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orionsangel86 · 1 year

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Hob Gadling - A Queer Romantic?

I have been listening to The World's End chapters of The Sandman on Audible lately and just finished Hob's Leviathan. I didn't pay this story much attention when I first read the comic, as I tended to read through the stories quickly and put more focus into the stories where Dream had a larger role. But one of the reasons I like listening to the Audible book is because it allows me to absorb each story more thoroughly and take my time thinking about each one and the (usually multiple) meanings behind them.

Hob Gadling is a character that fandom has fallen in love with. I think this is clear to anyone that takes even a partial glance at Sandman fandom. This isn't a criticism - Ferdie's performance as Hob in the Netflix show has done wonders for Hob's character. He has made his version of Hob very easy to fall in love with!

But the truth is that in The Sandman comics, Hob is a minor character who we only get to know very little about. The story Hob's Leviathan appears in The Worlds End Sandman book. We only meet him twice before this, once in The Doll's House, where we are introduced to him in Men of Good Fortune, and again in Season of Mists when Dream comes to let him know that he may miss their next meeting. In both these issues, Hob is introduced via the narrator, and therefore I like to think that we are given a fairly honest representation of the kind of person he is. We watch him grow and learn throughout the centuries in MoGF, but one of the major takeaways from this I believe is that he tends to always be on the wrong side of history. He makes bad choices and can be a bit narrow minded. He is rude and selfish and also rather self-absorbed. I actually think that the performance of the voice actor who plays Hob in the Audible book emphasises these character flaws making him even more unlikeable in many ways, though I am aware that this could just be my own experience and opinion.

But Hob's Leviathan takes a different view of Hob. Literally. The narrator of this story is a young boy of 16 called Jim. Jim met Hob on a ship travelling from Bombay to Liverpool in 1914. Jim was working on the ship as a cabin boy and Hob had bought his passage back to England - though it is revealled at the end of the story that Hob actually owned the ship they were travelling on. It is clear that at this point in time, Hob is extremely wealthy.

Jim attends to Hob throughout the journey, and grows very fond of him. In Jim's tale, Hob is a good man, who is kind and thoughtful and cares about others. He saves the life of a stowaway (who turns out to be another immortal). He is shown to be patient, and funny, and very intelligent. Jim waxes poetic about how smart Hob is, and how much he impressed him. It is particularly clear in the Audible book that Jim is taken with Hob, to the point that it could arguably be a crush.

It is fascinating how much more likeable Hob is when narrated from the viewpoint of someone with a crush on him, whether this story is exaggerated through rose tinted glasses is of course something to consider. All the tales in World's End are just that, tales. There is a constant undercurrent of exaggeration and make believe to them where even the other patrons of the inn question elements to each of the stories. We are not supposed to take these stories as absolute fact, rather they are supposed to reveal to us more about the narrators as well as their own experiences existing in this magical and strange world.

When it is revealled that Jim is actually a girl called Peggy in disguise so they can get work on the ships, the quite obvious crush makes more sense to a heteronormative audience, but what I particularly like about this story is its queer potential. See in the comic, it isn't really clarified if Jim goes by Jim because they feel more themselves as a boy, rather than a girl, or if they are disguising themself as a boy just to get work as a means to an end. I would argue that the latter is the more obvious interpretation. Jim tells the other World's End patrons that they are getting too old to keep up the disguise and will eventually have to stop working in shipping, and that when that happens, they will take on a new name, a new identity and do something else, but that for now, the patrons can keep calling them Jim.

*for a lack of clarity around the point in the comic, I am going to use gender neutral pronouns for Jim going forward*

Now from Hob's POV, he figured out that Jim was a girl, and they talk about it briefly along with the sea serpent they saw. I think that at this point, Hob is impressively progressive compared to the previous times we have met him. Now whether or not this is biased storytelling from someone who has a crush on him remains to be seen, but if we take Jim's word as truth, not only is 1914 Hob a fair and honest man who is willing to pay the way of a stowaway and fully respect the secrets of a young girl disguised as a boy so they can work on ships, but he's also totally comfortable flirting with them.

I like that he calls Jim the "handsome cabin boy". I like that this version of Hob, whether real or an exaggeration skewed by Jim's feelings for him, respects Jim's identity. Jim may be a girl in disguise, but Hob doesnt call her pretty, he calls him handsome.

It's all just a bit subtly queer and I like that for Hob (But then I would do, I'm a Dreamling shipper HA)

When Jim finishes their story, they state that they didn't see Hob again after that, but the comics later do give us a possible outcome to Jim's story...

We next see Hob in The Kindly Ones where he is mourning the death of his girlfriend Audrey. He briefly reveals that Audrey was the first person he had loved since Peggy, who was his lover until her death during the Blitz. Whilst it isn't made clear that Hob's lover Peggy is the same Jim that we meet in World's End, it is a bit too much of a coincidence. The timing adds up. If Jim was 16 in 1914, they'd be in their early 40s during the Blitz. Hob remains forever in his early 30s so I'd say its a safe bet that Jim eventually found Hob again and they were together. Hob loved them enough that he wasn't with anyone again until Audrey in the 80s. That's 50 years worth of mourning. A long time not to be with anyone, even for an immortal.

It's funny because we know so little about Hob, but one thing that I have seen commented on here a lot is that comic Hob is deemed to be as Straight as an arrow. Now I admit that the voice actor in the Audible book plays him very straight, but that is still only one interpretation.

All this is to say that I am fascinated with how the Netflix show will adapt this, since Hob in the show already comes across much kinder and more selfless than his comic counterpart. He already has an entire fandom viewing him as queer, and the comics certainly don't outright shut down such interpretations. There are moments in the comics that you have to wonder on. He does call Jim handsome rather than pretty, and when he talks to Audrey's grave he mentions his wives and loves as separate groups. He talks about finding it easy to get sex if you want it, and he talks about it in generally gender neutral terms. In Sunday Mourning Gwen reveals that she thought he was gay when she first met him, though her reasonings were that he knew so many dead people (a dark reminder that these comics were published at the height of the Aids epidemic). He reacts very badly to the news of Morpheus' death. He states on several occassions just how much he liked Morpheus, and he is one of the few people to wake up from the Wake with tears running down his cheeks. I would arguably state that its between Hob and Matthew as to who had the worst reaction to Morpheus' death, showing just how much both Hob and Matthew cared about him, and placing Hob on par with Matthew in the comics is a big deal. He seriously considers accepting Death's gift when she offers it, simply because Morpheus is dead. He doesn't, because at the end of the day, its just not in his nature to do so, and given he then dreams of Morpheus, I like to think that it was a test, that he passed.

