#tossawary watching

[tossawary]

Finally watching "Mob Psycho 100" properly to appreciate the animation. Teru's shift to "be a better person" is incredibly funny to me, because he's still a 13-14yo former(?) school gang leader apparently living without any adult supervision, who's also apparently been beating up the superpowered people regularly trying to kidnap him for years. So, his efforts to "help" Mob (get Ritsu back from Claw) (and befriend? him) are like:

Teru: (casually matter-of-fact) "Mob, I think we're going to have to waterboard this guy."

Mob: (in the softest voice you've ever heard in your life) "Oh. Okay."

#tossawary mp100 #tossawary watching #teruki hanazawa #shigeo kageyama #spoilers #violence #torture

[marichromatic]

I was inspired by @tossawary ´s story, Servant to a Different King so I had to do a small drawing of the Northern Snow Desert. There's nothing as romantic as watching the sunset through the dunes 💖✨

Also if you have Pixiv please give me a like over there:

#moshang #svsss #svsss fanart #shang qinghua #mobei jun #tossawary #ao3 fanfic

[tciddaemina]

svsss fic recs because 👌👌

general all round good fics

High Mountain, How I Long by Minimalistless

[M, Bingqiu, canon divergence, 14K, complete]

Shen Qingqiu, after enduring his trial, is placed into Luo Binghe’s custody at Huan Hua Palace.

in the region of the heart by XueYangsLawyer

[E, Bingqiu, canon divergence, 15K, complete]

Luo Binghe comes home to Qing Jing Peak early, and Shen Qingqiu discovers the benefits of honesty.

dreams that had never come true by Tossawary

[T, Moshang, time travel, 13K, complete]

Mobei-Jun’s search for Shang Qinghua had taken him to many strange places. He had quickly exhausted all more familiar locations. He had come to this last strange place not because Shang Qinghua was a strange man who knew many strange things (though he was), but because… because… it was becoming evident that if he did not seek out strange methods, he would never find Shang Qinghua if he did not wish to be found.

It was becoming evident that Shang Qinghua did not wish to be found.

In which Mobei-Jun becomes an accidental time-traveler and gets a second shot at his life with Shang Qinghua.

How To Stop Being Strung Along By A Guy & Get What You Deserve: 5 Steps to a Serious Relationship! by x_los

[G, Bingqiu, soulmates, 5K, complete]

Shen Yuan transmigrates into Proud Immortal Demon Way with a firmly-tied red string of fate. It takes Luo Binghe roughly two hours to notice this.

Living With A Tiger by x_los

[E, OG Binghe/Shen Yuan, 17K, complete]

Shen Yuan has been engaged to Emperor Luo Binghe from almost the hour of his birth. He grows up knowing his place in the world exactly; he is far less certain of his place in his betrothed's guarded affections.

True Treasure by MissMegh

[M, OG Shen Qingqiu/Tianlang-Jun, canon divergence 38K, complete]

Shen Jiu has everything he asked for and nothing that he wants. Then he meets a handsome stranger in a brothel, and suddenly there's something he wants very much.

Or, what happens when the villain of Qing Jing Peak falls in love with the emperor of the demon realm.

liujiu disciple era marriage by pennydaniels

[E, OG Shen Qingqiu/Liu Qingge, series, 81K, complete]

Shen Jiu is drowning on Qing Jing Peak in his struggle to become Head Disciple and then hopefully Peak Lord. He's always been good at surviving but somehow can't help wanting more than that. He just wants to make the right decision.

(In which Shen Jiu is just trying to keep his head above water dealing with his faulty cultivation and capricious Shizun, has more than a few illuminating conversations with the brothel ladies, gets caught in a sex pollen disaster with Liu Qingge, and watches the other try their best to make it right.)

tasty tasty aus

We Are Not Wise by Boomchick, Suzoomie

[M, Bingqiu, soul sword au, 52K, complete]

When Shen Qingqiu drew Shen Yuan’s soul sword, it felt like being burned from the inside out. The fire wasn’t cruel, but it was still fire—hot and destructive, searing the softest pieces of him.

When Binghe’s fingers touch the hilt, he is ready for pain.

Transmigrated into a version of Proud Immortal Demon Way where cultivators manifest their own souls into spiritual weapons, Shen Yuan finds himself sort of kind of…accidentally blackmailing Shen Qingqiu into taking him on as a disciple before Luo Binghe joins the sect.

Love Like You by Boomchick

[T, Bingqiu, crystal gem au, 19K, complete]

Luo Binghe grows up in the shadow of his father, the red beryl Tianlang-jun. He loves his mother, and he loves his gem family, but there's something missing from his life.

Enter the enigmatic, elegant, beautiful Shen Qingqiu--a pearl who quickly cements himself in Luo Binghe's heart.

Unfortunately, their quiet days spent side-by-side on planet earth are quickly drawing to a close. When the appearance of Blue Diamond and his human pet changes everything, can Luo Binghe find a way back to Shen Qingqiu?

