Smurfs? In My 2020?

Part 1 here.

Thank you everyone so much for your kind/positive comments and reception so far!! <3 Love reading the feedback. Here is the next bit.

It looks like I will start uploading my fic tomorrow! The one with the idea spawning from this post.

Rainy Days, Part 1.

Fic starts at the end of the 80s episode “Essence of Brainy”. Canon divergence begins after the line “Don’t be afraid, Brainy. We’re your friends.” (In some shortened versions of the episode, some of the dialogue gets cut, which is a huge shame because I consider it to be such crucial dialogue.) This fic starts with some of that canon dialogue that sometimes gets cut out.

Description: In the episode “Essence of Brainy”, the smurfs at first thought that this “new Brainy” was preferable to the old one. Then they get bored and decide they want the old version back.

They never ask him what he wants.

–

A way to ‘smurf’ the essence back…?

Somehow, he wasn’t so sure about this. He walked over to Mr Papa Smurf, spurred by growing doubt. “Mr Papa Smurf, Sir, will I have to be like them?” he asked tentatively, indicating the smurfs affected by this “Brainy essence”, all three of their skins sporting the darkest shade of blue out of everyone’s. They were very… opinionated.

The bearded smurf placed a hand on his shoulder. “You’ll be just who you are, Brainy, and that’s how it should be!”

Well… Maybe this is for the best. This is what everyone wants, right?

Mr Clumsy smiled in agreement. “Don’t be afraid, Brainy. We’re your friends.”

Friends…

But… Despite any vague sense of familiarity that tugged at him intermittently, he didn’t really know any of these smurfs. They were all looking at him so expectantly, with a level of recognition that he simply couldn’t return.

“But what if I… don’t want…?”

This is what everyone wants, right…?

…This is what everyone wants except for him.

@smurfoo As if I could ever say no to a request like that 😏 

About those 2 pennies; 

So like, even getting my bias out of the way I do think it’s somewhat overlooked as a general dynamic, and it’s understandable in the sense that Brainy&Clumsy / Hefty&Handy are the much stronger friends with more specific episodes and that’s great too!! I just like looking at the less obvious as well. And it’s there, both in the comics and the cartoon, if Clumsy isn’t with Brainy and not part of a group then he’s usually helping Handy;

And so on and so forth, etc, etc. Which wouldn’t be noticeable on it’s own except for two key things; 1) Handy very rarely accepts help otherwise unless it’s a big project, if he does it’s more of a one off, definitely none that are as consistent and 2) the words ‘handy’ and ‘clumsy’ are antonyms;

There is literally no worse Smurf in the village to be an assistant. Taking on anyone else would probably be better. This might be played up for the giggles in that case but it is interesting that it’s so consistent when looking at it from a character analysis perspective. And that’s where my original post came from - that Handy is surprisingly klutzy for a repair guy, which means that, at least to some extent, there’s an element of familiarity there. Whatever he is, Handy’s no hypocrite. 

On the topic of the helper dynamic I’m just gonna bring up the two episodes that probably showcase the two sides of the coin best; One Good Smurf Deserves Another, and The Comet Is Coming.

OGSDA seems to get a lot of flack for people calling Handy mean in the episode but honestly I have to argue that it’s … actually not true? I get where they’re coming from but I have several rebuttals to make to the original points I’ve seen brought up multiple times.

P: Handy should have just told Clumsy he didn’t want help outright >:/

R: He DID. Several times. He told him right at the start it was no issue and that Clumsy didn’t owe him anything. Clumsy hung around anyway and Handy just kinda let it happen since he didn't’ want to hurt his feelings

P: Handy put Clumsy’s life in danger >:/

R: No, he didn’t. Papa Smurf did if anything. Handy tried asking nicely and letting him help. The whole log and river thing were both Papa’s plans, and in fact when Clumsy was put in danger Handy abandoned his original goals both times to help him out

P: Handy was mean and yelled >:/

R: Again. Bless Clumsy's little heart to the moon and back but he did kinda squash everyone, after already causing a hectic morning. And, unlike in some other episodes with other characters, Handy does relent and by the end is genuine in his thanks for Clumsy for saving him from the monster. 

