#do these people even like the story. do you even enjoy sandman. is it even fun for you

[cosmictapestry]

“hob as a raven au” what if i told you. that you don’t need to go to these lengths. dismantling every single character’s narrative and motives. to get exactly the dynamic you’re looking for

#do these people even like the story. do you even enjoy sandman. is it even fun for you #i’m barely ever even talking about morphienne i’m literally just talking about the actual canonical story the source material #and that requires acknowledging lucienne’s existence and importance so. impossible i guess #hob gadling

[neil-gaiman]

So here's my Sandman story:

When I first moved to the city I live in now and didn't know many people, an acquaintance invited me to a barbecue at her place. While she was doing her bit as hostess and chatting with me, we got on the subject of your books and I mentioned I'd read all of them to date and enjoyed them. She asked if I had read Sandman yet, and I admitted that I hadn't. She said, "Everyone ought to read Sandman!" and just gave me her entire Sandman comic collection. Turns out she was getting ready to move to another state and didn't want to bring a lot of excess stuff with her, so she was trying to offload some things onto people who needed them more.

So I tried to read them, and I just couldn't seem to get into them. I was young and sheltered and I wasn't ready to cope with them, so I just put them away on the bottom of my bookshelf and more or less forgot about them. More than ten years passed, but even though I went through several spring cleanings and donating old books to the library book sale, I never let go of them. They had been a kind gift from someone I remembered fondly, and I had faith in your ability as a writer and knew they must be good if I could just figure out how to approach them.

And then the Sandman TV series was announced, and I knew all my friends would be watching it, so I said to myself, "I should get those old comics out again and read them." So I did, and this time I got hooked. I blazed through them over the course of a week or so, coming home from work every day excited to pick up where I'd left off. In the end, I loved them, just like I loved the TV series and the audiobook productions.

I don't know if there's a point to this story, unless it's to tell people that the right story will find you at the right time, even if it's by a long and winding route, and also that if you don't like something the first time it's sometimes worth giving it a second chance.

Sometimes stories find us when we're ready for them.

[mock-arts]

part 2/2 of my 2023 cover collection! This one only 75% star wars and 25% sandman. Check out my cover collection tag for big chunks of covers like this, or check out my big bang tag for a bunch of collab'd stuff! idk or do whatever you want!

oh, and happy thanksgiving for my american buds I'm thankful for getting to work with so many cool people

Links and summaries beneath the cut!

2023 cover collection

We'll Meet Again by @littledumplingwrites (art) (with more art by @punkascas)

When Initiate Obi-Wan Kenobi is assigned to AgriCorps, he goes to his Creche Master to ask why he hasn’t been assigned to a Service Corps better suited. As a result he’s sent to MediCorps to become a healer. Cue Obi-Wan becoming Ben Kenobi: a master healer and specialized surgeon who does philanthropic MediCorps work on the Outer Rim. It’s hard work, but good work and he enjoys what he does. But when the Clone Wars start, Ben is called away from his humanitarian work to patch up Clone Troopers and Jedi on the battlefield. And once he’s there, he meets a rising star in the Clone Army: one Captain Cody.

Or, Healer-Surgeon Ben Kenobi was called to the war front. And he wasn't too keen on going. What were the Jedi even thinking when they started a war?

That M*A*S*H Star Wars AU that I just couldn't get out of my head, so I wrote it. (However, you do not have to know or have seen MASH to understand this.)

Healer Ben Kenobi, Reporting for Duty by @littledumplingwrites (art) (with podfic by mengde)

Healer Ben Kenobi finishes his surgical work on one battlefield and finds out he has a new assignment: rendezvous with the 212th and work with the clone healers there. This makes Ben a little nervous, because his new boyfriend Major Cody is a part of the 212th and Ben hasn’t heard from him in weeks.

Can the two of them work through their relationship issues, even as the Separatist Droid Army closes in on their position? Can Cody learn to trust someone who isn’t a brother? And can Ben learn to put his partner’s care above his past hurts?

Can be read as a standalone. Also, you do NOT need to know anything about M.A.S.H. to read or enjoy this story.

Bonds of Beskar by @popjeckdoom (art) (with more art by Aliennotperson)

In a universe where the Mandalorian Empire never fell, but changed, Ad’be’alor Kote Vhett faces threats from all sides. His father, Mand’alor Jango Vhett has been cursed into a Majick sleep, and as Tor Vizsla and his supporters tear the Council of Clans apart, Kote is desperate to wake his father and reunite the Empire. In an effort to save his father, and his people, Kote Vhett offers “anything” to the person who can cure his Father’s curse.

Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi may be the person for the job; only one issue--the Jedi have been in hiding for a thousand years, still hunted by Sith and Mandalorians alike. Can he keep his true identity secret long enough to help the Mand'alor... or will events conspire to reveal him before his mission is complete?

Forever; Without Stagnation by @noir-renard (art)

Din and Luke meet on Tatooine. Din and Luke fall in love. Din and Luke get married—

And then the plot catches up.

The Galaxy needs you, says The Force, and Luke believes it.

Din will understand, Luke thinks. It won’t take that long. What is a few years compared to the vow of 'forever'?

Only Blindly Could I Read You by @lillytalons (art) (with more art by @vanisketches

Rex's goal was to get into the organization, get the information, and take it down. Of course, no one had ever successfully infiltrated this empire, and most people had died attempting it, so it was easier said than done. But, the fact that a government agency had also sent in an agent, their best agent, was either a very good or very bad thing. Rex just happened to recognize them, and for some reason, Ben had decided that working together was the best option. What could go wrong?

It's a Sad Song (But We Sing it Anyway) by @ouzoa11-writes (art) (with more art by @impalafortrenchcoats)

Obi-Wan and Cody Kenobi have raised Luke for years and are at the center of the Rebellion when a new threat looms the horizon in the form of a new weapon. The tides seem to turn in their favor, even as they face new challenges along the way.

