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mastersoftheair · 6 months

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hi! question!! ok so like. I've been in hbowar fandom for awhile but I must admit I haven't followed MOTA news quite as religiously so I'm sorry if this has been answered before but like...... can I ask why there was such an emphasis on austin butler and callum turner's characters? is it because they're the "leaders" of a sort? (and if so, in like a dick winters way? in that they're the leaders of their unit? or is it in a sledge, basilone, leckie way? in that the narratives of the shows are based on their memoirs of the war?) or is it because they're the actors you're bound to recognize at first glance and therefore are pandering to the audience?

piggy back riding on that question..... do you think mota would follow a band of brothers kinda story telling where the povs sorta change almost every episode? and there's an emphasis on the group as a whole? or is it gonna be like the pacific? where it centers on 3 pov characters, as i said before, based off the irl guys' memoirs of the war?

thank you for running this blog, btw. it's good to have all the news in one place instead of having to go hunting for it!! have you tried to appeal to tumblr staff about getting the blog unshadowbanned? maybe they could help?

i think this website gives a very helpful overview of who the "main players" are (it's a bit dated tho, last updated in 2019!) lots could've changed by then, and even the author admits that it's all speculation. but by 2019, there were 5 confirmed "main characters": john "bucky" egan, gale "bucky" cleven, rosie rosenthal, harry crosby, and ken lemmons. they're palyed by austin butler, callum turner, nate mann, anthony boyle, and raff law, in that order.

the focus is on the 100th bombardment group ("the blood hundredth"), with likely a narrower focus on the 418th and 350th squadrons, with probably some focus on the 349th. cleven's part of the 350th, egan and cruikshank (also important) are part of the 418th, and major william veal's part of the 349th (which is likely less important, but i'm adding it bc i saw his name among egan and cleven's name in this behind the scenes photo almost 2 years ago, but not much on veal otherwise).

so, this is one group and (more or less) two different squadrons. the narrowed focus is meant to lean more "band of brothers" and less "the pacific".

to answer your first question, the focus on butler and turner is probably 1) better for promo (they're more well known to the public) and 2) cleven and egan were both the commanding officers of their respective units. the leaders, for sure. also known as "the two buckys", as they both had the same nickname and were very close friends (as the above article puts it, they "were roommates throughout flight school…[they were] roommates during training, but they would eventually become roommates in a POW camp as well.")

i like that you brought up leckie and sledge tho, bc while the bulk of the show is based around donald miller's book, it seems like they'll also be leaning on harry crosby's memoir- a wing and a prayer. he was a group navigator in the 418th. also, the smithsonian has a little scrapbook that you can read here.

i'm thinking that, yeah, the povs may change depending on the episode (given how it seems they want to follow the "band of brothers" playbook, to a point). there's definitely gonna be time devoted to the ground crew (lemmons was a mechanic in the ground crew and stayed in england for the duration of the war) and rosie rosenthal, especially (his crew was called "rosie's riveters"). then, there's the inclusion of black soldiers in the 332d fighter group, part of the tuskegee airmen (hence the casting of ncuti gatwa, branden cross, josiah cross, among others).

keep in mind that these are all just my guesstimations! i don't want to predict what's gonna happen, given that i still want to be surprised lol

and i'm happy you enjoy the blog! it's fun keeping it regularly updated (despite tumblr hiccups, like thinking i'm a spam bot apparently?? but i think it's been sorted out for now *fingers crossed*)

(also, i recommend everyone to go play around in this website, bc it's stuffed with all the 100th bg information you could ever want!)

#it's all about theorizing!#masters of the air #hbo war #history #asks

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slutburn · 3 months

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i have kind of a crazy story from today for anyone who wants a distraction from mota

so today i finished reading this book that was about 2 former best friends reflecting independently on their time together as gay high school students. one of the things they did was write embarrassing rpf about their literal classmates. you could tell that it was written by someone who had been on tumblr or at the very least had read a lot of fanfiction. any way that you describe this book it sounds crazy but i really enjoyed it lol. it felt like looking in a mirror and seeing myself as a high school student, knowing that some parts have changed and others have stayed with me and probably always will.

anyway, i read the acknowledgements when i finished it (which i NEVER do) and one was a name that felt oddly familiar. i googled the name and as soon as i saw their face i recognized them as someone i had followed on tumblr YEARS ago. i was obsessed with their blog for months (it was the main fuel for an honestly crazy but very influential mac/dennis it's always sunny in philadelphia phase i had) and theyre now a published writer too. this is someone that i feel had a major impact on me despite them never even following me back.

its extra crazy bc this book is about chance encounters leading to major changes in life. the book ends with one of the best friends seeing the other through a window and despite them having such an intense, life-changing connection in the story that we’ve just read (and knowing that they both still think of each other almost every day), that part of both of their lives is over forever. just like my months-long obsession with that blog that was the main thing on my mind during that period of my life (it sounds silly to compare these things but you know how the internet can feel).

i also came across this book purely by chance in the first place. just a lot of crazy coincidences that’ll have me thinking about this for a long time

#im using gay as an umbrella term but its more complicated than that #i didn’t want to get too technical just describing the book

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