Sit With Your Soul by Tossawary

[T, Gen, daemon au, 61K, complete]

The original Shen Qingqiu suffers a severe deviation that unsettles his daemon, transforming them into a childish and inconstant creature, too curious and without any memories of the life that has made him so bitter. His soul is now unrecognizable to him and everyone can see his humiliation.

Shen Yuan isn't exactly happy to have transmigrated into Proud Immortal Demon Way at all, much less as this doomed scum villain's daemon.

Plastromancy by x_los

[T, Bingqiu, coraline-ish au, 16K, complete]

One night, Luo Binghe notices something odd about the way his blood is pooling on the floor of the woodshed."

A twelve year old Luo Binghe meets his Other Shizun.

AQ by x_los

[E, Bingqiu, star trek au, 15K, complete]

Before he rose to captaincy, Shen Yuan attended a briefing given to all command level officers in Star Fleet that outlined the scope of the Q threat. According to Admiral Picard's report, the omnipotent Q are devious, amoral, unreliable, irresponsible and definitely not to be trusted.

Orphaned stowaway Luo Binghe doesn't even know he is one.

AN IDIOT'S GUIDE TO A HAPPY MARRIAGE by tagteamme

[E, Moshang, modern au, 156K, complete]

“Marriage?” His voice breaks over the word like it’s a curse. “Really? Doesn’t it feel a bit irrational?”

“Are you planning to pay off an eight-figure debt with this job and a host job?” Mobei Jun asks, and Shang Qinghua almost wants to throttle him. Though, if his wallet didn’t have a direct funnel to his dad’s bank account, Shang Qinghua might actually have been a little comfortable.

“That’s not what I meant!” Shang Qinghua huffs, his head still spinning. As far as being a married man goes, Shang Qinghua is nowhere near ready.

“What?” Mobei Jun raises a single eyebrow. “Were you looking to marry for love?”

horny on main

Dual Cultivation by acernor

[E, Liu/bing/qiu, series, 98K, complete]

"Shizun said I made you feel so good,” Luo Binghe says, “that I could fuck you any time I wanted.”

Liu Qingge stops breathing for a second.

“What,” he blurts out.

Shen Qingqiu could tell he’d been into it?!

He Was Made for Untidy Rooms and Rumpled Beds by Bluethursday

[E, Bingqiu, 62K, complete]

Shen Qingqiu kind of, sort of, does not have the same modesty standards as a xianxia novel set in some form of Ancient China? He also hates the heat, who knew right?

What Dreams May Come by The Feels Whale

[E, Bingqiu, 45K, complete]

In the time between sacrificing himself to stop his estranged disciple’s qi deviation and waking up in his back-up body, Shen Yuan -formerly Shen Qingqiu- experiences a long series of dreams that make him confront quite a few things about himself that he’d been stubbornly ignoring.

Good thing they’re just dreams, right? Otherwise he’d never be able to look Luo Binghe in the eye ever again.

He Dreams of White Lotuses in Spring by bloodsongs

[E, Bingqiu, cw: teacher/disciple rp, 19K, complete]

“Aren’t you even the slightest bit curious…” He traces his knuckles against one of Shen Qingqiu’s warm ears and down the line of his jaw. “...about all the different ways this disciple has wanted Shizun?”

“I just,” Shen Qingqiu stammers, face heating at Luo Binghe’s touch and the intensity of the desire in those eyes contained within the innocence of his younger self’s face. “Why is this—why are you in this form?”

Without A Clue by x_los

[E, Bingqiu, 15K, complete]

Immediately before the Immortal Alliance Conference, Luo Binghe learns (via the magic of library science) that he alone can cure Shen Qingqiu's debilitating condition. When Binghe properly understands what that remedy will actually entail, he is even keener to be of use to his shizun.

death and a loverboy by Irrelevancy

[E, Liu Qingge/Tianlang-Jun/Su Xiyan, series, 34K, complete]

“We’re not friends!”

-

TLJ saves LQG's life in an ambiguous fuck-or-die. No clothes come off because he promised.

#fic recs #svsss #luo Binghe #shen qingqiu #shen yuan #Tianlang-Jun #liu qingge #moshang #shang qinghua #mobei jun #fanfiction

[toomanytakennamesagh]

Ohhh random gush post cuz I can’t seem to focus on my essay after reading the latest chapter which filled me with SO MUCH DELIGHT. I just gotta let these words out cuz they’ve been festering in my brain for a bit.

SVSSS and Moshang fans are probably familiar with this name, but for anybody who doesn’t know (cuz ley’s be honest I don’t have a lot of followers and this is probably gonna get buried under a bunch of other Tumblr posts), Tossawary is a pretty active SVSSS author. I love them so much. Like, they post on Tumblr pretty regularly, draws art, AND writes amazing fics. I feel like the SVSSS fandom struck a goldmine with them.*

More under the cut cuz this got a bit long? And there may be some spoilers to their fics. 

