8)

His distance/mystery:

“You might be able to turn your feelings on and off like a tap, but I am drowning here, Lockwood.” (Ep 2)

“At the centre of you is just a…” “A what? A cold, dead heart of stone?” “Yeah, maybe. But who knows, though? 'Cause you don't actually show anyone.” (Ep 7)

Is this the case in the books?

Nope. Not at all. This is the absolute biggest difference between Show!Locklyle and Book!Locklyle.

Lucy has very little to say about Lockwood’s general recklessness because, well, she is reckless too (this is the case in the show as well – makes her look just a little bit like a hypocrite).

In regards to his death-seeking nature: Lucy doesn’t even pick up on it until the Skull of all people points it out, and that is definitely much further along than in TSS and TWS.

But why doesn’t she see these signs? It ties back to how Lucy feels about Lockwood’s distance/mystery in TSS and TWS which is, well: she loves it.

Show!Lucy can’t stand Lockwood hiding things from her and running off madly towards “any old mystery”, and that’s what makes her a good grounding force for Lockwood there. 

Book!Lucy fully drinks the Lockwood kool-aid and buys into his grand myth.

From the very outset, Lucy immediately likes Lockwood. Unlike Show!Lucy who compares him negatively with the people “back home”, Book!Lucy thinks:

“Lockwood, I already liked. He seemed a world away from the remote and treacherous Agent Jacobs; his zest and personal commitment were clear. Here was someone I felt I could follow, someone perhaps to trust.” (TSS, p 112)

We also get Lucy’s opinion of Lockwood “throwing himself” into missions the very first full day she joins:

“Vigorous and energetic, eager to throw himself into each new mystery; a boy who was clearly never happier than when walking into a haunted room, his hand resting lightly on his sword hilt…It already pleased me to think of walking into darkness with Lockwood at my side.” (TSS, p 127)

She starts buying the “Lockwood narrative” very quickly too. When Lockwood says:

‘This will be one of the three most successful agencies in London…And you can be a part of that, Lucy. I think you’re good, and I’m glad you’re here.’ (TSS 129)

Lucy thinks:

“You can bet my face was flushed right then – it was a special triple-combo of embarrassment at being found out, pleasure at his flattery and excitement at his spoken dreams.” (TSS 129)

We see her continued fall into Lockwood’s all-consuming orbit on the next page:

“For a moment, as he said this, it all made perfect sense…when he smiled like that it was hard not to agree with him.” (p 130)

Contrast this to the show, where instead she cooly responds, “Thank you,” then immediately asks: “How do I know you’re good enough for me?” (Ep 1)

Show!Lucy clearly isn’t buying it from the beginning, and continues to not buy it. We can see the difference after the Hope House case when Lucy is talking to George.

George: “Maybe if you'd been more interested before you went charging.”

Lucy: “That was Lockwood's decision. I've only just started. What am I supposed to say to him?” (Ep 2)

George: “You're meant to say no. You have to, or you'll make him worse.”

George is another character who works well to contextualise Lucy’s behaviour towards Lockwood. In the show, George sees Lucy as someone capable of reigning Lockwood in. Whereas in the books, he sees Lucy as equally at fault for being reckless.

“When is going to be the time? When you and Lockwood are both dead, maybe? When I open the door one night and see the two of you hovering beyond the iron line?...All you and Lockwood care about is going out and snuffing Sources, as quickly as you can! ” (TSS, p 139-140)

Rather than deflect blame onto Lockwood as she does in the show, she says:

“Because that’s what makes our money, George!...If you were less obsessed with it, we’d have done twice as many cases in the last few months…We waited all afternoon for you.” (TSS, p140)

The “makes our money” line sounds a lot like something that would come out of Lockwood’s mouth, and makes me wonder whether she’s parroting something he said at this stage. Conjecture aside, it shows the reader that Lucy is firmly on Lockwood’s side – as established, Lucy “never says no” to Lockwood, and everyone else knows it.

I suspect part of the reason this continues for so long is because Lockwood never is too approving of Lucy, which causes Lucy to scrabble for the rare moments of his approval.

“Moments before, he’d been promising to incinerate the locket. Now it was the key to all our troubles. Moments before, he’d been giving me a rollocking; now I was the apple of his eye. This was the way it was with Lockwood. His shifts were sometimes so sudden that they took your breath away, but his energy and enthusiasm were always impossible to resist.” (TSS, p 190)

“As usual, the full warmth of his approval made me feel a little flushed.“ (p TWS, 108)

Although by TWS Lucy is far more comfortable with Lockwood to his face, she can’t help but put him on a pedestal at the back of her mind, which marks the remaining difference between the show and the books.

“One full year after my arrival at the agency, the unrevealed details of my employer’s early life remained an important part of his mystery and fascination.” (TWS, p 40)

Even George calls her out on it:

“Oh, come on. You love all that mystery about him. Just like you love that pensive, far-off look he does sometimes.” (TWS, p 55)

Putting aside the “haha Lucy has an obvious crush on Lockwood” part, what’s interesting is that George specifically hones in on Lucy enjoying the “mystery” of Lockwood – although she does want to find out what’s behind the door, she also is drawn to, rather than repelled by (unlike Show!Lucy) the part of him that keeps things hidden. Her encounter with the Fetch in THB shows her precisely what is underneath that mysterious facade of Lockwood’s, and that (combined with Holly) is what, I think, finally scares her out of her idolatry.

As for Lockwood, we can only guess at his thoughts in the book, but we do know that he’s far less open than he is in the show. It is George who reveals to Lucy that Lockwood’s parents are probably dead (TSS, 114).

Lockwood only really brings up his parents (and quickly moves on to other matters) at the END of The Hollow Boy (p 391).

I think he makes a concerted effort to act as Lucy’s employer, to the extent that he hardly asks about or takes an interest in her personal life at all. Compare the line in the show where Lockwood says:

“Interesting outfit, Luce. Didn't have you down as a fan of unicorns. Or rainbows.”

To the book, where not only does Lockwood never comment on Lucy’s appearance, that line is a callback to a line said by George: 

“Ooh, Lucy – I’ve never seen you wearing that.” (TSS, p175)

In fact, I’d maybe even go so far to say that the show has snatched bits from George’s relationship with Lockwood and Lucy respectively and repurposed into Locklyle dynamics [see: George worrying about Lockwood’s recklessness, George upset at being treated as an asset (TWS, p107)].

This isn't to say that he doesn't care about them: he very clearly does and it is most clear in moments of crisis. But Lockwood is such a unique character, plus a known Stepford Smiler, and so "typical" signs of feelings of happiness (smiling at Lucy etc) shouldn't be taken at face value when trying to ascertain how he feels – and this is true until THB.

I don’t want people to think I’m cherry picking moments of tension between Lucy and Lockwood to make a point here. Once again, Lockwood does care about Lucy. When Lucy isn’t caught up in her Lockwood-filter, and when Lockwood isn’t preoccupied with his role as THE Anthony Lockwood, they share plenty of moments where they joke, laugh and generally act like teens, which the show captured just fine.

But those moments of cheeriness belie a narrative backbone that is very different. Lucy in the books is just 14 years old, and she’s looking for a (metaphorical!!!) “grown up” mentor after losing her father and being betrayed by Jacobs. Meanwhile, Lockwood is trying his best to shut the door on his childhood and act wiser than his years.

Thus when they meet, Lockwood just happens to be playing that authority figure Lucy thinks she needs (but we know she doesn’t!), and is only happy to oblige by continuing to play that role until slowly Lucy (and George) start breaking down his guard.

TLDR;

Show!Locklyle has a far more balanced dynamic than Book!Locklyle, which is objectively pretty “boss and employee”. Perhaps controversially, I don’t think Lockwood felt anything other than general workplace fondness/friendship for Lucy for most of TSS (at least until Combe Carey Hall).

Most importantly: Lucy in the show hates and is hurt by Lockwood’s secrecy, but Book!Lucy fawns over the very shadow consuming his soul – that is, until her rather rude awakening at the end of THB.

The ramifications of these changes have also spilled onto the characters. Lucy in the show comes off as more strong-minded, practical and confident, whereas book Lucy seems tougher, more of a tsundere (ye) and more love-starved. Lockwood in the show is the same attention-hungry “politician”, but more sincere, troubled and subdued. Whereas Lockwood in the books is crueller (remember that time he threatened to shut a kid in a coffin?), flashier, more competent and a huge brat (affectionate).

Which Locklyle is better is a matter of personal taste. In the show there’s arguably more dramatic tension, and the relationship is more tender/romantic and caring overall. But I think there’s something to be said for how unique Lucy and Lockwood’s dynamic is in the books, and the very carefully written unfurling that takes them to the end of TEG.

Either way, I hope I’ve convinced any readers of this giant word vomit that the show and book dynamics are two very separate beasts.

Agree? Disagree? Found it interesting? Hate my guts? Let me know what you think!!!

Till next time!

#lockwood and co #lockwood and co spoilers #anthony lockwood #lucy carlyle #this thing is absolutely massive i hope it doesn't wreck the app #if i see a typo or factual error after i post i will perish #locklyle #i guess

[gayboyasher]

Rottmnt x child sibling reader platonic (reader’s about 7-8) who’s OBSESSED with magical girl anime’s

just some fluff moments

sorry if you this is the first kind of request you got, but if you saw my name am a huge magical girl fan😅

OH my god. Literally I understand I understand.

Leo:

Honestly you’re telling me Leo wouldn’t watch sailor moon with you!?!?!

He’s so into everything. Merch, matching costumes, trying foods from the anime, the whole shabang!!

He’d so find shows for you guys to watch (stuff that he’s totally watched before) and he’d have to tape his mouth shut because he talks during shows and he doesn’t know how you feel about that.

He’d totally spoil the show tbh…

“Oh is That Ursula? Oh my god I loved the reveal that she was shiny chariot.”

You stopped talking to him for HOURS.

It takes so much for you to forgive him. He’s willing to do ANYTHING for his little sibling. He’s promising food, snacks, re runs, walking you to and from school in broad daylight knowing the risks, anything. He loves you too much, he can’t have you mad at him! It’d break his heart.

Eventually he’d be forgiven, you guys would be chilling in a blanket and pillow fort (that you forced him to make) along with all of your favorite snacks (that you forced him to buy), and matching outfits (that you forced him to wear), you guys are enjoying everything!

Raph:

Arguably the best person to watch with.

I’m not gonna lie, he’d prefer you watching Mickey Mouse or something because he thinks they’re a little too violent. (NOTHINGS TOO VIOLENT RAAAHHHHH!!!!!)

Anyway, he’d make small comments and probably like the more sweeter characters. He also thinks sailor moon is a bad influence believe it or not.

He wants to watch a lot of the shows with you, but he can’t because you’ve already watched them all with Leo. He just wants one show for you two to watch to himself, for it to be your guys thing.

Not gonna lie to you, you guys almost did, for a week until LEO ruined it.

It made him so upset, it wasn’t the same having to re-watch a show with you knowing you’ve seen it with Leo before him. But like the best oldest brother he is, he SCOUTED. He found one that Leo didn’t watch and one that wasn’t too violent for him!

SMILE PRECURE! (Not the Netflix adapt, THEE Smile PreCure!)

“Hey, Are you sure you didn’t watch this with Leo? Yea? Okay! Good!”

Oh my god he was estatic, he had no issues (he had to fight Leo over this) and you loved the show! Win win! (His Favorite character is definitely Candy.)

Mikey:

Oh my GODDDD he loves watching any show with you!!

It doesn’t matter if it’s sailor moon to princess tutu, he is watching ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING EITH YOU!!

Mikey don’t care. He literally will watch any show with you, even if it’s something you’ve watched before with Leo or Raph, or something you’ve never EVER watched before.

He’d genuinely make you free fan art and some nice cute foods from the anime. He just genuinely LOVES getting to spend time with you and blending your interests and his together.

“I made that one dish we saw in little witch!”

Tbh, I don’t see him really liking this type of anime. I just feel like he watches it for you. He wants to see YOU smile. You are his little sibling, the one that’s younger than him, and he’s the youngest!

He really likes to watch some of them for art inspiration. He really likes sailor moon Crystal for some reason. But he also doesn’t because he believes that it’s like a remake/reboot.

He’s just a little picky, but he’s doing his best!!

Donnie:

Im gonna be honest with you. He will NOT watch it with you.

He doesn’t like those shows, he doesn’t like the magic at all, he is VERY political about this, he will stand by it.

Though, he will make you cute little trinkets and just support you watching the stuff. After all magic is not real in his eyes.

“I know you love that show, but magic isn’t real. Magic is within the science.”

He immediately regretted saying that after you took his stuff and tried to get “magic” out of them. So many things broke that day…

Donnie tried so hard to not lose it on you because your his baby sibling, but he’s also beaten up the other 3, but you’re like actually a baby…

He’s conflicted. He eventually does get over it, fixes everything, and he watches ONE episode of any anime you want. He’s barely paying attention and gives you a critical response and analysis of the show (you do NOT understand what bro is yapping about)!!!

