Hi! It's me, your resident murder mystery historian/freak. You might remember me from this reference guide I wrote about Knives Out and Glass Onion. And now I'm back!
Wake Up Dead Man, the third Benoit Blanc mystery film, is doing something different with source material than the previous two, less quoting and more synthesis, so I'm going to give you a little overview of how the film was pulling from golden age detective fiction and priest media, as well as a list of things to check out if you want more of the good stuff, some of which Rian Johnson was probably (or definitely) pulling from. I'm separating this into two sections: the mystery bit and the priest bit.
The Mystery Bit (Impossible Crimes)
There are crimes which are impossible because they occur in a locked room, and crimes which are impossible because they occur in front of spectators with no clear cause--Wake Up Dead Man is the latter. Locked room mysteries have existed as long as the genre of detective fiction--Poe's Murder in the Rue Mogue is one, and it's widely considered to be the first detective story. That isn't the film's only tie to golden age detective fiction, however (the golden age is generally considered to be the interwar period--1920s & 30s--but some stretch it to 1950). It follows a fairly typical whodunnit structure; the suspects are introduced, the protagonist (who is not the detective) among them, the crime occurs, and subsequently the detective arrives, sometimes quite late in the game. Rian Johnson has also taken the stereotypical English village and plopped it down in upstate New York (sort of). Can't get much more classic whodunnit than that.
Johnson name checks probably the most famous impossible mystery, The Hollow Man by John Dickson Carr (published as The Three Coffins in the US). Carr is interesting, because he was an American who exclusively set his books in Europe. His most famous detective was Dr. Gideon Fell, the detective in The Hollow Man, and he delivers the lecture that Benoit quotes from (sort of lol) in the film. I pulled that chapter out of a copy of the book if anyone is interested in reading it. I read a bunch of Carrs after Johnson mentioned him in an interview about WUDM, but Carr wrote 70 detective novels, 1 novella, and 9 short story collections across 4 names (his own and 3 pseudonyms) so this is FAR from comprehensive.
The Hollow Man / The Three Coffins (1935) Features both a locked room murder AND one witnessed by several people.
The Black Spectacles / The Problem of the Green Capsule (US title)(1939) This is emphatically about murders witnessed by spectators, as the person who dies is literally doing a demonstration of a false murder (his own) and having it filmed in order to prove to his audience that their perceptions are flawed. But of course he dies for real.
The Crooked Hinge (1937) Another murder in plain view, this time of a man in a garden surrounded by but obscured from others in the garden and but also in partial view from the house. This one features an 18th century automaton (for fans of Father Jud's knife-throwing robot), and has one of the wackiest conclusions I've ever read.
Christianna Brand was another prolific golden age detective writer who employed impossible crimes to good effect. Death of a Jezebel (1948) shares some DNA with WUDM: a person nobody likes is murdered literally on a stage and all of the suspects are in view of the audience the entire time. (For more on this genre, I recommend the Shedunnit Podcast's Locked Room episode.)
The Priest Bit
Priest detectives (the Catholic kind) aren't really a thing, with one major exception: Father Brown, who was introduced by G.K. Chesterton in 1910. His DNA is present twice over, as Carr was a big fan of Chesterton's, and the character of Gideon Fell is based on Chesterton in personality and appearance. Father Brown is a Catholic priest who solves murders using his insights into human nature. The stories predate the golden age and Father Brown was in conversation with Sherlock Holmes--another proto-golden age detective--who instead relied on science and logic.
In terms of what shows up in golden age fiction, we have the vicar. Similar in plumage to a Catholic priest, vicars tend to have moral standing in the village if not outright social or political power. They turn up more often than Catholics due to the whole state religion thing. They are victims or suspects, but in the golden age did not tend to be detectives (I'm sure there are scattered exceptions--I can only think of Reverand Dodd in John Bude's The Cornish Coast Murder (1935)). Modern mysteries have rectified this a little, with titles such as James Runcie's Grantchester Mysteries (begun in 2012) and more recently the Canon Clement Mysteries by Richard Coles (himself a Church of England priest). Also priest-adjacent we have The Cadfael Chronicles by Ellis Peters (1977-1994) and Umberto Eco's In the Name of the Rose (1980). (Shedunnit also has an episode on vicars/priests in mysteries.)