The thing I love the most is how they always seem to complete their fics? And this gives me SUCH a sense of security? Because I HATE feeling the pain of seeing a discontinued WIP so much, but with their stories I get to enjoy the joy/agony of waiting for new chapter updates without having to worry about whether or not it will actually finish.

(And this is no hate to authors who DO have unfinished WIPs, okay. Even if they’re unfinished, I’m honestly glad it was put out in the world for readers to enjoy. Please don’t see this post as a bash, because you’re great too.)

They also write one of my most favorite versions of Shang Qinghua and Mobei-jun? (And Moshang in general.) Like, they perfectly capture the mess and hilarity of the ship, the REALLY BAD miscommunications and weird history together. They write meta posts and fic ideas about Mobei-jun’s family history and thought process, and how he would come to fall for a weird guy like Shang Qinghua. 

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL! Because they also create lovely OC’s (Luo Jiahui and Peng Hongpeng, I’m staring directly at you). Like, they add to the stories perfectly, they’re properly fleshed out, and their relationships with Shang Qinghua are wonderful. 

The relationships--romantic or platonic--in general are great. THEY GOT ME TO LIKE A SHIP I WASN’T ORIGINALLY EVEN INTO (cough shang qinghua x yue qingyuan). They gave me a lovely familial dynamic between Shang Qinghua and Luo Binghe!** THEY LET LBH’S MOM SURVIVE, AND HAD SVSSS!LBH MEET HER!***  

And as someone who’s a sucker for worldbuilding, Tossawary fleshes out the history and setting of the SVSSS/PIDW world beautifully. I have a thing about reading the day-to-day tasks and stories of life on Cang Qiong Mountain, and how the world works outside of that. Like, yes please, tell me more about what the Peak Lords talk about in their meetings. I actually do really want to know about the kind of requests/documents/dealings Shang Qinghua has to deal with.

Anyways some of my favorite fics:

Nothing to Me, Nothing to You-- A SVSSS and MDZS fusion featuring Cloud Recesses Shang Qinghua and Yue Qingyuan, and Wen!Mobei-jun. It features a lovely friendship between YQY and SQH, and Moshang slowly getting closer and acting like dumb teens. 

Stepping Up- Currently on chapter three, and inspired me to write this post in the first place. IT’S AN DING LBH GETTING (kinda) ADOPTED BY SQH! AND DISAPPROVING OF MBJ! Just watching his protective mode go on sqh is a delight, they deserve to be in cahoots. THEY DESERVE TO BOTH BE CARED FOR. 

the ability to remain sober and gracious- I’m a qijiu simp okay. Even if this fic isn’t romantic, I still love how the argument turned out. And how that argument even started hehe. 

Catch a Falling Star- It’s a Stardust/SVSSS fusion. SY is the star, and he’s going on a road trip with lqg and lbh. Need I say more? 

love to the ones i’ve never met- This fic’s synopsis BROKE MY BRAIN FOR A BIT. I WENT FERAL WHEN LJH AND SVSSS!LBH MET! WHEN LBH GOT TO SEE THE PINTWILF UNIVERSE! I’VE WANTED THIS SO FOR MUCH. HE DESERVES TO HAVE A FAMILY AND GET MOTHERED AGAIN. 

Anyways if you haven’t read their fics please do. Tossawary if you ever read this post just know your hard work is appreciated and very much loved. 

*Also not to say I don’t appreciate other svsss/moshang authors, because I DO. The fandom is full of amazing talented people, and I delight in all their creations. 

**I have very strong VERY SPECIFIC FEELINGS about LBH having close platonic relationships. That boy needs friends and family, he’s suffered enough in canon!  

***It was everything I ever wanted

#svsss #Tossawary #moshang #mine #personal #mxtx #don't mind me I'm just here admiring their mind

[spockandawe]

get to know you better game! tagged by @veliseraptor, thank you!! :D

last song i listened to: this is the cruel wars, by the dreadnoughts. i loooove songs about recruiting sergeants, and i was delighted to recognize the first part from fighting for strangers by steeleye span, but that song is from the seventies and you can kinda tell! It's really awesome to have a more modern version that's a bit more of a bop and easier to sing to

currently reading: oh man, I'm actually a little stalled now. I read like 80% of moby dick in a day and a half last weekend, and I've still got a hangover. I'm reading Peerless, and reading One Piece (chapter 750/1100), and reading tossawary's sqh/yqy fic, for generous paused interpretations of that present tense 😆

Currently watching: not much! I guess LOADS of soulsborne theory while i do other stuff (I don't soulsborne), and a friend and i might be starting the mandalorian on our very slow star wars quest this weekend

Currently obsessed with: macrame, crochet, one piece. None of these are things i should be focusing on! My hands are suffering, and my head is full of silly nautical men in ridiculous makeup, ahaha. The winter Dead Inside times have apparently passed, but my focus is NOT cooperative right now, oh my god

#ask memes #ish

[rarepears]

9 People You Want to Get to Know Better

Thank you @darkkbluee for the tag!! 💖💖💖

1. Three Ships

I love a crazy pairing that should make no sense... @marbelcrossovers's Toji (JJK) X Endeavor (BNHA). For the second ship, Shen Yuan X Luo Binghe (SVSSS) is always a classic. Can never go wrong with that. Can never go wrong with Shen Jiu X Happiness either. I love a happy ending!