When it comes to how the show will adapt all this, I genuinely think it will take a new approach with Jim/Peggy. I think they will be either a trans man, or at least non binary. But I think having Jim be a trans man is the better option. In the comics, Jim's tale is only very subtly queer, Jim clearly likes being Jim, but it seems like its a means to an end, a convenience in order to get work on the ships, rather than being something that is core to Jim's feelings on their gender. Besides, if we assume that Jim is indeed the Peggy Hob talks about in The Kindly Ones, then we know that Jim goes back to being Peggy when they get older and apparently continues living as a woman whilst they are with Hob, otherwise I doubt Hob would have referred to one of his greatest loves by a name they themselves rejected and only used she/her pronouns when talking about them. Nevertheless there is no reason for the show to take this approach, and if they DO decide that Jim should be a trans man, then their relationship with Hob is canonically a queer one. Trans men are men and if one of Hob's greatest loves is a trans man, then Hob is a queer man himself. I genuinely believe the show will take this route and I can't wait to see it.

Going back to my point about narrators bias, if MoGF, SoM, tKO, and TW are all narrated by a neutral third party, then this must be the true Hob. A not overly likeable rather selfish man. He has his good points, and he has certainly grown and changed over the centuries, and carries a lot of guilt for his past mistakes, but he is still quite self absorbed. Jim paints a picture of a rose tinted Hob that is far more the dreamy romantic older gentleman that took a young person under his wing. Which is fair enough.

The show is of course its own adaptation, with changes from the comics as it sees fit, but I do feel it's my duty to remind you that the show also has a narrator guiding the audience through its many stories. Dream of the Endless, Lord Morpheus, King of Nightmares and Prince of Stories himself. Take from that whatever you will.

;-)

#why yes i did just imply that show!hob comes across so likeable because we are seeing him from Dream's POV #what of it?#lmao #sandman meta #the sandman #sandman analysis #hob gadling #dreamling #dream of the endless #the worlds end #sandman comic spoilers #major sandman comic spoilers #the sandman comics

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desire-mona · 1 month

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why i think richard cameron is Like That

the long awaited cam analysis post of sorts!!!

so to start off, let me acknowledge the obvious: CAMERON SUCKED FOR WHAT HE DID TO HIS FRIENDS. THAT WAS MEAN AND SHITTY OF HIM, HE DESERVED TO GET PUNCHED IN THE FACE AND HE DESERVED TO HAVE HIS FRIENDS STOP LIKING HIM. this post is just to paint a more nuanced picture of the motivations and reasoning behind his cam-ness. also i feel the need to address that my love for dylan kussman HEAVILY influences my opinion on cameron, so please keep that in find when u read this. if my bias shows at any point then feel free to offer your perspective, odds are i'll find a way to agree :3

lets start at the very beginning of the movie, his first appearance with the tradition banner. this obviously wasn't anything i rly thought of in depth on my first watch, but on my second watch i was like oh Hm.

tradition, of course, is a BIG aspect of welton that the movie repeatedly emphasises, drawing lots of attention to how nothing changes. i find cam holding the tradition banner especially interesting in relativity to neil holding the excellence banner specifically. cam very clearly tries his best to embody the rules of welton (more on this later) and very rarely deviates from those rules, although he does on occasion (again - more on this later.) but despite his attempts to be the manifestation of those values are never met with any praise, unlike neil. that's not to say that neil isn't deserving of that praise though, absolutely he is deserving, but in terms of academics specifically, cam's pretty up there too! this part doesnt exactly tie in directly with the rest of the post, but just thought id point it out first to add a layer to the rest of my thoughts.

how i view cam's character arc is something that's framed in a way thats not supposed to be viewed as an arc, i suppose (interesting considering the tradition thing hm). of course thats inaccurate as he does in fact have in arc, it just small in relation to the more forefront-ed poets. and it makes him ultimately less likeable, so.

during a majority of the movie (pre neil death) cam is known as the guy who doesnt like to break rules, that much is obvious, but in the end he still does with the dead poets society. now the reasoning behind that isnt actually touched on in a direct way, so there are a few different ways you can view that. i'll touch on a few different reasonings that me, @pencileraser1, and @good--merits-accumulated came up with.

my reasoning - i see cam's willingness to break the rules as cam holding his friends' idea of him on a high pedestal, constantly taking into consideration what they think. not wanting his friends to consider him a loser or boring in any way, he joins despite the anxiety surrounding being caught. not without fuss though, he does still outwardly talk about how this isnt something they should be doing. all this and yet he does in fact join, AND he doesnt rat anyone out for a majority of the movie (even after the call from god dealio!!!) fomo, basically.

nick's reasoning (found in this post) - he just wanted his friends to be safe!!! joining to (in my view) keep them in line in terms of safety as well as. i guess. provide the reminder of the consequences i suppose?? nick im opening up the floor to u if u wanna delve into this point more cuz ur definitely able to provide better reasoning n such. if asking nick to talk abt things was a full time job.

tristan's reasoning (discussed in dms) - cam's need for authority. tristan brought up a very good headcanon/ theory/ something or other that cam is the type to need constant direction or authority, and i totally agree! (reason for that will - again - come up later.) now this culminates in a couple different ways. 1) most obviously, adhereing (ehh) to the rules of welton, and 2) his relationship with the rest of the poets. due to the size of the welton student body, a lack of individual direction from teachers and staff is almost inevitable. so to fill that gap, he adheres to his friends' """"""rules"""""", and joins the poets. floor is open to you as well if you'd like to elaborate further, tristan :3

my thoughts of cam being super focused on his friends' idea of him actually started as a bit. i believe i made a hc post about smoking weed?? maybe?? and said something along the lines of "cam would smoke even if he doesnt want to, not cuz of peer pressure from his friends but more of a self imposed peer pressure. thinking its rude/ cringe/ uncool to turn down smthn like this bc all the rest of the guys r doing it." but after a rewatch of the scene in dps where theyre all walking outside, it started having some merit in my mind! in that scene, keating does a sort of imitation of cameron when he first starts to walk, something like "am i doing this right?", "am i walking weird?", etc. (paraphrasing ofc.) so i sort of took that aspect and applied it to other parts of his character and found out that oh, this actually kinda makes sense!

speaking of keating and his lessons, lets talk carpe diem.

now my interpretation of cam is that he doesn't exactly *want* to apply carpe diem in his life, seeing it as an antithesis of the welton values. only joining the poets for the reasons mentioned above. however, he does indeed apply it in my eyes, but more as a fucked up reversal and dickish version which eventually ends up in him deservedly getting punched. now is this how keating intended him to interpret carpe diem? ehhhhhhhhhhhhh,, it's complicated, let's talk about the context a bit.

this part is more theorising than anything, so take it with a few grains of salt if u wish.

cam quite obviously is a pretty big stickler for the rules, which i believe is a result of outside influence. id like to thank @lovech1ld for reminding me of this! cam's parents/ grandparents/ guardians are noticably older than the other poets, which, in my eyes, makes a heavy emphasis on following the rules make a lot more sense (respect your elders type shit.) so this, combined with the inherent fear of authority that most of the boys seem to have, makes him a chronic rule follower. but it goes further than that, after these ideas have been pushed for so long, i feel that cameron's started to mix up his own personal morals and values with the morals and values of welton, viewing those two things as one in the same. here's where that starts to muddy things up in terms of carpe diem.

