#the cinderella trope never gets old

[wisteria-lodge]

SORTING DISNEY VILLAINS (1937-1989)

For  *spooky season.* I suspect this will be easier than sorting the heroes, who tend to be reactive while villains are very clear about what they want and what exactly they’re going to do to get it. Let’s see if this ends up being the case. 

I go into a lot more detail about this character analysis system here, and talk about the move away from the HP terminology here. But here are the basics: 

PRIMARY (ie MOTIVE)

BADGER ~ Loyal to the group.

SNAKE ~ Loyal to yourself and your Important People.

LION ~ Subconscious Idealist. Ideals are linked to feelings and instincts.

BIRD ~ Conscious Idealist. Ideals are linked to built systems and external facts.

SECONDARY (ie METHOD)

BADGER ~ Connect with the group. Make allies, work steadily and well. Be whatever the situation calls for. If you find a locked door, knock.

SNAKE ~ Connect with the environment. Notice things. Tell people what they want to hear. If you find a locked door, get in through the window.

BIRD ~ Collect skills, knowledge, tools, personas, useful friends. If you find a locked door, track down the key or learn to pick the lock.

LION ~ Be honest, be direct, speak your truth. Either the obstacle is going down or you are. If you find a locked door, kick it in.

THE EVIL QUEEN (1937) - BURNT BADGER / BIRD

So. I know that in Snow White the Queen's Thing is Vanity, but.  The ‘Vain Villainess’ trope is about the fear of becoming less powerful in a world that only values you for your looks.... which doesn’t actually seem to be her issue? The Queen seems pretty darn unchallenged in her universe. That’s almost part of the problem - there’s an addiction/obsession/paranoia flavor to the way she’s constantly checking in with the Mirror.

I don’t think the Queen is actually obsessed with Snow White’s beauty. I think she’s obsessed with her innocence, her “heart” (that’s literally what she asks the Huntsman to bring her, Snow’s heart in a box.) Snow White isn’t just the “fairest” as in the prettiest, but the fairest as in the most fair-minded, the most honorable. The presence of Snow, with her optimism, kindness, and trust is an existential threat, proof that the Queen is going about things all wrong. Her power definitely has a edge of sadism: She forces Snow to wear rags (none of the other princesses wear *rags.*) And I’ll be haunted by this image of the Queen’s dungeons forever.

So even though my first instinct was to go Hedonist Snake primary for the Evil Queen, that’s not right. She’s not focused on enjoying herself. She doesn’t seem conscious enough of her own desires to be a Bird, and Exploded Lion is possible… but I’m going with Burnt Badger. An obsession with being “Fairest of them all” seems to suggest a group-focused, External-facing primary, and I absolutely see how the extremely UnBurnt Badger Snow White would really get under a Burnt Badger’s skin. 

Obviously a Bird secondary. The Evil Queen is Mad Scientist coded, even has a literal evil laboratory. The “Old Crone” plan features a transformation, a costume, and is very much an Actor Bird persona.  

THE WICKED STEPMOTHER (1950) - SNAKE / BADGER

While she does seem to get some sort of sadistic pleasure out of controlling Cinderella, the Wicked Stepmother’s main motivation is her daughters. Her daughters kind of suck, but that doesn’t actually matter. The Stepmother is going to make sure they get that happy ending, with all the targeted loyalty of a Snake Primary. There’s a Badger secondary in there too, which you can see in the way she’s… subtle. The Stepmother takes away Cinderella‘s privilege bit by bit… but never actually goes after her directly. She manipulates her daughters into doing her dirty work (like the way they tear up Cinderella’s dress) so she can always maintain plausible deniability. She’s prim, she’s proper, she’s Lady Tremaine. Dark Courtier Badger, all the way. 

THE QUEEN OF HEARTS (1951) - LION / LION

This Queen’s thing is that she’s childish. She wants what she wants NOW. Doesn’t matter if it makes sense, doesn’t matter if it’s impossible. The Queen of Hearts functions as both a lesson to Alice (authority figures don’t always know what they’re talking about) and as a warning (this could be you if you don’t navigate the transition to adulthood properly.) I see a very young Glory Hound Lion primary in the way she forces everyone else to cheat so she gets the emotional reward of winning the croquet game. I also want to attribute the Queen of Hearts’ extremely short fuse to her Lion primary - she acts on what she’s feeling the *second* she starts feeling it, and never questions this. Also she's a Lion secondary. There’s no plan. She lives in Wonderland. She’s living moment to moment.

CAPTAIN HOOK (1953) - BADGER / SNAKE

Unlike the Queen of Hearts, Captain Hook does not seem to be *of* the magical land he lives in. He is this outside force trying to impose order on Neverland, leading the only rigid organization there and constantly tying up/imprisoning the main characters. Hook is also the only one th threatened by the concept of time (the ticking crocodile.) *Peter* will never grow old. But somehow Captain Hook will? Or feels like he will? Tradition also says that the actor playing Wendy’s controlling father should play Hook as well, so there's definitely something about toxic order or toxic control going on (the Disney film uses the same voice actor in both roles.) So in the world of Peter Pan, Hook/Father becomes representative of adulthood/society/the Man. That makes him an Authoritarian Badger primary, defined by his organizations.

For his secondary - Hook’s not much of a planner. He’s most effective while he is talking an angry Tinker Bell into helping him, and in that scene he’s charming. He flatters her, pivots according to what he thinks she wants to hear, and while Courtier Badger secondary is possible, I think this feels more like Snake. (I also think you have to be some kind of Improvisational secondary in order to hold your own against Peter.) It makes sense - Hook has to be appealing and seductive as well as threatening, because that's kind of what adulthood is.

MALEFICENT (1959) - BIRD / LION

Maleficent’s feels socially slighted in a very *abstract* way. She doesn’t seem to have an emotional response to either the other fairies OR the King and Queen OR Aurora. Her curse doesn’t have anything to do with with her social standing, or her power, or her role in the kingdom. We actually don’t know what Maleficent’s deal is. Maybe by not inviting her to the christening the kingdom has broken some important Rule of hers. Or maybe she’s just torturing people because she’s bored, and this is a fun Project. (That is her plan with Phillip after all, and this image will ALSO always haunt me.)

But either way, she’s a Bird primary. The only question is if she’s more of a System-Building Bird, or a Project Bird. 

Unusually for such a cold villain, I think I want to give her a Lion secondary. She’s patient, and her plans take place over long time-frames, but the plans themselves are direct - “When your daughter turns sixteen, I will kill her.” Done. Also, when Maleficent is threatened, she turns into a giant dragon who certainly does not plan, and her goons (while useless) are very loyal. So another point for Inspirational secondary.

CRUELLA DE VIL (1961) - LION / LION

Cruella wants a coat made out of Dalmatian puppies. That’s  it. So I'm putting her in the same category as Hannibal Lecter, someone doing this for the *art,*  the ~*~aesthetic~*~ of the thing. But unlike Hannibal, nothing about Cruella is cold or considered. I don’t think she’d be able to tell you why she wants that Dalmatian coat apart from “It’s fabulous, darling.” So instead of going Bird primary (the typical Weird Villain sorting) I’m saying she's a Lion. Cruella seems to have an aesthetic-based morality: "fabulous" and "non-fabulous," instead of "good" and "bad." She’s a Fay Lion primary, like Jack Sparrow.

Her secondary is harder. She definitely has goons, but they’re useless, and don’t seem to like her much. She doesn’t plot or face-change. She clearly likes Anita and doesn’t like Roger, and never bothers to mask this. Cruella first tries to buy the puppies - then sort of seems surprised when this doesn’t work? Honestly, the main impression I get from her is that she’s… not trying very hard. She only really starts to care right at the very end, when she’s driving with wild hair and crazy eyes, as her roadster falls apart around her. I’m going with Lion secondary to reflect that tendency she has to operate at either 1% or 100%.

MADAME MIM (1963) - LION / SNAKE

Madame Mim has a sort of a professional rivalry going on with Merlin, and dislikes that Wart calls him “the greatest wizard in the land.” So of course she challenges him to a wizard duel. She wants to be the best, she wants to win… and that’s all there is to it. So we have another Glory Hound Lion primary. 

It’s very clear that Madame Mim loves transformation. She switches between her different faces as many times as she possibly can over the course of a single conversation. Notably, she has a sexy version of herself that she uses to charm people into doing what she wants… and there’s no reason she couldn’t wear that all the time. But she doesn’t want to. Mim gets a lot of joy out of her fluid Snake secondary, and when she’s not solving a problem she just wants to chill out in Neutral. 

PRINCE JOHN (1973) - EXPLODED SNAKE / BIRD

Prince John’s motivation has a couple of  layers. Obviously, he’s a *little* bit too excited about taxing on the citizens of Nottingham… but that’s because he’s overcompensating. His main visual design element is a crown that doesn’t fit. He’s not King John, he's Prince John, only in charge until his other (better) brother Richard comes home from the Crusades. That’s why he’s so easily flattered - he’s incredibly insecure. But his conflict isn't with Richard, exactly. It’s really... mommy issues. Everything John does is to please Mummy (an off screen-character.) Very Exploded Snake primary. 

Secondary is hard because John is incompetent. He mostly solves problems by pointing the Sheriff of Nottingham at them. It’s a running joke that he doesn’t actually listen to his advisor Sir Hiss, who generally has the right idea but isn't a suck-up. I guess John does lay kind of sophisticated traps for Robin Hood?  They don’t work, but the intent at least is Bird. So I guess I would have to go with that - a pretty incompetent Bird secondary. 

PROFESSOR RATIGAN (1986) - BURNT SNAKE / BIRD

Unlike Madame Mim and Merlin, whatever Basil of Baker Street and Ratigan have going on does not feel like a professional rivalry. Technically Ratigan is plotting a coup… but he spends approximately 85% of his on-screen time entirely focused on Basil. They are at least ex-friends who now hate each other (and it’s really easy to read them as straight-up bitter exes.) Even his hatred of being called a “rat” seems to be linked to Basil - that's an insult Basil uses, implying that Ratigan is motivated by hedonism and ego, and not by the purity of the puzzle the way that Bird Primary Basil is. Really, he’s criticizing Ratigan for having a Snake primary motivation. 

Ratigan is very obviously a very loud Bird secondary. He loves lists, he loves Rube-Goldberg devices. He’s based off Professor Moriarty, it's Snake Bird all the way down.

URSULA THE SEA WITCH (1989) - SNAKE / BIRD

So Ursula wants to take over, be the new monarch of the sea… which is usually a Glory Hound Lion motivation. But there's the implication the she's doing this to specifically screw over Triton... which would make her more of a Snake. Ursula also has a *very* hedonistic approach to life, something you often see in Snake primaries with small circles. It's just her and her “babies," the eels Flotsam and Jetsam. He eels also seem very emotionally important to her, as far as villain minions go. This could be another example of Snake primary loyalty.