2. First ever ship

Harry Potter X Tom Riddle was the first ship I found. It was also the first fanfiction I ever read and It Opened My Eyes to the possibilities that fanfiction could bring with the time traveling fix it trope.

3. Last song

Last song I listened to? Gaho's Diamond album which dropped like 18 hours ago.

4. Last movie

A coworker sent me a clip of the fencing fight scene from "Die Another Day". It's a good fight scene, don't get me wrong. But there's quite a bit wrong in regards to the fencing... Epee fencers moving like saber fencers for one...

5. Currently reading

Regulatory documents for work :')

6. Currently watching

Former California Prosecutor and Youtuber Emily D Baker's legal analysis livestream. It's actually a replay of the livestream focusing on Murdaugh's improperly released phone call to his lawyer in jail.

7. Currently consuming

My mom's bamboo shoot, pork belly, and sliced carrot stir fry with leftover fried rice from lunch. Delicious!

8. Currently craving

Well I just had dinner, so I'm not hungry enough to crave anything food wise. But I am longing for more succulents to add to my collection.

I tag... @marbelcrossovers @robininthelabyrinth @astranne-archived @amoonstruckatie @tossawary and anyone who wants to join in the fun! I tag you!

#ask game

[popotobun]

Oh snap, I got tagged?? I forgot to do this the last time I was tagged, so thanks @bbcphile!

Last song I listened to: If we want to get super technical, it was the theme for the P12S fight in FF14 because I was just doing that with my static~ (Oh man, that was fun, we finally got to Phase 2!) For music I 'chose' to put on though, it was Swing, Swing by All-American Rejects. I've been in a nostalgic mood and have been listening to Spotify (specifically the station "Numb: 2000s Alternative Radio and it's been great)

Currently Watching: Planning a re-watch of Leverage and to finally watch S2 of Heaven Officials' Blessing, but I'm not actively watching anything at the moment because packing for a move stinks. I have... so many things that I want to watch and no time to do it in :(

Currently Reading: Adding this for myself because I'm actually reading. I finally managed to finish the re-read of Qi Ye that I wanted to do and moved on to Tian Ya Ke which has been nice. Qi Ye is harder to get through, but I like the reminder of just how terrible these people are before getting to TYK and rooting for them to get a good end xD

Fanfic-wise, I just finished reading @tossawary's Pride is Not the Word I'm Looking For (and the related follow-up fics). That was a great use of the last.... 5 days? I really slacked on packing, but it's worth it >_>

Currently obsessed with: Right now I'd say Scum Villain is at the top, with MLC and TGCF duking it out for second place. I'm having a lot of fun reading every single random fic my friends through my way.

Tagging @dezymusprime, @bibble-cat and @1stlieutenanttwitchy (only if you want to~) and if anyone else wants to, obviously it's an easy template to yoink :D

#get to know me #i think most of my mutuals are probably aware of my current fixations though xD #i sure do reblog enough of them all!

[writing-frenzy]

New prompt ! Peaks Lords having a "by the Gods, SQH is actually a genius" moment after seeing all the things he "invented" (recreated from the modern world bc he missed them). SQH is of course insisting "it's nothing" but honestly it's very impressive. (Could be electricity, better ways to do things, inventing vaccines even ! Have fun with it really)

Third Prompt! This was a neat idea to mess with, seeing what I could have SQH actually pull off.

(BTW The Picture Books were Inspired by @tossawary from their amazing Fic pride is not the word I’m looking for; like, they have the most perfect SQH voice, I cry.)

----

It took... a while for many to realize the genius hidden in their midst. Some refused to see it, while for others it was more a thing of disbelief.

(On Shang Qinghua’s part, he feels more like he is just cheating, taking things he already knows about from his past world, despite the actual hard work and thought needed to put ideas out into the real world and no longer just a idle passing thing.)

It started simply and from a rather unexpected place; two siblings, both who got along well still even if they went to different Peaks, one for Qing Jing and the other An Ding, were in the Qing Jing Library when Peak Lord Shen Qingqiu happened by. Narrowing his eyes over at the whispering pair as they went over books, and thinking they were a shade of ‘yellow’, Shen Qingqiu was fully ready to berate them and confiscate their reading material, when he fully focused on just what they were saying.

“-and the-the Great Many E-Eyed Red B, Bird?” His disciple sounded out, before looking over to their sibling in question, getting an encouraging nod.