#rottmnt x reader #rottmnt #leonardo #rottmnt donnie #rottmnt leo #donnatello hamato #michaelangelo #raphael #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #child reader #platonic

[cattapz037]

Ok so after a long time thinking and a very long confusing conversation with my grandma (confusing for her at least because I ended up doing a whole backstory and lore explanation), I must say I’m slightly disappointed in the Netflix ATLA. Not as disappointed as I could have been but still disappointed. They took out character traits/development, added some that weren’t needed like when Iroh straight up murdered Zhao by lighting him on fire. Sokka, Katara, and Aang barely interacted with eachother it was just Sokka and Katara most of the time and how do you expect me to believe Kataang is gonna happen when the two characters barely had any interaction like Katara and Zuko had more chemistry in the scarf scene then Katara and Aang did in all 8 episodes, this version’s starting to make me root for Zutara and I’ve never been a Zutara shipper ‘til I watched this

Never once did I see Aang waterbend not once, unless I accidentally missed it. And they took out all the filler episodes that helped the characters bond and develop. 6 characters showed up in episode 3. Why did Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee show up so early they barely did anything and all Azula did was just help Zhao, what they could have done was have them appear later (like whenever they were gonna have the s2 arc) and give them more use and then reveal that Azula was the one who helped Zhao which would give Zuko some more confliction in joining Azula or helping Aang like he had in the original s2 finale

And I wasn’t a fan of how they portrayed Bumi’s challenges. In the original they were so Aang could see things in different way to solve problems but in the adaptation it was just mainly Bumi projecting his trauma on Aang in the form of “teaching him to make hard choices” which was an interesting idea I just feel it could have been portrayed differently. And this version of “The Mad King Bumi” just feels broken instead of eccentrically crazy like the original.

And Aang didn’t have much struggle like the fight with Kyoshi in episode 2 I mean yeah sure, it was Kyoshi doing it but that’s it Kyoshi fought not Aang, Aang didn’t get to fight or at least try

Also the show kinda broke the “Show don’t tell” rule. Like the filler episodes were mentioned they said it happened but didn’t show it which I could have let slide if the main characters said it but they didn’t. And with Katara’s waterbending they say she had been practicing and showed her progress but didn’t show her working her way to reach that progress like not even in a background scene

“But the effects were decent”

I feel like there is more for me to say but I’m rather tired so that’s it for now this was part of my take on the Netflix ATLA live action. I got another post like this somewhere. I’ll probably just keep watching this show just so I can see the characters in live action

#netflix atla #live action atla #atla #avatar the last airbender #aang #katara #zuko #sokka #iroh #azula #avatar the last airbender live action

[dobercorgis]

It’s spooky season so here are some webtoon recs

apologies in advance for the low quality images some of them are locked behind paywalls now (on the kr app the translated ones should be fine) and I was too lazy to go through all the chapters for the good panels

Ghost Teller- I’m so biased but this is one of my favorite webtoons. Summary in one line: ghosts go to therapy

Real summary: various ghosts (s1 is eastern ghosts, s2 is western ghosts) tell “human stories” (like how we talk abt ghost stories lol). the art is amazing, and all the episodes are all pretty solid. even if some stories are predictable you still feel for the characters (although personally I prefer s1 over s2)

Sweet Home- some of you might have seen it on Netflix but whether you watched it or not I highly recommend the webtoon (I have issues with the adaptation but that’s another story)

basically people suddenly start turning into monsters and the survivors of this apartment try to survive together. except the mc shows signs of becoming one of those monsters which creates unrest amongst the survivors. not going to get too into the monster part bc spoilers but the webtoon explores what people would do for survival so you get to see scummy ppl, kind ppl, all trapped together and try to survive 👍

the art style captures the story’s spooky/horror vibe so well. I didn’t include Bastard on the list (the previous webtoon the same author and artist worked on) bc it’s more of a psychological horror/thriller than creature? horror but if it sounds interesting or you liked sweet home I highly highly recommend Bastard as well.

+) There’s also a prequel called Shotgun Boy that’s more about the creatures’ origins

Surviving Romance- despite the title there’s little to no romance although it can probably be read as sapphic if you’d like. if you read makeup remover it’s by the same author. I’ve also seen some people compare this to orv but I can’t speak for that since I haven’t finished orv… haha

one line summary: mc gets isekai’d into a romance novel except it suddenly turns into a zombie apocalypse

long summary: mc is the mc of a romance novel but on the day she’s supposed to receive a confession from the male lead, there’s a zombie outbreak. she already read the novel so she knows the story and characters, but literally everybody that’s not the love interests don’t like her bc that’s how the mc of the novel was written. she finds out that the day resets when she dies but she doesn’t really care until someone she doesn’t know the face of saves her and she decides to find that person and make sure they make it out alive

even if you don’t like isekais (I personally don’t) it’s worth a try. it plays around the isekai premise well and the fourth wall moments were just *chef’s kiss* the impact of those moments especially when the webtoon was still ongoing was 🤌

the cast is primarily female characters, and despite the cast being on the slightly larger side, each of them are distinct from one another and the characters designs are very cute and colorful. overall it has an unique premise that it delivers pretty well on

Night of Shadows- kinda underrated tbh. mc has prophetic dreams, creatures from her dreams start appearing irl, and she’s the only one that knows how to deal with them.

mc is great. she’s strong, smart, and knows when not to give a fuck. the other three characters of the main cast are also pretty strongly established, and the plot and pacing are pretty good. this is the only one on the list that’s still ongoing (currently on hiatus after s1)

#did they rlly censor the middle finger? yes they did kr censorship just be like that sometimes #the webtoon fandom is so niche compared to mangas and anime fandoms so I don’t think this’ll reach a lot of ppl #but if you’re ever bored give them a try :D #I’m very aware these recs are me going dw just trust me #but please dw and trust me (not too much tho) #misu.txt #ghost teller #sweet home #surviving romance #night of shadows #webtoon

[toaster-trash]

@shotofstress

When I tell you I read this I saw it and I WHEEZED I was in TEARS and I shouldn’t be bothered arguing about it but quite frankly I’m trying to procrastinate anyway and I’ve had a god awful week and need to take out my frustrations somehow, ergo, I’m going be petty not because this person disagrees with my reading of the novel, but because they implied that in reading queer or neurodivergent elements in a work, people “can’t see the important themes that the novel is about” which actually does piss me off a fair bit

Right so first before we argue we’ve got to decipher because English apparently isn’t this person’s forte for someone who is, apparently, such an avid reader and esteemed critic of English literature. Also I just realised I haven’t really provided any context here so apologies this was in response to that joke post I made about mischaracterising Frankenstein adaptations (again yes the pettiness is not lost on me but I’m embracing it anyway)

“He is not gay nor autistic” cheers this person disagrees that Victor Frankenstein is either gay or autistic. To each their own. Wonder what kind of backup they’ll have for that argument.

“Pls stop seen representation of us everyone bc u can’t make the difference,” Right so this is where we get confusing, I’m going to take a wild guess and I think they’re trying to say “please stop seeing representation of us everywhere because you can’t make the difference”, and I still don’t know what “make the difference” means, but we’ll go with it.

“read nothing new”, alright so they’re saying people who see representation everywhere read nothing new, and then the kicker that’s kind of the only reason I decided to respond to this anyway, “nor really see the important themes that the novel is about.”

First off, “stop seeing representation of us everywhere”, let it be known that as I make a hundred jokes about Victor Frankenstein being homosexual, I myself am thoroughly through and through without a doubt bisexual as the days are long. Absolutely love men. Also adore women equally. So no, I am not a Disney corporate executive trying to squeeze in as many queers as possible for the entire purpose of using the fact they have representation in media to excuse the fact it’s a shite film but also, not trying to revisit every old piece of media to squeeze representation where it doesn’t really fit or make sense just for shits and giggles. (Also just saying, you made this comment on Tumblr. So even if I was just going haywire with lgbt headcanons on my favourite media with no real backup, who gives a shit? Who actually gives a flying fuck? I don’t. Let people live, man. It doesn’t mean they don’t understand the source material just because they’re having fun and playing loose with it. It’s Tumblr, not a Netflix adaptation. Let people do whatever they want and have fun with it. It’s cool.)

But like I said, I do have backup and a lot of it so let’s get into that, shall we?

First of all, whoo, autism. I’ll be real not really a hill I’m going to die on but the wording you put of “he is not autistic” is just ridiculous because yeah, no, there is a lot of perfectly decent ground to read Victor Frankenstein as autistic and a lot of people do, mostly people who are autistic or otherwise neurodivergent themselves. Just because in the 18th century people didn’t necessarily have the language for things doesn’t mean they didn’t exist, and I mean, now we do. So what’s the harm in using it? They had their own language for things back then, do we have to revert back to speaking in early 19th century English every time we want to refer to a character who was written back then as neurodivergent or lgbt or anything else?? What’s the point in that??

But yeah, Victor Frankenstein. I can’t even be bothered to explain and to be honest every single other person I’ve said “Frankenstein is autistic to” has immediately responded “oh yeah, obviously”, even my father who famously is just hypercritical of all sorts of headcanons just went “oh yeah no for sure the man is definitely autistic no doubt about it”. So instead I’m just going to include some quotes.

My temper was sometimes violent, and my passions vehement; but by some law in my temperature they were turned not towards childish pursuits but to an eager desire to learn, and not to learn all things indiscriminately.

It was my temper to avoid a crowd and to attach myself fervently to a few. I was indifferent, therefore, to my school-fellows in general; but I united myself in the bonds of the closest friendship to one among them.

From this day natural philosophy, and particularly chemistry, in the most comprehensive sense of the term, became nearly my sole occupation.

Two years passed in this manner, during which I paid no visit to Geneva, but was engaged, heart and soul, in the pursuit of some discoveries which I hoped to make. None but those who have experienced them can conceive of the enticements of science. In other studies you go as far as others have gone before you, and there is nothing more to know; but in a scientific pursuit there is continual food for discovery and wonder.

Like I said, self explanatory. It’s harder to come up with an argument for why he isn’t autistic than why he is, and frankly, what’s the harm in reading him that way? It doesn’t really change anything about the plot or themes, and his character doesn’t change. It’s just a very probable diagnosis for said qualities. It doesn’t change them, whether you use that word or not. The concept of autism was coined in 1911 anyway, so its not like Mary Shelley’s going to be sat at her writing desk in 1817 writing in big bold letters “BY THE WAY, FRANKENSTEIN HAD AN AUTISM DIAGNOSIS.” It doesn’t change the fact that people still had autism back then, just because the term wasn’t discovered yet. Anyway.

Now, second bit. “He isn’t gay” – now, if you read Frankenstein and thought “ah yes, this man seems perfectly heterosexual to me”, then honestly, sure. Go ahead. But to say that reading Victor Frankenstein as queer in any way means that people “don’t understand the important themes of the novel” is completely bloody ridiculous because, again, there is astronomical ground to read him that way.

Victor Frankenstein never really shows interest in any women in the novel, except for Elizabeth, who he has been raised, since he was five years old, to see as his “gift” and was told by his mother since he was a very young child that he was going to marry her – to the point where his mother, on her deathbed, tells both Victor and Liz: “My firmest hopes of future happiness were placed on the prospect of your union. This expectation will now be the consolation of your father.” Also, they’re cousins/adopted siblings. If you don’t think that’s fucked up, even by the standards of the time, I’m not really sure what to say to you. Of course he married her. And before he married her, he generally expresses very little romantic interest in her bar just expressing as much affection as you would a close friend or sister, or seeing her as his “gift” who he “has to be wed to”. Read any other story from this time period, in this genre, and you will not be remotely questioning whether they’re actually attracted to each-other or not. In fact, here’s an excerpt from The Vampyre, another book born from the same trip to Geneva that Frankenstein was, by John William Polidori, about the protagonist’s love interest:

And that’s only part of it. So. Yeah. Victor’s lack of romantic affection for Elizabeth is not “a product of its time” nor “a product of its genre.” And The Vampyre is a short story.

And so you may be saying, “well, just because Victor doesn’t show any interest in women doesn’t necessarily make him gay”, and yeah, true that (ace and bi Vic hcs y’all are valid) but there is very good basis to take the reading that he is attracted to men.

For one thing, just the fact that he’s so particular about creating “the perfect man” is subject to a lot of queer readings in itself, but let’s be real here, you all know me enough by now to know that I just want an excuse to rant about Clerval and Frankenstein. And rant about them I shall.