Or: Obi-Wan and Cody are soulmates who just want to see everyone survive. Their lives from Luke and Leia's nineteenth birthday to a confrontation with Vader alone.

Standalone though it is part of the "We Raise Our Cups To Them" universe

An Epiphany of Poppies Upon the Battlefield by @questing-wulfstan (art)

April 1940, On a French battlefield, Hob Gadling doubts his will to persevere in being alive for the second time of his existence. He swallows morphine in the hope to soothe his horror-scarified mind, and summons a mirage of the stranger who occupied his thoughts as the patron of his immortality. In a Japanese psychiatric ward, Delirium of the Endless is alerted by Dream's irruption in her realm, who she found missing when she sought his company on her quest for the Prodigal. Disappointment overcomes her as she finds it was but an image of her brother conjured by a mortal, and so it does Hob when her eruption dismisses the vision. Delirium will not resign herself to her exponential loss of brothers however, neither will Hob Gadling withhold his aid from any entity in distress, whether the stranger or his younger sister ; they just might hold the might to liberate Morpheus between their four hands ...

The Other Kingdom by @banhus (art)

In 1916, Roderick Burgess successfully summons Death, and Hob Gadling wakes up in the trenches alongside three dead soldiers.

#dreamling #dinluke #codywan #star wars #obi wan kenobi #commander cody #captain rex #din djarin #the mandalorian #luke skywalker #obirex #rexobi #hob gadling #dream of the endless #delirium of the endless #cover collection #collab

[fluffywolverine]

today i've been thinking how fiddler's green and the corinthian have the exact same motives - to understand people - but totally different means to do this, and there is one key to understanding. reading.

see, the corinthian's main focus is to taste humans and he does that quite literally. he wants to have fun in all sorts of ways and that's basically it. his desire to understand is very easily and quickly satisfied. that's also why he prays on so many victims - the pleasure is only temporary, so he feels the need to repeat it constantly. he savours the moment, enjoying it while it lasts, not being able to prolong it anyhow.

and he doesn't read, he even tells carl that he prefers people to reading.

fiddler's green is his polar opposite. he loves people, not necessarily as individuals, but generally as a whole. humanity is something completely different for him, but his desire isn't to grab as much as he can. fiddler's green wants to explore this topic in the broadest way possible, and he knows he won't do it just by living. that's why he turns to books.

especially in the comics, although in the show as well, he is shown as a great reader. from the way he is talking about the works he read, mostly chesterton, you can see he is fascinated with the written word. reading is for him a way to connect to humanity. it's how fiddler's green can better process what it means to be human, and it allows him to fall in love with people over and over again. he even misses hal's performance, because - guess what! - he was reading.

now, why am i even talking about it? because literature lets you get into the author's mind, observe how they see the world around them, what amuses, frightens, affects them; it is almost like sharing someone's exact thoughts. what's more, literature lets you learn about things you wouldn't be able to know. thanks to it, you are able to process trauma, comprehend other people's emotions, see the world around you in completely different colours. reading helps you understand.

above that, there is also this delicious little detail: the sandman is often described as "the story about stories" or "the story about creators". and i, for one, think that fiddler's green pays a beautiful tribute to this message.

#should i stop analysing this show? #probably #will i do it? #not likely #the sandman #sandman netflix #the corinthian #fiddler's green

[pandaroboto]

Taskmaster Recording Report

This will be a long post and it has spoilers, so proceed with caution. More after the cut.

I will put in two different sections, what happened on warm-up and between takes and what they cut from the episode and I remember. WARM UP

Greg told people to stop sending sexy DMs because he would disappoint all the ladies/some guys.

He introduced Alex who came to the stage and hugged Greg's...knees?

Greg told the audience Alex was a master and could mimic any animal doing a dance style. He did a guinea pig first and it was the cutest thing, then a wolf (there is a picture of this that was used on a press release) and then a lion. When Greg asked about a dance style I yelled SAMBA with all my strength and then I saw Alex trying to samba as a lion. It was amazing.

Mark Olver asked who came from furthest to watch it and I raised my hand and said Brazil and he said BULLSHIT, you didn't come here just for that. I then explained I also was going to see Tim Key in Cardiff the next day and he was like "Oh..she did came here just for that then"

Again British people can't understand my name so I was referred as "Brazil" for the rest of the afternoon

I was also questioned about how do I watch the show and I quickly replied Youtube .

He made me list my favorite contestants to see if I could stay in the country. I tried to think which contestants were on the YouTube series uploaded. I then said Bob Mortimer, Mike Wozniak and Mark Watson (Alex smiled a bit when I said his name). Olver went " I can't believe someone in Brazil was watching the Woz fart a pile"

When I was telling I am from Brazil Alex waved at me and I was sure he knew who I was because long story short a bunch of friends really made me feel special and got me a signed book by Alex and he knew I was going to be there after travelling for 14+ hours.

At that point Greg said "Did you come for me???" and I pathetically went YES Y ES YES. He waved at me and IDK till today how I survived this.

They joked about a guy being first row and not being a fan,Mark asked who he had to fuck to get those seat and greg was pointing to himself.

They said we were clapping at the wrong places and that would confuse Alex and Greg

After the recording when I got back to London randomly meet Asim Chaudhry on Leceister Square. He was so sweet. We chatted a bit , I talked about how Sandman was big here, and that he had Brazilian fans and he got very excited and telling his mates about it

STUDIO

Sue got a massive round of applause. I think she and Julian got the big whoops from the crowd

The prize task was so much longer. Lucy went for ages talking about the ghost of the dog, and Greg kept asking questions. I knew most of it would be cut, but Greg kept mentioning during the episode and made me question how they would edit the references. They are bloody genius those editors.

Sam's Pinocchio made quite the impression, and Greg had a lot of fun with it. They talk about Pinocchio's penis, there was questions if it grew too with the lies. And Greg kept saying Pinocchio during the recording.

Sue's monkey orgy story was longer too.