“That’s right Gege! Just like the picture on the page!” the An Ding Disciple encouraged, moving their hand enough that the Peak Lord could now see as well.

It was a beautiful, if strangely drawn depiction of a Great Many Eyed Red Bird drinking from a stream, with another of its kind obviously coming over to make trouble, if the stylized expression on the bird’s face was any indication.

Hearing how the two went on, describing the Bird’s extremely territorial instincts in such simple but easy to understand ways, Shen Qingqiu was able to tell the book was in fact not from his Peak, but from An Ding, judging from the blue and grey robed disciple’s familiarity with the book. And that they had more, judging by the modest pile of similar books.

With a dark face, (and jealousy in his gut) Shen Qingqiu interrupts the pair of siblings before him, voice calm but still ever so strict.

“And where, pray tell, have these Disciples received such books?”

Watching as the two hurry to make themselves presentable, doing their salute (As a Martial Niece) and bow (as a Disciple), Shen Qingqiu is in slight disbelief when he hears from the An Ding Disciple that they were made by their Peak Lord.

Refusing to believe it, that the rat of a man could create something like this, Shen Qingqiu scowls behind his fan, determined to get to the bottom of this.

-  

With time, Shen Qingqiu finds with much horror that the slippery bastard is in fact actually capable of bouts of random genius. Something the whole Sect has in fact known about.

This does not inspire any good emotions.

Yue Qingyuan smiles, even as those eyes look so understanding as he nods, before showing him the accounting books, “Yes, our Martial Brother Shang Qinghua has a flare of genius that comes up every so often; thanks to his efforts, this new way of accounting and organizing said accounts have made money handling more easy... Many Kingdoms have also been much impressed by it.” The man says ruefully.

Meaning Shang Qinghua has choices, and even better qualifications for his disciples who have learned it.

Liu Qingge pauses a bit, the brute actually looking thoughtful, before he puts forward, “The man has made some interesting, but extremely useful training equipment that uses pullies and weights for my disciples. It has been of great use for my disciples in building upper body strength.”

Baah, not only helping the brutes of Bai Zhan, but even helping to get stronger? (Things his own students would have the best of as well?)

Qi Qingqi, one of the few people with sense left in this sect, sighs, “The man is slippery and ridiculous as they come, but he has made amazing scented soaps that clean so well... not to mention the self-defense course he devised is ingenious.”

And this is how he finds out that not only has An Ding been holding out on them, but that they even have a fighting style completely based on using the opponents own power against them and vital points to incapacitate...

Not to mention the Pepper Spray and this Taster Tool the other had devised...

Looking to Mu Qingfang, who merely smiles in return, obvious knowing in his eyes as he ever so carefully prepares some medicines. “An Ding’s Peak Lord has been most helpful in his knowledge in aiding my Peak, many remedies he knows I have never even heard of. I am indeed very grateful for it.”

... Ah... Hmmm, It... Would probably not do to make an enemy of An Ding. (He does not run from the healer, he is only making a smart retreat to go over his findings, that is all.)

Staring out at all his findings, Shen Qingqiu sighs, deciding that he’s going to need a bit of Alcohol if he’s going to actually have to recognize the rat as an actual brain in their head.

With a scowl on his face, Shen Qingqiu knows this is going to be a long night.

#SVSSS #Scum Villain's Self-Saving System #Scum Villain's Self Saving System #Shen Qingqiu #Shen Jiu #Shang Qinghua #Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky

[tossawary]

One of my personal nitpicks for historical fantasy is a lack of servants, staff, subordinates, and... idk... subjects? Like, their absence is not... a total dealbreaker for me, depending on the situations the characters are in and whether or not I can just assume that other people are there in the background... but so many of the protagonists in historical fantasy stuff are higher-ranking (very often royalty), and/or have busy jobs, and/or have enormous houses that would necessitate having at least part-time staff.

Like, girl, you should have a maid! WHERE is your chaperone?! WHO is driving this carriage?! Where are your footmen? Are you trying to imply that a WEALTHY DUCHESS is taking a CAB?! You know that you probably have tenants, right? Where is your steward?! Where is your lawyer? Your accountant?! (Like, yeah, you're not going to have your lawyer living in your house, but you HAVE one, right???)

Or, man, you're supposed to be a military commander and you don't even have a single secretary?! Where is your SQUIRE?! (In the spirit of historical fiction, I am jumping wildly across time periods with every sentence here.) Man, I know you aren't looking after your own boots. Where are your GUARDS?! Who set up this tent for you?! Who is looking after your horse?! Who is making and carrying the incredibly valuable maps people are recklessly stabbing daggers into?!

SOMEONE has to be scrubbing these floors and delivering the mail and cooking the meals and doing laundry, and they're probably all DIFFERENT people! My dentist has at least three different receptionists and we can't even get ONE for our court wizard here? A sorcerer's apprentice to take notes? Someone like Sherlock Holmes could get away with just having a housekeeper and taking taxis, sure, but your character is supposed to be a KING?! Why is he answering his own front door? He's going to get assassinated. His SERVANTS should have SERVANTS.