First, I’m lazy, so here’s an excerpt from one of my previous essays I’ve written that I’ve never posted everywhere on Frankenstein in general:

Just as The Creature is Victor’s narrative foil, so is Clerval. He's equally ambitious and fascinated with the secrets of life, however he’s healthy with how he goes about it and healthy with how he keeps the balance between taking care of himself and pursuing his dreams, while Victor goes over the edge and neglects himself and his sense of morality to complete what he set out to do. He's supposed to represent the ideals of gothic romanticism in Victor and he's supposed to be his anchor and support, (something the Creature doesn't have), caring for Victor during his illness, (“reanimating” him, almost, once again showing that comparison between both Victor and Henry, as Henry “reanimates” Victor with compassion and cares for him after, and Victor reanimates The Creature in a haze of obsession and mania and immediately abandons him, showing what Victor could have been), and constantly accompanying and being sympathetic and empathetic towards him. I also find it very interesting how he does also seem to have those darker aspects to him, lying to Victor’s family about the extent of his illness and caring for Victor in his apartment despite the fact that, for all he knew, from the evidence lying around his workspace and Victor’s feverish rambling, he very well could have murdered someone, and Clerval chooses not to press him on the issue and instead to intentionally help Victor cover it up. The fact that Clerval exhibits these traits only makes Victor’s own downfall all the more tragic when we consider that it likely very much isn’t a stretch to imagine that Clerval, too, likely exhibits a lot of the same morbid curiosity as Victor; he isn’t a superhuman figure with purely positive attributes who is completely far removed from Victor’s situation, the only difference is that Clerval chooses to prioritise his own sense of morality over his selfish aims, which only emphasises the point that Victor’s downfall is, ultimately, Victor’s own fault. When Victor "kills" the Creature’s chance of the same support and love (his unfinished bride), the Creature kills Henry and sends Victor into a downward spiral of suicidal thoughts and heavy depression because the character that represented that stability, that romanticism, that balance of keeping healthy, is dead, and that throws Victor downward into his inevitable obsession with the monster's destruction and his own death.

On this point, I feel like it’s worth bringing up that a reasonably good case could probably be made regarding a lot of queer subtext in the novel, although I won’t rant about it excessively as it obviously isn’t the focus, the theme of love is a very prominent theme as I’ve previously mentioned with The Creature; familial love, platonic love, parental love, romantic love, and I don’t think it’s particularly much of stretch to suggest that Shelley, intentionally or unintentionally, might have added a lot more romantic subtext than given credit for. Not that it matters particularly narratively speaking what kind of love is portrayed, but in reference specifically to Clerval and the Ingolstadt chapters there’s a very good argument to be made regarding Shelley’s poor relationship with her own husband and how she may have projected a lot of her wish for that kind of care and sympathy into his character, perhaps not taking into account, or perhaps she did, how it would come across – author intentions are mostly lost with time and we’ll ultimately never know for sure, but even for the standards of the late 18th century when the novel was set and the early 19th century when it was written, “I desire the company of a man who could sympathise with me, whose eyes would reply to mine. You may deem me romantic,” and “your form so divinely wrought, and beaming with beauty, has decayed, but your spirit still visits and consoles your unhappy friend,” probably weren’t standard platonic sentiments.

And honestly on that essay excerpt, that still sums my thoughts on that subject up pretty much perfectly. After all, a character in a book talking about his best friend going “I loved him with a mixture of reverence and affection that knew no bounds” as well said best friend tenderly nursing him back to health, and the character talking about how his body is “divinely wrought and beaming with beauty” and gently pressing his hand and referring to him constantly as “my dearest”, “my dear” and “my beloved”, while living together and travelling together and talking about how his voice “soothes” him and “cheats (him) into a transitory peace”, pretty gay!

And yes, before anyone says a single thing, if it wasn’t already obvious from the essay excerpt, I do understand “the important themes the novel is about”. I do understand that there are more themes and characters and subject matter, and more than that, I bloody love it! Because this is one of my favourite novels! Of-fucking-course I’m invested in it on a deeper level than “ooOoooh what classical literature characters can I RUIN with my gay agenda today!” But you commented this on a joke post, a joke post, again, on Tumblr. No harm but Jesus Christ if there is a singular platform I can go on and just post stupid bullshit about two book characters from 200 years ago being soft and gay without having to justify that yes, I did in fact read the book, and shock horror yes, I do know that there are other themes, it’s bloody Tumblr. (Absolutely love you lot btw especially all my lovely fantastic incredible mutuals all your takes and readings and art is 👌✨ chef’s kiss)

Oh and by the way, op, I noticed you reblogged this:

And to be honest if I had to say any take or reading was a misunderstanding of the text, it’d be that one (as well as “Victor is sexist for cutting women out of the creation process” takes – Christ that’s just gross. And feels mildly if not explicitly homophobic.)

So just for shits and giggles to counter that argument, here’s another excerpt from the same older essay as before:

Speaking of Hugo, it is rather interesting how many adaptations and literary criticisms seem to go down the route of the Hunchback of Notre Dame moral of “who is the monster and who is the man?”, suggesting that Victor is the “true monster” of the narrative. And, as much as I am a decent Victor Hugo fan, (I’m over 50% through Les Misérables, have you seen the size of that book? I’d have to be), in reality the point of the story is that neither Creator nor Creation are more monster nor man than the other – Victor mutilates corpses and brings the creature to life, and allows Justine to be executed without owning up to his actions, and The Creature murders a child and a multitude of other innocent people, Clerval and Elizabeth who had nothing to do with anything and Ernest left completely alone with his entire family dead. We can’t acknowledge The Creature’s sympathetic qualities without also acknowledging Victor’s, and regardless, sympathetic motivations don’t make up for immoral actions.

Also this meme, which I can’t for the absolute life of me remember who posted it originally I’m sorry I use it all the time in GCs whoever it was you’re so valid:

#gothic lit #classic literature #gothic literature #goth lit #classic lit #frankenstein #frankenstein weekly #frankenstein or the modern prometheus #essay #Frankenstein essay #Victor Frankenstein #queer lit #elizabeth lavenza #henry clerval #clervalstein #clervenstein

[lukethompsonupdates]

He is best known for Netflix hit Bridgerton, but Luke Thompson’s theatre pedigree encompasses Shakespeare, Greek tragedy and Ivo van Hove’s marathon A Little Life. He talks to Fergus Morgan about his passion for the stage and his worries for its future

Luke Thompson might have shot to stardom thanks to his role as Benedict in Netflix’s smash-hit series Bridgerton, but the 35-year-old actor is most at home on stage.

“I spectate on myself,” Thompson says. “I always have done. It’s been a bit painful in my life. And the only place on earth it doesn’t happen is on stage when someone else is spectating instead and so I don’t have to worry. You’re watching me so I don’t have to watch myself. I feel free. Those are the best moments of my life.”

Fortunately, Thompson has not been short of stage work. Born in Southampton in 1988, he grew up just outside Paris, returning to the UK to study English and drama at the University of Bristol, before training at RADA. He landed his first job almost immediately after graduating in 2013: playing Lysander in Dominic Dromgoole’s staging of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Shakespeare’s Globe in London.

Since then, alongside screen roles in BBC One’s In the Club and Bridgerton, Thompson has starred in Julius Caesar at the Globe, Oresteia and Hamlet – opposite Andrew Scott – at London’s Almeida, and King Lear and A Little Life in the West End. Both he and co-star James Norton were nominated for Olivier awards for their performances in Ivo van Hove’s acclaimed adaptation of Hanya Yanagihara’s hard-hitting novel.

“A Little Life was such an intense experience,” Thompson says. “Intense in a good way, I mean. The material was very bleak, but acting is always pleasurable because you are indulging in a fantasy, even if it’s a dark one, and that is inherently fun.”

Thompson also thinks that theatre has lost some of its belief in itself. “Theatre is supposed to be provocative. I’m not on social media, but I think it can be very aggressive and vicious, and I think theatres cave to that a bit. Deep down, theatre is the opposite of social media. It is about people being in a room, exchanging opinions and emotions. I worry that social media is spoiling that a bit, which is a shame.”

What production made you fall in love with theatre?

I remember standing in the Yard at Shakespeare’s Globe in 2009 and watching Thea Sharrock’s production of As You Like It, and thinking: ‘Oh, wow, this is really funny and it actually works. When done simply and confidently, Shakespeare still speaks to us today.’ For my first job to be at the Globe a few years later was magical.

What are you finding inspiring at the moment?

I love watching Ivo [van Hove]’s company do stuff. There is something so wild about the acting in his shows. We get very bogged down with facts in this country, but Ivo understands the dream logic of plays. Some of the most moving things I’ve seen don’t completely make sense. I find that inspiring.

What do you wish you could change about the performing arts industry?

I wish theatre had more confidence. Right now, it feels unsure about how useful it is and about how taboo, complex and provocative it should be. I feel as though theatre has lost confidence in its societal function.

What is the worst thing that has happened to you on stage?

There was a scene in A Little Life in which James ran around naked for a bit, then I would bring him clothes. During one show, I couldn’t find his underpants, so I just brought him his trousers and he put them on. But I forgot that people pulled his trousers off again later and they were expecting him to be wearing underpants. James knew it was coming and I knew it was coming and we couldn’t look at each other for the rest of the play. I hope he doesn’t mind me telling that story. It was so funny.

What is the best thing that has happened to you on stage?

There are so many. That sounds naff but I don’t care. I love the challenge of going on stage night after night and trying to make something feel alive in front of an audience.

What role do you really want to play?

I would work with Ivo again at the drop of a hat. And there are loads and loads of roles I would love to play. I did a reading of a rewriting of The Seagull the other day. The role of Konstantin is really beautiful. I’d love to play that. I’d love to play Iago one day, too. Of course, I’d love to play Hamlet but it’s boring to say that.

What projects are you involved in at the moment?

I’m playing Berowne in Emily Burns’ production of Love’s Labour’s Lost with the Royal Shakespeare Company. She has set it on a Polynesian island owned by these big tech billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk, of which I am one. It’s a really smart concept that unlocks a lot of very interesting stuff in the play. Season three of Bridgerton is coming out in May and June, too. And we will be filming season four soon after that. There’s a lot still to come.

Source: The Stage

#luke thompson #interview

[talkingperfectly-loud]

Okay! So, I’ve finally watched the Netflix Live Action ATLA and gathered my thoughts! Spoilers under the cut…

Overall score: 7/10

Overall thoughts: I was actually pleased! I wasn’t going in expecting it to be like the original series, and I was really excited to see how they would tell the story, what they would keep, and what they would change. I think that they did a great creative job melding a bunch of story lines together in a way that made sense, but, on a negative note, they did miss some key character beats that ranged from baffling to unforgivable. I loved this cast, and I think they all embodied their characters so well (Dallas Lui as Zuko?!? Hello?! *Chef’s kiss*). Deliveries were a bit stilted (to be expected with young actors just starting out), but I actually found it endearing, and they’ll only get better with practice. The bending wasn’t nearly as punchy or fun to watch in live action (especially the water bending. Oof), but it was leaps and bounds better than the Movie That Must Not Be Named. Below are the major takeaways:

Things I disliked

- Making the discovery and freeing of Aang completely passive. In the animated show, this was brought about BY Katara and Sokka. Their characters and their bickering, which caused Kataras rage, which caused her to waterbend, which caused her to free Aang. In the live action, it just… happens? Randomly? Nothing caused it, and it was a much weaker moment because of it.

- They took away Zuko’s crucial moments of mercy. Yes, they have him save the 41st, and yes, they have him hesitate during his Agni Kai with Ozai… BUT he was about to burn Katara on Kyoshi island? When she was down and unarmed?? At the North Pole, he was about to burn Zhao, who was also down and unarmed?? Absolutely not. No. No way. He wouldn’t even burn Zhao in the original show, because he knows what it’s like to be burned and despite his rage, he is a good person. There is absolutely no way he would be willing to harm someone who is unarmed.

- Sokka not explicitly asking Suki to train him. We NEEDED to see that humility where he asks for their help, not just him staring wistfully through the door and her taking pity. Humble him!!!!

- Sokka not being involved in the Jet storyline. I know that Katara is more obviously the choice to get involved here (love interest, etc), but Sokka and Jet are foils! They are both young men tasked with protecting people they love. Not having Sokka’s moment where his skepticism and independence saves the day is such a loss for his character. This could have even been kept in the Omashu storyline, with Sokka evacuating a building before a bomb goes off, etc.

- Why the literal heck did Bumi himself come to the front of the palace to receive the inventions from Sai?? What the hell even was that scene??

- Cutting the Haru storyline. This episode is crucial for Katara, who has WAY too little to do in this show, tbh. Her rallying the earth kingdom prisoners, and encouraging them to fight back is so so so important. I think they tried to move this to the Northern Water tribe storyline (when she rallies the women) but we don’t SEE it!! It happens offscreen!!!!

- Minor, but the blue spirit mask looked kinda dumb. I wish they had taken inspiration from real kabuki masks and made it more scary.

- I personally feel that Ozai is TOO personable in this adaptation. I’m guessing Daniel Dae Kim probably had a lot of say over the portrayal of this character, but I don’t think they made him dark enough. Ozai is cruel and that is CRUCIAL. He is abusive and manipulative, and hateful. Framing Zuko’s banishment and mutilation as if these were deliberate “learning moments,” rather than cruel, unjustifiable abuse is character assassination.

- Azula isn’t Azula. No shade to the actress, but the script has her written as a hot-headed, temperamental teenager desperate to prove herself. That’s ZUKO! Azula should be able to make grown men per their pants. Do her bidding. She can command armies. She never lets you see her weaknesses or her walls. She is cold, calculating, and terrifying. She is 13 steps ahead of you. Live action Azula loses her temper during a fight, talks back to Ozai (?!?!), and whines to Mai and Ty Lee about her frustrations. That’s not Azula.

- The “ice moon” thing at the North Pole? Why? Why aren’t there any spirits in this world? There’s no need to change that.