When they showed Sam getting super closer to Alex, Greg mentioned Alex was very uncomfortable with touch and to prove that he got really touchy. BTW guys the amount of hand touches, and whispers behind the cards...they are insane

After the team task they were basically talking about how kinky it was, and Greg joked about Alex tied up , hogtie style and that he enjoyed. This was the thing I was most excited and I hope they put on the outtakes because I know how the fandom will be mental about it.

Greg is...MAGNETIC! Like the man demands attention and is very hard to not be looking at him. I kept looking at them at the studio and mostly ignored the tasks because I knew that I could see them later.

The live task took ages to set up and to reset after every round, Greg even joked we would spend the night there. It was more or less 3 hours of taping.

Greg interacted with us a lot because they had to reset the seesaw all the time, At one point he asked us to go "oooooh" that was show in the episode but he asked Alex using those words "Do you want the audience to oooh you while you pull it out slowly for me?" and he said with such a voice that...if I were a dude I would have a boner.

There was a point when Alex had to explain the outcome and he got it wrong and the audience corrected him to Greg's delight, he was very giggly. Sue got quite mad at Alex and the chains.

I guess it was this. At least that is what I took from my notes.

#taskmaster #taskmaster spoilers

[bossymarmalade]

Okay, here's the thing about the Netflix live action Avatar: the Last Airbender series --

Is it as complex and near-perfect in pace and characterization and message and narrative as the cartoon? No. Nothing could be. Sometimes a piece of media hits right the first time, and all you can do is make a different version of it.

Does it deserve to be watched anyhow? Absolutely yes. And you know why? I've watched white-focused media that was on the same level in terms of satisfactory adaptation (Sandman, seeing as I was reading the comics thirty years ago and am fond of it) and also media that's been way worse, and still enjoyed it for what it was.

You have to enjoy it for what it is, not that it's not the A:TLA cartoon. The story's condensed but it's not as wretched as all these reviews make it out to be. The problem with Katara's feminism/Sokka's misogyny not being satisfactorily represented is blown out of proportion imo. It's not a 1:1 ratio to the cartoon. The live action has to handle it in a slightly different way.

Honestly I'm enjoying it and I'll tell you why: it looks EXACTLY like the cartoon. Because it's people of colour in those costumes, in that world, using those items. Every episode produces some Asian actor I've known and loved in some new role and it's enough to get me teary-eyed because even if it's not a perfect and flawlessly-rendered version of ATLA, we're there and we're represented as real people. The voice actors for the cartoon were wonderful and mostly white. This is us in the LIVING FLESH.

Maybe it's a sign of my age that I'm more willing to go easy on this show and not hold it to the super-stringent standards that anything made by poc gets held to, I dunno. That's entirely possible. But I truly don't think it deserves the bad press it's been getting.

#chromatic geeky #netflix avatar #netflix atla #says miss maggie #media representation

[azi-sings-calliope]

The Sandman female characters - why are they buried?

I'm gonna make a series of my thoughts on the female Sandman characters, both critiques of how they're treated and appreciation posts for them. (These are just my opinions, everyone is entitled to their own) Hope you enjoy!

Also tagging @thesandwomen because I'm also very curious to hear your takes on her.

Part 1: Rose Walker

As a character, she gets an obscene amount of hate. Even her actress was bullied terribly when the show came out (which is a whole other issue).

The thing with Rose Walker is that she's strong, complex, powerful, but not in necessarily always visible ways.

She's making her own way in life, traumatized but loving, ambitious and creative. Her inner dialogue and workings is complex and tragic but not in always... I guess cinematic or traditional ways.

She shows the realistic side of someone, specifically someone growing up through tragedy.

She's endlessly creative but she's cursed as this Vortex which destroys and she can't escape that, unless she dies. While she's going through all this she's dragged for not being more dynamic or charismatic.

I found Rose Walkers character to be awfully realistic, because in my eyes, a way of interpreting her story is that one of a young woman, growing up, promising and creative, has been pushed down by society and other people's actions against her. She's creative, loving, ambitious, searching for her brother and making a life for herself. But then she's pulled down into this Vortex, this series of awful and inexplicable events where things are happening around her, she knows she's causing it, and she can't stop it, and the only way to solve it is to die and leave a life she has fought for so hard.

Strange people are telling her what to do, she doesn't understand it entirely, but she does it to the best of her ability. She pushes back at them (Dream and the Corinthian) at times, because what else can she do?

In the end, she ends up with one of her last living relatives dying in front of her and realizing there was no other way for it to turn out. And she's hated, because throughout these events, she isn't entertaining enough.

I'm not someone best suited to talk on the racism that undoubtedly impacted how the fandom impacted the character, but it's worth noting that racism certainly played a role.

Rose Walker shows the sides of a character, specifically a young, strong woman character that I feel like isn't often marketed.

Some of those who claim "girl power" dislike her because she isn't what they're used to seeing. I'm not claiming that she's revolutionary, I'm saying that she IS that type of character, portrayed perhaps more realistically.

She is powerful but she's not cocky and smiley and she won't punch you in the face. Female characters are only perhaps worth paying attention to if they have any qualities that are surface level beneficial or amusing to the audience.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that Rose Walker is disliked because she's realistic, she has no amusing qualities.

Female characters often have stock marketable traits, such as humour, physical strength, or maybe magical. It's almost as if they're being paraded around, but not as a celebration but as a freak show. These are fake empowerment characters, and I feel like a lot of the basis for initial main female characters in big media pieces was written like this.

Rose Walker has marketable traits, but mixed in there are the real thoughts of a young woman, panicked and trapped and loving, and deeply honest. And it's honesty people don't like.

A young woman's struggle isn't fun to watch, it's not funny, there's no action, it's realistic.

I'm not trying to call her the female character of all time, I'm just trying to articulate my thoughts.

Rose Walker can make people uncomfortable. A female character not being pushed into the box of marketable, but real.

I think it's telling that we as a fandom dismissed her because of her lack of marketable qualities, because if you look deeper into the character, there's so much more.