I am fundamentally uninterested in priest stories, so for priest media writ large, I called on my Priest Correspondent @wellntruly:
The Exorcist (1973): Boxer priest, "much more of a hang-out movie with a stressed priest than you might expect"
M*A*S*H (tv series, 1972-1983): Boxer priest, "very comic (and in the earlier seasons quite bitingly anti-Republican), but also very socially sincere and sweet"
On the Waterfront (1954): "Marlon Brando is the fighter this time, but the priest character is a major part of the story and like, if youāll forgive the pun, hell-bent on fighting injustice, and a real community organizer."
The Exorcist (tv series, 2016-2018): "one of our premiere priests text, also discusses the mixed value of the Church capital C a lot, and one of the priests in particular has a rough past + intent gentleness vibe that I definitely thought about watching Father Jud"
First Reformed (2017): "my running theory is that First Reformed is actually part of the reason that Wake Up Dead Man is set in upstate New York, as Father Jud is said to be from a town in Albany County, the same area that Ethan Hawkeās pastor works in in that movie. And once again, this is a movie about a man of the cloth unearthing injustice and getting very intent on fighting it with everything heās got"
"I would also like to recommend the Polish film Corpus Christi (2019), which is about a devout kid who gets out of juvenile prison, and ends up semi-accidentally posing as the new priest in the little town heās sent to for workāand the thing is, heās really good at it. But also, will this lie and the darkness in his past come for him? Etc. etc., good stuff."
Adaptations
There are few--zero??--film adaptations of Carr or Brand's work. Which is bad and should be rectified. Brother Cadfael was on tv in the 90s, played by gay icon Derek Jacobi. But for priests and vicars (are they different? we just don't know), you're in luck. Father Brown's on the BBC, Canon Clement is on Acorn, and Grantchester is up to its 3rd detective vicar now. Of these, I highly recommend Murder Before Evensong: set in the 1980s, progressive and proactive priest (vicar)(canon??), VERY good visuals and vibes.
That's all I got! Huge thanks to Tarra for caring about priests so I don't have to. If you read any of these mysteries (or have read others that you see in Wake Up Dead Man) please let me know.
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Do you have still the energy for a little prumpt š? I would love the number 38 or 64, and about Sal and Buck!
Bonus point with overstimulated Buck and bottom Sal ā¤ļø
"Youāre n-not ,um, w-wearing anything under that, are you..?ā
āIām gonna fuck you so hard that you forget you ever even met that asshole.ā
(The vibe is that they're not exclusive but they want to be but that would require talking and this is an immediately post-Abby gun shy Buck. The second prompt doesn't end up being explicitly said but the vibe is there.)
They meet on Tinder after Buck accidentally messes up making a new profile. Maddie insists he needs to get back out there, even just to date, and he's afraid of falling into old habits. He wants to be better, more mature. But he downloads the app and swipes away a few women who seem like the type he would've gone for before, because he doesn't want a one night thing or a one hour thing. He wants something real, like what he'd thought he was getting with Abby.
Then a guy pops up, and Buck's so surprised that he fumbles his phone and it swipes the profile away. A moment later, he sees that he's matched with someone. And it's the guy.
"Oh, fuck," he says softly, scrunching down on Maddie's couch.
He's about to message and apologize and say it was all a mistake when he sees that one of the photos is him in an LAFD shirt. He's grinning and handsome and a little older, and his name is Sal. Buck messages him about the firefighter thing instead, and then they're talking off and on for a couple of days. They're both from Pennsylvania, Sal used to work at the 118, Sal was also almost fired by Bobby, he also mainly watches documentaries but it's mostly about sports and crime and history, and there's just a lot for them to talk about. When they agree to meet, Buck forgets until about halfway through the pitcher of beer that he forgot to specify that this isn't a date.