- Zhao’s death!?! What the hell was that!?!? No no no no no. Absolutely awful in every possible way. Where was his karmic justice?!? Why introduce the Fog of Lost Souls if you weren’t going to show Zhao getting pulled down into it?!? Where was Zuko, offering him mercy, despite everything? Where was Zhao’s pride, refusing his hand?? Furthermore, you make Iroh of all people a murderer?!? Fine, you could have him intervene and push Zhao into the water like he pushed him down after the Agni Kai in the original series. But to kill him?? Unprompted?! In cold blood?! Zhao wasn’t even his opponent!! Horrifying and disturbing. Unforgivable.

Things I loved

- The order of events. I actually love starting 100 years in the past and not making it clear what is about to happen. I also love that it isn’t clear just how long Aang has been asleep for! I love love love that dramatic irony if you know, and the reveal if you don’t.

- Aang stealing Zuko’s notebook. Finally, it’s explained how the gaang knew Zuko’s name lol

- Aang & Iroh meeting and chatting on the ship when he’s captured! It’s such a small scene, but felt so reminiscent of their conversation from Book 2 that it made me happy.

- Suki being so awkward!! Yes girl!! You have clearly never flirted before and it is obvious! I also loved having her mother be the matriarch of the village. Makes total sense tbh.

- Fleshing out Omashu! I love that they combined Jet & the Mechanist here. It makes Omashu feel more real, and it’s a natural place to put these storylines. I think this was really well done. Also bringing Iroh & Zuko into the story here was seamless, and worked to further both their characters (Zuko choosing Iroh over Aang, Iroh sacrificing himself to save Zuko)

- Having Bumi be an angry old man. This is controversial, but if we put aside Legend of Korra for a second where canon says Aang and him stay bffs, this actually makes a lot of sense. It’s not fair that Aang got to be asleep for 100 years. Bumi, as he said, had to struggle and suffer during that entire time. I’m glad that not everyone is like “it’s okay, it’s not your fault” because it kind of is!! I’m glad they had someone to actually hold him accountable a bit!

- Aang and Zuko connecting during the Blue Spirit episode. Aang making Zuko smile! Them joking! Them feeling pity for each other! The star-crossed friendship of it all! Gorgeous, gorgeous scene.

- Expanding on the theme of friendship vs. isolation. It’s such a key theme in the animated series that flies under the radar, and I really like how they took it and seemed to run with it.

- Azula collaborating with Zhao. It makes so much sense, since Zhao is just some rando tbh?It sets up both the Dai Li storyline and sibling rivalry nicely in season 2.

- Having Zuko’s crew be the division he saved?!?! A stroke of absolute genius.

- No Kataang!! I’m so sorry, but I honestly always felt that any romance in the original series was gratuitous, odd, and oh so Western. This is a story about children at war. I’m glad the romance is taking a back seat.

- Having Pakku see Katara for HER, rather than for her grandmother!! I always hated that in the original show! She fights her damn heart out and he still won’t train her UNTIL he sees her grandmother’s necklace. It always felt like the age-old blight of men not being able to care about a woman unless they have, or can image having, a personal connection to them (What if that was your mother, daughter, etc). I LOVE this change.

- Katara rallying the other women!! Pulling up everyone!! This is such an obvious change I can’t believe they didn’t have this in the original show. As I said, though, I do wish we saw her speech to them. That’s such an important character moment.

#natla #atla #atla live action #atla netflix

[incorrectsibunaquotes]

okay so no one asked (and you know my opinions on reboots/remakes— especially a house of anubis remake 🤮) but i was curious about how a remake could consolidate plot lines into a short Netflix series bc you know a streaming service would never go over like 10-13 episodes… and tbh to make a story like HHA/DHA/HOA work, you need a ton of episodes. HOWEVER, here are some things they could do to cut it down:

(note that this is being drawn from the english version of anubis)

combine nina/eddie/kt into one character. doesn’t matter of this character is male or female. it pulls us in faster as an audience (imo) if our main character (MC) is not a total blank slate like nina is at the top of the show. by having this american character come in with a connection to the school and general world of the story already (aka a father who is the headmaster), it means less time is spent on telling us exposition vs showing us. also if our MC comes in with a secret parent, it adds a second layer to why patricia is as suspicious of them as she is.

another character consolidation option would then be to have fabian not be into the MC, and actually have him be into joy. so while patricia is having her enemies to lovers moment with our MC, fabian perhaps doesn’t approve of her more aggressive method of searching for answers about joy, and teams up with the MC to get answers in a kinder way— motivated by the fact that he is also worried about joy.

revert to the original het huis anubis plot point of the cup of ankh/the grail NOT being broken up into pieces. that way it’s easier to reduce the number of clues necessary to build the cup, and also eliminates the necessity for a chosen one reveal at the end of the season.

cut down on the number of students in the house and/or combine them. it hurts me to say it, but for a show like anubis to fit into less than 15 episodes, the mick and mara subplot has simply got to go. since we’ve already combined nina/eddie/kt, however, we have plenty of familial drama that can take it’s place and actually get more development (especially if there was another season of this adaptation)

i’m sure there’s other stuff i could come up with, but the bottom line is, there’s no way to really cut up the plot of this show in a way that doesn’t completely sacrifice everything that actually makes it good lol. this series simply wasn’t created with a streaming service style in mind and that’s why i’m so against a remake. it would feel hollow. but if anyone else has any ideas about this just for fun, lmk in the tags

#house of anubis #tess rambles

[obligitory-fma-blog]

I watched the second fma Netflix adaptation. Here’s the best of my notes:

They had the whole fma original soundtrack to use for this movie and tHEY DIDNT??

Purification arts of Xing?? Just call it Alcehestry like they do in the show?? (No I didn’t spell it right I was noting stuff as I went and didn’t look it up)

Okay the weird pause before Lan Fan pulled out the smoke bomb…

ITS AN ACTUAL BOMB?????

Lots of weird pauses and slow-mo’s to mimic anime fights but it reads weird as live action and I don’t like it

HUGHES THANK FUCK PLEASE MAKE THIS LESS WEIRD

Wtf never mind hi envy with your shit ass wig (I forgot they killed off Hughes in the first one 😭😭)

LAN FAN BODIED HIM LMAO

Ed really be like “you do you ig”

“Yeah people exploding today!” Is my favorite line so far. (English Captions with Japanese audio; this was the train hijacker guy from fma 03)

Ed’s expression when Mustang shows up is the most in character thing I will say that (after train stuff)

I will say they did better on characterization this time around I feel like they’re close to the actual characters

But it’s hard to get close to them since they aren’t, well, animated characters. Trying not to judge too harshly.

Not terrible so far actually

Okay nevermind about the cgi WHAT IS WITH XIAOMEI

“I mean, we’re just some decent human beings.” -Ed who wanted to leave Mei behind

GO OFF MEI YEAHHHH TELL HIM THE BITCH

Okay we’re gonna have a really awkward explosion-over-short moment that just will not work because it isn’t animated

GIRLIE ARE YOU HAVING A SEIZURE

Mei being a bitch back is warranted

They be running

“You’ll never catch me, tiny rice man!” -Mei (rice man?)

The dialogue being altered where Ed says he doesn’t have a god to pray to before scar kills him bothers me

I like Alphonse’s movements on the ground when he’s incapacitated, I think the cgi works well there

Hi Mustang good on you for saving your pseudo sons

Riza with the side eye lmao

The slowmo’s again like hello

ARMSTRONG HIIIII You look really fuckin weird tho But HIIIIII

Okay the flexing I can do without thanks it looks weird

Yes Breda why is he shirtless

The red eyes don’t look good either. (For scar)

N ow see why wouldn’t you put in a leitmotif for the brothers theme in this scene with Ed and Al and instead just put in sad piano that sounds vaguely similar to it

WHERES THE LINE ABOUT THEM BEING BROKEN BUT ALIVE WHY WOULD YOU CHANGE THAT

Riza being the best and putting her coat over Ed >>>>

Mustang go comfort your son’s PLEASE

Okay just ignore that I’m on the found family train

Girlie that looked like a bad PowerPoint presentation WHY WOULD YOU DO IT LIKE THAT?? (The part where the officer shot the ishvallen child)

Gluttony… hi… again…. Can’t wait for your cgi…. (It didn’t look as bad tbh)

Sorry but with the military uniform off and just the white collared shirt he looks LIKE A DAD LIKE CMON (Mustang)

“You’ve grown… at least I think.” -Hoenhiem, observational genius

“I think I like this scene better than canon a bit actually? Cause Ed gets to express his emotions more than just calling him a bastard

Okay Hoenhiem just ignore him??

Uh oh they have to walk back together

“Our hair matches :D” -Hoenhiem

Ed immediately takes his out of the ponytail

Im not gonna lie I chuckled at that

Also I love seeing Ed with his hair down we don’t get enough of that

“stop following me” -Ed

“we’re going to the same place? 😥” -Hoenhiem

Okay we’re talking about Xerxes instead of Ed and Al’s mom or…?

And the bitch is gone

YOURE GOING TO XERXES WITH AUTOMAIL YOU DUMBASS YOURE GONNA OVERHEAT

Ooooo love the look of Xerxes ruins

Awwww Winry’s parents :D we get more of them

They’re gonna die tho and I hate that :(

This is gonna be so hard wrenching actually-

GIRL IM GONNA CRY

5 minutes into Central and you’re already causing trouble, good job Ed

Al I feel like has the weakest characterization so far in this adaptation he’s just reacting to stuff rather than doing stuff as far as I’ve seen

Scar when Winry is having a breakdown🧍

Ruhroh Winry’s got a gun

Okay the slowmo makes more sense here

Ed saves the day :D

Also we finally see scars brother after getting no context on him

Good acting on Lan Fan’s part

Also why is this calling her Ran Fan? Is that a dub thing (they called Ling “Lin” but this was all in the captions so I’m confused)

“King Bradley is a Homonculus” very serious Ling “hUh.” -Ed

Any Mustang and Hughes content is good Mustang and Hughes content I don’t make the rules

Also it’s good they didn’t change the layout of Riza’s explanation montage for Ishval because it works really well in canon and translated pretty well to live action

Riza and Roy’s speeches near the end >>>

Oh great the bros are gonna try and catch scar alone this can only end well

Well they definitely didn’t catch him

WINRY HOW TF ARE YOU HERE??

MUSTANG WHY TF ARE YOU HERE???

Oh hi Riza :D

Mustang’s like “let ur gf speak to him if she wants like damn”

Ed’s like “bb girl if he says anything shitty I’ll fight for you”

WINRY GIRLBOSS LUV HER

“Hell no I don’t forgive you for shit, but I’m gonna patch you up anyway.” -Winry

Okay cool message, someone must endure pain if it means they can prevent further suffering and cycles of violence

Uh oh Gluttony escaped

He be runnin

YEAH ED AND AL SAVE UR DAD

YEAH SCAR SAVE WINRY

YEAHHHHHH

“Wait I won’t leave you behind” MUSTANG BEING A DAD AHEGWIWNWN

“Colonel your fight is elsewhere” SCREAMING

Oh hi envy

ED SAVINF LING

and they got eaten lmao

Yay we’re all trapped in Gluttony’s stomach :D

Envy is so cynical what a bitch lol

“Tf is a portal of truth 🧍” -Ling

Oh great we’re gonna get cgi envy this will go well right?

EW

Could be worse but

EW

Conclusion: it was okay. There were parts I genuinely liked. There are things that also bug me to no end. The soundtrack from the original series would’ve fit way better and a lot of times it sounded like an off brand marvel track. Acting and cgi was a lot better (at times.) An improvement on the first one, and a semi-worthwhile watch if you have nothing else to do and you like fma. Cannot and will never be a substitute for the original obviously. Seems like less of a cash grab and more of a genuine effort this time which I appreciate. Overall? 6.5/10

(Lemme know if y’all want my full notes version because it has way more of me screaming and being goofy)

#fma blog #fmab #fma #fullmetal alchemist #edward elric #fullmetal #fma brotherhood #ed elric #fullmetal alchemist brotherhood #fullmetal alchimist brotherhood #netflix adaptation #netflix #fma netflix #me reacting to stuff #Roy Mustang #parental roy mustang #parental!royed #riza hawkeye #parental riza #alphonse elric #fma alphonse #alphonse elric fmab

[sesamestreep]

Nick/Jess, 15!

15. i’ll save you a seat (from this prompt list)

IT’S MILLER’S TIME

The bestselling author of the hit YA series ‘The Pepperwood Chronicles’ opens up about seeing his work adapted for television, his new novel, and becoming a father.

LOS ANGELES - The lunchtime crowd at Gogo’s Tacos in Silver Lake is more plentiful and aggressive than the colleague who recommended the spot for my interview with Nick Miller led me to believe it would be on a weekday, which means I spend the twenty minutes between when I show up (ten minutes early) and when he arrives (ten minutes late and convincingly apologetic about it) fighting off other patrons who are convinced I’m lying about expecting someone and want to steal his seat. His appearance in the busy restaurant is welcome for more reasons than one.

We’re here to discuss the new Netflix adaptation of his bestselling book series, The Pepperwood Chronicles, into a television series. The first season, which drops this Friday on the streaming platform, takes on the Herculean task of adapting the first book in the series (clocking in at 628 pages) into just eight episodes of television. It’s a highly anticipated project for the army of Pepperheads out there, who want to see if Sebastian Stan truly has what it takes to embody the titular grizzled New Orleans detective from Miller’s beloved novels, but it’s not the only project that’s been occupying Miller’s time lately. He’s also got his debut novel for the adult market, the stylishly-titled HoBo, which draws heavily on his childhood in Chicago, coming out in November. But the project he’s most anxious to brag about is one he had—by his own admission—very little to do with, aside from the original idea. The lion’s share of the credit belongs to his wife.