i interpret cam's finking AS his application of carpe diem in his life, but as more of a subconscious choice. now you may be thinking "hey. mona. what?" and i UNDERSTAND! but here's my reasoning behind that. as i mentioned/ theorised before, cam has a very high opinion of his friends' idea of him, but this does eventually change after neil's passing. his subconscious carpe diem application, to put it into proper words, was a way to stick up for himself and his beliefs despite what all his friends think. again, being brought about by neils death, since he didn't choose to rat anyone out when the opportunity first presented itself during the call from god assembly. and i dont think cam sticking up for himself is inherently a bad thing!! but! since cam's idea of his morals are so clouded by welton's, this isn't actually sticking up for himself, this is just being a tattletale.

he did provide other reasoning for doing so to the poets of course, so lets talk a bit about that too. he says something along the lines of "i did it for neil" and "this is what he wouldve wanted" which is obviously bullshit, objectively. but i don't think he saw it that way, i think he genuinely believed thats what he thought neil would've wanted, as stupid of him as that was. obviously thats not what he wouldve wanted AT ALL, and why he actually thought that is FAR beyond me. but i really dont think he wouldve turned anyone in if he didnt genuinely believe it, especially considering the fact that he was PART of the dead poets. even if he was the one to confess, im sure he likely got punished as well. (which also couldve been what he wanted? tristan this is an opening to also discuss catholic cam on here bc ur reasonings for that were INCREDIBLE.)

on top of this, i really dont think that cam actually understood the weight of what turning in everyone would do. now i will say right away, hes not dumb, he knew that keating would be fired and charlie would be expelled, and that alone should've turned him away if he really wanted to honor neil. as i said before we started, he absolutely deserved to be punched and lose his friends, that was a dick move that ended up ruining two lives for a long long time, if not forever.

but.

due to him grieving, his rules = morals shtick, and fear of authority, i think he turned in the poets without giving actual, proper thought into what the consequences of that would be. which manifests itself both in the film with the final scene.

in the last scene where all of the boys stand on the desk, we see multiple shots of cam looking around and looking at everyone standing. and we (or at least i) can definitely see some sort of consideration to join them!!! he of course doesnt, and ends up choosing to sit, looking QUITE ashamed. this too can he interpreted a couple ways, either as him being embarrassed that his peers are doing this, or as him wanting to join them but knowing that he was the reason keating was fired. knowing that it would be incredibly disingenuous, even if he stood as a way to sort of apologise to keating + the poets for what he did and show that he regrets his actions, he stayed seated. and was so. so. mad at himself for it.

now i don't remember where i heard this so im not sure how to go about fact checking, but i believe the choice to keep cam seated was ultimately dylan kussman's?????? but dont take my word as gospel in terms of that, i very well could be wrong.

BUT! this gives me an opportunity to talk abt how much i love dylan kussman!!!!! nick vocalised the thought before i was able to in one of his posts, but considering the fact that i agree wholeheartedly, i'll reiterate it. i see rsl and ethan hawke constantly be praised (deservedly!) for their understanding of the inner workings of their characters, especially reflected in the desk set scene. and while YES ABSOLUTELY, i think dylan needs this praise as well. dylan was the PERFECT casting choice for cameron and i will shout that from the rooftops until my voice goes hoarse. so so so many of his little mannerisms, facial expressions, ways of speaking, soooo many etceteras are just so. so. CAMERON! even the most comprehensive directorial choices cant top an actor's inherent understanding of a character and reflection of that in their performance. good god! i think my new dream in life is to ask dylan about how he came about properly embodying cameron and his process in doing so.

anyway

with my dylan fanfare over, that about wraps up my thoughts on cam in terms of the film itself. HOWEVER. i have lots and lots of thoughts after a long convo with tristan about certain headcanons and post-canon theories and whatever. will probably touch on those but i dont really have my thoughts properly collected enough, so that wont be until later.

as per usual with these types of posts, everyone else is welcome to add any input they may have. cam is one of my fav things to talk abt in terms of dps so i will eat up every single little thing. thank u for reading!!!!

#desire mona #WOO MAN #this took a while #but we're done!! finally!!!#dead poets society #richard cameron #dylan kussman #banger

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taeraeszn · 5 months

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could you do like matthew with an academic achiever reader ... he's very golden retriever to someone's black cat. like i can see a university au athlete x student council vibez (personally am academic achiever student council pres so like i could use a guy like Matthew)

an unexpected bond - seok matthew

characters: matthew x gn!reader

description: matthew was the opposite of you, but somehow you two found a spark in one another. one that made your heart beat.

word count: 2.1K (omg i didn't even realize that as i was writing this LMAOO)

warnings: maybe be some typos, i was writing this in a rush to complete it. but i don't see anything else as i re-read it but pls lmk if there is!!

a/n: OMG TWO WHOLE MONTHS WITHOUT POSTING i feel like i betrayed everyone, i'm so so sorry!! life just hasn't been great recently and the break was well needed. as i posted two weeks ago, i'll be slowly releasing things as i have a reaction post after this (hint hint it's a bit more suggestive lmao). but it made me realize how much i missed posting and writing <3

also sorry if i missed the whole point of your request i feel like i went a totally other different direction :( but i hope you all enjoy it!

you were always the perfect model student in middle and high school, everyone was able to predict that you’d be first place for exam marks as well as you always being in principal honours. you were able to carry your skills into university where you try to keep a gpa that’s 4.0. nothing was able to get into your way…until you met seok matthew.

matthew was a very likeable athlete in your university, everyone gushed over his sweet looks and kind personality, there was nothing to hate about him. he kept a good image away from his basketball skills. many girls loved the fact that he was single and took every chance they got to ask him out or compliment him.

you were setting up for the upcoming events happening in your university. there were going to be some high schoolers coming to visit the campus as well as some special performances happening in the gymnasium. you were put in charge of handling those which were already enough on your plate aside from your own course. you didn’t think that anything would occur between that time.

as you were setting up the gymnasium decorations, a basketball slowly rolled towards you, stopping just at your feet. before you could pick it up, you heard someone faintly yelling until the voice got closer.

“that’s mine! sorry i should’ve been more careful.” someone said, as you looked up, you saw a handsome guy with sweat dripping everywhere as if he just ran a marathon. he had muscles which you could tell from his biceps. his hair was a blonde shade and his smile was quite contagious, causing you to smile slightly as well.

“it’s fine. i was just setting up the decorations here.” you looked down at your list, crossing off the things that were already dealt with and completed with your pen. matthew also took a look at it but you quickly pulled it up to your chest, concealing it.