Like, yes, I understand that a lot of servants in certain places at certain times were supposed to make their labor invisible, but there have always been servants who still had to interact directly with the masters of the house?! Yeah, there are potentially really messy ethics here, class divisions are bullshit, but I don't think that completely ignoring the reality that humans have ALWAYS been doing work for other humans is better than just including some well-paid and well-treated servants and employees? Because a complete absence of them, especially where logically for the worldbuilding there MUST be servants (and probably exploited servants, or worse, for some particular worldbuilds to work), often makes me think that your main characters just don't care enough to notice the "lower class" people or know their names.

Also, even Frodo Baggins had a gardener and Samwise Gamgee might be the best damn character in the story?! Sam saved the world?! Servants are PEOPLE. Servants are often the funniest and most interesting characters, tbh, with the most to say about a society and its workings (yes, Discworld is a very good book series, highly recommend), and also the joke of some romantic scene being carefully orchestrated by a stage crew of servants frantically diving into bushes to stay out of sight never gets old to me. Teamwork makes the dream work!

I don't want to gatekeep historical fiction, especially not historical fantasy, because the worlds don't necessarily have to conform to our own and may have magic and characters are often in very unique circumstances, but... sometimes I pick up a story and it's like... "Author, please tell me that you know there is a difference between a butler and a valet?!"

#tossawary reading #tossawary watching #I don't know what to tag this as #tossawary fandom #long post #where are your servants

[tossawary]

There is something so funny to me about "Monster of the Week" format sci-fi and fantasy shows that are stuck in one location, especially when the supernatural is hidden from general society for whatever reason and that location is just not big enough to even have a hope of properly covering any of this stuff up. Like, if weird shit is regularly going down in one corner of New York City, then some people in that neighborhood are still going to notice that something is up, but you can handwave some of the usual "why does anyone with any ability to move still live here?!" due to the fact that it's a big, anonymous city where a lot of people don't really know any of their neighbors very well.

But with smaller towns? Whatever this town may have been originally crafted to be gets transformed and/or retconned by the wild stuff that happens over the course of the show. Sometimes this is purposefully done by the writers and sometimes not! The plot changes the location as much as it does the characters, whether you like it or not!

(I don't mean to say that big cities in sci-fi and fantasy cannot be similarly transformed. The NYC of comic book universes very much becomes a different place with teenage mutant ninja turtles running around fighting demons and people from space. And it's hard to beat what Gotham City has going on! And weird shit does absolutely happen in small towns too! I just think this genre effect is even more pronounced and maybe funnier in smaller towns where these things are supposedly "a secret".)

Sunnydale, California, in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" becomes this place where half of the town have to know about the supernatural or are supernatural themselves. The Hellmouth has changed this place into something that is now in many ways just pretending to be "A Normal Town". And it gets so ridiculous that the show partially acknowledges it by making jokes and going with this flow.

People in Metropolis in "Smallville" must think that Smallville, Kansas, is Secret Meth Lab Central or something with the way that buildings are blowing up and people get killed every few months. The quaint name of this town is doing SO MUCH heavy lifting for its reputation here. Clark Kent says that he's from Smallville in this universe and some people go, "Ha, a real farm boy, huh? Hope you're not finding the big city too tough for you!" and other people must immediately go, "Oh, shit. You've definitely seen a murder victim before." And Clark can only be like, "...Yeah... :("

#tossawary watching #btvs #smallville #tossawary dc #character death #clark kent

[tossawary]

A weirdly formative movie for me was "The Slipper and the Rose" (1976), which is a live-action movie adaptation of the Cinderella fairy tale set in some made-up European country. It is also a musical. I think it's fun and funny and sometimes quite sweet and I really like it as a comfort movie. It's kind of long and a little slow and old-fashioned and silly, and the ending is a little flat, but there are several songs that are just... about various logistical and humorous realities of being royalty... and I thought that was just fascinating as a young teenager who liked historical fantasy fiction.

(I excitedly tried to show it to a friend once and she was like, "WHAT am I watching?" She was bored during the dance sequences. It's quite different to the "(Rodgers and Hammerstein's) Cinderella" movie from 1997 starring Brandy. They're entirely different Cinderella musicals.)

The king and queen (and the dowager queen and the prince's cousin who will inherit if he doesn't marry) have a song sung to the prince called: "What Has Love Got To Do With Getting Married?"

The prince has a companion-at-arms (servant) named John and they have a really funny song together in the royal family's mausoleum, where the prince is like, "No matter what I do, I'm just going to end up buried next to these kings. Let me tell you all about how much they sucked as people." (It's called "What A Comforting Thing To Know" and it's probably my favorite song.)

The king and his ministers have a song all about the protocol for throwing a ball ("Protocoliogorically Correct"), because they don't want to offend anyone and accidentally start a war (again).