Anyway, I hope this didn't come off as too rant-y, and thanks for reading!

#rose walker #the sandman #the sandman female character #deserve more appreciation #there are definitely places that discuss the characters #but i think overall #they hardly exist in fandom #some great mutuals who have amazing blogs about them tho

[avelera]

I think the term, “flaws” as a necessity for writing well-rounded fictional characters is often misunderstood. It can lead to new writers thinking these flaws should be in a laundry list alongside their OCs hobbies, eye color, and favorite food.

All of the above traits shouldn’t exist in a vacuum. They all need to serve the story in some way, usually by illustrating plot, character, or themes in a way that enhances the story.

Saying a character’s flaw is that they’re “clumsy” isn’t really a flaw unless this trait stands between them and what they want in a meaningful way. Being clumsy is an obstacle for a dancer, or for a teenager who will be socially judged and derided in a meaningful way to the story. Even still, it’s a somewhat shallow and overused flaw.

What got me thinking about this is the fanfic characters I tend to enjoy writing are flawed people. The more flawed, the better.

I struggled to write Nicky and Joe in The Old Guard because they don’t really have any flaws. They’re never stupid, or selfish, or awkward, or mean. I couldn’t really write them until I wrote a story where the plot is that one of them gets returned by amnesia to his pre-character development Crusader self, back when he was prejudiced, quick to anger, and provincial in his world view. Then I had somewhere to go with them.

By contrast, Newt and Hermann from Pacific Rim are riddled with flaws, and it made them not only popular characters, but a blast to write. They’re rude, loud, snarky, selfish, self-involved, self-important, arrogant, and mean. They’re also both sincerely trying to save the world and willing to sacrifice themselves to do it if necessary. It makes them a wonderful mass of contradictions and it makes them feel like real people.

And recently I wrote about my desire to write Dream and Hob from Sandman as more like their comic selves, with all the rough edges and taciturn misanthropy and selfishness and rudeness that implies. I don’t want to write perfect people.

I saw a post that imagined Hob as passionate about returning artifacts stolen by the English to their country of origin. It was a very sweet post and fun, don’t get me wrong. But as a perverse creature, my first thought was, “Ok, but what if he wasn’t? What if he, as a former bandit and soldier for the Crown, wasn’t in favor of the artifacts being returned? What if he was the opposite?”

Now to be clear, I think it’s more in character for the brief glimpse of the Teacher Hob we see for him to be more worldly, more in favor of repatriation. I genuinely think that take is probably more accurate to the character.

That’s not the point.

The point is that I think one way to avoid creating these sort of perfect shiny soft characters with all the rough edges sawed off is to ask, “Ok but what if they didn’t do the right thing here?”

What if they don’t have perfect, up to date progressive political views on all possible topics? What if they weren’t always altruistic? What if they don’t always say just the right thing to their lover when that person is feeling down? What if they have moments where they’re stupid, selfish, insensitive, prejudiced, rude, awkward, or off-putting?

Personally, I think that’s how you get more interesting characters, who are more like real people and, more importantly, have room to grow or sometimes not grow in a way that better serves your story.

#Maggie rambles #writing #sandman meta #tog meta #pacific rim meta

[ladyvialana]

Very much enjoyed the first season of The Dead Boy Detectives.

It was fun, with great characters, interesting storylines, good pacing, and a fantastic ability to balance light-hearted storytelling with some pretty fucked up content at times.

Episode 1 was a little clunky and exposition heavy, but it's only really in that first episode (unlike fucking Wednesday!) and it's pretty easy to look past once they get into the main story. The rest of the episodes are much smoother.

Character interactions are great and all of the characters feel rounded with an actual backstory that influences their interactions and distinct personalities and traits that affect their actions. They're not just plot devices or vehicles for narrative.

Before going into any more detail, I'll just say I really enjoyed it. It's probably not as sophisticated or polished writing or style-wise as The Sandman, but it's still a really good spin off. I'd almost put it in the same vein, tone-wise, as The Umbrella Academy, though perhaps not as irreverent. Much better than similar Netflix teen supernatural dramas like Wednesday or Sabrina (and probably more mature and sophisticated, storytelling-wise than those shows).

I really enjoyed it, am looking forward to/hoping for a second season, and will definitely be watching again.

*

More detailed spoilers under the cut for those interested in my opinions about a few specific storylines/characters/episodes:

*

SPOILERS:

I am honestly surprised we don't have more people hitting on Charles. He is genuinely charming and charismatic as well as kind of open and sincere. Like, Edwin's a standoffish Edwardian public school boy with weird interests and zero people skills. I adore him. But he has negative charisma, especially compared to Charles' eyeliner and grin. Like, why is everyone chasing after Edwin? It's a role reversal I can definitely get behind, but no one is trying to get up into Charles' personal space aside from Crystal? Really??? And even she probably wouldn't have gone for it if he hadn't made it obvious he was interested in her first. Like, I really do get what the writers were trying to go with here, but it's one of those choices that kind of stretch narrative believability a little.

In saying all of that, I'm kind of a sucker for queer pining arcs that could go either way. So the not-so-subtle reveal of Edwin's feelings was both beautiful and painful in the best ways.

Episode 7 was a highlight for me. I'd been waiting for the pay-off from Edwin's backstory and the hellfire sword hanging over his head. But the flashback to Charles' death was probably my favourite scene in the series. Everything about that episode was fantastic, from the tension to the individual mini character arcs in the episodes (Nico coming in clutch with her reading comprehension skills! Crystal finally kicking David's ass!), to the beautiful release of the confession in Hell. I loved all of the insight we got into all of the main characters, knowing the truth of the kind of people they are. Knowing that, yeah, these are all good people who would do anything to help, and who love fiercely. But also, that doing what you can for the people you love sometimes involves meat cleavers and Molotov cocktails.