“was i not supposed to see that?” he chuckled, pointing at your clipboard. you slowly nodded, unsure of what to say.

“uh..yeah.” he picked up the ball that was still on the ground. once again giving you that irresistible smile.

“well… i’ll see you around then!” he dribbled the ball back to the court and shot it in perfectly, causing cheers to erupt from the small crowd watching him. mostly girls.

you thought that would be the end of seeing matthew but after that one meeting, it would be endless encounters of you running into each other. it was as if it was happening on purpose, like the world was telling you to converse with him a bit more.

so you did. it happened to be a day like any other where you were studying in the library with headphones on. every other seat beside you was vacant and you had that small space to yourself, something you absolutely loved. peace.

as you were checking at your notes then back at your laptop, you noticed a familiar figure coming towards you.

“hey…” matthew said, joining you with a textbook and laptop in hand. you weren’t expecting matthew to come at all, you kinda forgot that he was also studying and learning here as well.

“mind if i join?” you slowly nodded giving him the green light and he sat across from you. he opened his laptop and took a look at your notes.

“psychology huh?” he said. somehow he figured out your course by just observing your notes, you were astonished.

“how did you know?” matthew grinned then shrugged, “my friend taerae takes that course too.” he was friends with taerae? you sometimes noticed him in the back of lectures but never had a proper conversation with him other than the times where you had a project together.

“that’s cool.” it was obvious that you weren’t strong with holding a conversation, especially with new people. matthew seemed happy though, giving you a positive smile to almost everything you said and did.

you wanted to ask him what he was taking but your shyness took over, though he knew right away that you were curious.

“i’m doing health sciences by the way, it’s pretty interesting but challenging at times.” it was nice having someone who could carry on a conversation. as you two began getting to slowly know each other, you came to realize that matthew was just an amazing guy, he seemed very passionate about pursuing both sports and his studies, he told you about his journey from when he first started playing basketball to now and how it’s helped him. as well, you shared a bit of insight about yourself such as why you decided to pursue your field of study and what inspired you to do so.

best part was that matthew wouldn’t interrupt you once as you spoke and let you be as open as you chose to. it was like you were able to tell him everything that you were scared to tell others. not to mention how handsome he looked when he was focused on something.

afterwards, it fell silent between the two of you as you began studying. matthew was also immersed in his notes, but he would occasionally gaze at you to see what you were doing. he felt his cheeks heat up while seeing your concentrated face.

as the hours passed, more students began leaving campus and the library became more still as now only you and matthew were present there. you didn’t even realize it but you actually fell asleep after studying. matthew was on his phone texting someone and noticed that you lost your battle to sleep.

“they must be cold…” he mumbled to himself as he noticed that you had no jacket on. he decided to take his own off and cover your body with his in order to keep you warm. your head was resting on your textbook with your hands on the table.

he let you rest and didn’t wake you up, only waiting till you decided to yourself.

half an hour had passed when you finally awoke. “what time is it?” you yawned. he showed you his phone lockscreen that had him and eight other people posing together in a selfie. the time read ‘18:00’ , that was enough to jolt you completely awake. the latest you ever stayed was only four or five o’clock.

“oh god i slept didn’t i?” matthew could only smile at your cute reaction.

“hey but at least you got a power nap!” he got up to place his items inside his backpack then swung it over his shoulder. “i’ll see you around!” he waved goodbye and was about to walk out of the library. but suddenly you felt the urge to do something, you didn’t want to go home alone especially when it was already getting dark outside.

“wait!” you yelled, quickly rushing up to matthew. he watched as you catched up to him, “is it ok if i can go with you?”

matthew chuckled but nodded, “of course! grab your stuff and we’ll head out.” he said. with that confirmation, you grabbed your things and walked out of your university’s building towards the train station.

the whole ride he sat close to you and it helped you feel less lonely with his company. your houses weren’t too far apart from each other so you took the same route as him to get home.

but ever since that day in the library, you began falling for matthew. you would occasionally go to the gymnasium and sit on the bleachers just to watch matthew play and get cheered on by his friends. he was mesmerizing in a way that you couldn’t keep your eye off of him.

when one of his games was over, he approached you and asked for your number. it was a lot having a bunch of eyes on you as he asked for it but you gave him it and he ran away happily to change. getting his number allowed you to hear from him more often, he would text you about what he was doing and had casual conversations with you if it wasn’t about studies.

as your friendship grew even closer, he asked to visit your house so you two could study together in each other’s company and you were up for it. this was the first time that he’d be coming to your house since you didn’t live on campus.

while in your room, he took a look around and noticed the poster’s of many celebrities and idols. you showed him all of your favourite groups which allowed him to get to know you better since you barely opened up about your interests outside of studies.

but most of the afternoon consisted of you two both sitting on your bed with your laptops open and studying the material. though studying was boring, having matthew there made it more endurable. when it became silent, he would speak up and converse with you about almost anything. it was like his brain was full of ideas that were endless.

“hey matt…” you said, looking up from your textbook. he immediately turned towards you, “hm?”

“do you enjoy being with me? it’s kinda boring just studying.” you were worried that he wasn't enjoying this and probably wanted to do something else.

“of course i do! if you don’t want to study we can do something else right now.” he shut his laptop.

“like what?” he grabbed his jacket and got up from the bed causing you to do the same.

“a walk, heading to a store, going to the park nearby, there’s tons of stuff to do!” you smiled then shutting your textbook and doing the same as him.

“then let’s go somewhere!”

what followed next after two weeks passed was that exam season finally ended! you were thrilled to be able to go home and relax without worrying much about studying. but that didn’t stop matthew from asking to come over.

you made sure the house looked extremely cleaned with no mess left behind as you began waiting for him to arrive. when the doorbell rang, you rushed to open it to reveal matthew holding a bouquet of flowers while smiling.

needless to say, you were shocked, “matt?” he waved and came inside then taking his shoes off and heading to your couch.

“hey!” he looked around, then handed you the flowers. they were beautiful red roses that looked expensive. you couldn’t wrap your head around the fact that he literally bought some just for you.

“matt…are these for me?” you gave them one more look but even still your eyes couldn’t not focus on them.

“yeah, uh, i actually bought them for a reason since i wanted to tell you something really important.” that sentence caused you to look up at him with a puzzled expression.

“what is it?” he came closer towards you and took the bouquet out of your hands and onto the couch in order to gently grab your hand and intertwined his fingers with yours.

“i like you.” did you hear that correctly?! it took you a good minute to process before you spoke up.

“really? you're joking right?” you asked to make sure. matthew giggled then shook his head, rubbing his thumb on your hand.

“no! why would i? i’ve felt this way towards you for a while but never had the courage to tell you exactly how i feel. i bought you those roses today to show you.”