I don't know, I just think a Lion primary Ursula would be angrier, more of a Scar. She’s doing her own thing, an makes use of an opportunity that falls into her lap. This is structurally a story about King Triton (who has the big emotional arc and the most character change) so it makes sense that she is specifically a Triton villain, and Ariel was just unlucky enough to get in the way.

I'm actually going to say Bird secondary for Ursula. I agree that she gives off Snake secondary *vibes,* and absolutely might model or perform it for fun. But the way she wins over Ariel is by spouting facts very fast and very confidently, then getting her to sign a bad contract. It’s a Corrupt Lawyer beat more than anything. Vanessa, Ursula's alternate form, is more an Actor Bird transformation (Wicked Queen style) and less a Snake secondary playing around (Madame Mim style.) Vanessa is Ursula's version of Ariel - she even speaks with Ariel's voice - and that's a Bird secondary approach. When Ursula‘s plans start falling apart, she doesn't pivot. She starts looking very Lion secondary - exactly like Bird secondary Ariel does when she’s overwhelmed.

Tl;dr 

Double Lion -  Queen of Hearts, Cruella De Vil

Lion Snake - Madame Mim

Snake Bird - Prince John, Professor Ratigan, Ursula

Snake Badger - Wicked Stepmother

Badger Snake - Captain Hook

Badger Bird - Evil Queen

Bird Lion - Maleficent

#disney #sortinghatchats #shc #queen of hearts #cruella de vil #madame mim #disney’s robin hood #prince john #professor ratigan #ursula the sea witch #wicked stepmother #lady tremaine #captain hook #evil queen #snow white evil queen #maleficent #wisteria sorts

[rockybloo]

Hi, feel free to ignore this ask, or point me wearily to the FAQ if i missed it, but can I asked what inspired the world of Lore? Specifically the holistic nature of it, where different tales live side by side. I am a…hopeful, one-day fairy and folk tale scholar, and in my studies I’ve seen this concept pop up in a lot of more modern retellings/reimaginings, and one of my projects has been to see if i could find a source. When i say inspiration/source, I don’t mean singular piece(s) of media that gave you the idea (if you have one id love to know it though!) i more mean sorta your own internal source, the emotional trigger that led you to grouping separate fairy tales into one larger world. I know theres a lot to be said for the simple concept of “because it fucks, thats why” (some of my favorite interpretations of tales spawn from similar concepts) but if you have the time or energy, id love it if you’d be willing to ponder deeper motivations.

Sorry for the long ask, im absolutely obsessed with your characters and the worlds you create by taking archetypical settings and twisting them into something new and intriguing. Thank you for sharing your art (in all senses of the word) with us!

Thank you! And I very much love overthinking fairy tales and their existence SO I SHALL DO EXACTLY THAT!

For me, the reason I just plopped down every fairy tale into the same world, aside from a simple "Because everyone else does it and it's my favorite type of fantasy world" is because it makes so much sense to me.

There's a ton of repeated themes and characters in fairy tales to the point they have a classification system to make folklorist's lives easier when categorizing them. There are so many different Cinderellas, and I don't mean just the European one, as it's a fable that has been found all around the world. There are very much big differences in each story but the literal age old tale is still noticeable.

I took a mythology and fairy tale class in high school where we talked about "The Hero's Journey" which is like a template nearly every story falls into regardless of where a story is from. And for me, it was wild seeing just how many shared tropes humanity has as a whole in our storytelling.

A character that pops multiple times, aside from Prince Charming, is the Big Bad Wolf. OF COURSE it's because wolves were (and still are somewhat) dangerous animals and so that is how they are characterized in fables such as Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs. But it's still noticeable that these stories overlap with each other so fitting them into a single world just makes a lot of sense.

Another gigantic reason is that we all live in reality. There's a general understanding of what can and cannot occur on Earth. We know we can't fly without some machine to aid us or talk to animals and have them speak our language back to us. And many mythical beings can potentially be traced back to specific interactions early humans had with rare instances in nature and a need to have a reason "why?".

In fairy tales, reality is fantastical. Numerous tales have talking animals, super natural beings, shapeshifting, characters defying death and recovering from "should have been" fatal injuries, and being able to live happily ever after with never ending love.

We humans don't really get that. Especially that last part with happy endings and love. Sure, we can live a peaceful life or try to but there's this level of joy in some tales that only exists in fairy tales. And love so so much more complicated than the typical "love at first sight that lasts forever without problems".

With all these elements that land fairy tales in a different realm of reality than us, I thought it made sense to actually make a realm (or rather a planet) that explains why things in the world of fairy tales are so much more different than us and even somewhat explain why our reality doesn't have magic in it.

It basically traces back to that age old human urge to explain the unexplainable with some story.

#ask #ask: beanstalked

[adarkrainbow]

Question: In the world of fairy tales, how much the concept of "wishing" is really important?

Obviously, "Wishful thinking" and "careful what you wish for" are important tropes of the fairy tale genre, but I never considered them to be genre defining or that much important for the narratives.

But the upcoming Disney film Wish made me rethink some things.

While the film itself is meant to celebrate Disney animation and their history of "quest for a dream" and "dreams come true" tropes, I wonder how much of these tropes have any basis on the original folk tales or the literary tales inspired by them.

Disney made the connection between fairy tales and "wishing", but they seem not to be the first or the only ones.

On the most famous example besides Disney, Sondheim's Into the Woods seamed to think there was a link between the Grimm and English fairy tales and the concept of wishing, to the point it's a foundational plot point to the story.

The Frog King or the Frog Prince, a tale that is known to always open the Grimm's fairy tale collection across several editions, literally starts as:

"IN the old times, when it was still of some use to wish for the thing one wanted, [...]"

or depending on the translation

"IN the olden time, when wishing was having, [...]"

Well wishes DEFINITIVELY are a key part of fairytales, but maybe not in the sense we understand today...

As in the idea of "wishes coming true" all on their own is something purely Disney like. I can't say anything about the Grimm stories, but when it comes to French fairytales the idea of wishing is definitively present... But as a "desire".

For example, good fairies and fairy godmothers keep granting people's wishes in French literary fairytales. But they just do not pop up whenever someone makes a wish. For example take Cinderella, in Perrault's version, the fairy godmother asks Cinderella if she wishes (aka wants) to go to the ball, and since she says yes, the fairy godmother agrees to grant her the wish - but she does mention "and since you have been so good". This is a recurring topic in these French fairytales - wishes are granted as rewards for a good action or a good behavior, just wishing in itself does nothing (as Perrault evokes in some of his fairytales morals "Sometimes all you need to be rewarded in life... is to have a fairy godmother because else you're stuck in your misery.") There is also very often the topic of a fairy asking a person they want to reward to choose between various gifts and select precisely which "wish" they want more than another. For example there was this story by madame de Murat called "Anguillette" where a fairy saved by a princess offers her three possible gifts: wealth, beauty or intelligence, and she tells her to carefully make her "wish". (Though this fairytale is actually a twist on the trope of the choice since, unlike other fairies in this situation, this fairy ends up giving the princess all three gifts at once just because she is that good - but that's an exception)

In folk-fairytales the topic of wish is also present, but more in the "be careful what you wish for". Just recently I read a folkloric tale about the wife of a man who was friend with a local magical dwarf - and to obtain a horse (or a cow I can't remember exactly), the magical dwarf told the wife to go to a nearby village of dwarfs. But he warned her to be very precise in how she formulates her "wish" - for example she has to precise that the beast must have ears, eyes, legs... And ultimately she does get the animal, but forgets one thing in her specifications: the tail.

So I am speaking here only for the French branch of fairytales - but given Disney was as much inspired by them as by the Grimms I think it is a fair standing point. Wishes, the concept of granted wishes is definitively present in fairytales, for sure... But not the "power of wishes". Wishes in fairytales as a symbol of hope, wishes coming true all on their own because you "believe", wishes as just a power and force in itself, is something that is definitively part of Disney's specific brand and topic. Because in French fairytales, a wish is either a request/desire made to a supernatural being, or a reward for a good behavior. Wish is not "hope" but "desire" ; and yes wishes are granted, but as in "what you desire the most will be granted" ; and they are not granted randomly just because you believe. They are granted because you were a good person in the eyes of a supernatural power - a supernatural power which might force you to choose between specific options what you "wish" or "desire" more. And sometimes, fairies don't even grant the wishes, but go against them. I am not even speaking of wicked fairies, but good fairies too!

Take Donkeyskin. This is something that was very highlighted and focused on by the musical movie adaptation, but that was already present as a one-line joke in the original text: the princess, before fleeing the castle, ends up not wanting to fight her father's incestuous desire. She doesn't particularly wish to escape or to not be loved by her father - it is the fairy godmother that has to point out to her that no, this is not a good situation, and it is her that will force her to do all sorts of things she did not ask for. Similarly in these literary fairytales, a lot of the time good fairies are actually here to warn people that what they wish is dangerous, or that what they desire will be self-destructive or cause everybody harm. So overall, while wishes are present in French fairytales, they are not very prominent or important in themselves - rather, the logic of these fairytales is one of reward and punishment, and one of desire both good and bad - desire granted or desire denied, desire encouraged or desire fought off.

And in fact.... A lot of the time these supernatural rewards are not even based on wishes. Very often supernatural beings just decide on their own what would be the most fitting reward. For example take "Diamonds and toads" - the girl never wished for the riches given to her by the fairy, but that's her reward. Or rather, an example more telling would be a VERY famous fairytale of France. Its most famous version is from Bretagne, but it exists in numerous regions of France and was even found in northern Africa - it is the story of "The two hunchbacks and the (insert your local supernatural being here)". In France it is a lutin, or a variation of the lutin/dwarf (in Bretagne, the korrigan). The principle is always the same: there are two brothers who are hunchbacks, one is good one is bad. The good brother ends up stumbling one night upon a party of dancing and singing magical little beings, and he makes the party even merrier/plays well some music instrument/completes an unfinished songs of the lutins. The lutins decide to reward them - and without asking him what he want, or without the good brother asking anything, they remove his hunch, making him a normal man. When the bad brother, envious of the good brother's fate, goes to the same lutin party but acts poorly there, he demands a reward - and this reward is the hump of his brother, added onto his own.

This is something very prominent in these folk-tales: do not ask for a reward out of the blue. Only ask for a reward if you are offered a voice, only wish for something if the supernatural being encourages you to wish for something or allows you to. To ask for something, to enforce your wish upon a supernatural being, always turns up badly. A variation of the two brothers tale is even more revealing of this theme: in this story, the good brother is offered to choose between lot of gold, or having his hump removed. And when the bad brother arrives, he demands "what my brother left behind", meaning the gold - but the lutins/dwarfs/korrigans/fairies decide to understand it as "the hunched-back my brother left behind".

