to the tune of every song we sung when we were 17

characters in a band

queer rep

ghosts

"phantom" in the name

purple

JATP fans you want to give your money to the Phantom Pulse kickstarter soooooo bad

To make an actual case for them, though: I do genuinely think Nick is a sweetheart. I get where people are coming from with the Nice Guy (derogatory) interpretation, but that’s just not how I see him at all. 

A point commonly made against Nick and against Nick/Julie as a pair is that he didn’t appreciate her until she started to be successful, and I don’t think that’s really fair. I think it’s more accurate to say he wasn’t interested in her until he really saw who she was, and I don’t think it’s his fault that he didn’t know her all that well before—they’re friendly acquaintances; she’s clearly been crushing from afar. 

And I think it’s worth noting that he’s not really too different from Luke in this regard, either: they both like Julie after seeing her shine in a stunning musical performance. It’s not Nick’s fault he didn’t have the privilege of witnessing Wake Up. 

I think, too, that as he is beginning to see who Julie really is, he is simultaneously becoming more and more aware of Carrie’s true nature. It’s not new information—we know that they’ve broken up multiple times, and Nick’s reactions to her behavior very much read as someone who is exhausted with a Pattern. But I think Carrie’s pettiness and bullying reach new heights as her jealousy of Julie takes center stage. 

We see Nick try to gently but firmly urge Carrie to be better, we see her completely reject this, and we see Nick grow more and more frustrated with her refusal to change. 

So that’s how I see Nick in canon: a kid who is coming to terms with how toxic this long-standing relationship of his has been, and who is newly getting the chance to see what a light Julie is. And I think that once he knows what he wants, he’s shown to consistently be a supportive and reliable and caring person, and of course I want that for our girl Julie. 

So that’s, like, my baseline interpretation of Nick’s canon behavior that I’m pulling from. And then for me, a lot of the real fun of Julie/Nick as a ship comes in post-canon speculation. 

It’s insane that he just gets possessed. I really truly love thinking through the implications of the trauma that would cause him, and creating storylines from there. 

Imagine, if you will, that you’re a regular high school boy, and you’ve finally broken up with your toxic girlfriend, for good this time, and you have a crush on your classmate you’ve known of for forever but never really truly gotten to know. Imagine feeling like you're finally moving in the right direction after wasting years. And then an evil ghost takes over your body for the sole purpose of destroying your crush’s life.  Imagine the trauma of having no control over your actions for, potentially, weeks or months on end, just watching someone else hurt people through you. Imagine the absolutely debilitating guilt you’d feel. And then imagine she forgives you anyway!!

Think about Julie Molina, the girl who loved her band back to life, looking at another boy who has been killed, in a way, and saying, Hey, you too. You deserve love too. Think about Nick fighting Caleb because he just can’t let him hurt Julie like this. Think about them holding hands and surviving. 

sorry this took so long, anon! I had a lot of fun with it :)

My favorite partners in crime💞

Below the line is the same exact drawing twice, but I liked the way the sun hit my sketchbook page so feel free the check that out!

because it's really meant to be sort of the baby beginner step to media literacy but in fandom spaces it usually acts like a trump card to shut down critical discussions. it's one of the thought terminating cliches of fandom that discourages learning how to interrogate the text beyond "fiction isn't reality, dummy".

yes, the popular whump fic in your fandom isn't endorsing torture, but also, can you tell when the canon for your fandom is endorsing a message? how do you then choose to interact with that canon, and do you get defensive when people are critical of the source material?

depiction isn't endorsement, but can you tell when fandom trends are misogynistic or racist? can you see how killing off a black female character to "punish" her in fanfiction with the framing that she deserves it, and the popular narrative in a certain fandom that a heroic black man is a possessive liar and a white villain is a good man deserving redemption, is endorsing a message in fanfic? do you argue that it's "just fiction" when people get very understandably upset at misogyny and racism in fandom spaces?

yeah, depiction isn't endorsement, but do you think this is where it starts and stops as the only thing you really need to know? do you think people who are critical of things aren't engaging with it properly, or being mean, because they've forgotten the golden fandom rule of "fiction isn't reality"?

nbc hannibal isn't endorsing cannibalism as a dietary choice, but top gun maverick and call of duty: modern warfare were quite literally sponsored by the us military as propaganda for recruitment.