“they’re beautiful…” you were still in awe.

matthew then gently touched your shoulders, “so give me a chance. i know that we’ve only known each other for a while but i promise i’ll do anything and everything to make you happy.” he said with no hesitation.

the space became silent as you tried to come up with what to say, since this was new for you to be confessed to. however, after being with matthew for the past month and getting to know him, he’s become someone who’s made an impact on you. he helped you become more open and even knows how to make your heart beat whenever you see him. it would be a lie to say that you didn’t want to go further with him.

you took a deep breath as his gaze was still fixated on you, “of course i’ll give you a chance. a million times yes.”

without warning, matthew pulled you into his soft embrace, his arms wrapping around you to keep you in tact.

“god i was so worried to say that. do you know how many times i was practicing this before i came here?” he exclaimed, now feeling relieved that you didn’t reject him.

“well now you have me.” you giggled.

“great cause now i don’t plan on losing you, ever.” his voice muffled into your chest.

“thank you matthew, you make me so happy.”

“of course my love.”

#zb1 #zerobase1 #zerobaseone #zb1 fluff #zb1 scenarios #zb1 drabbles #zb1 reactions #zb1 x reader #seok matthew fluff #seok matthew #seok woohyun #seok matthew imagine #seok matthew imagines #seok matthew x reader

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autism-alley · 4 months

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augh i have not even seen the newest pjo episode yet but just from glancing at a few posts on my dash i’m already worried and mostly abt sally :/

was talking w bestie abt this the other day and how movie sally… is actually… gasp.. way more book accurate than show sally, who exists in a version the author himself sold to his audience on being a faithful book adaptation. with the grain of salt that book accurate physical descriptions came second to the show actors’ abilities to capture the characters… movie sally is more accurate on both these fronts. she exudes this warmth, this kindheartedness through her weariness. you get the impression that her life has left a lasting impression on her, but nothing can squash her love for her son. she’s not just a strong woman, she’s a strong woman who wants better for her child than what she has, even when the odds against him are even higher.

someone said the show has this implication that book and movie sally’s quiet rebellion and endurance against gabe was lesser than sally outright defying gabe and that rly hit the nail on the head. abuse survivors are not out here having their girlboss stick-it-to-the-man moment by openly sassing and epically owning™️ their abuser and just walking away like nothing happened. and it’s clear at one point, rick knew this. in the books and movie sally was visibly afraid of gabe, and that only made her resistance that much more meaningful. we understand she’s not in a place to leave him, even if we don’t yet know why.

but show sally just putting her foot down when it comes to the show’s watered-down wet blanket of a man that is supposed to be gabe, we have to ask ourselves why she’s still here. obviously the answer is to protect percy, but there’s no sense that she is putting herself in harm’s way to protect her son. her entire character and storyline is cheapened bc… what? she’s not as good of a mom if her son sees her unable to defend herself? not as likeable?

rubbing my temples rn idk idk idk but just based on what we saw in episodes 1 and 2…. not particularly high hopes for episode 7. but! will update once i have the time 2 watch

#pjo show crit #percy jackson #sally jackson #gabe ugliano #percy jackson and the olympians #pjo tv show #percy jackson tv show #pjo show #pjo show ep 7 #ris raves

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genericpuff · 2 months

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Just saw your response to someone asking about plot points you hate. Can I ask why you don't like Athena/Hestia? From what I remember (take this with a grain of salt because while I've read the whole comic it's more in a junk food, read and forget til next time kind of thing)

From what I remember it's not a huge plot point? Like its just kinda.. there? It doesn't really impact much of the story at large.

Also I agree with the hades/thanatos thing, that's kinda odd and it doesn't make hades any better or more sympathetic of a protagonist. If I remember right, doesn't he abandon thanatos or push him away?

I have issues with the Hestia x Athena plotline the same way I have issues with the Hera x Echo plotline. It all feels shoehorned in for the sake of seeming 'inclusive' towards gay relationships, but gets next to no actual development or screentime aside from the odd lip service meant to benefit Rachel.

Especially when Hestia and Athena were already embraced as LGBTQ+ icons to begin with and didn't need to be shipped together to make it possible. Rachel has a really hard time comprehending aroace identities and this is present even back in her Tumblr days-

If Hestia and Athena are still supposed to be at least ace in LO then we haven't seen any indication of that. So it just makes them look hypocritical as fuck for running the "virgins only club" that is TGOEM (and even going so far as to punish Persephone for being around Hades by confiscating his gift to her) and that unfortunately makes them look like really terrible people which isn't a great look for the only lesbian couple in the story (at least until Eros and Hera were established but whether or not they're an actual couple now or if that was just a one time kiss scene remains to be seen). Like even the reveal that they're together is Artemis figuring it out and then being pissed that she's the "only one following the rules", not them coming out about it on their own terms.

Also no, the Hestia x Athena plotline wasn't as big as the other plotlines, but it was one of the ones that felt so out of left field and forced when it was first established. Plus I'd just love for them to be aroace rep again, there are characters who are legitimate gay icons that got erased so that Rachel could retroactively shove it into other characters without any reasoning or relevance to the plot.

I honestly wouldn't have been so salty about the Hestia x Athena plotline if it were just written better (and if it didn't reek of aroace erasure) and that goes for a lot of the queer relationships in LO, because so many of them are only given the tiniest ounces of screentime, enough for Rachel to take credit for being "inclusive" but not enough for her to actually have a diverse cast. Morpheus is the most consistently present character we've gotten for LGBTQ+ rep and now even she's been fridged :/

Anyways, as for Hades and Thanatos, yeah, the retcon that Hades was a 'father figure' to Thanatos the whole time seems like it was purely written in to make Thanatos look like a hypocrite for having very reasonable concerns regarding the special treatment being given to Persephone at work. But then Rachel had to actually resolve that plotline so in S3 she had Hades approach Thanatos in search of his brother just for them to have a weak 'heart to heart' where Thanatos took the blame for being a 'handful' and Hades trauma dumped and never really took accountability for everything. The fact that we're supposed to believe they have a father-son dynamic really makes the first season gross to read because the whole time Hades is legitimately treating Thanatos like scum. It absolutely does NOT make Hades more likeable, even with the attempt to 'redeem' him which really just made him look like an even bigger asshole u.u

#ask me anything #ama #anon ama #anon ask me anything #lo critical #antiloreolympus #anti lore olympus

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thishazbinamistake · 5 months

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In my opinion, Loona is a character with some of the most wasted potential in Helluva Boss.

Though we don't have a ton of information about her background, we do know she lived in a shelter for much (or maybe even all) of her childhood. Loona is cold and distant to her adoptive father, and outright rude to many others, particularly Moxxie, who she constantly mocks and belittles. I'm thinking that this behavior is either a result of her upbringing, or perhaps it was even the reason she was put into the shelter to begin with. But until more is revealed about her past, I want to complain about the way she's currently written.