Because this is something that is very prominently said in literary fairytales of France: fairies (and other assorted supernatural beings) are not low-beings or powerless creatures. They are not to be commanded, they are very high on the social AND cosmic hierarchy. Fairies for examples, in French fairytales, are repeatedly said to be either equal to kings and queens - or SUPERIOR to any kind of human royalty that exists. This is notably why so many of them end up being godmothers of princes and princesses, or marrying kings, or making ennemies out of royalty. Again, fairies and other enchanters of French classical-literary fairytales are inheritors of the gods and goddesses of the Greco-Roman mythology, crossed with some folk-Christianity of saints and Virgin Mary, so there's still this idea that the human is naturally inferior to the supernatural, and should always treat it with respect. Just like how you do not ask a king to gift you something, you do not ask a fairy to grant you a wish - else you want it interpreted in a bad way. You rather do good things in hope of gaining the king's favor so he rewards you.

Anyway, after twisted digressions, to return to your original post: as you said, the topic of "wishes" is not as genre-defining as it might seem today. Disney really took this element and expanded it and focused the light on it and insisted upon it, to the point that we can say definitively today that the topic of the "power of wishes" IS a defining genre of the Disney fairytale. But it does not mean wishes and their importance wasn't in fairytales before... But the wishes themselves did not have the power - the supernatural beings had the power and granted the wishes. Hope in these traditional fairytales isn't about wishing something or believing in something. In these fairytales manifesting "hope" means staying kind and true and good-working and gentle to everybody and everyone and enduring all your pain and all your hardships and miseries, because doing so might earn you the favor or pity of a powerful cosmic royalty who will decide to reward you by granting you what you desire the most or what is the best for you. If someone simply wishes something, it probably won't come true in a fairytale - the best way to make sure your wish comes true is to go feed old hungry women and save frogs from being eaten by birds ; but if you just "wish upon a star", you'll probably get nothing. However if you cry out your heart upon some given plants or in front of some given birds, they might help you by bringing you good counsel or some food - but no wish granting.

And as I said, even then, your personal wish and desire ultimately might not be what is actually good for you, and many warning tales of the literary fairytale era were about "Here's how you will die when your wish is granted". Typical Psyche and Cupid tale: the wife wants to see her husband, and this wish leads her to lose everything. Typical Beauty and the Beast tale: the girl wishes to go to her family, and it almost kills the beast. And of course, the wishes and demands and desires of bad people ultimately become their undoing... Unless you are one of those fairytale antagonists with a fairy godmother on your side, in which case your wish and demands become the main reason the protagonists are suffering (madame d'Aulnoy's The Blue Bird is the most revealing case, as it is the first French literary fairytale where the evil step-sisters gets a fairy godmother who ends up cursing the princess' beloved into the titular blue-bird, simply because she does everything she can to please and grant the wishes of the person she is the godmother of).

As for the Grimm fairytales... I honestly do not think wishing is an important part of them? Wishing does get its fair share in French fairytales in a very nuance and complex take ; but the Grimms? Beyond the line you evoked in the Frog Prince, where are the wishes in Hansel and Gretel, The Wolf and the Seven Goats, The Robber Bridegroom? There is Rapunzel but the mother's desire is not a wish, rather a craving. There's Snow-White, where indeed the wish comes true - but it backfires massively since in the original version the mother ends up hating her own daughter, and in the later version the mother dies soon after giving birth. But beyond that? I don't see many wish-stories. Oh yes, except the Fisherman and his Wife - a very traditional "wish" story, but even then... Wishes are depicted as ultimately negative, since the wife is driven by greed and ambition that augments with every wish.

So yes, Disney probably is the only one of the entire corpus of fairytales who decided to depict wishes as purely and entirely good.

#i am sorry i can't other more insight on the topic #but i never pondered much about the power of wishing #in french fairytales it truly isn't an important topic #i mean its there but it is never the core or focus of the stories #and again the be careful what you wish for trope is SO strong in fairytales and folktales #it almost over-rides everything since the ones with happy endings are often the ones who do not wish for everything #basically the moral would be only wish if you are asked to wish #and even then choose your wish very carefully #fairytales #fairy tales #wish #wishing

[kingdoms-and-empires]

I chose the OP option (because I can't decide which stats I wanna focus on 😭) and I developed a little head canon to explain why my character is good at everything. In his former life he was less than OP. He was one of those people who have potential, but never applied himself, out of a mixture of laziness, procrastination, and a crippling fear of failure! When he died he was extremely disappointed in himself. He always figured that he'd pull himself together in the future, but now he's dead and he never achieved anything he wanted, other than gathering some useless facts (like maybe ancient technology such as the treadwheel crane perhaps 👀). When he got his second chance he decided he was gonna make full use of it. The instant he was able to comprehend the language of the world and was able to read, he'd sneak books and accelerate his education through reading things someone as young as him shouldn't understand. He also would go through physical training, again in secret, and watch the guards train in swordsmanship in hopes of picking something up. Since for years he had little to no responsibilities, and the mind of an adult, he has been able to devote almost all his time to developing his mind and body

TL;DR: my MC went from a procrastinator to a try hard and it payed off

Nice headcanon!

i think alot of people would be similar if they had their old memories and would give themselves a strong head start

Its really interesting to think about how you'd really act in a similar situation to the MC as you yourself.

The MC is canon to be "good" from the start, and its up to the player to choose how the MC progresses over time...honestly the best reincarnation works ive seen out there arent the traditional Isekai protag animes, its actually works that deal with a woman being reincarnated or isekai'd. Either a reincarnated villainess trope, or general isekai trope work, the ones with female leads are generally better in my opinion since it usually aint a power fantasy

Eh idk where i went with all this but it was fun to think about haha, so thanks!

Oh, some of my favorite anime that deal in reincarnation and isekai with female leads or kingdom simulators in general that do it well with male or female leads are these:

Fuuuuuck youre making me break out my old bookmarks and im seeing my mangas are now updated with new chapters...dozens of new chapters!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I WANNA STOP WRITING AND READ INSTEAD

This one has adorable art that I feel in love with as the MC starts as a baby lol, and the MC is competent, which is really nice

The MC is alright, she tries doing stuff to get out of shitty circumstances but the real highlight of the story are the titular Monster Duchess and her husband. Nooo idea how it is now but theres literally double the chapters now from where i left of and im so tempted to read lolololol

OMFGGGGG I FORGOT ABOUT THIS!! This is a fav of mine since it deals with the cinderella story! The MC is a reincarnated chick who plays as the evil stepmother in cinderella's story, but omfg its such a good twist on the trope and it really does alot of things well, and THERES SO MANY NEW CHAPTERSSSSSS

YOOOOOOOOOO I forgot this one too lmaoooo ima bad fan haha

Anyways, this is another great subversion of the reincarnating trope since the MC is on her THIRD reincarnated life, and she actually conquered EVERYTHING in her second life. But she got betrayed and killed by people and she said mannnnnn fuck this, ima get hitched with the dude who was nice to me in my old life and never asked for shit! And so begins a funny as romance story lol, GOD DAMN AND THEYRE ON THE SECOND SEASON NOOOOOOW

Someone either here or on Discord recommended this to me, and whoever did so, I love you! This is a weirdly realistic take on the historical figures of the Sengoku period having to deal with this weird girl who appears to have come out of nowhere but knows a bit of practical modern knowledge that helps Oda Nobunaga win some victories. Honestly, i really appreciate how grounded it is for a manga! The truth of the matter is, we really wouldnt be able to do that much if we were in her shoes either lol!

Bruhhhh when i tell you i squealed when i saw how many chapters this has now! Without a doubt, this is my favorite! The MC is hyper competent, she uses her femineity to her advantage and doesnt fight against it like other works do when they wanna show their female lead "isnt like other girls", and shes honestly such a joy to watch running circles around other people that screwed her over in her past life. Read this one for sure!!!!

Another competent female lead how got reincarnated and has to survive death flags by marrying one of the romance options, but the world system keeps screwing her over and its funny to see how she has to navigate trying to romance obviously shitty romance options who sound really hot (like the enemies to lovers trope would NOT be easy in real life lmao) or (the crazy mfer who makes you scared but horni)

Read this and then decide if you'd survive lol

AHGHGHGHHHH This is so good!!! Basically a girl has to become the stepmother to children how are close in age to her. She tries to do things her own way at first, but she dies. So she gets reincarnated and tries to do better the second time around. If you wanna read a good female lead doing introspection and learning from her past mistakes, read this. Its really good!

Alrighty. This is honestly a guilty pleasure, and should really be read after reading alot of villainess or female lead reincarnation manga to basically cleanse your palate with this funny ass story lol. Instead of playing by the rules of society like the previous stories, the main character does "not like other girls" very well and its enjoyable to watch lol! Use it once you get tired of the previously mentioned ones!

Annnnnnd that's it! Thank you for making me out myself lmaooooo

#kingdomsandempires #question #manga #villainess isekai

[epickiya722]

LET'S TALK ABOUT ARIEL! 😃🧜🏿‍♀️

Let me just post this real quick, because waking and already having to block three blogs because they're obviously racist.

Now to put it simply for the stupid ass racists who are upset...

ARIELIS A DAMN FICTIONAL CHARACTER! A FUCKING MERMAID!!! SHE ISN'T HUMAN!!!

Saying Halle "ruined your childhood" is real fucked up given she isn't even the first person of color to play Ariel. And no one moved their lips when that happened. Ya'll are mad because she is a bit more brown for your liking and that is so fucking sad.

You're missing out on seeing a very gorgeous, talented woman who radiates magic play one of the most iconic Disney characters there is. All because you're stupid.

"Her hair is not red enough". Bitch, when Disney first created Ariel they needed her to stand out. The previous princesses were brunettes and blondes, just like her sisters. Disney knew that what better way than to grab attention than to have a redheaded mermaid that for once isn't mean or a side character? Also, remember the movie "Splash"? A mermaid movie Disney had made? Guess what? Madison is a blonde in that film and Disney didn't want her and Ariel to be mistaken for each other. Another reason why Ariel is a redhead. Ooh! You know what else????!!! She just had to be a redhead! Never said that her hair had to be a specific color. In fact, during that era, Disney didn't have the technology to make her hair a "realistic" red as they do now. Ya'll are so stuck on her hair not being "red enough" that you forgot Ariel isn't the first redhead Disney had. They nearly have the same shade of red.

Note that Anastasia is human and came out in the 50s where colors are just a little more muted, her red is as realistic that Disney could get. But did they intend for her to be a redhead? Yes! Why? Because she's a mean character. Learn how movie tactics work. A lot of times when the protagonist is a cute little blonde with heart of gold, they need an antagonist that is either a black hearted brunette or a mean, red faced redhead. Understand, yeah?