He forgets until Sal's kissing him against a pool table, and Buck's kissing him back and it takes until after he's reeled Sal back in for another kiss for him to realize he's supposed to have a problem with this.
"I've never kissed a guy before," he says when their lips are close enough that there could be a third kiss.
"Good first kiss," Sal teases, brushing his fingers over Buck's jaw. "Gotta say, I've never been a guy's first anything. Fight, maybe."
Buck smiles and shifts back a little. "I mean, I didn't mean to--it's so stupid."
He tells Sal about the accidental swipe, and Sal thinks it's hilarious but sweet that Buck still talked to him anyway.
"So you've never even looked at a guy before?" Sal asks. It opens the floodgates to a long conversation that keeps them at the bar way later than Buck should be out with work in the morning. But by the end of it, he realizes he might be bisexual and downloads Grindr at Sal's insistence that he give himself a chance to at least look at the dating pool with a fresh set of eyes.
They hang out again the next week and kiss almost immediately. They're in the parking lot of the bar they'd planned on going to, and now Buck is pressed against a midsize SUV and grinding against the thigh of his new friend/date/bisexual mentor.
"You really want to do this in my backseat?" Sal asks.
Buck nods, and they pile in the back and he touches a dick that isn't his own for the first time. He's definitely bisexual, because it's hearing Sal groan about how bad he wishes he could see Buck bounce on his cock that gets him to cum.
Except they go inside after, and Sal asks if he's met up with anyone else, if he's going to. Buck feels a small sense of disappointment even as he smiles and says he hasn't yet but will soon.
"Good for you," Sal says, but Buck can't tell if he means it.
It's about two months of this, of hooking up with Sal and hanging out with Sal and texting Sal and calling Sal and worrying about Sal when he hears about the 122's calls. In the meantime, he meets other people on apps and talks to them. Sometimes he'll meet them, but there's never anything else. He exchanges handjobs with one guy who's really sweet and hot and goes down on a woman he goes on an otherwise boring date with, but that's as far as he gets.
Then he sees that Sal's active on Grindr at the same time and feels something ugly twist in his gut. He messages him on there, asking if he's seen anything interesting.
Just you. ;)
Buck smiles, messages back, and then they're flirting through the app like Buck doesn't have the sense memory of Sal's cock in his mouth and in his ass and slipping over his fingers and grinding against his own cock. He ignores other messages he gets and ends up trading dick pics with Sal until the other man FaceTimes him.
"Where are you?" Sal asks.
"Uh, my sister's bathroom," Buck whispers, adjusting his earbuds so he can hear her moving around if he needs to. "So I gotta be quiet."
"Baby, you've never been quiet with me, how you gonna start now?" Sal asks, grinning.
Fuck, he's so beautiful.
"Guess you'll just have to talk instead," Buck replies, grinning back. "I know you hate doing that."
He gets off to Sal telling him exactly what he wants to do to him, what kinds of memories he thinks about when he's trying to get himself off, and what he wants to see Buck do to himself on their call. At Sal's direction, he plucks at his nipples and jerks himself off and sucks on his fingers until he's cumming with his face shoved in a towel to muffle the noises that want to come out. Sal's loud and clear as he gets off to him, and he looks satisfied and happy when he's done.
"You busy tomorrow?" Sal asks.
Buck freezes in the middle of cleaning himself up. "Oh, I have, uh, a date. I can cancel, though."
Sal shrugs. "Don't worry about it."
When they hang up, Buck wants to scream. He goes to the couch and does just that into one of the pillows.
The next night, he's out at a restaurant with Drew, who seemed a lot nicer online, and he's ready to choke on another piece of bread to get away. Drew's just condescending enough to the server that Buck and the server exchange a few looks. He seems completely surprised by the fact that Buck never finished college, even though Buck had told him in their messages that he'd opted to become a firefighter rather than go back once he moved back to the country. When he finds out Buck was in Peru, he asks if he felt safe there.
"I mean, I worked at a bar on a surf beach, so...yeah?" Buck says slowly, and he hears a loud laugh near the front of the restaurant.