As for TCIC, that’s literally in my top 3 favourite episodes and the way they interact is a HUGE part of it. I just, I just like it ok, it’s wholesome and positive :)

And I just think kinda shows more why Handy does let him help out despite Clumsy’s ability to break things and that’s it - they just genuinely get along!! Handy lets him help because he knows it makes Clumsy happy, and gets choked up at the end over Clumsy’s optimism. It’s kind of hard to hate Clumsy, he’s a fandom favourite for a reason but Handy is usually one of the main ones looking out for him :) He’s the first to agree with Smurfette in Clumsy Luck that they should focus on Clumsy’s memory, and the first in Secret Of The Village Well to suggest they find a penny to get him his wish and cheer him up, and also gently refuses to rubberise his shoes in Bouncing Smurfs because he thinks he might hurt himself (but ALSO offers to let Clumsy try an alternative)

Basically, what I’m saying is: I think these two have good canonical dynamic vibes!!! And I do get that Handy can be a bit short w/ him sometimes, but like, so can everyone in the village?? I can’t fault an individual for a collected response. The worst times are part of mass hysteria (he does yell at him during the masked pie smurfer incident when everyone was mad at each other anyway, he does throw stuff during the golden smurf award when so was everyone else and he does get caught up in the smurfic games w/ Hefty. He also argues during the village spat in dr evil and mr nice, but this is resolved on screen as he apologies for not forgiving him, which is good communication :D) On the other hand, Hefty literally tries to punch him over a misunderstanding in Nobody Smurf and Brainy locks him in jail after bribing Greedy, I don’t personally see Handy being a bit snappy sometimes when Clumsy breaks his stuff on the same wavelength but I digress

So at the end of the day, sure it doesn’t have the same depth as say, Clumsy does with Brainy in The Darkness Monster but I firmly believe it’s MUCH better than people give it credit for and am more than willing to die on this hill to say they have a vry good dynamic overall as a sort of friends/sometimes-apprentice :)

I was thinking today for whatever reason that Handy, despite his name and nature, actually has a bit of a tendency to be a bit klutzy?? Especially with his hammer

Which I know is mostly just for the “haha oops” jokes but the fact it’s semi-consistent is interesting.

Because then of course I’d have to bring up the fact he also consistently allows Clumsy of all Smurfs to help him out pretty frequently. And I could stand here and say my own two pennies on that alone but dw I won’t- HOWEVER I do like the correlation.

Smurfs have a tendency to tease each other and despite his general exasperation at Clumsy’s antics, Clumsy is obviously the least judgemental character of them all in the village. Maybe Handy IS a little bit clumsy himself and somewhat relates on a personal note. I like that sort of idea, it’s pretty cute :)

The Smurfiest Of Friends | 4x18a

“I… I love ya, Brainy!”

“I- I- I- I know how you feel, Clumsy. I know how you feel.”

BRAINY: His voice sounds nothing like I imagined when I read the book, and he tried to smurf me with his sword. 

His chivalric behavior is also ridiculous, and so is his reckless behavior.

Nevertheless, however, I must admit he is good at what he does.

[Brainy sighs.]

BRAINY: Behold, more Vanity. (Although, personally, I think I’m a much more likable smurf.)

Recently I’ve read an article about the Smurfs about the upcoming 2021 3D show and it made me want to draw those little blue guys again. The Smurfs, mainly the comics and the old 80′s cartoon, had been a big part of my childhood, as well as one of many medias that inspired me to become a comic author myself. The thing with the Smurfs is that, due to having many medias inspired by the original comics, it ended up having different lores. For example, while new characters like Grandpa Smurf, Sassette or Nanny Smurf appeared in the cartoon (and were then added in the comics so as to not confuse fans who watched and read both) none of them exist in any movies made by Sony Animations. Those same movies are also different from each others; the two CGI movies had characters like Gutsy, Vexy or Hackus, and the story mostly happens on our Earth; while the 3D movie takes place in the Smurfs’ world but none of those three characters exist, and we’re introduced to another Smurf village which is exclusively female, confirming (at least in this lore) that female Smurf do exist naturally, but for whatever reason live separated from their male counterparts. Aside from the characters, their backgrounds are also different. One prime example is Grouchy. In the cartoon, it’s established he always was a grumpy guy and it always has been his core personnality since birth. In the comics however, his story is more tragic; in the past, he actually was a normal fella who enjoyed life like any simple Smurf. That was until he got bit by the black/purple fly (in the cartoons, it was Lazy). After that terrible event, every Smurf went back to their normal self except Grouchy. Though he was cured like the others, the bite had left him with aftereffects, making him always grumpy and seemingly cold-hearted, unable to love anything. But sometimes, you can still see a glimpse of his past self, when he’s near Baby Smurf for example, reminding everyone that deep down Grouchy still has his heart of gold.

So, anyway, with all that in mind, I wanted to work on a sort of AU because yes, I love making my own universe about medias I like (anyone who read my Loonatics Unleashed revamp can confirm). I gathered everything I loved from each piece of media from the Smurfs (yes, even the CGI movies, I know that’s a shock) and built up the first few pillars of my own lore. Starting with the first big point: the Smurfs themselves.

A little redraw