Now when it came to Ariel, I repeat, they needed her to stand out. Disney couldn't rely back on making her blonde or brunette, although the latter was intended, because even though her sisters don't appear much, she still needed to stand out. It's also why her tail and seashell bra aren't the same color and why she doesn't have a hair accessory.

Also why, note her personality compared to the previous princesses. She's a lot more adventurous, and truth be told, "hard headed" or free-spirited. She fights back and does something in her final act against Ursula. It played into the fiery redhead trope.

So there's some reasons why Ariel is a redhead. But why isn't her hair "red enough"? Because we know who she is now. Back then, Ariel needed to make a name. Now, she doesn't have to. When know Ariel is a redhead, we know she's a mermaid. Also, it would look so odd in live action. Animated, it blends well with the other bright colors of the movie. In a live action film, she still needs to stand out, but also not awkward. Bright red hair against real life muted underwater blue would look too... it just would look so odd. Although a mermaid, she still needs to have some feel of naturalness to her. It's a plus Halle got to keep her locs because it adds onto that. Slapped a wig on her and there would be memes, be honest.

Onward!

You know what, I might make someone mad when I say this but I give two fucks about it.

Ariel looks better here than she does in the animated version. Why? Because while she looks magical, she also looks LIKE A CHILD. Who designed Ariel's top is a genius because uh... Ariel may be half fish but she's also 16 YEARS OLD. Watch the trailer again and you'll see no seashell bra. Now I don't know how old Ariel may be in the live-action, but consider this. What if she is 16? Note that Snow White is 14, but is covered up from head to toe. Modesty. Same thing with Cinderella and Aurora. Their movies came out during times when women had to be "submissive" and "covered up", otherwise they were shamed.

Ariel came in the 80s, when practically everyone was wearing a crop top and shorts. Which was a perfect "cover up" for Disney to create a character that was just as exposed. Isn't it strange that a lot of Ariel's promotional art is her in her seashell bra? Because Disney knows that sells. They didn't waste the opportunity to have a mermaid character with cleavage and have people not think twice about it.

Today? Be honest, ya'll would be absolutely outrageous if they slapped a seashell bra on a 16 year old. It was the issue with Jasmine and Pocahontas. Their default outfits shown more skin than other princesses have. And they fixed that when the live-action for Jasmine.

One more thing, Ariel is an original character. Ah, wait! Yes, "The Little Mermaid" is inspired by the story of the same name, but there are so many differences between the original story and movie that Hans' story could have been completely ignored. In the story, the mermaid doesn't even have a name and is blond. She even had a grandmother. Ariel has a name, a father... you know what? Separate characters. Ariel is Disney property and because of that the filmmakers could decide "Make her purple" and they would because again they have that choice. Disney, believe or not, can do whatever they wanted with their characters.

With Ariel being black now shouldn't even matter. Ya'll dumb ass racists should have considered if Ariel's actress could hit a high note. And guess what? Halle can. They needed someone who looked magical and had the voice to match and Halle is PERFECT for the role. She looks innocent, she has that princess aura around her and she can sing! Halle was actually seeked out to play Ariel. Rob Marshall heard Halle sing and asked her to audition. Her singing is just that good that they decided to add more numbers just to have more singing for Ariel.

Had it been anybody else, they wouldn't have done that.

Marshall just knew Halle had to be our Ariel and the fact that you racists, you idiots can't seem to get past her skin tone and see how amazing Halle is is so pathetic and you seriously need to get a life. Here's an article if you need proof.

But you can be mad because Halle Bailey is Princess Ariel of Atlantica and as she has haters she does have fans.

And just know that come into my inbox with anything stupid, you're just gonna get disrespected. Reblog this post with anything stupid, I won't even read your reply. I'll just screenshot it, post it and have it up for people to know how racist and ignorant you are and block you.

Have your opinions, don't care, but you will be respectful and if you can't do that then that's tough... for you.

#just kiya's thoughts #the little mermaid 2023 #the little mermaid #ariel #disney ariel #princess ariel #ariel the little mermaid #disney princesses #halle bailey

[watermelinoe]

can you recommend some isekais?

ohhh anon you bet your buns i can!! so i'll just say that i love the villainess isekai trope, and i love historical political intrigue, aristocratic scheming, power struggles, etc. i personally like f/m but only if the male lead is secondary to the female lead. i like a male lead who falls in love first and devotedly supports his female lead while she does important plot shit, even better if she's completely oblivious to his feelings. but the second a good f/f villainess isekai exists? i will devour it so fast. (you have no idea how let down i was by i'm in love with the villainess. i may never recover.) ANYWAY here you are:

kanata kara (manga, complete): 90s shoujo fantasy romance, a young woman finds herself spirited away to another world where she is prophecized to release an evil monster currently sealed inside a wandering young swordsman. i really loved the worldbuilding and the fact that noriko has to learn the new language bc she doesn't automatically know it like in most modern isekai. and i love that it emphasizes the good in people, and the importance of the connections we make with each other. noriko is unquestionably vital to the narrative even if she can't fight. i also personally love the art style but i get that it's not for everyone!

sengoku strays (manga, complete): shounen with a female protagonist who knows kendo, no romance, written by a woman! totally underrated imo. a high school girl ends up back in the sengoku era right in the middle of nobunaga oda's rise to power and ends up fighting alongside his allies. i didn't expect to like this one as much as i did.

the villainess is a marionette (manhwa, ongoing): double-reincarnation story, princess kayena hill has already had two past lives. in this one she is working to survive the power struggle for the throne by gathering her own allies... most of whom so far are women - her maids - and she's really protective of her people (and they're really devoted to her). when she shows up to the rescue when her maids are in trouble, without spoiling the situation, i was kicking my legs bc she's just the coolest. there's the male lead, who's in love with her, but she's largely too busy with other shit. i would also die for her so i get him tbh. the art is gorgeous!!

a wicked tale of cinderella's stepmom/i raised cinderella preciously (manhwa, ongoing): 37-year-old protagonist, she wakes up in the body of mildred vans, apparently the wicked stepmother of three daughters (included stepdaughter ashley vans), and makes it her mission to help cinderella marry her prince and ensure her other daughters find good marriages so she can retire to a cottage somewhere. this obviously doesn't go as planned. the manhwa deals quite a bit with the misogyny of the time period and the girls trying to find their own way, while wanting to protect each other and mildred, so they all hesitate to go for what they really want. the female characters of the vans family are all well-rounded and devoted to each other. this is a slow burn with lots of secret identities and misunderstandings. i have my own theories based on what we know so far, but the big question right now is: is ashley really cinderella?

not-sew-wicked stepmom/i'm a stepmother, but my daughter is just too cute (manhwa, ongoing): another wicked stepmother isekai, in this one the female lead wakes up as snow white's evil stepmother, abigail friedkin, but all she wants to do is get close to her daughter and design clothes for her (she was a children's fashion designer in her past life). this manhwa deals heavily with misogyny and disordered eating - the female lead was always overweight in her past life and snaps when she finds out her stepdaughter's tutor is restricting her meals, for example. also, if you like rococo era fashion, you'll really enjoy the dress designs, especially the chemise dresses - the manhwa explores the misogyny surrounding women and girls being forced to wear uncomfortable clothing. this is also the second time i've actually seen period blood depicted in a manga or manhwa (the other was akatsuki no yona, which i absolutely recommend)! i do have to give a trigger warning for the reveal of past child sexual abuse. the perpetrator is dead before the start of the manhwa but the manhwa deals with the remaining trauma.

the villiness flips the script/it's time to change the genre (manhwa, ongoing): i really like the villainess genre alright. the female lead wakes up in the body of judith maibaum, abusive aunt to the male lead of a tragedy novel, a boy named luca winterwald. she plans to send him off with his uncle to live out the novel's storyline so she can live quietly, but instead he claims she's really his mom so that she has to come with him to the winterwald estate. he turns out to be quite different from the novel, much more jaded and quick-witted (obviously i'm pretty sure why that is but it hasn't been confirmed yet). i also really like the male lead in this one bc he's so straight-forward. it's not really a slow-burn in that regard, and most of the plot is focused on the political intrigue and trying to prevent the tragic events of the novel.

master villainess the invincible/i'm a martial art villainess but i'm the strongest (manhwa, ongoing): you guessed it, yet another villainess isekai! in this one the female lead wakes up in the body of the villainess of a martial arts novel, hae-won tang. when she eats a random root that unseals her chi, she discovers that she's actually an incredibly powerful martial artist. as she tries to help the people around her, she inadvertently becomes embroiled in the politics of her clan and the battle to prevent the rise of the demon clan, a role that was supposed to be fulfilled by the original novel's male lead... but he's not really up to the task. and not to be bi on main but... the female and male leads here, whew. also i don't want to give spoilers but when the women in this manhwa go apeshit, it'll do something to you, okay.

rn i have 55 manga/manhwa in my isekai list on my anilist so ummm yeah, these are just my very very favorites!! if there's one you wanna ask me about to see if i've read it/heard of it, go for it bc i feel like i'm the only weebfem here who's allergic to most shounen gjhfdkgjfd shoujo/josei supremacy

#answered #weeb hours #weebfem blood pact

[chocolatepot]

I'd love to hear about OFMD time travel and the queer Cinderellas WIPs! (And if you've already done those, then pick the one you're most excited about!)

Yay! I did do the time travel one, so I'll tell you about Queer Cinderellas.

This is one doc with two original butch/femme Cinderella retellings in it. In the one I started writing, the setting is 1920s and Patience has made herself a gown out of some of her mother's old clothes in the attic. She goes to the ball but actually kind of hates it (because all my main characters are autistics with sensory issues) and goes to hang out in the garden, where she can listen to the music and eat some party food - but there is already someone else out there.

They were, as far as she could tell, fairly tall and thin, with elbows that stuck out a little awkwardly to the sides. Their suit was excellently tailored, though she couldn’t make out any details in the inky fabric, given the gloom – so they were probably a guest and not some sort of assassin or thief. Strawberry blond hair was combed back carefully from a side part, and pale eyes were watching her from over a longish nose in what was altogether a handsome face. “Sorry,” said the person in a mellow alto tone, and she realized that they were a woman. “Didn’t mean to give you a scare.”

(She also puts on a MONOCLE and has a non-fashion cane, which is why she's out in the garden - she doesn't dance.)

Patience absolutely doesn't recognize that this is the prince and is kind and polite but not awed, and the prince is taken with her. When she runs from the ball, she leaves behind a sequined motif from her dress (in a lot of historical clothes, when you see some kind of repeated pattern in beads or sequins, they're pieces that were premade on a substrate and then sewn to the gown - so they can just come off and stay intact), and the prince has to search for her by matching it to evening gowns all over the city.