Sal's talking to the host, gesticulating emphatically about something before he crosses his arms over his chest and leans in to hear the man's response.
"It doesn't seem like it's very queer friendly, is all," Drew says.
"Oh," Buck replies, realizing he doesn't actually know. "I wasn't out yet, so I don't know. Like, I didn't know yet. I told you, I'm kinda new at this. Would, uh, would you excuse me? Sorry."
He gets up and makes a beeline for the front just as Sal picks up a bag of food.
"H-hi," Buck says in a rush. "You're here."
Sal holds up the bag with a thin smile. "Yeah, I didn't feel like cooking. How's the date going?"
"Not well," Buck admits, and Sal's smile gets a little more genuine. "I just--"
"Is everything okay?" Drew asks, and Buck's heart sinks.
"Yeah, we were just catching up," Sal says. "I'll see you."
"See you," Buck says, and Sal leaves.
He feels that same urge he did at the airport, the one where he reaches out and grabs someone and asks if he's enough.
The rest of dinner goes fine, and Buck tips the server generously. Out in the parking lot, he's about to bow out gracefully when Drew kisses him. Buck kisses back, because Drew's at least hot. But then he gets backed up against his Jeep and a thigh goes between his legs, and he flashes back to that first maybe date with Sal and gently pushes Drew back.
"I-I can't, I'm sorry," he says. "I need to go."
It's the one thing Drew is surprisingly nice about, and Buck's able to get in his Jeep and drive to Sal's. Sal answers the door in a robe and is rubbing a towel over his hair.
"Everything okay?" he asks, and Buck shakes his head. "Did that guy--"
"Why don't you want to be with me?" Buck asks, and Sal's eyebrows shoot up. "Is it because of how we met?"
Sal tosses the towel over his shoulder and crosses his arms over his chest. "I thought you wanted to 'figure it all out.' I didn't want to tie you down while you did that."
Buck blinks, realizes he's been assuming a lot and that Sal's been doing the same thing. "I figured it out, though."
"It took me until I was almost thirty to even say the word 'bisexual' without being a dick about it," Sal reminds him. "And then I wouldn't even admit it for another couple years. You--"
"I just didn't really ever need to think about it," Buck says, shrugging and feeling like an idiot for this whole thing. "Maybe it is supposed to be harder, I don't know."
"Whoa, no, hey," Sal says, settling his hands on Buck's shoulders. "I've just never met anyone who rolls with these kind of punches this easy, but you're not doing it wrong. Just because you didn't hate yourself for it, doesn't mean it's not real. I just--I've never met someone like you. You're a really, really special person. I didn't want to make you feel like you had to chain yourself to the first guy you kissed."
"We haven't talked about chains," Buck teases, and Sal rolls his eyes with a laugh. "What I want didn't change just because you're a guy. I want something real. I don't want to feel like I have to--to jump on an app or steal a fire engine or whatever. I just want someone who feels the same way I do."
"Don't steal a fire engine for me, kid," Sal says, tugging him over the threshold with a smile. "I'd hold out for a Heavy-U. C'mon, I'm a captain, I got my own engines."
"Is that gonna get me a date? Because Silverlake's not that far, I can--"
He's more than okay with being silenced by a kiss, especially when he can feel Sal smiling against his lips. He inhales sharply when his hand settles on Sal's chest and feels bare skin and hair where the robe's slipped open.
"Y-you're, uh, not wearing anything under that, are you?" he asks softly.
Sal bites his lip, tips his chin up a little. He's so cocky, and it's so goddamn hot. "Find out."
Buck kicks the door shut behind them and tugs at the belt tied around Sal's waist while Sal fights the buttons on his shirt. He gets three undone before he's tugging Buck's shirt out of his pants, and Buck pulls it over his head along with the undershirt. Broad, thick hands splay over his pecs and give him something to brace against while he gets out of his shoes.
"Was the date really that bad?" Sal asks.
"He was the worst," Buck confesses, unbuckling his belt. "Just a dick, but he still kissed me."
"Yeah?" Sal asks, grabbing his jaw and nosing against his cheek. "He any good?"