#dead boy detectives #dead boy detectives spoilers #text #vialana's rambling

[writing-for-life]

WHAT DO YOU MEAN DREAM'S HAIR USED TO BE WHITE!! oh my god. i just saw your post about killala and i have now perished. thanks for breaking my heart.

but also hi!! i'm relatively new to the fandom and it's a great place to be. i haven't finished reading all the comics yet but i'm curious to know:

what do you think are the main differences between TV!Dream and Comics!Dream? i've heard so many people claiming that he is incapable of changing, for instance, and though the show does convey his overall rigidity pretty well, i'm not getting the vibe that he's immutable.

also!! it's clear that he feels a lot. which is always funny to me when the corinthian is like yo, try this and maybe you'll feel something for a change but like. he does!!! or i get the impression that he does. he probably feels too much if anything?? all of it simmering just beneath the surface, barely contained. how would you personally analyze his relationship with his own emotions?

i hope all of this is coherent enough for you to answer lmao, i saw your post about enjoying being asked sandman questions two seconds after i woke up and barged into your inbox. hope you have a lovely day!

Thanks so much for the ask, and welcome if you’re new(ish) to the fandom! 🤗

I’m sorry I broke your heart—much more heartbreak to come I fear if you haven’t read the comics yet, so I’ll try to keep this as spoiler-free as possible.

I am one of those people who believes the differences between comics!Dream and show!Dream are actually not as big as they are made out to be where it matters, and you will definitely find people who disagree. At the end of the day, we all read it through our own lens and will never be fully objective about it.

The main difference I see is that they filed off the rough edges of the comics a bit to make a new audience sympathise more. It’s very hard to do that with a character who is basically in full arsehole mode for most of the first 40 issues or so, and even then only slowly begins to come out of it (although we can obviously see glimmers of what lies below the surface at the beginning of the comics, too, but it’s far more subtle than in the show). I’ve worked in musical theatre for a over decade of my life and understand a bit about bringing the written word to stage/screen, and some things simply don’t translate well from book to stage/screen, and you have to change it. So my personal opinion is we get a more sympathetic Morpheus and certain changes so the audience can do exactly that—sympathise off the bat. You will lose an audience pretty quickly if they don’t care about the protagonist and the universe he moves in, and you can’t be as nuanced about it as you can be in a written work. We’re talking about streaming services thinking about profits here, even if people don’t want to hear it.

Also: The more you sympathise with a character, the deeper the emotional investment and the more you feel, even if it hurts.

Having said this, I don’t think Morpheus is incapable of change, and I never got where that idea comes from. His biggest flaw is that he believes he cannot change (and even he has moments when he admits he might have). In the introduction to Endless Nights, Neil Gaiman says that he was once asked to describe The Sandman in twenty-five words or less, and famously, it was this (you might have heard it):

“The Lord of Dreams learns that one must change or die, and makes his decision.”

And I think some people might have wrongly taken that for an either/or thing. I don’t want to say too much at this point because I don’t know how much you know (if you’d like spoilers or already know how it ends, let me know, I’ll happily expand on it). Only so much:

He is capable of change, also in the comics. Very obviously so. But just like he denies he has his own story (which also isn’t true), he denies he can change. Or at least he thinks he perhaps cannot change enough (it’s actually hard to write about this without giving everything away, help! 🙈).

As for his feelings: He does feel, but again, it is something he pushes down and will deny himself. Until it bursts to the surface and breaks through, and when that happens, it’s usually with, well, let’s say varying results, and that’s putting it mildly. Personally, I’d say he has problems relating to his feelings, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel. Quite the opposite in my view. He holds the collective unconscious—all unprocessed feelings and whatever else floats around in that collective mess, and it’s exactly what he says to the Corinthian in that famous scene: he needs to keep a lid on it and keep that lid firmly closed so all of it doesn’t consume him. But that also means denying himself the feelings that are linked to his own personhood (if you want to call it that). There’s Dream of the Endless, and then there’s Morpheus. And while they’re one and the same and inseparable, Morpheus is also the “point of view”. The character, the person, if you will. And deep down, he craves that personhood so badly. Out of all the Endless, he is the only one who basically collects names because they mean having something beyond his function, which is also mirrored in what he tells Death in “The Sound of her Wings”: he wants something more. He is the only one whose realm is populated with sentient beings (yes, I know Despair has rats, but I think you get my drift). He is desperately lonely and struggles with it. He seeks connection yet denies it to himself. That’s not someone who doesn’t feel.

I don’t know if this answers your questions at all—I was doing the wild “spoiler-free” dance 🤣 But please let me know if you want me to go a bit deeper, I love talking about this stuff.

You can also have a look at my metas if you haven’t already. The headers pretty much explain what they’re about and what spoiler-level to expect, but none of them are truly spoiler-free I guess:

Again, thanks so much for encroaching on my inbox, and feel free to follow up if anything was left unanswered.

@dreamaturgy ask answered

#the sandman #sandman #dream of the endless #morpheus #sandman meta #ask answered #send asks #sandman analysis #sandman character analysis #sandman comics #the sandman netflix

[peachesofteal]

How many followers have you've gained since posting COD fandiction because I've feel like you're work is amongst the most popular here in COD tumblr?

First, let me preface this by saying: I was born in the 90s and I've been on Tumblr since 2011.

This feels awkward to me (no hate to you anon) and I think it's just because I don't usually discuss this stuff. It's not really of interest to me but I will answer this because you're not the first person to ask something along these lines, and I’ve consistently ignored these types of questions, which is not entirely fair to the askers.