“This is Reggie,” he says, stretching his phone across the table proudly, swiping through dozens of photos of a pleasantly chunky infant in a Chicago Bears onesie. “Oh, and that’s Mario,” he says, when we get to a photo of a dog sniffing the same baby, asleep in a car seat and wearing a hooded jacket with bear ears.

“I know he looks like a funky little alien right now, but my wife says that most babies get really cute around the six month mark,” Miller says, after suddenly remembering that he has tacos he could be eating. He takes an enormous bite of one before making a face. “God, don’t print that. My son is already adorable. I love him.”

We debate whether or not I can actually print that comment (guess who won) for a few minutes before Miller finally allows us to move on. I ask, given his penchant for drawing details from his own life to use in his novels, if this recent development for him means we can expect the next Pepperwood installment to find Julius Pepperwood and his leading lady, Jessica Knight, contemplating parenthood. 

“I don’t know about that,” Miller says, with his mouth full. “It’s not that one-to-one for me. Yes, Pepperwood is based on me in some ways, but in many other ways he isn’t, you know? Same goes for Jessica Knight. She’s based on my wife, definitely, but I’ve never felt constricted by that. I’ve always felt like the characters follow their own path, though they take inspiration from my real life.”

In this answer, Miller has given me both an articulate response and neatly sidestepped giving any confirmation of further Pepperwood installments, which forces me to ask the question directly. His face goes blank for a moment afterwards, and he spends a while chewing before he attempts to answer.

“I’m not saying no,” he finally replies, wiping his hands on a napkin, while looking thoughtfully into the distance. “But I’m also not saying yes. There have been people—and my wife tells me not to read the reviews or the comments, but sometimes, you know, shit happens and you see some stuff—there’s people who think Pepperwood is too happy now. They liked him when he was tortured. Now, he’s got the love of his life by his side, he solved his brother’s murder, he made peace with his father. It’s like, where’s the tension anymore? But at the same time, I don’t want to make him miserable again just to sell more books.”

Miller talks about Pepperwood (and Knight and all of his characters) like they’re real people, a fact he shrugs off when I point it out.

“Of course,” he says. “Of course they’re real to me. It’s important to remember that they’ve been with the readers for six books now, but they’ve been with me for longer than that. And they don’t leave me alone when the book is done, either, like they do for my readers.”

They don’t seem to leave his readers alone after the last page, actually, if the healthy fandom producing fanart and fanfiction online are any indication. Miller, of course, has thoughts.

“I’m pleased about it,” he says, with his usual Chicago-born nonchalance. “It’s always made me happy that my work resonates with people, especially young people. I didn’t see that coming, in the beginning. It wasn’t supposed to be a YA series.”

The origins of The Pepperwood Chronicles are the publishing world’s version of a Cinderella story. Miller initially published the first book in the series himself at the encouragement of his friends, hawking the hand bound (!) copies at local bookstores with the encouragement of his then-girlfriend, as well as his future wife (“Two different women,” he clarifies. “It’s a long story.”) The hefty novel all about the seedy underbelly of New Orleans very quickly found a devoted fan base amongst a surprising audience: teenage girls. Where other authors might have bristled, Miller instead took his unexpected champions in stride.

“Like, there was definitely some initial shock to get over,” he explains. “If I’d known I was writing to teenagers specifically, I would have cut, well, a few things from that manuscript.” He’s referring delicately to some pretty explicit sex scenes and graphic violence, which definitely get toned down in later installments of the series. Confronted with this, Miller shrugs and says only, “That’s show biz!”

Speaking of show biz, how does he feel about the Netflix adaptation of his work?

“It was really interesting,” he offers, thoughtfully. “I’m grateful they didn’t ask me to write it, because it turns out I’m a terrible screenwriter.” Before I can ask him to elaborate on that, he continues, “But the team really did check in with me a lot and they made sure the tone felt right, and the changes they had to make worked with my understanding of the world and the characters. I felt like they really respected Pepperwood, which obviously means a lot to me.”

Miller is being generous, of course, considering he and his wife are both executive producers on the series. When I mention this, however, he waves it off. “They still could have told me to fuck off with my opinions,” he says.

As for working with his wife in that capacity, he’s more than happy to sing her praises. “She’s great. Aside from myself, she’s the person I trust most to get Pepperwood, you know? Like my editors and my agent and everybody, they’re amazing, but if I’m really stuck, Jess is the one I can turn to and be like ‘does this work? Or does it suck?’ And she’ll tell me. She’s always been that person for me. She’s the first person I shared the first draft of the first book with, so her input is invaluable. Or is it valuable?”

“They mean the same thing,” I tell him.

“That’s stupid,” he replies. “I mean, I’m not calling you stupid. The English language is stupid sometimes. My wife’s input is very important to me, is what I’m saying. Her instincts are spot on.”

And they should be, after all. When she’s not producing the Pepperwood TV series with her husband, Jessica Day (yes, you’re reading that right. Miller’s wife and the inspiration for his character Jessica Knight is named Jessica Day. Check the dedication on the first Pepperwood novel if you don’t believe me) works for Scholastic, as a part of their team that handles community outreach to K-12 schools across the country. (Miller’s publishing deal is with an imprint of Simon & Schuster, in case anyone is worried about favoritism.) Before that, she worked briefly in the nonprofit industry and as a middle school teacher and later vice principal. 

“She understands the demographic perfectly,” Miller summarizes, fifteen minutes into an endearing monologue about how great his wife is. “I think the writers for the TV show liked having her around even more than having me. She really knows her stuff.”

When I follow up a few days later with Ms. Day for comment, her husband’s remarks amuse but don’t surprise her. “He’s always giving me too much credit,” she says, humbly.

Does it weird her out at all, to have so many people so intensely invested in the fictionalized version of her love life?

“It’s funny. I know the names are really similar and obviously Nick borrows things here and there from our real life,” she says, “but I really don’t feel like Jessica Knight is me. So I don’t take it personally at all.”

This isn’t the first time this attitude has come up in interviews. Last year, when casting was announced for the Netflix series, Day made headlines for defending the production’s decision to cast British actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Jessica Knight after many fans claimed she didn’t match Knight’s description in the books.

“Gugu’s a very talented actress. I’ve seen her screen tests and she will blow you away when you see the show, I promise!” Day took to Twitter to say at the time.

“She capture [sic] JK’s energy perfectly,” she added in a further tweet. “Please welcome her to the Pepperwood family as we have!”

Now, Day is less diplomatic in her response. “It was a small portion of fans who were upset,” she says, “but they were the loudest contingency. It was very upsetting, and honestly tacky. So what if she doesn’t look like me? The character isn’t me, first of all. And the books are set in New Orleans, for God’s sake! It would be stupid if the entire main cast was white people.”

When I accuse her of saying the quiet part loud, as the kids say, Day seems nonplussed. “It’s those new mom hormones, I guess,” she replies, as a baby cries in the background of the phone call as if on cue. “I just don’t give a fu…dge.”

Miller, during our interview, feels similarly. “The team went with the best people for the parts, and we made it clear, my wife and I, that they absolutely weren’t trying to cast our doppelgängers. That wasn’t the point. Honestly, it would have freaked me out if they had.”

So he doesn’t think he and Stan look alike? 

“No, not at all,” he says, automatically. “Do you?”

“He kind of seems like a more Hollywood version of you, yeah.”

Miller takes a long time thinking this over. “That’s…huh…”

In order to distract him from the existential spiral I’ve inadvertently led him down, I switch us over to the topic of his new book, HoBo. It’s made several lists of most anticipated books for this fall (including this publication’s) but there was a while there where Miller feared the manuscript would never see the light of day. 

“The publisher thought it was too dark for the teen market,” he says, without any of the smarmy pride one would expect from the average male author accused of being ‘too dark’ by The Man. “I had no idea! I thought Pepperwood was too dark for teens and they loved it! So, there was a bit there when I was like, ‘okay, so this is the end, I guess.’”

Miller isn’t being melodramatic either. There was a moment, according to him and confirmed by his editor, Merle Streep, where they considered parting ways. Luckily, they came to an understanding once the dust settled and Miller pitched the novel, then titled “Chicago Hobo”, for the adult market. The source of this brilliant solution? You guessed it: Jessica Day.

“My wife’s a genius,” Miller states. “It was so simple and yet none of us could see it. Of course they should market the book to adults, if they thought it was too gritty for teens. Obviously.”

Day, however, downplays her contribution. “The issue with the manuscript came to a head on our wedding day, if you can believe it. On our honeymoon, it was all Nick could talk about. He was worried he’d never publish another book again. I suggested he send the manuscript around to other publishers to see if there was interest, but pitch it as, you know, a book for grownups. I thought it would make him feel better. I had no idea that the minute he did that, his original publisher would come back to him with a deal.”

But that’s exactly what they did. He’s also on the hook for three more books after that, though he’s cagey with details about if those will be HoBo sequels, further Pepperwood adventures, or something else entirely.

“We’re in a really pivotal moment,” Miller says, looking a little bit sweaty as he admits it. “We’ll see how Pepperwood does as a TV show, we’ll see how people feel about HoBo when it comes out.” He pauses to laugh. “We’ll see if being a father completely fries my brain and I never write another coherent sentence ever again.”

Early reviews and chatter are saying that the new novel is every bit as cinematic as The Pepperwood Chronicles, which suggests a screen adaptation is more a matter of “when” than “if.” It is, by Miller’s own admission, even more autobiographical than Pepperwood (the preteen narrator is Travis Tiller, called “Trick” by his friends, so do with that what you will). It’s based, in many ways, on his childhood in Chicago, but it’s also equal parts dystopian speculative fiction and superhero origin story, with a heavy pour of magical realism to wash it down. The cinematic universe practically writes itself.

“We just don’t know,” Miller replies vaguely. No matter what I do, I can’t get him to speculate on bringing this book to the small or big screen. “I don’t want to jinx anything,” he adds, frantically, after many such questions.

Fine. But, as pure speculation, what actor does he think, potentially, has what it takes to bring the eponymous hobo to life on screen?

“Rock Hudson,” he says, after much bullying.

When I inform him that Rock Hudson is dead and has been for more than 30 years, Miller looks crestfallen. What about preteen Trick Tiller, then? Is there anyone Miller would entrust to play his younger self?

“Cate Blanchett,” he replies.

When I point out that she’s both older than him and a different gender, he frowns. “She played Bob Dylan, though,” he counters, confused. I concede that he’s got me there.

We return to the much safer topic of conversation that is the current adaptation of one of his novels. What’s he most looking forward to now that the show is finally premiering?

“Getting to go on a date with my wife,” he says, sincerely, with the dead-eyed stare of a sleep-deprived new parent. “Seriously. We’re getting a sitter to watch the baby, we’re bringing a few of our close friends, who are all getting sitters for their babies. It’s going to be really fun. It’s going to be a classic mess around.”

A what?

“Don’t worry about it,” Miller says.

Is there anyone whose opinion he’s particularly anxious about, when it comes to the TV show? Or even his new novel?

“I’m always worried about what the fans think. I want the Pepperwood fans to like the show. I want them to like the new book, even though it’s not about Pepperwood, you know?”

Does he think there will be crossover?

“Absolutely I do, yes,” he says, emphatically. “The kids who read Pepperwood when it first came out—this is terrifying to say, but—they’re grown up now. They’re in college or they’re young professionals. HoBo is written for their age group now. It will be marketed to them.”

It’s kind of like they’ve grown up with him.

“Don’t say that,” Miller replies, putting his head in his hands dramatically. “I’m gonna have a panic attack. Having an actual biological child is scary enough.”

Speaking of scary, to distract him from another existential crisis, I ask if he’s been starstruck at any part of the process of turning his beloved novels into a TV show, and his answer is surprising to say the least.

“I mean, I was a little bit starstruck meeting Alfred Molina the first time. He was already in costume as Schmith, too, which was an extra level of weird,” he says, referring to the iconic love-to-hate-him villain of the first Pepperwood book and a supporting player in many of the series’s other installments. Still, Miller eventually got used to the idea of Doc Ock himself being in the show. 

“Oh, I know my big starstruck moment,” he adds. “When Taylor Swift tweeted about the trailer. That was like…Woah! Is this really happening?”

That’s right. When the show’s first trailer debuted in March, the Grammy-winning singer took to Twitter to express her excitement.

“I can’t believe how good this looks,” she tweeted with the emoji of the cat making the Home Alone face. “Is it September yet?!?”

Can we take his excitement over this interaction the confirmation we’ve all been waiting for that Nick Miller is a Swiftie? 

“I don’t know what that is, but I like her. She’s really talented. When my wife’s upset, she likes to listen to Taylor Swift and cry while she drinks pink wine,” he says, before taking a troubled pause. “Maybe I shouldn’t have told you that.”

Day laughs when I tell her this anecdote during our phone call and gives me the go-ahead to print it. “It’s true,” she says. “Who cares?”