"Not bad," Buck admits.
"That all?"
Buck shakes his head, and Sal growls low, tightening his grip on his jaw. He admittedly likes that after feeling like Sal didn't care for weeks, he apparently does a whole lot. Sal backs him up against the wall as Buck pushes his pants and underwear down over his thighs, and the open robe gets dropped on the floor. Sal's hard and naked against him, broad and hairy and thick all over.
"What else, hm?" Sal asks.
He half straddles Sal's thigh and grinds his cock against it with a whine. "This. B-but we were all dressed. Like when we were outside that bar the first time."
"Then what?" Sal asks, pinning Buck's wrists above his head.
"Then I left. Came here."
"Why?" Sal asks, squeezing lightly as he stares into Buck's eyes.
"Because he wasn't you," Buck admits.
"That's right," Sal murmurs, kissing along his neck. "You all mine now, sweetheart?"
Buck presses his head back against the wall and nods with a whine. "Uh-huh. Was before, too."
"I know," Sal soothes, nosing under his jaw. "I'm sorry, baby. You were all mine and I was too fuckin' stupid to realize."
He kisses Buck, walking them through the house and back to the bedroom.
"You wanna know what I was doing in that shower so I'd stop thinking about you with that mook and feelin' sorry for myself?" Sal asks, backing Buck onto the bed and climbing onto his thighs.
"Wh-what? I mean: yeah," Buck says, then tries to remember how the question was actually pressed. "Can you just--"
"I was thinking about you, thinking about calling you and seeing if you'd leave him and come over here," Sal says, kissing his chest and licking across Buck's nipple. "And I figured you'd need incentive, y'know? The guy was a dick, but he was hot. So I thought if I fucked myself open for you so you could just slip on in when you got here, that might get you to come through that door."
Buck thrusts up against Sal, his cock bumping his thigh and the underside of his balls. "That--yeah, that would've worked. That works. Can I--can I?"
Sal moves forward a bit, arching his back and rolling his hips until Buck's cock slips between his cheeks. Buck helps, bending his knees so his cock angles up a bit, and he feels how slick Sal's hole is.
"What do you think?" Sal asks, bending forward to kiss him.
He grabs a condom from the little bowl by his bed and reaches back to put it on Buck. And then he just sinks down on his cock, his hole so tight around Buck that he's worried Sal's gonna hurt himself, but Sal's jaw drops as he tips his head back and moans.
"Fuck, that's perfect," Sal groans, bracing his hands on Buck's chest and riding him slowly. "Your cock is a fuckin' work of art, baby, you know that? Want to feel it bare as soon as I can, you won't be able to keep me off it."
Buck tries not to thrust up, because Sal's got a perfect rhythm going and he also feels like he's going to cum way too fast if he does. "J-just get checked. I did a-a while ago. Oh fuck, you feel so good."
Sal slows, looking down at him. "Before or after we met?"
"Right before, but I haven't--" He flushes, his hands flexing on Sal's thighs. "I haven't done had, like, full sex with anyone else."
"What, really?"
"I've been with you most of the time," Buck points out. "And we work the same shift."
He huffs out a laugh and shakes his head. "And I've been too hung up on you too do anything except sext other guys."
Buck sits up, blinking at him in disbelief. "Really?"
"Yeah," Sal says, cupping his cheeks and kissing him. "I told you, kid, I never met anyone like you before."
He wraps his arm around Sal and flips them over until Sal's on his back, kissing him because he's pretty sure he's already halfway to being in love. "So I can--"
"Get that fuckin' thing off? Yeah, c'mon," Sal urges, and Buck flings the condom away before he spits on his hand to slick himself up a little more. When he pushes in, he thinks he made a mistake, there's no way he's going to last more than thirty seconds. "Fuck, you gonna fill me up already, baby?"
"I might," Buck grits out, curling his fingers in the duvet. "I c-can get hard again fast."
"Oh, I know you can." Sal digs his fingers into Buck's shoulders and wraps his legs around his hips. "So fuckin' do it."