I've had this Tumblr since October of last year (it's not my only one) and I started out originally posting Sandman and TLOU fic. I posted my first Simon Riley fic in early December on AO3, and didn't even bring it to Tumblr until February. Since then, my follower count has grown pretty steadily, and as of today it sits at just over five thousand. I don't really like talking about this because I've seen so many people get down about themselves in the name of the comparison game and I don't enjoy feeling like I am contributing to that. Not comparing myself to others is something that I have consciously worked at doing in all aspects of my life, for my own mental health and happiness, and I don't do it here. I don't like to contribute to it either. This is why (among other reasons) I've never done a follower celebration. I feel guilt about it because I love you all so much and I'm so grateful to our little community that we've built on this blog, I think we've really cultivated a nice space for each other here where we can indulge in the things we enjoy without judgement (ahem) and take comfort in stories, but I have performance/deadline/life in general anxiety and doing follower celebrations have always intimidated me because I would hate to disappoint any of you, and like I said, I don't play the comparison game.

As far as my work being popular on Tumblr, I think my writing can be an acquired taste that is not always for everyone (which is completely okay, as I have said before, I support everyone creating their own experiences and using the block button liberally) and I would disagree with your opinion (respectfully)

At the end of the day: I care more about writing my silly little stories and having a good time with all of you over the amount of notes on my posts or how many people know I exist.

#peaches asks #I really debated answering this and I hope it makes sense

[morpheus-the-sandman]

The blog is open now!! :D

Hello im lazysimpluna or you can call me Luna or Finley

My carrd

Other

More about me down⬇️ in this blog pls read everything thanks!

im not good at writing and my grammar isn't that great so forgive me for typos :'D I also didn't used Tumblr as much so I'm still learning things

Important none of the stories are Canon to clowns og project!!

the main aus that are mentioned here are the

Sandman au/ Morpheus or morph that's how most call him he's a bat demon he's there to give the children good dreams and comfort them protect them he lives in his smol dimension in the middle his tree where he lives in with Noah, his brother fushigi, ivy, and hoshiko / personality : he's sweet, caring, comforting his presence his inviting like a soft bed like you're getting tired and all yk but he can also be chaotic he loves to be crazy with his friends and do random funny stuff he's also very adventurous he loves to take a look around at places he wanders around alot of aus when he has time to he's interested in other aus that aren't dangerous or anything he loves to hang out and all so you might find him sitting near where you living at watching the stars!

Monsterbed au / crow is there to protect the children he will be under the bed or in the closet well most likely under the bed he doesn't like the closet very much / he can only speak in chirps outside his au when he's back in his he will speak normally / his au is a dreamcore au / personality : is still in work I didn't quite explored his personality yet but I would say for now that he's sweet and protective of his loved ones

SH wally ( I call him that now idk I feel like it's better then father wally) actually idk if I keep that name if you might have better names let me know I suck at them XD / anyway he's there to take in children in need let's say morph finds a child that has abuse going one or something else like it lost its parents ect morph will ask that child if it wants to come with him he doesn't force them but he if a child declines he will still look to take action and get them to a better place then in the human realm if a child says yes morph will take them to sh wallys realm and leave them there for sh wally to take care of them once they grew up they can decide if they want to leave back to the human realm or stay with wally/personality : not developed yet but he's very calm and patient that's all I can say!

Ugly duckling wally aka Noah he's morphs adoptive son/ personality : sweet, playfully, joyfully,

Hoshiko/wish wally he's also morphs adoptive son / he travels trough different aus grading wishes depending if a person deserves the wish he can see it in thair hearts if a person deserves it or not / he floats mostly in the air but obv he can also swim in water /personality : still in development but I would say he's quiet energetic, has lots of energy, he does like to mess around with someone, he's playfully and teasing,

Fushigi and ivy not alot to say here fushigi is there to defeat bad dreams ect like morph is he's morphs real brother / ivy is his best friend even tho ivy doesn't want to admit to that , fushigi found ivy while defeating bad dreams ivy was different from the other nightmares he seemed alone and seemed like he actually didn't liked to be feared and all so fushigi took him in / fushigi likes to Crochet stuff / personality of fushigi : still in development but he's sweet calm patient, ivy's personality : also still in development all I know is he's grumpy, teasing, likes to mess with people,

Comfort star / she's there traveling around aus to comfort everyone when they need it at any time when they try to sleep or whatever it might be / she has problems with feeling things she can't feel things so she might sound or act numb at times but she trys her best her sister is always there to help her with it her problem with not feeling alot is also why she often comes back with cuts ect bc she feels numb both emotionally and physically she does not feel pain so she would often be rather at morph or wherever to get stitched back up / personality : still in development but she's playfull, sweet

Letters from felix/Yeah I added another AU I have for a while idk why I didn't added him when I first did this blog but he travels trough dimensions too so I trough why not he's silly and is adventurin trough dimension and he writes letters to his human he's inspired my letters from Felix the series the bunny Basacally my childhood :3] personality : chaotic, he loves to mess around, playfully, adventures

Shooting star

She's like a help for traveling inspired by the cat bus from totoro uwu she acts pretty much like a cat and can't talk she be meowing and purring but she understand you!

And also morph father the uhh good home in this story I didn't drew him yet but he's basacally just like og home but a smol house that follows morph around

!! Boundaries!!

Yes you can

✅ make fanart absolutely tag me please!!!

✅ Shipping? Yes ofc but please only ocs sonas or yns.

✅ Im also okay with interactions trough I can't promise I will do all of them I mostly do what I feel like and if I don't feel like it I don't do it it also might take a bit

Donts❌

Please no applecest no wallycest no proships!!!❌

No nsfw with these aus mentioned here!!!❌

Don't do Ai bots of my aus I'm doing alredy bots but it takes a bit I get really exausted after a bit of working on bots like I get sleepy and all it takes a bit I know I'm working on them for quite a while now but still have patients I'm also not an expert when it comes to bots I'm still learning!! ❌❌❌

Don't message me privately if I don't know you please if I know you for a bit from my comment section you can ask me if you can message me and I might say yes , please have patients with me I don't feel comfortable calling you my friend so soon so I just call you a mutual if I know you for a longer while I might call you a friend! I had a really bad experience with an ex friend of mine I knew since my childhood and that left marks , I might get easily overwhelmed or exausted so I might dip or don't talk at all please don't feel like I'm ignoring you or anything I'm not I'm simply not feeling like talking or it is to much at that day for me!❌❌❌