So, if they had to pick a Swift song to represent Julius Pepperwood and Jessica Knight’s relationship, what would it be?

Miller’s answer is simple: “You should ask my wife.”

Day’s response, on the other hand, is more complex. “I think it evolves over time, you know, from book to book. Probably in the early books, before they get together for real, it’s ‘Out of the Woods’ or ‘Wildest Dreams.’ Maybe even ‘White Horse,’ if you want to go back into her catalog.”

What about for her and Miller?

“That’s easy,” Day says, and the smile is obvious in her voice. “I’ve always thought of ‘Mine’ as our song of hers.”

This conversation mostly just confirms Miller’s assertion that his wife knows his characters just as well as he does. It also begs the important question of whether he’ll use this big moment in his career as leverage to arrange a meeting between Swift and his wife.

“I don’t know,” he says, honestly. “Maybe? I should ask Jess. She might kill me if I pulled that on her with no warning.”

As our meal and interview come to an end, I can’t help asking Miller a question that has been on my mind the whole time: with all this talk of how great and inspiring his wife is, and how integral to his creative process she’s become, does he happen to identify as a Wife Guy?

“I don’t know what that is either. You keep saying these things—I’ve never heard of them before,” he admits. “But I like the sound of it. So, yeah. I guess so. Unless it’s a bad thing. In which case, no. Was that—did I answer your question?”

In this case, just like so many of Nick Miller’s characters before us, we might have to make peace with an ambiguous ending.

•

The Pepperwood Chronicles premieres exclusively on Netflix this Friday.

#forgive any stupid mistakes it should go without saying that I’m not an actual journalist #also I genuinely don’t even know what year to pretend this is set in…who knows tbh?? #I have a lot of feelings about the Pepperwood chronicles it turns out phew #new girl #nick miller #jessica day #nick x jess #god this was so fun to write #taylor swift song prompts #firstelevens #homelywenchsociety #<just my writing tag don’t worry about it #IDK IT IS WHAT IT IS!! #there’s so many Easter eggs in this….a whole basket’s worth #barely relates to the prompt I tried

[thecameronchronicles]

First Impression

TW: Smut. Public? sex.

SUMMARY: Your new co-star, Drew and you meet for the first time on a red carpet event, quickly learning that the erotic movie you’re about to star in together will find inspiration following this night…

WORD COUNT: 2300

First Impression

You didn’t know if this would be your ‘big break’, but you were excited nonetheless. Surrounded by those who had made a name for themselves long before the announcement of your casting, you hid your intimidation behind kind smiles of introductions and the grace developed after years of rejections in former projects. 

And yet, you had been selected to star opposite one of Netflix’s heartthrobs in a book-to-film adaption quite bold for a role of a newcomer. But as described by the producers and the director himself, you were ‘just the fresh face they were looking for’, with the added notes of being ‘untainted by Hollywood’ but still ‘ambitious to make their dream a reality’.

You couldn’t hide just how excited you were, but also how nervous, which showed in the small blush made of certain questions asked as this specific red carpet event was for one of your costar’s movies, a recent horror remake that you’d been allowed an invitation to strictly for publicity. But this would also be the first time in which you’d meet him, a single meeting of gazes across the room driving any confidence into nervousness as he was more handsome than you had imagined. 

“Drew!” Your skin chilled as he wrapped his arm around your waist, acting as if you were old friends, before he’d joined your current interview. 

“Can you tell us anything about your upcoming movie together? We know it’s still early and everything, but something for the fans?”

“I can’t speak for my beautiful costar here, but I know I’m excited to get to work..Definitely something new for us both, I’d say…” You nodded, fighting a blush that widened his grin when he noticed his effect on you. 

“Is it true that you got cast without a chemistry test?”

You were nudged by him as you came to understand that this question was directed to you. 

“Ye-yes. Um, the producers wanted the roles to be authentic and since we play characters who meet for the first time, they wanted a lot of newness to us personally as well as professionally-”

“And what can you tell us about you? A fresh face? An up and coming ‘it’ girl, perhaps?” You struggled to accept the compliment as you were too insecure to imagine yourself ranked anywhere in regards to his comment. But Drew saw your tussle and took his fingers into your hip as if to validate you would be alright. 

“Keep an eye out for this one…She’s going places…” He led his lips to your ear as the interviewer moved on to their next subject, his breath close and hot, while you fought to focus on anything but this sensation reverberating through each and every one of your nerves. 

“Meet me inside for a drink, yeah? I think we should get to know each other a bit…” You nodded as he was called to yet another interview, discussing the upcoming season of Outer Banks and his other projects, all while you made your way inside, a bit too excited for someone who was still a stranger. 

But in truth, when you’d been cast, you had done a bit of research in learning just who your on screen partner would be. And to say you were anxious was an understatement. If asked, you would almost have described your ‘type’ as having been him to a ‘t’, something that was validated in the way he’d rescued you in distress not even a few seconds prior. A first impression that carried you on the verge of cloud nine of a reality that was hard to process.

“What do you think?” His voice tore you from your thoughts as you’d begun to luxuriate in the taste of your chosen drink, an amber colored liquid that offered a courage you couldn't pull elsewhere. 

“Of your first event? This is, isn’t it?” You nodded, taking a drink as an excuse to offer yourself more time to gather the intelligence of a well versed repertoire silenced at his presence. 

“You get used to it after a while…all the same questions…But you doing alright?” Again, you could only nod as this drove him crazy, the mystery, the distance-you…

“I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable or anything…”

“No.” You finally spoke, a sense of relief washing over his face as you caught yourself smiling longer than what was appropriate to features so angelic yet still so seductive. Hair worn short from his most recent role and eyes almost preying if they weren’t set to you in such analysis, kept you on the edge of your contentment as you’d caught his eyes descend your frame just as you had done to him when first spotting him across the scene. 

“Good…so tell me about yourself then…Better to break the ice a bit before we spend the next year making each other come on camera…” You choked on your drink, his laugh deepening the crimson hue over your cheeks as he offered you a napkin. 

“Did that help? Put it all out there?”

You apologized for your reaction before he shook his head in disbelief. “No, I’m sorry…You just…”

“What?” You questioned, worry now capturing your gaze until you were left analyzing him for a hint to his thoughts. 

“You’re just…Shit…you’re gonna be distracting…” You blushed, quickly moving to fix your hair and check to make sure your dress hadn’t fallen too short and revealed your modesty. 

“No…” He leaned closer towards you, his fingers tracing the edges of your own, “I mean…It’s gonna be hard to focus when you act like this…” His finger moved to the hair, pulling a strand behind your ear. 

“Look this beautiful…” You hesitated for a moment to respond, unsure exactly what to say as it seemed to happen so quickly, yet too entranced to pull away. 

“Shit, I’m crossing a line, aren’t I?” He suddenly retreated as you shook your head ‘no’, watching the most decadent of smiles develop across the fine lines of his bone structure.

“What are you drinking?” You looked down, noticing only when he’d mentioned it, that your glass was empty, your answer now prompting him to order you a refill. But in doing so, he’d move closer to the bar, and you, to get the bartender’s attention, a deep inhale taking in your scent. 

“God, you even smell like heaven…” Your eyes rolled closed as his hand found your waist again. 

“Want to walk with me?” He questioned, confusion resting over your face before you’d accepted, leaving your drink behind, as he interlaced your fingers while you snuck out of the event unseen. 

“Shouldn’t you stay? It’s your movie-” You were interrupted by the sudden push he made of your figure to the side of the establishment. 

“If I don’t kiss you, everyone within that place is going to know how impatient this dress is making me…God, you look so fucking good…” You swallowed hard, his fingers climbing up the fabric of your dress while you bit down on your bottom lip. His thumb broke this imprisonment as he leaned over you, keeping you pinned with his knee between your legs, not quite making contact, but threatening to do so, as he moved even closer to entangle a kiss to the willing part of your lips. 

Rather quickly, his fingers slipped across your cheek, your breath affected more so by the way his carnality existed so soft against you. 

“Is this okay?” You nodded, a scoff felt against your mouth, still parted in continued anticipation. 

“Better be sure, sweetheart, because once I start, I won’t be able to stop…” Your fingers reached up the lines of his suit, tailored to him with perfection as he awoke something deeply desperate and carnal from within you; the need to have him, the need to feel his touch continuing throughout your frame. 

“You’re SURE?” Aware your words of validation weren’t proof enough, you decided on action as you’d take your hands to the buzz cut of his hair, draping down his neck, and finally back to his lapels. 

“You even taste sweet…” A mischievous look took over his smirk as you’d watch him lick his lips in order to savor your taste. 

“I bet you’re sweet everywhere…aren’t you, baby?” Something bold developed beneath your need for him, a set of teasing words having informed him of your mutual desire. 

“Only one way to find out…” But where he moved to kneel, your hands pulled him back to you instead. 

“Change your mind?” He questioned as you shook your head ‘no’, before carrying your touch to his lips, playing with the swollen portion left behind by your kiss, before slipping inside. His eyes closed for a moment to relish in this interaction, perfectly erotic and chaste for the time being. 

With your hand on a crusade to your waist, it would be intercepted by his grip around your wrist, guiding you as he saw fit. He continued to control your wrist until you were in contact with your clit. The sudden sound of laughter just around the corner having pulled your focus to them. 

"Focus on me baby.. I'll make you feel so good, you'll forget that anybody could find us…"

"Drew-" You breathed his name in warning as he hesitated for a second before slowly nodding in understanding. 

"Two fingers….Your fingers…" You added as renewed exhilaration developed across his features. 

"Fuck.. " He breathed as you'd allowed him to bypass your dress as he learned you were without panties, the curse leaving his lips once realizing you were just as needy as him. 

"No panties?"

"There wasn't room…" You admitted while he smirked. 

"Lucky me. Remind me to send a thank you to your stylist." You released a scoff that was quickly exchanged for pleasure as his fingers twisted and curved inside of you. But when he'd found a rhythm, he'd withdraw to taste you. 

"Sweet like fucking candy…" He grinned before returning his touch. 

"As much as I wanna hear you, sweetheart, I don't want to cause a scandal for you here, so you need to be quiet for me, think you can do that?" You nodded as his thumb now reached to your clit, devoting drawn out circles to test if your understanding was true. 

"God, you're making it so easy to finger you…So tight but so…fucking…wet…" Your eyes rolled, his name spilling off of your tongue as he grinned. 

"Keep riding my hand, baby…make yourself feel good…I wanna watch you…" You agreed, your lips kissed in sporadic kisses whenever he saw you struggle to remain silent, before you'd feel him still against you. 

"Oh fuck-"

"Baby, gotta be quiet-"

To this, you took his fingers to your mouth to use it as a way to quiet yourself. Sucking synonymous to how you would please him,  eyes engaged to his for a reaction. 

"Fucking hell, you're so hot…" He breathed, "I can't wait anymore…" You were suddenly lifted against the wall, withdrawn and placed into you in record time, as he'd muffle your gasp with a kiss as he'd penetrate you. 

"Drew!" You belted as he smirked, wrapping his hand around your mouth as he kept the other one around your back to ground himself into you. 

"I swear to God next time I'm inside you, you can scream for me all you want…but right now, you need to be a good girl for me."

"It feels so good-" He nodded, kissing your exposed shoulder. 

"I know baby, shit, I know! But you gotta be good…be good so I don't have to stop…because if someone sees, I'm not stopping until you come on my cock, sweetheart…"

"Shit-" You groaned into his hand before arching against him, bringing him to a kiss as you pressed your body flush with his own, working along his thrusts, as he now held you by both of his hands.

"Gonna make you come for me…gonna make you come so fucking hard baby…" He grunted as you nodded, feeling this release close to what you could withstand before he'd suddenly attack your breast with his mouth to keep himself quiet. 

The muffled moans and curses vibrated through your sensitive nipples as he became wild and reckless within your pussy, thrusting to degrees nobody had reached before, as he was vulgar in each pistoning motion. 

"I want you to spend the rest of the night dripping with me, you got it?"

"Drew…"

"Or I'm gonna edge you everytime we film, making you so wet, you'll forget every line and only ever think of my cock-" 

"Oh, God…"

"Flattered, but you can just call me Drew, sweetheart…" He teased. "Come for me baby…I need to feel you clench me-"

"I’m-" You couldn't formulate anything despite your attempts to do so, your moans infiltrating any sense of being intelligible as he placed you still so he could root into you. 

"Come with me, sweetheart. I wanna wear you all night…just like you're gonna be a good girl and wear me, right?" You nodded, desperately as he kissed you. 

"Good fucking girl…Ah…shit baby…so fucking tight…I'm gonna…" He growled, hitting his palm hard into the wall at your side as you nodded in silent agreement, allowing the rush to overtake you completely. The flex of his cock bringing an orgasm of such intensity you weren't able to cry out even if you'd tried, a detail heightened from how rebellious and even reckless you'd both been. 

"I think I'm gonna like working with ya, sweetheart…" He explained once helping you back to your feet and fixing your dress that he'd fisted out of the way as you'd been wrapped around him. 