Buck does get a few spectacular thrusts in before he's cumming, and he stays inside Sal, fucking in short little thrusts and shivering at the burning static of sensitivity. "N-never fucked someone bare before."
"No?" Sal sounds surprised. "Smart boy. Feels good, doesn't it?"
He nods, whimpering against Sal's neck. "So wet."
He barely softens before he's fucking into Sal again, and it's torturous but the greatest feeling. His cock's sensitive, but his orgasm's in the far distance, like he could fuck Sal forever. When he sits back on his heels and pushes Sal's legs back, there's bone-deep satisfaction from seeing Sal's eyes roll back and watching him try to fuck himself on Buck's cock.
"You wanna ride me some more?" Buck asks, and Sal nods. Buck pulls out, marvels at the slick pull of Sal's rim around his head, and sits back against the headboard.
Sal climbs onto his lap and reaches between his thighs to hold Buck's cock steady as he sinks down on it. He groans and presses their foreheads together, and Buck presses his fingers into the flexing muscles of Sal's back, trying to feel his heartbeat through the other side.
"You're so pretty," he breathes, and Sal chuckles. "No, really. Fuck, you're so pretty. All the time. Ev-every time I look at you, I just think, 'He's so pretty, I wish he was mine.'"
"I am." Sal kisses him and moans against Buck's mouth when he fucks into him as Sal rides back on his dick. He sucks on Sal's bottom lip as he does it again and again until Sal tips his head back and cries out.
"Gonna cum for me?" Buck asks as Sal starts stroking himself, the slick head of his cock sticking to Buck's stomach. Sal whines and nods, panting against Buck's cheek. "Let me see. You're all mine, right? Let me see."
He brings a hand up to hold Sal's jaw so he can watch his face as his brows draw together and his mouth drops open. He cums with a noise that sounds like it's getting squeezed out of his lungs, and Buck kisses him through the aftershocks, fucking into him as his hole clenches around him rhythmically, like it's trying to milk his cock.
"My turn to see," Sal says, spreading a hand across Buck's throat but not pressing down. "Show me you're all mine, baby."
Buck holds him tight and fucks him hard and fast until he's finally, finally cumming again. The second one hits so hard that it almost hurts, and he has to lift Sal off as soon as he's done. Sal cuddles up against him, and Buck wraps his arms around him, kissing his hair and his forehead and his temple.
"My sister wants to meet you," he says, smiling when Sal snorts softly. "No, really."
"Not why I'm laughin', babe. You just don't know what you're getting into," he says, kissing Buck's shoulder before he lifts his head to kiss Buck's chin. "I've got three. And a brother. They're all older, they all treat me like I'm a kid. They're gonna love you, but they're gonna vet you first."
Buck imagines facing four Deluca siblings, and burning buildings have been a less terrifying thought. "Any tips?"
"Don't let 'em see you sweat. And bring wine." He squeezes Buck around his waist and throws a leg across Buck's thighs. "And then you get to meet all sixteen aunts and uncles, their husbands and wives, and I lost count of the cousins once we passed eighty. Plus, y'know, Ma, Pops, Nonna Gia, and Nonno Sandro. How's all that sound?"
He smiles against Sal's hair and kisses it again. "Perfect. They ever meet any boyfriends before?"
"Nah," Sal says, tracing his fingers over Buck's chest tattoo. "None of 'em ever made the cut. They met a couple ex-girlfriends, didn't like 'em. Well, they liked Gina a little because her family was from Palermo. But they'll like you. All you gotta do is smile at 'em, you'll have a whole army of Sicilians willing to do anything for that smile. I'm more worried about you liking them, they're a lot to handle."
Buck's chest feels like it's filling with too much air, and he tells himself to wait, to not be so impulsive this time. "If they're anything like you, I'll love them, too."
He's about to mentally berate himself for not even being a little subtle when Sal raises himself up to kiss him, licking into his mouth and nipping at his lips.
"Just fuckin' say it, you mook," Sal says between kisses.
"I love you."
Sal presses their foreheads together and smiles. "I love you, too."