Loona is abusive, plain and simple. The way she treats Blitz, her adoptive father, goes way past simple angsty teenage rebellion and well into the abuse territory. Any semblance of Loona being remotely sympathetic was thrown out the window in Seeing Stars, when she kicks Blitz in the groin, all because he was relieved to see her and wanted to give her a hug. And all of that after she gives Octavia the "cut your dad some slack" speech.

I've seen people try and defend this behavior by pointing out that Loona has childhood trauma, and this is why she has these behavioral issues. It's certainly not unheard of for victims of childhood abuse/neglect to have anger issues and poor emotional regulation, and I would have absolutely no problem with this being the case if it was shown to actually be a problem, but it isn't. Not once does Loona get called out for her behavior or face any sort of consequence for treating others poorly. If anything, this abusive behavior is treated as a joke more often than not.

It's extremely ironic that one of the most despised characters in Helluva Boss, Stella, receives so much hate for being abusive towards Stolas, when we've seen Loona do far worse to Blitz. I honestly cannot think of a logical reason as to why we're supposed to like Loona, while also hating Stella. We see Stella nearly hit Stolas and it's (rightfully) treated as being abusive. But when Loona is constantly beating up her dad for no good reason, we're just supposed to laugh? It seems extremely hypocritical on both the writers' part, as well as many of the fans'. I honestly can't tell if the writers genuinely think this behavior is okay (when it's coming from Loona) or if they just see it as a quirky character trait of hers.

If we're supposed to find Loona likeable, which we clearly are, then the writers seriously need to start making some changes. I'm not saying they should just completely retcon Loona's character and suddenly make her nice, but they do need to start being consistant with how they portray abuse, and they seriously need to stop excusing and coddling her horrible behavior, regardless of if she has childhood trauma. That is not how you grow as a person and overcome your issues. Yes, it's a process that is often long and difficult, but it hasn't been shown that Loona is actually trying to make any change at all, or that anyone is actually encouraging her to change.

If you want an actually halfway decent example of a character overcoming their trauma (at least within the Hellaverse) look no further than Blitz himself. It's clear his father was abusive and explotative towards him, not to mention he accidentally caused the death of his mother and the maiming of his close friend. Both of these things likely contributed to many of Blitz's flaws and issues as an adult. But the thing is, despite all that, Blitz himself isn't abusive to his daughter. He has shown nothing but unconditional love and devotion to his daughter despite his past. I'm not saying Blitz is a perfect character by any means (I won't excuse him literally threatening to rape his employees), but it really goes to show this whole argument of 'Loona acts the way she does because she has childhood trauma and that makes it okay' doesn't hold up to scrutiny as much as her stans seem to think.

I think a good idea would be to start showing more of how Loona's behavior negatively affects those around her, something which would give her the motivation to want to change. Show how hurt Blitz feels whenever Loona lashes out at him. We get a taste of this in Spring Broken when she hurts Blitz's feelings, but it's clear from both her dialogue in the scene as well as her later actions that the writers apparently don't want her to actually learn from her mistakes and grow as a character, which is such a shame.

Loona had the opportunity to be an extremely complex and compelling character if her aggression and violent outbursts were actually addressed as being a problem she needed to overcome, and if she actually tried changing herself for the better. Seeing the effort she puts into treating others better and breaking the cycle of abuse would have made her character feel so much stronger and more likeable. But instead, the show just treats this abusive behavior as a quirky, edgy joke and "lol that's just classic Loona!! What can ya do lol!!!"

She does have her moments where a good character actually shines through, but they're so few and far in between. I want to like Loona so much, but as it currently stands, I just can't, and that makes me sad.

#helluva boss critical #vivziepop critical #loona critical

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elumish · 4 months

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Do you have any advice for writing characters I disagree with? I have a character who I think would be politically conservative, and I am not. They're not supposed to be good, but they should be likeable. I keep switching between giving them really bad strawman opinions and just giving them my own views, and none of those are right for the character. It's really difficult to get the nuance right.

I think the key here is thinking about how people end up with the beliefs that they end up with.

Whether it tracks through with facts, belief systems are generally built on some sort of logical infrastructure that would then show up in this character's thinking.

If you take anti-immigrant views, for example, there are a few types of things that you see, often ultimately based on fear and/or anxiety. One of the biggest fears is that immigrants are "stealing" people's jobs. This may be based on the character's own anxieties about economic access or instability, or it's based on having been fed a constant stream of media noise about it, etc. Alternatively, their fears may be about race or religion--about the idea that people with the same cultural, religious, and racial background as them will no longer be the majority. This may manifest in thinking about what "type" of country it is, or about economic or political access, or about fears of oppression by a previously marginalized group.

I'm oversimplifying a bit, but my point is this: people with every viewpoint, whether it's one we agree with or one with think is cartoonishly evil or anything in between, has a foundation to that view. That is how you write someone who believes something different from you: you decide what the foundation is of their beliefs and then you write them from there.

And sometimes you'll write them and hold your nose and say ick ick ick and know it's still the right way to write them because they accurately reflect a point of view that you hate.

(Also I just have to say - the concept of politically conservative, which was always a little complicated, has become extremely complicated in the last decade. Is their conservatism based in fiscal conservatism and being a deficit hawk? Is it based in the Christian right? Is it populist? Is it based primarily in racism? Are they a neo-con war hawk or an isolationist? Do they fall more in "everyone should pull themselves up by their bootstraps" or "we should be bombing abortion clinics"?)

As for making them likeable--you can't make every reader like them, no matter how you write them. But if they're supposed to be likeable to other characters, then that is likely to do more with personality than with beliefs. There are charismatic conservatives, there are kind conservatives, there are generous conservatives--maybe not to everyone, but to the people who they like (and, to be fair, liberals/progressives are not necessarily kind or generous to people they dislike, either).

Someone can have anti-immigrant views and be good with kids. Someone can have fiscally conservative views and be sweet to their husband or wife. Someone can be anti-feminist and help their friend move. Political beliefs don't preclude personal kindness or charisma.

#conservatism #likeable characters

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hairupintheair · 4 months

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Trolls Band Together Commentary Notes Part 3/4

