Serial Fic Hoarder

Some character designs with some…atypical color choices? I guess. I don’t know what’s going on in that area.

This is Nimona and her supervillain friend (He doesn’t have a name yet, I’m working on that). Nimona is his sidekick/squire, they’re like the Batman and Robin of slightly Medieval villains, but she’s actually way more evil than him. He does what he does to make a point, and he doesn’t really want anyone get hurt - Nimona just gets a kick out of destroying stuff.

it's really interesting looking back at both iterations of the story and how stratt and grace's rapport hinges on unrequitedness. there's obviously the karaoke scene in the movie acting as grace's bid for human connection vs stratt's necessary refusal in order to do her job. the book rarely if ever interrogates stratt's interpersonal relationships in the project and how her sense of duty and utilitarianism extends to them (well, aside from grace. more on that in a sec). She's a History major and an administrator and She Loves Humanity, but it's a characteristic that when analyzed deeper rings pretty hollow (possibly because the author thinks social analysis/critique in science fiction is stupid and thus doesn't exactly have much to say about People like someone in the humanities would. SAD!) so that's an addition to her character from the movie that i'm deeply pleased about. what i don't like as much is that the bid for connection starts from grace.

because book stratt and grace? the one sidedness of their rapport is the driving emotional conflict of the entire pre-launch plotline—and of grace's character development throughout the whole book.

like most scientists on the team, grace was brought onto the project by force, but he's the only one who fulfilled his purpose, was allowed to return to his own life, and then came back of his own volition, out of a sense of personal duty and responsibility. which is the reason stratt takes him back on! and why she begins to rely on him more and more, as an administrator, as a mediator, as a scientist, as an advisor. she has all the more reason to do that when she discovers he's coma resistant, but she was already doing all that baby!

grace spends the rest of their relationship half-assing that sense of responsibility. one thing i adore about book phm is how merciless it is with grace's "modesty" "insecurity" and "social anxiety". children are easy to dote on. they're not stupid, obviously, but on an interpersonal level they're not your equal, they have no way to actually demand accountability from you and call your ass out. he doesn't actually think he's a failure, he's not blind he should know damn well he's not like the other scientists. "science lapdog", "ooo i'm just a little guy cmonnnn i'm just a middle school teacher", he downplays his own importance because if he genuinely grappled with the level of responsibility she holds him to towards the people in the project he'd run like a fucking dog.

Book Stratt: "STOP FUCKING CRYING, BITCH! WAAH, WAAH, WAAAAH! I DON'T WANT TO FUCKING HEAR IT!"

#whats cool about the movie is that we get glimpses of the story outside of Rylands pov

#the book is entirely his pov and the few glimpses we DO get from other people they're all like “wait y'all are NOT fucking??”

#like yes her characterization is different to an extent but the book is filtered through Ryland who clearly has NO clue about anything

#(unless its at the end of a microscope)

#and its clear she kept him on and close (for strategic reasons) but also bc she saw his value in his humanity

#he cries he cares he moralizes and he reminds her of all the things she doesn't have the privilege of being bc they dont have time

#she makes HIM have conversations with the astronauts about their preferred method of suicide like cMON guys.

#like there is a dynamic there HE didn't clock or remotely want but other people did (I dont ship them thats just canon in the book)

#and a part of his character IS pushing people away and distancing himself and I think it'd be vert easy for his brain to -

#- in these distressing moments - immediately cast a horrible opinion of a woman who is still just trying to do her job

#she kept him on because she's a masochist and needed someone to remind her she is doing fucked up things even if it IS for the greater good

#when she does finally make the decision he will go to space she doesn't seem him for 4 days and then says horrible things to him

#like it never read to me that she hated him but that she was trying to convince herself as much as him that what she was doing was -

#- the only option. feelings and emotions aside.

#but the difference is there is no ryland grace beside her to offer counter balance and question her morality bc she's jetting him into spac

#idk their relationship in the book is so interesting and refreshing and its all so cool that its from graces pov

#and I think the movie did a good job of reminding us that she is just a person - even if to Ryland she is the stoic cold monster -

Left: 2026