Calle Del Diavolo

And last but certainly not least, we have Verdun by @keepcalmandbrewtea (aka Doc)! Although this is technically another post-canon piece, the WWI setting was just too compelling not to include in the animatic. Truthfully, this fic is one of my comfort reads. There’s just something so poignant about reading Erik’s growth here, the way he took his old Opera Ghost identity and becomes a “ghost” who helps villagers trapped in war zones, and later Le Fantôme, searching for and retrieving lost soldiers from the front lines. That journey makes his reunion with Christine all the more meaningful, because both of them have changed in the other’s absence. When they meet again, they do so as equals, free from the power imbalances that defined their relationship in canon.

One element I especially loved was the original character Colonel Blanchet, which is also why I’ve reread his conversations with Erik so many times. I’ve always been drawn to the idea of Erik having someone he feels genuinely comfortable around— someone he can talk to openly, someone willing to tell him the hard truths. Blanchet is exactly that and more. His easygoing yet unyielding personality makes him incredibly likable, and I found myself constantly anticipating his presence throughout the story.

Another reason I chose this WWI AU is, admittedly, because I really wanted to draw Erik in uniform 🤭 This version of Erik is especially unique, and Doc was a huge help with references and detailed descriptions. Beyond that, it was genuinely fun to research WWI— especially since I had recently been so close to where many of these events took place while I was in Europe. I do regret not attempting to draw Blanchet in the frames where Erik is sitting in his tent, but what’s done is done (unless… 👀)

Overall, Verdun is a wonderful exploration of Erik’s character set against an intriguing and emotionally rich backdrop. I hope it brings you comfort the way it did for me (though I’ll admit my definition of “comfort” can be a little unconventional…)

Frames under the cut:

One and a half years worth of work, one failed attempt at this a year prior, a semester abroad , 150+ frames, and here we are... I hope you love this passion project as much as I loved making it. Think of this as my love letter to the phandom 🫶

In order of appearance:

made a gif

there are so many posts about ~tumblr is so broken, you can’t find any post on your own blog, it’s impossible, bluhrblub~

I am here to tell you otherwise! it is in fact INCREDIBLY easy to find a post on a blog if you’re on desktop/browser and you know what you’re doing:

url.tumblr.com/tagged/croissant will bring up EVERY post on the blog tagged with the specific and exact phrase #croissant. every single post, every single time. in chronological order starting with the most recent post. note: it will not find #croissants or that time you made the typo #croidnssants. for a tag with multiple words, it’s just /tagged/my-croissant and it will show you everything with the exact phrase #my croissant

url.tumblr.com/tagged/croissant/chrono will bring up EVERY post on the blog tagged with the exact phrase #croissant, but it will show them in reverse order with the oldest first 

url.tumblr.com/search/croissant isn’t as perfect at finding everything, but it’s generally loads better than the search on mobile. it will find a good array of posts that have the word croissant in them somewhere. could be in the body of the post (op captioned it “look at my croissant”) or in the tags (#man I want a croissant). it won’t necessarily find EVERYTHING like /tagged/ does, but I find it’s still more reliable than search on mobile. you can sometimes even find posts by a specific user by searching their url. also, unlike whatever random assortment tumblr mobile pulls up, it will still show them in a more logically chronological order

url.tumblr.com/day/2020/11/05 will show you every post on the blog from november 5th, 2020, in case you’re taking a break from croissants to look for destiel election memes 

url.tumblr.com/archive/ is search paradise. easily go to a particular month and see all posts as thumbnails! search by post type! search by tags but as thumbnails now

url.tumblr.com/archive/filter-by/audio will show you every audio post on your blog (you can also filter by other post types). sometimes a little imperfect if you’re looking for a video when the op embedded the video in a text post instead of posting as a video post, etc

url.tumblr.com/archive/tagged/croissant will show you EVERY post on the blog tagged with the specific and exact phrase #croissant, but it will show you them in the archive thumbnail view divided by months. very useful if you’re looking for a specific picture of a croissant that was reblogged 6 months ago and want to be able to scan for it quickly 

url.tumblr.com/archive/filter-by/audio/tagged/croissant will show you every audio post tagged with the specific phrase #croissant (you can also filter by photo or text instead, because I don’t know why you have audio posts tagged croissant) 

the tag system on desktop tumblr is GENUINELY amazing for searching within a specific blog! 

caveat: this assumes a person HAS a desktop theme (or “custom theme”) enabled. a “custom theme” is url.tumblr.com, as opposed to tumblr.com/url. I’ve heard you have to opt-into the former now, when it used to be the default, so not everyone HAS a custom theme where you can use all those neat url tricks. 

if the person doesn’t have a “custom theme” enabled, you’re beholden to the search bar. still, I’ve found the search bar on tumblr.com/url is WAY more reliable than search on mobile. for starters, it tends to bring posts up in a sensible order, instead of dredging up random posts from 2013 before anything else