The second one I have not started writing and have put less thought into, but in this one the princess is femme and she's supposed to be paying attention to the men at the ball. But one of the men is actually Butch Cinderella! BC is immediately taken with the princess, gets into the knot of suitors around her and tries to impress her, but is a complete rube as she's never been out in society, which the princess finds charming. This would have the shoe trope from the original fairy tale, but it makes moderately more sense here as BC's foot is being compared to gentlemen's.

(@stripedroseandsketchpads alert again, lmao)

#writing meme #lesbians!

[thekatebridgerton]

Some say Sophie's hair is dark blonde. I honestly don't like the idea of Lily James fancast because most people chose her cuz she plays Cinderella. Then again, the idea of inter-racial cast for Sophie just doesn't fit me. Please understand that I'm not being racist, I just feel like Benedict's story with Luke Thompson portraying him needs something more like what we see on "Pride and Prejudice" or "Emma" (different tropes, obviously).

So the question is, who's your fancast for Sophie Beckett?

YES someone who gets it about how boring the Lily James fancast is!! I’m so tired of people fan casting her as Sophie just because she’s seems to have been the best Cinderella in the last decade (and that’s a seriously low bar) but it’s time to let it go.

Although sorry about dissing Pride and Prejudice for a sec, because I’m seriously bored of P&P too. I mean Keira’s Pride and Prejudice came out in 2005. But for some reason, until Bridgerton came along, that seemed to be the only period drama worth talking about in Tumblr and it’s gotten old. Personally I love Lizzie, but there’s only so many repeats of that movie I can play for 18 years before I start watching Sense and Sensibility. Or the Jennifer Elhe version of P&P.

As a rule, it is fun for me to fancast Jessie Mei Li as Sophie because I’ve yet to see an Asian Cinderella outside of k-drama, and as someone who advocates for fully racially diverse casting in productions like Bridgerton. I want the Asians to have a larger representation…. And also because I like to bet against the odds, and deep down I know that given Shondaland track record of having so few Asians characters in her shows, the likelihood of Sophie being Asian is unlikely. So if it happens, It’ll bring me the highest emotional reward.

That being said, Sophie’s full name is supposed to be Sophia Maria Beckett. We never find out who her mother was, but given her name and what little we know of her mother, who was supposed to be in the theatre business, I assume her mother was a born Spanish or Italian speaker, so Sophie’s mom canonically was either Spanish, Italian, or South American. Since Sophia and Maria were common names for women in those regions at the time.

So if I’m fancasting book Sophie, I would fancast her as a blond haired South American actress. A friend of mine suggested Ana de Armas and now I can’t stop thinking about it. In fact I think I’m going to change my fancast in Gaslight Gatekeep Girlboss to Ana, because I would love to see her play Sophie, I saw her in Knives Out and Ghosted, and I think she’s got the mixture of cute and badass that would make her a perfect hardworking Sunshine Cinderella who punches Araminta. There’s a reason it’s not totally believable when she plays role of femme fatales, and it’s because she’s definitely got the type of cute innocent face that just doesn't lend itself well to sexy seductive action roles, even tough she's an excellent actress. In my opinion.

I think that Ana de Armas could in fact pull off the whole 'he didn't recognize her without a mask' scene and make it believable.

But in the end, if we were betting money, and if we were playing with the rules of probability, instead of against them. The most likely thing that’s going to happen, is that Sophie’s actress has already been casted and that she is black, or mixed raced black. And I’m saying this because it was foreshadowed in QC (or so my sources tell me) and also because Shonda is extremely predictable. In the sense that it seems to be what the majority of the viewers seem to want (when it's not Lily James)

So yeah that's the tea. Jessie Mei Li or Ana De Armas for Sophie.

#sophie beckett #fancast #ana de armas is cute

[karlyanalora]

Disenchanted the Fix-it

Just watched Disenchanted and what wasted potential. The urge right after to write a fix-it was strong but cooled after an hour. However, I do have some ideas I will unleash on the internet.

My sister pointed out that Giselle moving to Monroeville turned almost everyone into a charecture. Giselle exudes magic which affects those nearby. In NYC, there were enough people nearby it didn't make an obvious difference besides the odd spontaneous musical number like "How does she know?"

On the wand gifting visit, Nancy does admit their is trouble in Andalasia. She doesn't have any magic, making it hard for her to manage many of the problems the land faces, leaving it all to Edward to fix. He's getting burnout and it pains her to see and she wishes she could help.

It would be way more fun if Giselle was unaware of her transformation.

Robert should be the hero. He should be able to save his wife because, lets be honest, your spouse should be your strongest relationship. His true fairy tale role to match the Cinderella theme should be the merchant father who must travel (the bus) but is happy. He shows up in NYC looking and acting strange and Nathaniel sees him. Nathaniel serves to snap him out of the spell and determine to subvert the magic and maintain their awareness by playing by the rules of the roles they choose for themselves: a hero and his wise (old wizard) mentor.

They discover in order to break the spell on a person you have to break the trope they are in.

Morgan and Tyson are very happy in their trope and all attempts to break it are not working. Nathaniel theorizes that it's because this is their secret fantasy.

Sophie plays a bigger role because Robert seems to favor Morgan, at least in Wicked Stepmother Giselle's eyes. Robert is able to dispel this assumption by proving somehow (idk what) that he loves them equally. It's a crack in the trope. He's able to fully break the magic by fully breaking the trope by acknowledging all the evil Giselle is doing (he and Nathaniel don't think it's the spell) but loves her anyway and saves her from her own evil takeover gone wrong.

They can't break Malvina's trope and the trope demands she try to keep the fairytale world. Nathaniel realizes to break the spell they must address the underlying desire of her fantasy. This is to be in control of her own life which has led her irl to be controlling and for Tyson and Morgan it is to be loved. Giselle is able to break Morgan's trope by letting her know much she is loved and that she just wanted a world that would love Morgan and see her the way Giselle did. Giselle then realizes the same is true for Malvina, that she just wanted a better world for her son, and is able to break the spell by helping mother and son reconnect. Giselle undoes the wish.

But Nathaniel reveals her inner magic will forever change the people around her against their own will and she must give it up. Robert and Morgan offer the move to Andalasia instead but Giselle realizes her happily ever after is hard work wherever she is because that's love. It's hard and nothing is more beautiful and powerful because of it.

Giselle chooses to gift her magic to Nancy*, saying it won't fix everything; magic never does. But if they put the work in, they will continue to keep their happily ever after alive. We see both couples putting the work in to improve the underlying issues of their kingdoms and marriages. Instead of "The End" we get "And they lived and worked and loved forever after."

*Nancy got sent up to find out what was the cause of the hole in the sky because Edward wanted her to be safe, and she knew it. Without magic, how could she hope to help?

We also have the overarching theme that happiness is fleeting and true love is a verb and not dependent on it (shown by Robert creating true love with how he serves his family).

#disenchanted 2022 #disenchanted #fix it #true love #breaking tropes #disney tropes

[the-indie-owl]

It's kinda hard to believe from Critics that People will say that "The Magic Riddle walked just so Shrek could run" when folks keep forgetting some prehistorical facts when it comes to Modernazing a Fairy Tale or even Do a Mega Crossover with all of the Old Literature being put in One Big Fat World. Even with Some Other Fairy Tale Media before Shrek.

If you're confused to know, I've just seen people comparing an Australian Animated Film called "The Magic Riddle" (which is a suppose adaptation of the Cinderella fairytale) with DreamWorks' Adaptation of Shrek (which reminds Me of the comparison between "The Water Babies" and "Alice in Wonderland"). One being the Latter still being Watched Today while The Former has not. But unlike those 2 Victorian Literature works, there happened to be other Fairy Tale Crossovers or Ones that have Modernized the Literature Works that we've recognized as of Today long before Shrek came into the Universe.

I have nothing against people who dislike or hate "The Magic Riddle" (being that it's made behind the same company with their own Adaptations of "Blinky Bill", "Dot and The Kangaroo" and my most favorite being, "Tabaluga"), but this is just something that I had to get off my chest if people who have seen TMR need to know this importantly.

Shrek was never really established as an Original Creation from DreamWorks with the idea of having All Fairy Tale characters set in the same world with a Modernized in the Medieval Century diet with a Parody genre, Shrek was actually a Children's Book by William Steig. The plotline of the Original Shrek was completely different then the One that we all now, even from Today's standards of Pop Culture.

Shrek actually came out 1 year before The Magic Riddle, meaning that The Original Shrek story had No Absolute Fairy Tale Characters, thus, it only had its own Original Characters in its Original Story where's the Foreign Movie had its own Fairy Tale Crossover (even before when 10 Years that DreamWorks picked it up as a Successful franchise), meaning the Actual Shrek story was meant to be a huge Mockbuster Parody of the Cliche Fairy Take genre of rescuing a Damsel in Distress and having a Hero's Journey.

Neither of the Two Storylines between a Book and a Famous Fairytale Adaptation were even that close of being similar but Shrek is a Comdey Story that's meant to be a Parody of all Fairy Tales whereas The Magic Riddle is meant to have its own Modern Adaptation of the Cinderella story mixed with Other Famous Stories.

Sure, you could at least say that the Foreign Film itself probably gave it the inspiration towards DreamWorks' adaptation but I still wouldn't want to buy it in a Very Huge Bad Light as someone who Watches Foreign Films and even Looking for Lost/Obscure Media around its Treasures.

But what really bugs Me about that kind of Topic is that Everyone tends to Forget that there Other Fairy Tale parody media, even long before when Shrek or even The Magic Riddle came in.

The Examples that I am deeply talking about are the ones that either have a Crossover or Modernize in a Medieval Setting within a Fairy Tale (meaning that The Magic Riddle is not the first thing to pass it on through Shrek).

Let Me Just Say This Out Loud Through My Chest...

Into The Woods and Donkeyskin (1970) were the Very First Fairy Tale adaptations to Parodize a Fairy Tale way long before Shrek was made.

Let Me have a Better Explanian of these Two Parodies and how they've done it before these Said Media's existance.

Into The Woods was probably a First Fairy Tale crossover on Stage, that being with its own Original Main Lead Characters before Shrek about a Couple walking through the Woods, only to find unexpected plotlines of Fairy Tale characters in their own Stories and then Random Things just suddenly happen in a Fairy Tale trouble (which is just something in One Common that would be part of that Trope with how both the Shrek films and The Magic Riddle did), so it's positive to say that the Musical would've been the Huge Influence behind the Ogre Story besides than the Cinderella crossover, even when Disney would then go on to Adapt their version of the Musical as Into The Woods always held up its own Broadway throughout the Years which can prove that the Musical is too recognizable than the Australian one that would've been the real huge inspiration for Shrek and The Magic Riddle is what I can clearly consider.