- Zosia Mamet's performance of 9 to 5 was longer than what made it into the movie, but the rest of it made it onto the soundtrack. - The Hustle moment originally came later, after the group found Clay. They wanted a way to move the plot to Mount Rageous quickly. It was decided to push it to earlier because the later scene was a more serious tone so it didn't fit there. - The idea for the Hustle-verse was that they were sliding through different dimensions to travel faster, and each one would be a different art style, especially 60's and 70's animated art styles. - Viva's design is supposed to be like a superhero, with a chest emblem and a cape. She was originally a more stoic, warrior-like character and then somewhere down the line they decided they wanted her to be more energetic and eventually defined her as being "more Poppy than Poppy." - The Bergen mini golf course idea was originally thought up during the first movie, as one of Gristle and Bridget's dates, before they finally settled on the roller skating rink. They decided to bring back the idea for the third movie. - Commentary quote: "Those are the best looking french fries in CGI history. They should have loaded Rhonda up with those fries and taken them with them." - Producer Gina Shay REALLY wanted the joke about Clay's room being the little shack/admin building and she had to fight the studio hard to keep it in the movie, because they didn't think it was funny. - There was constant pushback from many of the crew against Poppy having a sister too, thinking it would feel too contrived with Branch and his brothers already being the core plot of the movie. Many, many notes were sent around, all suggesting they drop Viva from the movie. But they were firm and adamant about Viva staying and they ignored all the suggestions to take her out. Her involvement in the plot allows Poppy to see from Branch's point of view, about family being complicated, and also allowed them to have a moment when Branch supports Poppy like she supports him (outside the golf course gates). - Poppy leaving her scrapbook at the gate was supposed to tell the audience that Poppy is not abandoning the new sister she just found. She planned to come back afterwards, once Floyd was safe. - Everyone working on the movie worked very hard on finding a balance for V&V, making them antagonists but still likeable. It wasn't easy and the two characters went through many iterations before they finally found what worked. - V&V are purposely a dark mirror to the protagonists, showing what happens when siblings don't work through their problems and respect their differences, as the Trolls learned to do.

#trolls #dreamworks trolls #trolls movie #trolls 3 #trolls band together #trolls movie commentary

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my-name-is-apollo · 1 month

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If you don't mind me asking, what do you feel about Apollo's portrayal in lore olympus, and the whole webcomic in general? Understandably, a lot of Apollo fans are enraged at it. A lot of times LO fans rebuttal is that Apollo has exhibited that kind of behaviour in mythology, but it still doesn't sit right with me at all that the author to invent Apollo r@ping Persephone just to make relieve Hades of his wrong doings.

My disdain for the series isn't just because of Apollo's portrayal, at this point it sucks at the characterisation of pretty much every god that's in it and the story itself is just so. Badly written and underwhelming.

Talking about Apollo, it's true that he has myths where he assaulted women. And every writer has the right to expand on it in their story if they wish to. But you know what else Apollo is in the myths? Interesting. But his character in LO is not interesting at all. You can make really interesting villains. But this Apollo is just pathetic, foolish, delusional and sometimes we even forget that he's in the story despite him playing such a huge role in Persephone's life. And the saddest part is how it butchers all the positive relationships Apollo has in his myths. Artemis, Hermes, Leto, Asclepius. Taking away all those meaningful relationships from him makes him even more one dimensional and uninteresting. I mean, take a look at Apollo in the anime movie Arion. He is a villain but he's well written and I enjoyed it. LO just does a really poor job.

Now talking about other gods. It's so obvious that the comic + fandom is pushing you to think that all the gods who ship Hades and Persephone are saints, despite how terrible they actually are. Like come on, Eros brought some donuts as an apology for drugging a teenager and putting her in a strangers car and we're supposed to go awww and forgive him. And Hades is actually a terrible king. But it doesn't matter because he's nice to Persephone. Persephone is also terrible but it's okay cause she's the protagonist! Demeter is terrible too but that's unforgivable cause she's against Persephone and Hades. Artemis is terrible as well but how likeable she is depends on how much she's willing to let Persephone marry Hades - and this applies for every other god. The story and the character are just a mess - and that would have been more bearable if only the work wasn't being praised as ground breaking and feminist and something deep. To me it reads more like a crack fic and I will treat it that way lol.

#asks #anon #I'd stopped answering asks about LO because it used to fill me with so much rage #but now seeing the pathetic state it is in #makes me feel less terrible #also my opinion on it has changed #from hating Apollo's characterisation to hating all the gods' characterisations #lol #it SUCKS

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zydratearchives · 1 month

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scrolling through the repo! tag and seeing the way people interpret the largos as if they're in any way sympathetic or likeable is such a baffling example of how dead media literacy is.

like in multiple interviews, terrance zdunich and darren smith talk about how the largos are supposed to be so comically unlikeable that even a man as reprehensible of a person as rotti largo detests them. the joke is that the world of repo! is so horrible and dystopian that the comic relief are, in terrance zdunich's words, "a murderer and a rapist".

no, the largos would not go on to denounce their father and turn geneco into a benevolant company that changes sanitarium into a utopia of opportunity and life. like that would NOT happen, luigi is aggressive and power-hungry, pavi is as power-hungry as it gets considering he's a literal rapist who wears dead people's faces and amber is a spoilt womanchild who whines and moans and will do even the most degrading and dangerous stuff to get her way (fucking graverobber for drugs so she can keep getting obscene amounts of surgery). amber is slightly more sympathetic and she is meant to be, she's taken far more seriously than luigi and pavi but she's still a terrible person who intimidates and assaults people (Z'd up shouting at shilo, groping luigi's balls and licking his face, throwing tokens at graverobber, just to name a few)

"b-but it says geneco becomes committed to change!" that's something we like to call in the movie world a "joke". the change they're committed to is absolutely not going to be good - it's ran by a fashion surgery & drug addict, do you genuinely think amber sweet, after having absolutely zero character development and being humiliated and booed offstage, would genuinely want to make geneco, the company she didn't even want, a better/more ethical business?

the largos suck. that's sort of the whole point. you can like them without endorsing their actions, literally every single person in repo! has done something terrible except shilo and that's the point. the whole point is, in this world, the only good person is a girl who was kept trapped in her bedroom her whole life and never exposed to the cruel outside world.

but obviously enjoy what you want, this has been a weird misreading of characters since the fandom originated in late 2008, like i know it's always been here and it's not going away soon. it was just bugging me and this is my repo account so i wanted to share my thoughts lmfao

#rant #hot take ig #repo the genetic opera #repo! the genetic opera #largos #largo siblings #luigi largo #amber sweet #pavi largo

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orionsangel86 · 1 year

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The Problem With Thessaly

I’m sure plenty of fans would agree with me that there are certain elements of the Sandman comics that are going to be very difficult to adapt for television. I don’t envy the mammoth task Neil and the creative team on the show have ahead of them. But one element in particular which has been on my mind frequently is how they are going to introduce Thessaly to our screens.

It’s not just that she’s a TERF. It’s that she’s a cold, cruel, selfish, and inconsiderate bitch who only ever thinks about herself. Oh yeah, and she’s a huge TERF. There isn’t a single likeable element to her.

And yet.

We are supposed to somehow believe that our main protagonist, idiotic as he may sometimes be, depressed and seriously down on his luck as he is, will fall head over heels in love with her.

Sorry. But it ain’t happening. Something has gotta change. So here are my thoughts on how they could fix the Thessaly Problem.

Under a cut for comic spoilers (and its a bit long)

I kinda get the reason it happens in the comics. Kinda. I can’t remember the exact quote, or where I read it, but Neil explained it as “two people who you know are absolutely not right for each other and no one who knows them can understand why they are together.” He purposely wrote it to be a really weird match that didn’t make sense.