🌟Things about me that are important 🌟

my pronounce are she/her, he him, im genderfluid and aroace, bisexual, ❤️

I have auditory processing disorder or called

(APD )

Wich makes me slower I might forget alot of things or I also have hearing problems sometimes like when somone calls me it doesn't end up in my brain I'm also very sensitive so sounds loud notices specifically

I also take a while to understand things so be patient with me

(HSP ) I am a highly sensitive person

I also have social anxiety

I'm really sensitive like I would say emotionally there are often times where I do take things too serious or something please tell me talk to me about those things if I understand stuff the wrong way

I'm 22 years old and German

I only speak English and German I can't speak other languages

I have 29 aus by now I might add more depending on what ideas I get ( idk for sure I know I have alredy alot and I didn't even developed alot of them enough I do want to put an line to it but I can't I love creating I love making it makes me happy so just be aware XD when I decide to do a blog for my other aus that I might not post alot about those depending on how I'm feeling ( maybe I post more when I get asks idk)

Socials : I have tik tok Instagram also yt I also have another Tumblr but I don't like that one as much atm it's more actually idk it was more meant for oploading ahit art and such but I don't feel the account anymore idk I'm weird xd so ig I might do a new main maybe?? Idk anyhow I'm the most active on tik tok name is lazysimpluna on all platforms!

Fandom I'm in atm

Welcome home

And poppy playtime

I hope you have a wonderful time here!! :3

🌟Refs of my sillys🌟

#art #artists on tumblr #artwork #digital art #welcome home #welcome home au #welcome home artist #welcome home arg #morphthesandman #askmorph #wh multiverse

[neil-gaiman]

probably been asked this already… 🤷 fuck it. no details necessary of course but, have you ever read fanfic for other people’s properties?

Not much, really. When I was about 18 I bought a copy of Star Trek: the New Voyages, edited by by Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath, which was all fanfic, and enjoyed it. Beyond that, I've read lots of things that could absolutely qualify as fanfic (Cthulhu mythos stories! Sherlock Holmes stories! The majority of what's been published by Marvel or DC post 1972!) but have never gone, "I love Gormenghast (for example). I wonder if there's any more Gormenghast fiction out there. I will do a websearch."

I don't think I have the engines for it -- that's not a bad or good thing, that's just how I am. Then again, my reading-for-pleasure time is always incredibly limited, and there's always a shelf or two of books that people have sent me hoping I can read them and another shelf or two of books I've bought and was hoping to read, not even counting the stuff I have to read for "work" (in inverted commas because reading for example Sandman scripts never really feels like work, but it all has to be read as well).

I know that if I was in my teens, when I wanted MORE of whatever world or characters I liked, had it been around back then I would enthusiastically have plunged into AO3 and contemporary fanfic.

#fanfiction #fan fiction #fanfic #what i think about fan fiction #neil gaiman #what neil Gaiman thinks about fan fiction #why am i tagging it like this nobody will ever use tags or a search to investigate

[orionsangel86]

Ive been thinking about this post again today after I saw some posts in The Sandman tag that seemed a bit like gatekeeping to me and using the comics as an excuse to make fun of Dreamling shippers.

I usually ignore stuff like that, but I think its worth reminding fans of a few important points.

1. Whilst I highly recommend reading the sandman comics, it is totally not necessary if you just wanna enjoy the show (and not spoil upcoming stories!) As Neil Gaiman has already previously said, Sandman is for EVERYONE regardless of which media you choose to engage with. No gatekeepers allowed!

2. The Sandman universe in the comics is rich and full of super interesting characters and only gets better the further on you read (Overture my beloved fave!) BUT fans of the show DO NOT have all this context and therefore will only want to explore what theyve seen in the show. Don't be dicks pointing out how show fans are somehow wrong for their show based headcanons.

3. If show fans wanna make up headcanons and fan theories that don't fit in with comic book canon that is totally within their right and it is no ones place to mock them for not following comic canon.

4. Learn to live with Dreamling. Yeah look I get it, its a tiny fragment of a story in a much wider multitude of beautiful stories. Yeah it can be frustrating how fandom has "main charactered" Hob Gadling. Just accept that fandom is gonna fandom. Dont like, dont read. Keep scrolling, rant on your own blog OUT OF THE MAIN TAGS if you must. Hell, make an anti dreamling tag if you must waste energy on negativity but please keep the negativity tagged and separate from positive fandom fun.

4. On the Dreamling note, its worth mentioning that Hob Gadling in comic canon is not a really nice person. He is selfish, he makes bad choices, he is rather rude and tends to be on the wrong side of history. He's not very likeable. He says inappropriate things sometimes. He's not what fandom has made him (because fanon Hob is a fandom projection and self insert character more than anything else at this point). That is not an excuse to piss on peoples Hob Gadling headcanons and smugly point out what an ass he is. Its certainly not an excuse to attack people as if liking him makes them morally inferior to you.

5. Honestly though if you're looking for perfect characters you're better off quitting Sandman altogether because literally all characters in the comic are flawed especially Dream. He's THE problematic fave. He's a bit of an asshole, even though we love him. Tbh even comic Dream and Hob are made for each other in that respect.

6. The show is not the comic. I feel like this should be obvious, but its very clear that the show is telling a kinder story than the comic. The characters are far more likeable already and a lot of the more eyebrow raising stuff (such as Desire raping Unity) has been removed. Therefore anyone using the comic character flaws to somehow justify why Dreamling shippers are morons and their faves are assholes is just a dick. Let show fans enjoy what the show has presented to them.

7. At the end of the day, let people have their fun. The Sandman is an ideal fandom sandbox in that the world is rich and full of potential and a beautiful source for creative inspiration. Fans wanna play in this sandbox and make up their own fun ideas and stories and that is a wonderful thing.

Don't piss in the fucking sandbox.