The 70s French Adaptation of "Donkeyskin" (within the exact same Cinderella trope made by the Same French Author behind the Original Story) isn't necessarily a Fairy Tale crossover but rather, it parodies the Original Story with some Modern techniques. It plays off as a Comdey version of the Other Fairy Tale as it even has unexpected ending that it's actually a Story within its own Modern Era set within its own Medieval Time Period (too many decades before Shrek would do that).

That being said, those are indeed prime examples of how that there Other Possiblites to interpret a Fairy Tale crossover that you can do besides then The Big One (Happily N'Ever After, Ever After High, and Enchanted are prime examples).

I don't mind some negative Magic Riddle reviews but honestly, I'm just not really the kind of person who would compare Two Properites of Unfamiliarity and Familirity in a "Bad" Light. As an Obscure Fangirl, it just kinda really hurts Me seeing I find something interesting that No One cares about and then sprays it as a Bad Light with comparing the Famous One in a Good Light, just because the Latter is more popular than the Former.

Granted, I do agree that "The Magic Riddle" could've been more if it wasn't such a mess but the Concept Trailer just sounds so something of what we could've had gotten instead.

#indie text #the magic riddle #shrek #dreamworks #fairy tales

[factorialsotherfandoms]

I was going to play Mass Effect, but then thought - you know what? Let's do a quick primer on godparents in the UK, and what this actually means for qPhilza, qTubbo, Chayanne, Tallulah

First stop - qualifications here. I am British (English variety), and brought up bouncing between various Churches. My parents are both godparents, and I was heavily involved in the lives of some of their godchildren. I myself am also a godparent, though because of family drama haven't seen my goddaughter in over ten years. I do also have godparents (my parents were attending a Methodist Church at the time, where it is practiced), though I haven't spoken in a long while. The only one who really did her job was my Dad's cousin, who'd regularly send me things like collections of letters by old Christian scientists, knowing I was far more into science than religion, but would also keep her spare room empty for if I needed to escape my parents for a bit and ring me from time to time to chat about just general life even when she started getting really sick. While I would consider my upbringing more /Baptist/, I will be talking about it from an Anglican (Church of England) viewpoint, as the dominant Church and cultural influence. I will have forgotten something, I'm tired and sleepy and just rambling.

Second stop! Godparents within the Church of England (CoE). Godparents are a necessary part of a baby being baptised within the CoE. Every child needs at minimum three godparents - two of the same sex, one of the opposite - though four is also a common number, and more is permissible with the vicar's permission. Most common setup I've seen is one married couple, plus one usually younger person. All godparents must be baptised (some Churches demand baptised as an Anglican, others say any Church will do), some areas will require also confirmed (basically when as someone old enough to make choices about their life they commit themselves to Christianity in a special service). There is no minimum age requirement, though someone under 18 will usually have to be interviewed by the vicar to make sure they are emotionally capable and 'mature' enough. The primary duties of a godparent are, officially, to raise the child spiritually and to guide them in philosophical parts of life - things such as the meaning of death and concepts of love and what kindness means. A lot of it for devout Anglicans is doing Bible readings with them and making sure they attend Church, for less devout ones its like having a weird bonus aunt and uncle who is /supposed/ to consider you and your needs before your parents, but in practice is usually your parents closest friends. You're also supposed to be there for major life events, with some version of Anglican marriage ceremonies having special places for godparents. As an example. It is notably a role you can refuse, but only up until the point of the baptism. Once you are a godparent, you're a godparent forever in the eyes of the Church. And historically, but legal status of godparents ceased a long time ago.

Third stop! Godparents in secular England. Godparents have no legal status in the UK at current (except sometimes as proof of a parent's intent). Without being involved in the Church as an infant its unusual to have one. Socially... I personally was raised in the Church, so I'll never be able to see it from a truly secular perspective. My /understanding/ from books and stuff is that if someone mentions a godparent it is generally assumed that person plays an active role in their life, or at least a protective (if distant) one. Things like the fairy godmother in Cinderella who appears when their grandchild reaches crisis point to make everything better - its a trope you still see in a not insignificant number of books about teen protagonists by the sort of British authors I read as a kid, even if its just they appear with ice cream when the protagonist's crush rejects them. And I mean... Harry Potter is a trashfire and icky and bad and all that, but Harry and Sirius /is/ an example and the only one I suspect other people may have read. Also Harry and Lupin's kid, where Harry helps raise him after he's orphaned and his grandmother takes him in.

Fourth stop! Historical meanings. In the past, there was another role which godparents performed - if anything happened to the parents of a child, the child's godparents would become legally responsible for them. I can't remember how long ago this ceased being the case, but it is a thing which has echoes on modern understanding of godparents. Now a parent's preferred guardian for their children if they die or are incapacitated is usually handled via wills, but in ages past it was denoted by the selecting of a godparent. There is still /some/ echoes of this - in the case of a parent dying without specifying in their will, a child will go to the care of the next of kin. Godparents can, however, use their relationship as godparents to the child to make a case for guardianship as a 'proof of the parent's intent' (similar how a fiance can argue that they should be treated as a spouse, as there's evidence their partner intended to marry them). A fun bonus one - the word 'gossip' in English is derived from 'godsibb' - a generic term for someone you had a relationship with via godparenting (your godparents, your godchildren, the birth parents of your godchild, the birth children of your godparents, etc). It developed into a word for a close (usually female) friend, and then into its current meaning over centuries.

So! Bringing all this around to QSMP. We can assume neither Chayanne nor Tallulah are baptised - like okay there's Cucurucho's Church but I don't really see it personally, especially with Phil's hatred of all things religious (which actually makes the phrasing of Tubbo being their godparent even more interesting, because it is pretty uncommon outside of religious families - not unheard of there is a cultural echo, but uncommon. Makes it a very intentional choice). We therefore have to look at other meanings and assumptions. Which, is to say, naming Tubbo as his children's godfather (and Niki as their godmother iirc) as... Well the Island doesn't have a system of lawyers and wills and legalese, so this is all Philza has to determine what happens to his kids if something happens to him. Maybe it won't be recognised by the Federation, but its the one non-legalese cultural touchstone he has to fall back on to make his opinion known. And more than that, it's very much a mark of trust even while Philza is alive and present. It's Philza saying 'if anything happens to me and Missa, I want you to be the one to raise my children'. It's him saying 'I want you to have an active part in the lives of my children'. 'I want you to protect me kids'. 'I want you to help me raise my kids to be good people, because I know I cannot be their only moral touchstone'. 'I want you to be there for my kids so if I fuck up and hurt them, they have someone to go to - someone I trust to comfort them and then hold me to account and make me fix my shit'. 'I am asking you to protect my kids when I can't'. 'I am begging you to love my children even if I am unable to'.

Which! Is a lot of responsibility! But it's also a lot of trust! It's a mark of how deeply Philza does actually trust Tubbo! It's not a job you give to some idiot teenager you know (okay sometimes as the bonus third, but Chayanne and Tallulah only have the two - Tubbo and Niki - and you do actually make sure the main two are responsible and suitable candidates), its a job for a deeply trusted friend! Especially on torture island, where something could happen to any of them at any moment.

And I kinda feel like 'of course I do - they're my godchildren' is Tubbo kinda proving... He understands the responsibility? I mean also he loves them deeply and absolutely, but that's true of other eggs to. Chayanne and Tallulah still come /first/ for him and the reason isn't they're his favourites, or he knows them best, or they're most helpful (lets face it that's Richas and Ramon on the last bit at least), its not even that Philza is his friend - the reason he gives to Phil is so, so, so simple. 'They're my godchildren'. They are, on some level, Tubbo's children. He is a godparent, and Tubbo seems to genuinely take that responsibility seriously. To try make his godkids happy and safe and know even when their parents are traveling they're not alone. He could just fuck off, there's no reason he has to, but Philza chose /him/ to be family for his children, and so family he is doing his best to be. And sometimes that means looking someone in the eyes and saying 'of course I care, they're my godchildren'. (Tubbo's also really good at keeping the boundary of not /my children/ but /my godchildren/, recognising he's not actually their parent for all he has some level of familial and parental responsibility for them.)

Thing is, if anything happens to Philza, then Chayanne and Tallulah become Tubbo's eggs. In a way. By asking Tubbo to be their godparent, Philza was asking him to take them in if anything happened. By saying yes, Tubbo accepted. (Yes of course they're still Missa's kids, unless something happens to Missa too, but someone has to watch them while he isn't there, he physically cannot be there often, and its so much better for it to be someone specific and there for them first and foremost, than to be bounced around the island [mostly cared for by BBH, let's face it]). And if anything happens like, say, Philza looses a 1v1 and so his chance to pick a child to save, then it becomes Tubbo's responsibility to save Chayanne and Tallulah. If Philza and Missa cannot be there, then Tubbo is to parent them in their place - that is what agreeing to be the godfather means. Tubbo is the fairy godmother coming down on the night of the ball to fix their clothes and save them from despair.

(Few extra notes)

(As her grandfather Philza should not be picking godparents for Tallulah, but I highly doubt Wilbur ever did, and he did adopt her kinda now, so let's just handwave that.) (This would all also apply to Missa, but Missa is rarely around and so like 'I cannot raise the kids alone and my husband works abroad so I'm asking you to keep me in check and to help' is a thing.) (I like to think Spreen is/was Chayanne's other godfather btw, chosen by Missa. Who maybe isn't the best choice after seeing Ramon, but like... Spreen /would/ have looked after his brother's kids, and Missa trusted him, and its only fair Missa gets to pick one. He might even also have been Tallulah's on the four rule. No idea on Tallulah's other godmother there's not exactly options. If this were so it would have been on Spreen [poor bastard] to keep up their Spanish lessons, buuuuut he was busy being a corpse and this bracket is purely headcanon.) (iirc Niki is also the eggs' godmother, and so all the above applies to her too! But Tubbo is the one it was relevant to purgatory)

#qsmp rambling #i've absolutely forgotten stuff but I have a meeting to get to in a rainstorm bleeeeegh #its not bad enough for weather warnings #but it'll be miserable #hopefully this is coherent and makes sense

[badedramay]

Omg THANK YOU for pointing out this weird trope that dramas have of “U just be cute and girly, I’ll be rich and support U”. To be fair it’s not just pak dramas; I’ve seen it in Turkish and K dramas as well. A girl is able to act as spastic and childish as Umeed because her well-off husband just smiles to himself at her antics and will pay for any damage she does 🤑.

I mean I guess this trope is better than an abusive partner trope, but I don’t get how it’s 2023 and drama writers often miss the mark on writing a female lead, especially when it comes to different genres like FT being more comedy. Most ramadan comedies feature a loud, hyper FL as if the writers are trying to hammer us with “see? She isn’t a rhona dhona type”. Because ya know, who needs even semi realistic characters when we exclusively have the two extremes on TV for our viewing pleasures?