"Can't wait until Monday…" He provided one final kiss before returning inside, leaving you behind to compose yourself. You had no idea what would happen during filming this movie, especially as it was due to be erotic. But you knew if first impressions were anything to go off of, it would be titillating to say the least…

Taglist: @hopebaker @iovdrew @penny4yourthoughts @magnificantmermaid @pickingviolets

#drew starkey #drew starkey x reader #drew starkey smut #drewstarkey #outerbanks #outer banks smut #obx

[natlacentral]

DALLAS LIU SEES YOUR TIKTOK THIRST-TRAP EDITS OF HIM

Dallas Liu may be playing the Zuko in Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender, but you won’t catch him with the Fire Nation prince’s restrictive, gravity-defying ponytail in real life. 

“I would never, ever out of my own personal choice rock the ponytail. It’s a haircut that not even cosplayers are willing to take on,” he tells NYLON. “I can gladly say that I would not recommend it to anyone.” But the 22-year-old actor does admit to what fans of the original animated series have known since the show debuted back in 2015: “The ponytail does look super badass on screen.”

Liu says he knew the challenge of bringing such a beloved character to life, but not only did he grow up watching the animated series and loving the Fire Nation prince for his fierce loyalty, but the show inspired him to start practicing martial arts. Ahead, Liu takes on the NYLON 19, revealing his thoughts on ghosts (or “spirits,” as he prefers to call them), TikTok thirst-trap edits of himself, and more.

1. WHAT’S YOUR ASTROLOGICAL SIGN (AND DO YOU BELIEVE IN IT)?

I am a Leo! Unfortunately, I don’t believe in it because of my experience meeting people with the same birthday, but us being different personality-wise.

2. DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS (AND HAVE YOU EVER SEEN ONE)?

Yes, most definitely. Although I think the word “spirits” would be a better way to define it. I’ve never seen one — thank God — but I have felt uneasy in very old hotels or rooms that have a very long history.

3. WHO WOULD BE THE THREE HEADLINERS OF THE MUSIC FESTIVAL OF YOUR DREAMS?

Dominic Fike, Beach House, and Sade.

4. WHAT'S A BAD HABIT OF YOURS THAT YOU'VE BEEN MEANING TO FIX?

Honestly, I’m so bad at parking my car. Not that I’m bad at driving, but when it comes to parallel parking or even in a parking lot, I don’t put much thought into it.

5. WHAT WAS THE LAST INTERNET RABBIT HOLE YOU WENT DOWN?

I spend too many nights doom-scrolling on Instagram or TikTok, but it was probably a compilation of Avatar: The Last Airbender lore.

6. DESCRIBE YOUR WORST DATE IN THREE WORDS OR PHRASES.

Short, McDonald’s, Black Ice Car Freshener

7. WHAT WAS THE LAST DM YOU RECEIVED?

My friend sent me a TikTok thirst-trap edit of myself this morning which was interesting.

8. IF YOU COULD BE IN ANY MUSIC VIDEO, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

I would have to say either the music video for Bow Wow’s “Let Me Hold You” or Chris Brown’s “Yo (Excuse Me Miss)” just because the music videos in the ‘00s were just built differently.

9. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CONCERT, AND WHAT ARE YOUR MEMORIES OF IT?

Daniel Caesar performing in LA for his Case Study 01: Tour. It was my first one, so I remember everything about it. At the time, he was taking the music industry by storm and I was a major fan, so that concert was everything to me. I also was introduced to how much of a different experience listening to live music is.

10. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE MOVIE AS A KID?

The Polar Express.

11. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE MEME/INTERNET JOKE AND WHY?

The personality that comes with wearing a fedora. It’s always funny to me and forever will be. Maybe one day I’d get to play a character that wears a fedora. Maybe Zuko.

12. WHAT'S YOUR GO-TO BREAKUP SONG?

“I Gotta Find Peace of Mind” by Lauryn Hill.

13. WHAT IS ONE THING EVERYONE SHOULD BUY THAT IS UNDER $10?

A sweet latte with oat milk from Blue Bottle. A must. Just try it. It’s so good. I could live off of it.

14. WHAT PIECE OF CLOTHING FROM HIGH SCHOOL DO YOU WISH YOU KEPT?

My vintage Green Day shirt. It had the perfect shade of a faded black and the fit of it was immaculate.

15. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PAIR OF SHOES THAT YOU OWN, AND WHY?

Military boots because they look the coolest.

16. WHAT IS YOUR GO-TO SAD SONG?

Anything by Elliott Smith or Duster.

17. WHAT REALITY SHOW WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO APPEAR ON?

Love Island UK.

18. WHAT IS YOUR BEST BEAUTY TIP OR TRICK?

Korean skincare products.

19. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FAST-FOOD PLACE, AND WHAT’S YOUR ORDER?

Wingstop: four lemon pepper classic and four original hot classic, all flats. Lemon pepper seasoned fries cooked well done. A side of ranch and bleu cheese. Root beer.

#natla #atla #netflix avatar #netflix atla #avatar the last airbender #dallas liu #avatar netflix #atla netflix #nylon #interview #fun & games

[antipolin]

He is best known for Netflix hit Bridgerton, but Luke Thompson’s theatre pedigree encompasses Shakespeare, Greek tragedy and Ivo van Hove’s marathon A Little Life. He talks to Fergus Morgan about his passion for the stage and his worries for its future via The Stage

Luke Thompson might have shot to stardom thanks to his role as Benedict in Netflix’s smash-hit series Bridgerton, but the 35-year-old actor is most at home on stage.

“I spectate on myself,” Thompson says. “I always have done. It’s been a bit painful in my life. And the only place on earth it doesn’t happen is on stage when someone else is spectating instead and so I don’t have to worry. You’re watching me so I don’t have to watch myself. I feel free. Those are the best moments of my life.”

Fortunately, Thompson has not been short of stage work. Born in Southampton in 1988, he grew up just outside Paris, returning to the UK to study English and drama at the University of Bristol, before training at RADA. He landed his first job almost immediately after graduating in 2013: playing Lysander in Dominic Dromgoole’s staging of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Shakespeare’s Globe in London.

Since then, alongside screen roles in BBC One’s In the Club and Bridgerton, Thompson has starred in Julius Caesar at the Globe, Oresteia and Hamlet – opposite Andrew Scott – at London’s Almeida, and King Lear and A Little Life in the West End. Both he and co-star James Norton were nominated for Olivier awards for their performances in Ivo van Hove’s acclaimed adaptation of Hanya Yanagihara’s hard-hitting novel.

“A Little Life was such an intense experience,” Thompson says. “Intense in a good way, I mean. The material was very bleak, but acting is always pleasurable because you are indulging in a fantasy, even if it’s a dark one, and that is inherently fun.”

Thompson also thinks that theatre has lost some of its belief in itself. “Theatre is supposed to be provocative. I’m not on social media, but I think it can be very aggressive and vicious, and I think theatres cave to that a bit. Deep down, theatre is the opposite of social media. It is about people being in a room, exchanging opinions and emotions. I worry that social media is spoiling that a bit, which is a shame.”

What production made you fall in love with theatre?

I remember standing in the Yard at Shakespeare’s Globe in 2009 and watching Thea Sharrock’s production of As You Like It, and thinking: ‘Oh, wow, this is really funny and it actually works. When done simply and confidently, Shakespeare still speaks to us today.’ For my first job to be at the Globe a few years later was magical.

What are you finding inspiring at the moment?

I love watching Ivo [van Hove]’s company do stuff. There is something so wild about the acting in his shows. We get very bogged down with facts in this country, but Ivo understands the dream logic of plays. Some of the most moving things I’ve seen don’t completely make sense. I find that inspiring.

What do you wish you could change about the performing arts industry?

I wish theatre had more confidence. Right now, it feels unsure about how useful it is and about how taboo, complex and provocative it should be. I feel as though theatre has lost confidence in its societal function.

What is the worst thing that has happened to you on stage?

There was a scene in A Little Life in which James ran around naked for a bit, then I would bring him clothes. During one show, I couldn’t find his underpants, so I just brought him his trousers and he put them on. But I forgot that people pulled his trousers off again later and they were expecting him to be wearing underpants. James knew it was coming and I knew it was coming and we couldn’t look at each other for the rest of the play. I hope he doesn’t mind me telling that story. It was so funny.

What is the best thing that has happened to you on stage?

There are so many. That sounds naff but I don’t care. I love the challenge of going on stage night after night and trying to make something feel alive in front of an audience.

What role do you really want to play?

I would work with Ivo again at the drop of a hat. And there are loads and loads of roles I would love to play. I did a reading of a rewriting of The Seagull the other day. The role of Konstantin is really beautiful. I’d love to play that. I’d love to play Iago one day, too. Of course, I’d love to play Hamlet but it’s boring to say that.

What projects are you involved in at the moment?

I’m playing Berowne in Emily Burns’ production of Love’s Labour’s Lost with the Royal Shakespeare Company. She has set it on a Polynesian island owned by these big tech billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk, of which I am one. It’s a really smart concept that unlocks a lot of very interesting stuff in the play. Season three of Bridgerton is coming out in May and June, too. And we will be filming season four soon after that. There’s a lot still to come.

#Luke Thompson #Bridgerton #Bridgerton cast #Love's Labour's Lost

[mischiefmaven]

3 ways Elle encourages Tao to become a better person

Tao might be the most controversial character in the fandom. We have our baddies (Ben, Harry, David), our icons (Tori, Sarah Nelson, Aled/Isaac), and our romantic heroes (Narlie forever), but Tao is not that simple to categorize. On paper, Tao is everything you want from a friend: fiercely loyal, committed to friendship, and dedicated to protecting those he cares about. On the other hand, Tao is stubborn, opinionated, resistant to change, and makes lots of assumptions or jumps to conclusions, often to the detriment of his relationships. Every time I recommend Heartstopper, I get reaction texts from first-timers that read something like this: “I would die for Nick and Charlie…but ugh what’s Tao’s problem?” 

I appreciate the expanded role that Tao got in the Netflix adaptation compared with the comic. The more I rewatched the show, the more I started to really love Tao. I also noticed something else: Elle is to Tao what Charlie is to Nick. Throughout the show, there are 3 main ways that Elle helps our favorite beanie-wearing film snob start to become a better version of himself, perhaps even his true self. 

1. She calls out his bad behavior. 

If Tao is being loud and obnoxious, Elle is the first to call it out. From the very first scene where we see them together in the same room, for the “emergency Charlie situation” in episode 2, Elle is not entertaining his nonsense: 

T: Charlie literally won’t give up on this *straight* boy until we know for sure!

E: Oh my god, be quiet! Ok, slowly, what do you want?

When Tao is being a drama queen or catastrophizing a situation, Elle doesn’t let him get away with it. She tells him he’s being dramatic when he declares that Nick has “stolen” Charlie and initially when he makes her promise to always prioritize their friendship. She pushes him to think of others when he’s reacting badly, too, like when she urges him not to confront Charlie about Nick on his birthday, or when he’s a little too self-involved on the sidelines of the rugby match: 

T: Charlie’s befriending bullies and our friendship group is falling apart, Elle. Take this seriously.

E: Hey! I didn’t come here and risk seeing all the Truham boys who used to pick on me just for you to tell me our friendship group is falling apart.

She teasingly calls him the “king of getting involved” and tries to get him to stop dwelling on his near-constant desire to talk about all the reasons he doesn’t like Nick. Elle also pokes fun at his tendency to be jealous in episode 3 when she tells him that her friends are going to Harry’s party and in episode 4 after he meets Tara and Darcy:

T: It was nice meeting your friends though. 

E: Yeah?

T: Yeah. They seem cool.

E: They are.

T: Have they replaced us?

E: As if anyone could replace your incredibly annoying, loud presence in my life.

T: How dare you!

Elle is really the only one who calls Tao out, and she’s probably the only one he would listen to anyway, and I love her for it.

2. She helps him process his complicated emotions around change.

Tao really hates change, and his stress about it informs a lot of his motivations and actions throughout the show. Elle is the only person to whom Tao seems to confide about this in any serious way, and her reactions are so perfectly accepting and therapeutic. She sometimes prods him to reframe his perception about change, like during episode 3’s movie night:

E: Yeah. But sometimes change is a good thing…I was really scared no one would like me, so I didn’t even try talking to people at first. But then I realized I actually needed to put myself out there or I’d just be alone. So I think I’m going to be ok there, at Higgs. That’s a good change, right?

T: Yeah, that’s a good change.

In episode 7, she uses a combination of humor and empathy to try to show him that he will be ok. She doesn’t really try to solve everything for him; she’s just there for him when he needs it.

T: Sorry about earlier. I know it’s not your fault he hasn’t told me.

E: Charlie does want to tell you. 

T: I think I know why he hasn’t. He thinks that I’ll accidentally say something stupid and out Nick to all of Nick’s mates. And obviously he cares more about Nick’s feelings than mine. Once you get into a relationship, friendships don’t matter anymore. 

E: Or maybe he just thinks you’ll force Nick to watch Donnie Darko like you did with us.

T: Shut up! It’s a good movie! It’s just complicated! I don’t know why I’m so afraid of being alone. 

E: That’s how I felt, my first term. I got scared. But everything turned out ok.

Elle seems to understand when to push Tao and when to give him a little room to process. That’s a hard balance for some people, but she’s such an observant and kind person that it seems to come naturally to her.