From Dream’s perspective, at this point in the story he has just had some of his biggest romantic disasters slapped in his face (at one point literally) all within a very short space of time for an entity as long lived as him. First Calliope, then Nada, and then Alianora, and he is hurting from all of them. Having to face his romantic failures one after another within the space of a few years AFTER having to go through 70 odd years of relentless suffering trapped in a glass prison has GOT to mess with your head. So I think Thessaly is basically the worst rebound in history. They are only canonically together for a few weeks but he somehow falls head over heels for this plain, dull, horrible person. 100% this is a rebound. He’s messed up. So yeah, I kinda get it.

From Thessaly’s perspective it seems she just really liked the idea of being the object of someones attention and desire even though she never returned his feelings and left him the minute he stopped devoting all his attention to her (god she really is a bitch).

So why don’t I think this will work in the show?

Because the show is a kinder universe than the comic. Dream is different in the show. He is already more thoughtful, warm, compassionate, and has a better self awareness when it comes to his shortcomings. He’s also a far more romantic character in the show, which is probably thanks to Tom Sturridge’s excellent performance and likeability and absolutely maddening sexual chemistry with literally every character he interacts with (his pretty face doesn’t hurt either). You just have to look at his scenes with Calliope to know that they are playing up the romance and kindness there when in the comics Dream is extremely cold to Calliope throughout their very short interactions.

Given the news that the writing team on Game of You will include trans writers specifically to cover the sensitivities of honouring Wanda, I don’t know how they will adapt the transphobia she suffers at Thessaly’s hand, or whether they will include that at all - personally I think they should remove it. Not to make Thessaly more likeable, but because it reinforces a really wrong view of witchcraft and magick that modern witches and pagans are working extremely hard to reject. Not to get too deep into these topics, but transphobia is a fucking plague in those communities and the last thing we need is more people thinking everyone who practices witchcraft is a fucking TERF. The comic even goes so far as to imply the actual MOON is transphobic. Like WTF? The moon isn’t fucking transphobic and “womb magic” is stupid. If I ever have to read the words “divine feminine” in a witchcraft FB group again I’m gonna scream.

Anyway my point is that I don’t think those scenes in the comic are necessary and there are plenty of other ways to adapt that story without resorting to transphobia.

The other issue is that if they do keep it in, they somehow have to deal with the fact that their protagonist is seemingly totally cool with dating a transphobic murderous bitch. Um. Yeah, not cool Dream. I think the show is going to do everything it can to make Dream MORE likeable and based on what we have seen so far I definitely think that’s the route they are taking.

So yeah Dream won’t be falling in love with a TERF in the show, that I am sure of.

The thing is, the best way they can deal with the Thessaly problem is also the simplest - Don’t include her. Just don’t write her into the show. Simples.

Because we already have a character in the show universe who technically doesn’t exist in comic canon, who knows magic and the occult, and who is MUCH more likeable and kind whilst still being a bit messy and selfish and totally a terrible match for Dream... Oh, and who also happens to be played by possibly the most well known actor on the shows main cast list.

Johanna Constantine.

Jenna Coleman is a fairly big name and one of the primary stars for the show. At least Netflix seemed to think so since her face was all over the marketing and she was included in basically every cast interview, even though her character only turns up in 1 and a half episodes. She is also playing a new version of an already well known character in pop culture and I am convinced Netflix is already considering spin off options for her. So there is no way they aren’t going to include her in future episodes of the Sandman.

Except thats where Netflix has a problem if it wants to stick to comic canon. Lady Johanna Constantine only turns up in one more Sandman story, and John Constantine doesn’t show up again at all in the comics.

So my piece of speculation that I’m almost 90% certain will happen, is that they will bring back modern Johanna Constantine in an extended or adapted role based on another character.

My money is on Thessaly. Remove Thessaly, replace her with Johanna.

I’m not just saying this because I think Johanna and Morpheus hooking up will be hot (it will be, don’t deny it. My bisexual ass knows a hot couple when I see them). But because it makes sense.

Yeah okay we have that pesky little rule about the Endless not dating mortals - but that rule currently doesn’t exist in show canon either, so theres no reason why they can’t just also scrap that for the sake of some sexy, messy, and definitely disastrous bi4bi action.

All jokes aside, with only a few tweaks to the story in a Game of You, you could seemlessly fit Johanna into it. She can be in New York for a specific case, hell, maybe Barbie and the sudden appearance of Martin Tenbones on a busy New York street IS the case she’s investigating? She can still find a way to break Hazel and Foxglove into the Dreaming AND when Morpheus shows up they can have another tantalising showdown like they did in episode 3. It works better with Johanna tbh. She actually cares about people, the motivation is there for her to want to save Barbie and protect people from supernatural sources. We can just make the storm and the collapse of the apartment block be caused by George or the cuckoo or something (or not have it happen at all since I am also practically certain that Wanda is NOT going to die in the show).

This ALSO means that much later on, when Lyta is having her breakdown and destroying the Dreaming, having Johanna being the one to protect her from Morpheus rather than Thessaly also adds a more human element to it. Morpheus has never been a killer, but sometimes his duties demand it. He goes to kill Lyta to prevent the Kindly Ones destroying the Dreaming. If it is Johanna blocking him instead of Thessaly, their motives align. Johanna would protect Lyta for the simple fact that she won’t let a supernatural creature harm a human (as much as she can - sorry Kevin), and Morpheus, being hesitant about killing anyway, would be easily talked out of it by Johanna. “Find another way to save the Dreaming, I won’t let you harm her.”

It just adds an emotional weight that isn’t there with Thessaly, who only protects Lyta because she made a deal with the Kindly Ones in exchange for more centuries of life - an ironic request when Morpheus (and Death) are keeping Hob Gadling alive simply so he can be Dream’s BFF.

It just works for me. Scrap the “no mortals” rule and you can have them have the messy disastrous relationship that doesn’t work out. It is far more believable that Johanna Constantine could break Dream’s heart - she’s already a known heartbreaker in the show (sorry Rachel). It’s a doomed love story a modern audience can get behind, makes sense, the actors already have insane sexual chemistry, and it could definitely hit all those story beats needed to get the show to a version of the Kindly Ones whilst also actively improving it.

I may first and foremost be a Dreamling shipper, but talking in terms of canon I very much want Morpheus to have a passionate short-lived heart breaking affair with Johanna. Fuck Thessaly. Keep her relegated to comic canon. Morphanna all the way.

And THAT is how we fix the problem with Thessaly.

#The Sandman #sandman meta #the sandman comics #sandman comic spoilers #dream of the endless #morpheus #Sandman speculation #the sandman netflix #Johanna constantine #thessaly #morphanna #johanna constantine x dream #a game of you #my sandman thoughts #what does everyone else think about this?#do you also want thessaly replaced?#I just don't think there is any way she fits in the show universe #she's too awful #and I don't personally think we should be making terfy characters likeable either

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