I digress but typing this out made me appreciate yunhi way more. For all of its flaws, maya chose as close to a realistic female that I’ve seen in pak dramas in a while.

the rich man x poor woman, or Cinderella trope, is old as time and its appeal is not up for debate. it's fun wish fulfillment and I agree that some of my personal favorite rom-coms have been based on this trope. but I had said this before and I will say it again, this trope DOES come with a very unhealthy power imbalance that simply cannot be ignored. idk about Dizis but kdramas, despite being chokeful of the Cinderella trope, do try to completely veer off in the territory of "rich man becoming the poor woman's sugar daddy" because the woman's integrity and her self-respect are not compromised. the hero may help push a few buttons for the heroine but he doesn't take the entire financial responsibility of the woman to give her all the time to be her cutesy clumsy giggly self. at max we'll get the trademark wardrobe makeover scene and dinners at fancy restaurants but when the night is over, the heroine goes back to her own world. in fact, most of the romance in kdramas come from the rich hero fitting in the poor heroine's world than the other way round.

when it comes grumpy rich hero and bubbly poor heroine trope..we already know what the hero is bringing to the table that the heroine doesn't have in her i.e. his money. the tricky part then becomes what the heroine is bringing in the hero's life. like take Jab We Met, an iconic movie in the similar genre vein. Aditya was RICH rich as commented by Geet. Geet, while well-off herself, didn't reek of the kind of industrialist money that Aditya had. throughout their journey in the first half Geet relied on Aditya's money as their guarantee of safe way home. however, Aditya's money never became a substitute for Aditya himself. Geet offered Aditya a perspective of life that Aditya's money couldn't bring him while Aditya, ultimately, gave Geet the kind of reliable, unshakable love that Geet had dreamt of. in their story the power imbalance that their individual social standing could've colored their relationship was safely avoided from the beginning as Aditya was more than his money, Geet's manic pixieness didn't come at the cost of her fierce self-reliance.

Mr. Darcy was obscenely rich and Elizabeth's low social standing was a major conflict for him when it came to his feelings for her. but, all of Mr. Darcy's wealth couldn't make Elizabeth find him attractive because she just didn't like his personality. we hype up Mr. Darcy-esque heroes a LOT in our stories (even Farjaad is called as one because he's serious and rich) yet there's complete silence on the fact that Mr. Darcy needs an ELIZABETH BENNET to make the romance work. a smart, witty, self-reliant heroine that completely owns her individuality. the sparks fly when two headstrong individuals collide and the romance happens when BOTH of them, over time, see beyond their own judgements and prejudices to see the other person for who they are. Darcy changes his perspectives for Elizabeth, yes. but Elizabeth also learns to being more positively accommodating of the parts of Darcy that he has no control over like his wealth.

but yeah..all of this is nuanced writing that our PakDramas just don't want to bother with. the question of power imbalance only comes in when the story is about SOCIAL AWARENESS of yet another form of marital abuse. it's incredibly boring now. i won't say I am too old to enjoy wish fulfillment fantasy stories but i am definitely no longer immature enough to lap up just about any rom-com because it apparently celebrates "feminine joy". love me a rich af hero but only when he's paired with a heroine that can thrive without his wealth coming to her rescue, thank you very much.

#type: opinion #trope talk

[bullet-prooflove]

Law & Order: SVU Pairings Masterlist

Peter Stone x Mike Dodds:

Head Space - Mike takes Peter out to a cabin upstate to get a little head space after the death of his father.

Commitment -  Peter takes to the batting cages to work out his frustrations.

Home - Peter comes home to find Mike has returned from his undercover assignment.

Punch Out - Mike needs to relieve a little stress.

Peter Stone x Sonny Carisi:

Promise Me -  Peter comes to home to find Sonny packing.

Intoxicating - The first kiss was a mistake.

Peter Stone x Rafael Barba:

Stepping Out - After keeping their relationship a secret for so long Peter and Rafael decide it’s time to step out into the light.

Thinking of You - NSFW - Peter misses Rafael.

Olivia Benson x Amanda Rollins:

Lullaby - Amanda sings Olivia a lullaby.

All Night (NSFW) - Amanda & Olivia’s wedding night.

Mike Dodds x Sonny Carisi:

Show Me (NSFW) - Mike shows Sonny exactly how much he means to him.

Up For The Challenge - Mike tries to help Sonny get out of his head after the Father Eugene case.

Relationship Questions

Rafael Barba x Sonny Carisi:

Unwrapped - Sonny and Rafa decide to spend Christmas night together.

Relationship Questions

Rafael Barba x Sonny Carisi x Mike Dodds:

Three In The Bed - The dynamics.

Rafael Barba x Trevor Langan

Relationship Questions

First Kiss - Bangan’s first kiss.

Reckless - One reckless moment leads to more.

Coming Clean - People begin to find out about their relationship. 

Divorce Papers - Trevor’s wife isn’t happy when she is served divorce papers.

More - NSFW - Trevor and Raf cross the line.

Hurt -  After the death of Trevor's father, an unlikely face offers comfort.

Compulsive - Raf and Trevor can’t keep their hands off each other.

Cupid’s Arrow - Rita sets Raf up on a dating app.

Weller Vs Langan - Raf compares his ex’s behaviour with Trevor’s.

Artist!AU - Can be read as stand alone or part of a series.

Translucent - Raf struggles to recover in the aftermath of his lover’s death.

Inspired - Trevor inspires Raf to paint.

Fics:

Chrysalis - Trevor didn’t expect to fall in love.

Asks:

A bicycle built for two - Bane

“I will never compare to him!”  - Bangan

What happens when Raf and Trevor play monopoly? - Bangan

Anniversary - Bangan

Epiphany - Bangan

Philosophy - Bangan

“The God’s May roll a die” - Bangan

Washing the dishes? - Bangan

Grow old with you - Bangan

Forget me not  - Bangan

Endless - Bangan

Forever - Bangan

Amazing Grace - Bangan

My last choice - Bangan

Jewel tones - Bangan

Without love - Bangan

Arranged Marriage - Bangan

Simplicity -  Barhoun

Just one night - Barisi

“In The End”  - Barisi

The Light - Barisi

Pregnancy Trope and Erotic Dreams - Barisi

A summer of Joy - Barisi

Unknown Love HC - Barisi

“Will you stay?” - Dorisi

“Let Go” - Dorisi

Finding Out You’re Parents Were Serial Killers - Mike Dodds, Nick Amaro, William Dodds

Soulmate AU - Peter Stone x Anita Hall

Will They, Wont’ They? - Peter Stone x Anita Hall

Blissful Ignorance - Peter Stone x Anita Hall

Pitter Patter -  Peter Stone x Anita Hall

Dealing With A Seizure - Rafael Barba, Sonny Carisi

Strung Out Friend - Rafael Barba, Sonny Carisi

Opal - Starisi

What happens when Sonny and Peter play Monopoly? - Starisi

A Cinderella Story - Stodds

The moon cracks open - Stodds

The might you shone - Stodds

What happens when the SVU squad plays clue? - Squad

[thefolioarchives]

Reading of 2021, part IX

Or the post where I rant about how much I love T. Kingfisher, part I. Hope you're a big a fan as me!

49. The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher

I put down The Hollow Places and immediately downloaded The Twisted Ones. Sometimes you just feel an affinity for an author that's so strong the only thing that's going to "appease" the need for more is… well… more. The Twisted Ones wasn’t as funny as Hollow Places, but my god does it really matter? There are a lot of similarities here as well, which I enjoy. Instead of a benevolent cat, we have a pure-hearted dog that will sniff out God if he's set on the trail. The voice of reason this time around is Foxy, the black lady living in a hippie commune down the street (Foxy is also hilarious and savvy and would "topple governments on Mars" by now if the CIA had given her a chance). The comforting but ultimately distant male presence is performed by the main character's, Melissa's/Mouse's, dad. There's also an evil "stepmom" (in HP I'd argue that Kara's mom filled this role) in the character of Mouse's dead grandmother; a real beast of a woman no one really liked and who was filled with this inherent hatred of everyone and everything. This charming lady is the reason for the plot, who is now deceased and has left behind a real hoarder home, complete with terrifying doll room, that Mouse has been asked to clear out. Eventually, Mouse comes upon her step-grandfather's bedroom (basically the only room in the house not balls to the walls with junk) and also a manuscript! There are things in the woods that her step-grandfather was scared of, that her grandmother somehow warded off against, and Mouse is literally in the middle of nowhere with a mobile phone that's on the fritz because of the latest software update. This is my kind of jam!

I'm in love with the way Kingfisher plays with fairy tale tropes and implements them into her horror narrative and it makes sense considering the fairy tales of old were actually terrifying (I will never not think about how the mermaid from the little mermaid felt like she was walking on knives or how the stepsisters in Cinderella chopped off their toes to fit into the glass slipper). But there are also generous nods to the horror genre itself and I. AM. HERE. FOR. IT. I'm also a big fan of "horror in the woods" and think this might be my new favourite subgenre. Maybe this is what people call folk horror? It's also unputdownable and throughout the book I was filled with a desperate need to find out what happens next. There are twists and turns aplenty, some are more obvious than others, and I can't help but think that Kingfisher laid out some of these so obviously that unsuspecting readers would forget about other things that might hint at certain things… Either way my jaw dropped and then I started grinning. There's nothing like a book surprising you. I think it's also a narrative decision, in order to highlight some of the traits of the main character. Kingfisher writes about complicated people who have experienced grief and are left on rocky shores. But they're inherently good people who will help anyone who asks for it, which can often lead to sticky situations. Remember when Rihanna sang "all of my kindness is taken for weakness?" and I feel that applies here as well. This is sometimes the trouble with being "good". Things get ignored or downplayed and when you finally do get into serious trouble, it can be easy to dismiss it as "They deserved it". But in a world that focuses so often on the bad and the horrible, we should be celebrating these characters, cheering them on and rendering whatever aid we can, regardless of what trouble they find themselves in. If the intention is good, why must we argue with that?