The prince's servant, John, is in love with Lady Caroline, who is the lady-in-waiting / companion to the dowager queen, but they can't get married because they're apparently too far apart in status. After the ball, when the prince is failing to find Cinderella, there's an entire song ("Position And Positioning") where John, the castle servants, and guards and civilians explain to the prince that there are ranks among servants and servants aren't as free to marry for love as the prince thinks they are. They even take the prince into the kitchens and are like, "Here are a bunch of other servants that you never see and barely knew existed, dude. They're going to do an extended dance number about this."

There are other musical numbers in this movie, including the romantic ("He/She Danced With Me") and heartbreaking ("Tell Him Anything") songs you would expect from a Cinderella story, but I mostly remember the humorous songs that actually engaged with the worldbuilding. I hadn't really seen a "fairy tale" movie do that before to that degree. (I'd seen books adapting fairy tales do it many times, but they don't have musical numbers.)

I think both "What A Comforting Thing To Know" and "Position And Positioning" are both worth watching by themselves, just for how unique they are among the many different Cinderella adaptations, and the movie clips are easy to find online. Go look them up if any of this sounds neat to you!

#tossawary watching #tossawary musicals #the slipper and the rose #cinderella

[tossawary]

I saw "Hadestown" a while ago and found it pretty fun, especially because while it is a retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, it is also doing its own thing. It sets the story in a company town and presents a Hades in his aspect as the god of wealth. Though, it's not always clear in "Hadestown" what is figurative and what is literal. It plays with that mythological line a lot.

Hades is a wealthy businessman who owns mines and factories, which exhaust and trap (and presumably kill) the workers, a "god" among men, and Eurydice comes to work for him out of desperation. She doesn't actually die in this story... uh, I'm pretty sure. You can interpret the musical's ending a lot of different ways, I suppose. But when Eurydice first ends up in "the Underworld", in Hades' clutches, and signs a work contract to survive, her "death" is figurative.

So, when Orpheus comes to retrieve Eurydice, "Hadestown" is presenting us with a version of the story in which Eurydice can actually get away. She's not trapped by something as inescapable as death. When Orpheus appeals to Hades' love for Persephone and convinces this "god" to release Eurydice, I was watching the couple walk away together and thinking to myself, "What if they made it? What if they get to live together this time?"

I knew they wouldn't.

It still hurt.

And it later occured to me that a happy ending would betray not only the original myth, but also betray the new story that "Hadestown" presents to us.

"Hadestown" is a story concerned with poverty, with the fear of starvation and freezing to death, with the labor and rights of workers, with the oppressive power of wealth, with the selfishness of the rich. It's not subtle about it. At all. Hades is here as a figurative god of death, but he is very much present in his aspect as a god of wealth.

Hades releases Eurydice, but makes it conditional, because while Orpheus' song has softened him, he immediately becomes worried that this kindness makes him look weak and will set a bad example for all of his other workers. He doesn't want other workers to try for freedom or for other people to believe his workers can be set free. He curses Orpheus with doubt in order to make him look back.

Personally, I thought that the ending became a little messy, regarding what was figurative and what was literal. It fell back more into mythology, with how arbitrary Hades' condition is and how looking back automatically took Eurydice away. But I still liked it. Musical theatre is very well suited to that kind of blurriness in its lines.

If Orpheus had suceeded in saving Eurydice in this version, then the story would be saying that you can have your happy ending if you just work hard enough for it, if you're special enough, if you believe in yourself. The story would be saying: Orpheus' beautiful voice convinced a powerful, wealthy man that he and Eurydice were unique, that their love story was different, that their tragedy was unfair, and that they shouldn't be treated like the other poor workers. You just have to sing the right pretty song and people will listen to you out of the goodness of their hearts.

It's kind of what a modern audience expects: the heroes will succeed. They will succeed because they worked hard and they were special. The fact that Orpheus fails here too, even though Eurydice wasn't dead in this story, feels like a song getting stuck in your head because the ending is missing. It feels wrong. It's upsetting.

It made me think about how their ending was unfair. It made me think that their tragedy shouldn't have happened. That they could have been happy if only Hades hadn't taken advantage of Eurydice's poverty, if he wasn't so cruel to his exploited workers who create his wealth, if he didn't hoard his wealth instead of sharing it around, and if the wealth hadn't been allowed to go to one person in the first place. Orpheus and Eurydice were not without flaws, sure, but they were ordinary people just trying to make their way in the world. The "don't look back" condition is so arbitrary and unfair and disrespectful.

Everything happened at the unkind whims of a wealthy businessman who was scared of looking weak and losing power. It's not fair and it's all Hades' fault.