3. She makes Tao feel safe and gives him space to be silly. 

In many scenes with his friends and classmates, Tao is at times brooding, competitive, sarcastic, and bossy. Yet every time we get a glimpse of Tao getting out of his own head long enough to joke around or have some light-hearted fun, Elle is at the center of it. At the sleepover at Charlie’s, he drops their serious discussion about Nick in the face of Elle’s criticism that he’s being annoying by performing his “interpretive dance.” He’s playful with her in the arcade and when they meet up at the milkshake café (their truly adorable fishing reel greeting is such an underrated gem of a moment). In episode 8, their run through the halls of Truham to the intro of “Close to You” is a moment of unburdened young joy that moves me every time. He has shown her his worst side and shared his deepest, darkest fears, and she still loves and accepts him. Indeed, Tao has never been happier and freer than he is in those episode 8 moments with Elle, and it leaves him emotionally open to realize his feelings for her are changing. 

We don’t know a lot about Tao’s back story and why he is the way he is. I have a headcanon theory that his dad left the family when he was young, leading to abandonment issues. In the show, his self-awareness takes 2 steps forward and 1 step back several times, which I think is honestly a realistic portrayal of teen emotional growth. Elle is there to love and guide him, sometimes by challenging him and sometimes by giving him the space to figure things out on his own. 

Love him or hate him, Tao is a fascinating and complex character. Sometimes it seems like his emotional intelligence is abysmal, but he's smart enough to know that everything is awful without Elle. So there’s hope for him yet.

#tao xu #tao x elle #elle argent #heartstopper #meta #alice oseman #tao xu fan club #userbarrow #taoelle

[theelectronicstranger]

Netflix’s One Day Surprised Me

          I just watched the Netflix adaptation of One Day. I was ready to kind of dislike it because I really like the movie version of One Day and I couldn’t help but compare this TV series to the movie while I was watching it. However, the more I watched this show, the more I grew to like it and ended up really liking the decisions that they made to showcase Emma and Dexter’s lives. Also, it is important to note that I have NOT read the book. I have just watched the movie and really liked it. I’m going to end up comparing these two adaptations a bit and telling you guys what eventually made me like this show, so if you’re not interested in that or you haven’t watched the series or the movie, then maybe don’t read this discussion.

          Let’s get the stuff I don’t like out of the way. I think the worst parts of this show as a movie adaptation lover is the first two to three episodes. They actually do find their stride in the third episode, but I was just so worried watching the first two episodes that I was wary of the third. My problem with the first two episodes was that it felt like they were stretching their time rather than expanding on these characters’ lives. For example, the first episode of this show was about 10 mins total of the film. In the film, Dex and Emma meet after graduating and they spend the night together just talking all night. Then in the morning, they take a hike and enjoy each other’s company, but we don’t see that until the end of the movie. Those scenes took about less than 10 minutes of the movie but in the show, it took them 36 minutes and I don’t necessarily think those 36 minutes were used that well.

In the show we saw their first day together play out more, which should have been good, but it felt like the more Emma and Dex talked in this series, the more it felt like they were rethreading what they could have conveyed in 10 mins. At some point I asked myself, “What is Dex still doing in this apartment?”. The reason I asked that was because Emma was being rude to him on this first day and I felt like there were a lot of times he wanted to leave but didn’t. It felt like the way the first episode was executed, the only reason why Dex didn’t leave Emma’s apartment was because he was trying to be nice and trying to save face a bit, which isn’t to say that movie Dex wasn’t like that at first, but in the movie we could give Dex the benefit of a doubt more because we just saw a small segment of them talking throughout the night rather than having these long drawn out conversations that seem to almost lead to arguments. The first episode felt like it was giving us so many reasons why these two people wouldn’t talk again after this day because it shows us too much of their wants and personalities clashing in my opinion.

The second episode didn’t help with my worries for this series because they were separated from each other during this episode, so it was harder to gauge their chemistry with one another. All we know is that Emma has been sending letters to Dex regularly and that she was in Dex’s house for Christmas. Also, Dex’s parents seem to like her. However, that’s all things about them that we have been told rather than shown, so it still doesn’t help with how I see these two characters at this point. Although, with that said, the second episode is where I start liking the decisions that they made to expand these characters’ lives. I really liked how we saw more of Dex and his mother in Episode 2. As somebody that knew what was going to happen to Dex’s mother, it was really nice to see this episode show more of Dex and his mother’s relationship. It was nice seeing them interact and seeing Dex make time for his mother; especially, knowing that she passes later on. I also really like how in Emma’s story for this episode, we see her write more and make an active decision to be a writer; because in the movie, we didn’t really see that much of her writing, we are just told that she tried to write but failed. In the movie, it felt like she just becomes a best-selling author immediately rather than because she’s been writing most of her life. The way the movie does it suffices, but I like how the series expands on that aspect of her life.

What I was worried about with these first few episodes is that this series was going to just stretch these moments in these characters’ lives without making the necessary developments for their characters. However, after sticking with it, I ended up really liking a lot of the decisions the show made, so with the stuff I don’t like out of the way, let’s move on to what I really liked.

I really liked that we saw more of the extended cast in this series because they ended up bringing more to these two characters’ lives. I always felt like in the movie, they were hyper focused on Emma and Dexter’s lives that there was no room for characters like Tilly, who we only saw a bit in the movie. Tilly, in the series, is Emma’s shoulder to cry on. She is the one true friend that Emma has. She also becomes someone that supports Dexter after Emma dies, so that he won’t have to feel so alone anymore. In the movie, after Emma dies Dex just felt so alone which was really heartbreaking. However, in this series, we do see him alone, but we also get to see that there are so many people that are willing to help and support him after those times of loneliness. We see more of how his father is more present in his life after Emma’s death as well, which I really liked.

With Ian, I like how we get to see more of how much Emma was so unhappy because of him, so that when she finally finds some success in her life, it feels like this massive cathartic experience because we saw how her life was with him. We also saw more of how much Ian despised Dexter throughout the whole time he was with Emma, so when he goes out of his way to visit Dexter after Emma passes, it puts more weight on his actions. He went out of his way to cheer someone up that he did not like at all.

Speaking of Emma, I like how we see that she’s not all that perfect in this series. She literally helps a man cheat with their wife in this series and she was pretty well aware of that. She started sinking more to the bottom until she found success in her books after some encouragement from Ian that her writing was good. Like I said before, I really liked how we saw her write more in this series, so when she finds success in her writing, it doesn’t feel like it comes out of nowhere. We actually see her fail a few times with her writing and fail a few times in her career before we ever see any of her success, which I feel like the show is trying to show how her success is earned because of all of her hard work.

I how we saw more of how Dexter dealt with his mother’s illness, which is to say that he did not deal with his mother’s illness at all. In fact, he took comfort in drugs and missed so much of his mother’s last days. He just didn’t feel at all comfortable seeing his mother like that. He couldn’t even be in her bedroom with her because he felt sick smelling the room she was in and seeing her in this awful state. I loved how we saw more of his relationship with his father and showed more of how angry his father was with him; especially since, he was being a fuck up on his mother’s last days. In Dexter’s father’s eyes, Dexter was ruining the last days of the woman that he loves, so he was properly angry at him. The scene where his father drops him off at the station and he yells at him because he couldn’t be sober while with his mother is such a powerful scene.

I like how we end up seeing more of Dexter spiraling down into heavy drug use because of how his career is going and because of his mother’s death. We saw how his chosen career built him up to be this very important person and any time something contradicted that, he would turn to drug use. We see how that affected his personal relationships. Specifically, his relationship with Emma. The restaurant episode was really well done. You can just tell how much of a pretentious prick he was being in that episode and how that would form a schism with him and Emma.

I also like the fact that we spend so much more time with Dex after Emma dies and that we see him being such a wreck during July 15 [St Swithin’s Day (aka Emma and Dexter’s Day)]. I like how we even get moments where Sylvie is helping out Dex and being worried for him. She’s just not this awful person that cheated on him, but someone that genuinely cared for him at some point.

All in all, I really liked this series. Especially towards the end. It surprised me how much I liked it because I really loved the movie adaptation of this story. However, I would probably watch the movie more than this series because even though I liked the series towards the end, I felt like a lot of the stuff they expanded on were just okay; they were more like bonus material for me. I also still felt in certain episodes that their expanding of this story, felt more like stretching rather than expanding on it in a meaningful way. I also would have happily cut a lot of episodes in this series, if it meant that we got to see more minutes of Emma and Dex being happy in the last few episodes. I really would have loved to have seen more moments of them being happy; especially because this show has got a lot of time to do that with unlike in the movie.

Yes, I know the movie is very hyper focused on Emma and Dexter’s lives but I think that hyper focused approach really help give weight to their romance and the tragedy of their romance towards the end. Also, by hyper-focusing on these two, we end up getting a more intimate outlook on them in my opinion. Sometimes, while watching the movie, it felt like I was a passerby getting glimpses of these people’s lives. I don’t necessarily know all of their story, but the stuff that I did see made me want them to be together more. The film is short and bittersweet, and I like it that way. Does that mean the show is bad? Hell NO. I think every actor in here is giving an amazing performance and the parts of the story that they expanded on are wonderful.  I just have a preference, that’s all. I’m sure that if you’ve watched the series first then you probably prefer the series over the movie. Same goes with reading the novel, I’m sure that a lot of people prefer that version over the film and the series. I think it’s just a matter of what you experienced first, and I watched the movie first so it’s the definitive version for me. However, I would urge everyone that watched the movie or even read the book to watch the series. I really enjoyed it.

Nitpicks:

          Here are just some nitpicks that I have for the show. They don’t necessarily affect my viewing of the series just that it slightly bothered me. Also these nitpicks do not matter at all and should not be taken too seriously. Just nitpicks I thought I'd share.

First, I think everybody in here looks way too young that when they started getting older, I just couldn’t buy they got old as much. Specifically with Dex, I just felt that he looks so young even towards the end. As for Emma, she does start looking more mature after the years they stopped talking. Maybe it's just that I tend to view people my age as babies? I dont really know. I think it's also because Dexter in the movie version ends up looking so old and I'm still comparing the two.

Second, they took out the line “I love you Dexter… so much… I just don’t like you anymore” I just like that line. I told you guys these were nitpicks.

Lastly, I wish they used “We had Today” by Rachel Portman in this series. It’s the theme music for the movie and I would have loved to hear it in this version. I just felt like it’s a wonderful piece of music that deserves to be heard more.

Here’s a link to the song on YouTube: We Had Today by Rachel Portman

          If you’re reading this then I’d love to know what you think of the series. If you’ve read the book or watched the movie. I would really love to know what you thought of it. Was I being too harsh on this series? What did you agree with me on and what points did you not agree with me on? Anyways, thanks for reading this. Have a good day! 

#One Day #Netflix #David Nicholls #Ambika Mod #Leo Woodall #Amber grappy #Jonny Weldon #Eleanor Tomlinson #Anne Hathaway #Jim Sturgess #my writing #writing

[floweroflaurelin]

I'm sorry if this is rude, and you totally don't have to answer this if you don't want to, but i'm curious - why in the world are you using the name "flower of Laurelin" for a as far as i can tell 100% mcyt art blog? Like, no judgement or anything, but it just genuinely throws me for a loop every single time lmao

Hahahaha!

So I made this blog back in 2018? I think? And I had every intention of making it a Silmarillion blog. I made a lot of Silm art just for me while I was a teenager and I actually still make Silm art for school projects! I called myself Flower of Laurelin because Arien, the Maia who carries the sun, is my favourite character in the whole Tolkienverse. (She has one whole paragraph talking about her.)

Also in 2018, both The Dragon Prince and She Ra and the Princesses of Power started airing on Netflix and took over my whole brain and I instead started painting fanart for those two shows and posting it here, and they were all fairly popular paintings. This was during the gap year I took before heading to university in 2019 and it really helped me develop my art style! I realized that since my style is more like realism I could adapt cartoons in a really fun and fresh way. And I was always like oh well I’ll get to the Silmarillion stuff soon… And then I went to university and did Illustration projects on the Silmarillion, as I’d always planned to do, and I completely forgot my Tumblr art blog, which was very infrequently posted to until 2021.

Then when I was in university I started getting excited about Minecraft’s updates because I hadn’t played since 1.13 and cool things were coming up and so I typed “Minecraft” into YouTube and found Pixlriffs’ Survival Guide. And then I got into Hermitcraft bc Mumbo and Iskall would show up in the recommended. And then Pix joined Empires I got into the whole Empires crew, and by then I was getting burnt out of never making art just for me and only for assignments and I took an hour out to sketch the Copper King during class, which I posted, and people liked it! And Pixlriffs himself emailed me that same day to say how much he liked it! And then I was like okay well there’s a niche here—there’s little more cartoony than a Minecraft skin so my style would work great here, and wow it turns out there are a lot of people into this too! A lot of other awesome artists! And my work got more and more attention until I got to work with the CCs on their series and now I’m a mcyt blog.

TLDR; I was supposed to be a Silmarillion blog because I used to make a lot of Silmarillion art, but in the time since making my URL I ended up getting into other fandoms instead by accident! And now I’m a mcyt blog even though I’ve kept my original URL because I like it a lot 😋

#thanks so much for the question! I know it’s a bit confusing ahahaha #ask #anon