50. Clockwork Boys by T. Kingfisher

I've sort of been saying that I'm dedicating October to horror literature only, but after discovering Kingfisher, I took the plunge into her fantasy series because I'm clearly obsessed with this author! A _true_ band of misfits are sent upon a "suicide mission" across a warring landscape to reach Anuket City in order to discover the secrets behind the two lost expeditions before them, but also to figure out how the enemy's Clockwork Boys work; 10 feet tall machines that double down as siege engines and killing machines. With the Clockwork Boys, the enemy is close to gaining the upper hand in the war and it's crucial that our heroes find anything that will help them repel their foes. There is also a mysterious plague ravaging the small folk, with people collapsing in the streets. These realities are seen through the eyes of Slate, the leader of expeditions, who smell rosemary if something's really important/magic/dangerous happening and is an expert in the world of fraudulence, and the recently de-knighted sir Cadigan, who was sentenced to life imprisonment after murdering a large member of the convent of the Sleeping God, whilst under demonic possession. We also have a sassy assassin and an ignorant young priest who refer to women as "the distaff sex". Again, I'm convinced that Kingfisher writes her books solely for my audience, because… This just has everything I've ever wanted from a fantasy novel, and then some! We have a bit of steampunk, we have a bit of plague narrative, we have some kind of religion I'm dying to know more about, we have an interesting Dowager Queen who's last desperate decision is to employ literal criminals to try to turn the tides of the war. There's a war, but we're not actually in the war if you know what I mean. There is also a bit of romance which I'm partial to because I really LOVE these characters. I just love it so much and I really can't deal with how much I enjoy it. I'm think I'm going to abandon my current reading list and read Kingfisher until I get bored/in need of a change and take it from there.

51. The Wonder Engine by T. Kingfisher

This is the second book in the Clocktaur War duology (but she still has other books set in this universe so calm yourself right down) and our heroes have made it to Anuket City. I've talked about it before in these posts but it bears repeating: I do love a good fictional city. The knowledge that we get about Anuket City is organic and it's not like we're given large infodumps on its history and people. Our heroes are not here for a history lesson, they're here to dismantle the patriarchy Clockwar Boys. And that is honestly fine with me. Things feel more natural this way. Now, I myself might have gone to the nearest tavern to have a chat with some of the locals to get a bit more of a lay of the land, but there is no time for that really, so drips is what you get. That isn't to say the drips aren't delicious, though. There are seedy underbellies, there is the insane and fabulous Artifice Quarter, there is the race of the badger-like Gnoles who are basically treated like vermin, amidst the sense that Anuket City is old and there are a lot of religions here. Not just The Dreaming God. On the page, this is a delicious fantasy heist-romp with added jealousies and romance, circling around themes of trust, friendship and loyalty.

#t kingfisher #the twisted ones #horror literature #horror fiction #reading of 2021 #reads of 2021 #booksbooksbooks #books #reading #review books #book review #good characters #fairy tale trope #fairy tales #fairy tale #folk horror #grief #family #cabin in the woods #the clockwork boys #fantasy literature #fantasy #fantasy fiction #romance #steampunk #plague #plague narrative #war #the wonder engine #fictional city

[beananacake]

hi. ok so i know accidental princess was made like.. months ago im not sure, but im absolutely HEARTBROKEN because i just finished reading it.

you truly, truly put everything into that series and god am i in live with reading it. it took me through so may different emotions that transcended me like.. hello? the period-piece slay that this is? i can not describe how much i enjoyed that shit. the way you were so consistent in all of the chapters, you never wavered from that old-english-period kind of language, both in dialogue, in exposition and literally any writing that you did for this series, and shit i cant tell you how much i admire your dedication. let me tell you there was not one moment where i thought your writing was any less from the gorgeous quality that it is. if you told me you weren't feeling a chapter, my bestie i would not have noticed at all. i was so immersed in reading this. your worldbuilding>> the language, the politics, the kingdom, all established beautifully. god i love those prussian royalties, smth abt them speaking german 🫣.. chile anyway,,

you managed to give each and every character mentioned a life—love, tragedy, realization, like you really made this story alive. i love how you gave spotlights to characters like louis, chelina, thibault, abigail, the grand duke, the king, and the late queen, even. how you managed to make them feel real, like they aren't just side characters used for the gains of the plot—it's incredible, really. there's just so much distinction between them, like i LOVE to see their personalities shine. you even gave the grand duke a backstory? like come on, man! i enjoyed seeing all the characters experiencing growth through different experiences. CHELINA AND LOUSIE LOVE STORY REAL>> oh my god i want a spinoff of his trip to zaragoza, damn. if i could, i would literally quote every line that made me scream and shout and cry, but there's too many to choose from!

you are so, so good with words and especially in making character dynamics and chemistry. reader and kit UGH i would die to have a love like them. every words spoken between them, especially any declaration of defiance and love against the king is gratifying to me. i can feel their passion in my bones.. for real. i LOVE how the theme i got is that you should always fight for love, even if the outcome isn't something you wished for. like that is such a serve. you deserve an oscar, a bafta, a grammy a golden globe and a restraining order, because i can not read this book for one second and not drown in a current of emotions. dont even get me started on the plot and how everything descended so beautifully. to me, it was planned out so well from the beginning and i love how you based the conflict off of the queen's death, like the grand duke?? that is so smart. its so evident that you put a lot of time in writing each detail of the plot and i was so consumed by it, it's true!! i spent 3 hours binge reading this whole thing and let me tell you my life changed. ok literature? work.

THE AMOUNT OF ANGSTT IS SO GOOD i LOVE forbidden romance esp if its in like a royal setting, and MY FAV is when the king finally realizes he can never stop reader and kit from loving each other—i adoooree that trope. almost forgot, but i was cryingg when i noticed the parallels and similarities between the cinderella movies and this story. like obviously this was based off of cinderella, but the things you switched and put in like reader having the principle of being kind and courageous, the lavender-blue lullaby sung from the mountains opposed to movie-cinderella singing it from her locked room, it's all too good. you really customized everything to depict this timeless, strong, selfless and beautiful main character. (the epilogue is amazing, by the way. love the children and love chelouis' children!! amelia is a sweetheart 🥹)

"If you do not think her worthy of me, then I am inclined to think that you are not worthy of her. She is twice more than I will ever be because she is kind and courageous.”

JAIL JAIL!! WHAT IS THIS?!! this is only one of the heart-moving dialogues from this series. this is actually the line that finally induced the waterworks for me. i mean everything made me emotional already, but this broke the dam. cmon now i cant get enough of it!

“I had been given the chance to bask in his love, even just for a while. I suppose these memories will suffice. They should last me a lifetime.”

i will actually start crying again

"You slowly opened your eyes, expecting to see the green color of your mother’s eyes but instead, you saw blue. The bluest of all blues you had ever seen."

fuck do i love the mountain saving scene..

ok anyway that is all. i hope you have a blessed life and thank you so much for writing this series, i love it! 😊

my dearest @mooncleaver, i just want you to know that I received this ask at a very opportune time; I was struggling so much with my mental health and I thought my writing was really bad and that The Accidental Princess wouldn't fly so well (for many reasons) but when I read this ask, all I could do was cry happy tears. This, along with the other asks I got for TAP, made me realize that there's a small percentage of people who read and liked (maybe even loved) my story. Thank you so much for taking the time of your day to read my little work and thank so much more for leaving this ask for me. To be honest, I wouldn't be opposed to you quoting all of the lines that resonated with you; I always love hearing people's thoughts about my stories.

By the way, that part where you said I deserve an Oscar, a BAFTA, a Grammy, a Golden Globe, and a restraining order: I literally laughed out loud and thought i had never received such a compliment from someone, ever. I will definitely remember this for years to come.

As for the Chelina and Louis spin-off, don't worry. It's in the works. I've always planned to write something for them because theirs is a story that is as beautiful as Kit's and Reader's, maybe even more. I'm just not sure how soon I would get to writing it but I would surely do because it's a story worth telling.

Thank you thank you so much for reading the story! You hold a special place in my mind and heart for leaving such words! <3

#kiss on the forehead for u #patch answers months old asks #mooncleaver asks #the accidental princess asks #ask answered

[riseuplikeglitterandgold]

📃💻🎧🔬👽👀✍🏽🌈📬💾🏚🥚😊🪡🎨

!!!! <3

this is so long lol, brace yourselves

📃 Ever written something inspired by someone elses fic?

yes!

💻 The first fanfiction you posted?

"Domestic Life Was Never Quite My Style"

🎧 A certain song you listened to while writing a fic?

I listened to the Tarzan soundtrack a lot while writing "Two Worlds, One Family", haha

🔬The fic you had to make the most research for?

Toss-up between "Baby's Firsts" and "Two Worlds", because with one I had to do a lot of research into baby growth and development, and with the other I do a lot of research to portray a deaf/hard of hearing person as accurately as I can, since I'm not one.

👽 Strangest fic you ever written?

eh, I'm not sure any of them really count as strange, in a traditional sense, but my "strangest" fic is probably "Oh, Little One, You Just Need to be Brave", mostly because it's based on Iron Man 3 and I hadn't actually seen the film yet when I wrote it so it doesn't make a whole lot of sense compared to canon 😅 the only reason I haven't taken it down is because so many people liked it, and I hate when fics that I used to love get deleted.

👀 What’s an idea you had for a fic that you never did anything with?

I've got several, actually, lol. I've had ideas for a Game Plan AU (that movie starring The Rock), a Cinderella/Ever After AU, a... um... bio AU involving mpreg that is not as weird as it sounds... a soulmate AU, an Annie AU (y'know, the musical), and a Santa Clause AU (Tim Allen Christmas movie).

✍🏽 How much do you plan your fics beforehand?

depends on the fic. if it's complicated, I'll take at least a couple pages of notes before I jump in to the actual writing. if it's something simple that I have a clear vision for, I just jump in and wing the whole thing. Both methods work just fine, for me.

Although, I do have one AU that I'm working on as a request for that 2k follower raffle I did months ago, and that has like..... 13 pages of notes that I still haven't finalized so it REALLY depends.

🌈 Your favorite tropes to write about?

found family and friendship <3

📬 The best comment you ever recieved?

there are a couple of comments on fics in my "Two Worlds" series that make me want to cry every time I read them 😭 they're from someone who is HOH like Peter, and I love reading their comments on those fics because it makes me feel like I've done something right in the way I've written his disability.

💾 The longest fic you have written (either with most chapters or most words)

"Baby's Firsts", coming in at over 34k with 19 chapters!

🏚 A fic you more or less abandoned?

...........

"wish we could turn back time (to the good old days)"

("we don't talk about bruno" plays faintly in the distance)

😅 Was there a fic/chapter that you were nervous about posting?

all of them 😅 I guess I'll never be as nervous as I was when I posted my very first fic, though.

🥚 Any easter eggs you put in a fic that you hoped people would notice?

too many to remember! I make references to the films all the time, and other medias, as well.

😊 The fic that you’re the most proud of?

"Before, After, and Beyond". It started out as a drabble request from an anon who wanted an Endgame fix-it, and turned into one of my favorite-ever fics to date!

🪡 The scene you worked the hardest on in any fic?

Probably the scene where Peter tries his hearing aids on for the first time in "May These Words Be The First To Find Your Ears". I wanted it to be super fluffy and cute, but also realistic!

🎨 Show us a sneak peek from a WIP!

#ask game #long post #writer asks #my writing