#the sandman #dream of the endless #dreamling #neil gaiman #sandman comics #morpheus #hob gadling #sandman netflix #fandom #fandom problems

[noforkingclue]

Hello! Can you write a Dark!Morpheus x reader where they tell the story of the most popular myth of how to sandman courted the primordial being of love (the reader) by inspiring artists to write songs,books and ballads in attempts to woo her in a sort of Persephone and hades sort of way if that makes sense .it work and they are seen as like THE couple and Morpheus is just head over heals worshipping the ground she walks on both then and now and reader obviously adore him as well.maybe they have a few kids?

So I focused more on the darker side of this request and I didn't include the bit about children. Hope you don't mind and enjoy the fic!

Title: A Story

Warnings: dark fic

Everything tag list: @greenrevolutionary, @byebyebreezywrites, @spngingerbread21, @layazul, @lov3vivian, @simonsbluee

Are you sitting comfortably?

Good.

Then let me begin my tale of the Lord of Dreams and the Goddess of Love.

A burning, passionate love story that has lasted longer than this world has been around. It wasn’t often that another being captured the Dream Lord’s attention and yet this Goddess had done just that. Her siblings and fellows Gods and Goddess had warned her about the power and danger of the Endless but she paid them no heed.

And that, my listeners, was to be her undoing.

So, I hear you ask, how did he manage to court the reclusive Goddess?

You see, the answer is quite simple- by inspiring the humans that she cared so much about.

Dreams of inspiration is what he gave to the humans. Poetry, books, paintings, plays, all of this he provided for the humans. To shower each other in declarations of love that they otherwise would not have said. They had the ideas but he provided them with the ways of putting them into words.

That’s how he got the attention of the Goddess.

How happy she was that her humans and how charmed by the Dream Lord despite the continuous warnings from those around her. Of course this didn’t go unnoticed by the humans. Myths and legends sprung up about the two of you. How the God of Dreams gifted human s with divine inspiration to court the one he loves the most. These were the myths that humans needed the most. In hard times these were the myths the humans turned to the most. All other relationships paled in comparison to theirs. You see, there was no drama or fighting between them. Just love.

Ah, I see your cynical smile and perhaps you’re right.

In fact, there is no ‘perhaps’ about it.

You see, these were stories created by human and-

Oh. I see you’ve already clocked it.

The Dream Lord inspired the humans who created the stories…

Yes, you’re correct, how do we know these stories are fact or fiction? But that’s the same with any myth isn’t it? The lines between what happened and what is made up is often blurred and that is the case with this. Humans are romantics are heart.

The truth is, yes the Dream Lord did inspire humans and that did captivate the Love Goddess. However, the Dream Lord asked too much of the little Goddess. He wanted her to reside in the Dreaming with him. To leave her family and become completely his. To never walk among the humans again. To have his heirs and to never mention her old life outside the Dreaming.

And she didn’t bend to his commands.

You ok? Oh, you don’t like how this story is turning out? I’m afraid things rarely turn out how people want them to.

Now, there’s something else you should know about the Dream Lord. It isn’t just dreams that he controls.

It’s also nightmares.

At her refusal the human were plagued with horrific nightmares. The Endless are older and more powerful than the Gods, even the ancient ones. The more the Goddess refused his affections the worse the nightmares became. Until she agreed to meet, to relieve the humans pain and suffering at the hands of the one she thought she could trust.

But when it came time to meet she couldn’t face him. The trust that had been built up had long since gone. So she did the only thing she thought she could do.

She ran.

She disappeared from existence. None of the other Gods or the Endless knew where she had gone or if they did they didn’t let the Dream Lord know. The Dream Lord searched endlessly for his little Goddess but he couldn’t find her. He even couldn’t find her dreams, the mind he used to enjoy spending so much time in.

Which brings us up to now.

The Dream Lord has escape the prison where he was held for one hundred years. With all that time he’s done quite a bit of think and from what I hear he’s determined to find his Goddess. This time, nothing is going to stand in his way.

Hmm?

What’s that?

What does this Goddess look like?

Heh.

My dear, just look in a mirror and you shall see. Surely you don’t think of me as stupid?

Pleasant dreams and good luck.

#fanfiction #the sandman #sandman #reader insert #request #sandman x reader #dream of the endless #dream of the endless x reader #morpheus #morpheus x reader

[five-and-dimes]

Hello I am interested in "yes another ‘Dream doesn’t understand consent’ story"—and actually all the ones from your Sandman WIPs list you haven't posted from yet, given how fascinated I am by the ones you have posted from so far!

(I'm sure your Umbrella Academy WIPs are lovely too; I just don't go there!)

lol no worries! And thank you!

To be fair, most of my stories have at least a little vibe of Dream not understanding consent (hey, I like what I like lol). This one is specifically about Hob realizing that Dream doesn't feel comfortable going against Hob's wishes when they meet in his dreams because, well, Dream's purpose is to provide for dreamers. It doesn't happen often, because very few people know enough of Dream to be able to dream of him, but if Hob calls him for a specific fantasy then it's his job to fulfill it, right?

Dream won't meet his eyes, even as he runs his hands down Hob's chest.

"This is your dream, Hob Gadling. It is yours to do with as you wish."

Hob feels ice in his veins. Because his instincts tell him that the 'it' Dream is referring to is himself. An ownership that Hob doesn't want. He finds himself jerking away from Dream's hands, stumbling back to put as much space between them as he can. He's spent 600 years wanting to touch his stranger, but not like this.

His voice is soft and shakey when he speaks.

“This dream is over.”

Dream flinches back as if he'd been slapped, his voice a mix of confusion and offense.

“Excuse me-?”

Hob screeches back, “This dream is over!”

And with a sharp gasp, he finds himself snapping awake in his bed.

(Feel free to ask about my other wips if you'd like! I enjoy getting to share the stuff I'm working on)

#my writing #the sandman #wips #dreamling #dream of the endless #hob gadling #dream threw out his self-preservation and replaced it with even more obligation