To me, though they tell you from the beginning that this is a tragedy, it seemed like "Hadestown" wanted you to think, "Maybe Orpheus and Eurydice will make it this time," and then wanted you to feel let down when they didn't. And maybe then wanted you to think to yourself, "As long as this same story keeps happening, they're never going to make it. Maybe there shouldn't be gods of wealth putting conditions on freedom, and deciding who lives and who dies. It's not fair."

#tossawary musicals #hadestown #character death #spoilers #tossawary watching

[tossawary]

The absence of servants (where logically there MUST be servants) in historical fiction bothers me for many reasons, ranging from quite serious to extremely petty, and one of the pettiest reasons may be that the story is now denying me personally the opportunity to enjoy background servants going through face journeys whenever their "superiors" are up to some really stupid dramatic shit.

#tossawary reading #tossawary watching #tossawary fandom #where are your servants

[tossawary]

Prophecies can be fun and all, but sometimes they feel overused to me, especially in sci-fi. It is far funnier and more compelling to me if there is no official "Chosen One" destined to defeat the horde using the power of their special soul, there is just some space janitor who is really good at wielding power tools and is having the worst fucking Tuesday of their life. No one planned for this.

#tossawary watching

[tossawary]

I watched the "The Little Mermaid" live-action remake and... shoving all of my nitpicks about its plot changes and extensive personal opinions about its visuals aside for a moment... there was one change that I REALLY liked. The movie gave Eric his own collection of curiosities! He has a room full of treasures from his adventures, including cool shells he found, and he excitedly shows it off to Ariel like, "Isn't it neat?!" I have to admit that my heart melted a little at this. They were super cute.

#tossawary disney #tossawary watching

[tossawary]

I think SVSSS as a 2D cartoon would be the best moving medium for it imo.

I mean, personally, yeah, that's how I'd enjoy seeing it as well! My ideal slightly pretentiously artsy SVSSS screen adaptation would probably look only a little more detailed than linograph prints (2D or shaded 3D?) (someone hit me up in like two weeks to draw an example of what I mean, if I don't remember on my own, I don't have access to art stuff right now), very stylized and vibrantly colorful, because that's one of the art styles that I particularly enjoy.

I'm not a personally a fan of the 3D SVSSS show because I find the characters a little too doll-like and same-facey for my tastes? It's fine! It works! It's serviceable! It's just all, backgrounds included, a little... safe? I tend to like over-the-top bright colors and intricate details and impractically weird shapes and yet also coherent world production design in my fantasy, which is a lot to demand of any production, perhaps especially with animation productions, which are always squeezed for time and money.

(EDIT: I know the SVSSS show was under heavy constraints and the results are impressive considering their resources; it doesn't change the fact that I just don't like the art style and nevertheless find the results underwhelming. I don't like a lot of "realistic" modeling / rendering styles, not just "anime" ones, even if they are extremely technically impressive. Believe me when I say that I know the vast majority of the entertainment industry is overworked and underpaid and creatively restrained.)

Slightly tangential general note: I don't think 2D is inherently superior to 3D (EDIT: NOT trying to imply asker is saying this, just having some general thoughts), especially because, with the realities of production, each have their advantages. 2D has a lot of stylistic advantages still, but 3D shaders are catching up and doing some incredible things these days! More advanced puppet controls and particle effects and such are doing some beautiful things for 2D shows as well these days. A lot of stuff has been subtly mixed media as soon as 3D became possible. It is potentially possible (note: not saying any studio would actually greenlight this) to do an equally slightly weird and artistically stunning 3D SVSSS show, given the freedom to work. (Good boarding and writing is also sooooo important in both mediums, obviously, it's not just about the art design. You can get away with incredibly limited animation with good boarding, writing, and art design.)

Another slightly tangential ramble: both 2D and 3D have the potential for stiff animation and poor character acting, which also comes down to production limits and animator skills? (I often think of character animators as a type of actor!) There are a lot of 2D shows that I don't really like because I find the animation incredibly stiff, both puppet and handdrawn (there's great 2D puppet stuff out there these days), which pretty much always comes down to production limits (deadlines and budget and software, saving up their animation for the coolest scenes). One of my favorite things about Studio Ghibli films (which as features get a lot more space to focus on art compared to the demands and restraint of television) has always been the squash and stretch in otherwise relatively realistic action, making things like hugs look SO nice for example. But 3D stuff is getting better at that these days! The ways characters slumped into each other in "Nimona" for example was great. And it's just fascinating to look at the elasticity / stylized sculpt of expressions in "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" compared to the technical limits of the models / rigs in "Shrek" or "Shrek 2".

Adding these side notes because I want to be clear about my respect for both 2D and 3D artistically! A lot of video games are doing cool stuff in 3D that looks very close to 2D with stylized shaders, which you can sometimes spot by the large or small rotations in character action / acting, which is difficult (and therefore often expensive) to do in 2D with all of those extra drawings / angle poses. Also, I think the current push towards funky shaders in 3D is so cool and it's hard not to gush about them!!!

#foreverliminal #tossawary svsss #ask tossawary #long post #tossawary watching