Buck feels like a dam's opened in his chest, and that feeling of too much air gets replaced by a rush of something, something good that makes him feel like he's got butterflies everywhere. Or bees. A gentle swarm of bumblebees. He kisses Sal until they look incredulously down at their hardening cocks.
"My turn," Buck says, lifting one of his legs with a grin. "Show me what you got."
Sal kisses him with a happy little growl, running a hand over Buck's inner thigh. "I got you, don't I?"
ALSO dave and jade deserved so much better. you wanna know what their last normal pesterlog was without any horseshit? the last thing that happened between them before the final battle? this
jade and her patron troll karkat never even got a conversation after cascade. (but were not gonna bring karkat into this lol i respect ur tag)
this is so fuckin sad considering dave and jade were pretty close. remember how popular davejade used to be back in the day? they have good chemistry and it was clear they really cared for each other but then it just died off because of the shenanigans. i have so many thoughts on davejade because dave acted softer around her from the start / didnt give her as much shit which was huge because dave was kind of a little irony hardened menace in 2009
not to mention their narrative entanglement and complementary themes and what i said in my tags here. but the plot ended up conspiring against themā¦..
what are your thoughts about this / davejade in any capacity
i wrote a scene where jade and dave reunited in the new session she never gets held back as a plot device because its what they deserved. goddamnā¦.oh god and we are NOT going to talk about the epilogues because it was character assassination youre so correct so i wrote an idea that too and gave jade the justice she deserved on earth c
i can tell that you really really love both of these characters that makes me real happy because i dont think a lot of the people that are actively in the fandom right now really get either of them that well. ill write up some of my opinions under this cut sorry that theyre so scattered and messy
ive read up your links and you are really really good at articulating what you mean and are extremely correct about a lot of their feelings and foilage to each other, i think, as well as having pretty believable text for both of them. super appreciate that
for me, when i was reading homestuck my first couple of times, i didnt necessarily ship them that much, but i certainly expected them to be some kind of endgame and i thought they were honestly incredibly cute. it IS true - dave is far far softer with jade, he engages in her interests more than anyone else, he often seeks out her opinion on what he does, be it music or his writings. and although she does take jabs at him quite often, she does not particularly bully him as much as the other beta kids do - theres a different kind of playful banter between them, it very much feels like what would be an ordinary first romance in any other kind of media
i think what i really like about their dynamic is that both of them are very lonely people in a very unique way. i couldnt really call john lonely, and while rose didnt have the happiest home life, i couldnt call her the loneliest either, because at least she had something going with her mother that made it feel as if at least in some way, she was involved enough to give rose some idea of what she felt towards her. dave and jades parental units did anything but show them how they felt. everybody already knows how it is between dave and his bro, but not a lot of people realize how awful it mustve been to grow up the way jade did and still turn out this kind and smart. i think the page where the narration says "he was so much easier to deal with when he was alive" really cemented it in my head how fucking shitty it is to have jake as your parent, alive or not, because he died so early that its easier to pretend jade knew anything about what he was really like. i dont think the other kids could quite understand those feelings they must have for their family but them. thats what i feel
what was done to them felt honestly evil. that final dialogue between them, where dave sincerely tells her that she could talk to him about what WILL happen, what he ENSURES will happen at her hand really shows the kind of trust he had in her, and not only that - he, as always, was ready to die for his friends, whether or not its what he or they wanted, because hes just that self sacrificial. i remember when i read that part for the first time i cried a little bit because it was such a tragic way for them to part for 3 years with no communication, and it was only proceded by more tragedy because jade then had no one but davesprite to turn to, and davesprite needed anything but romance at that point. while inbetween the gigapauses and whynot i had already kind of forgotten that all of this happened, i still felt like their resolution was to come and that it wouldve been glorious. you have no idea how dumbfounded i was during the whole grimbark ordeal because it (to me at the time) felt like such a nothing twist to pull on jade all of a sudden. this was that era of homestuck where i couldnt understand if i even still liked it or was delusional about my feelings for it but when dave and jade had that whole extremely confrontational dialogue it just felt..off to me? i just dont think that this is genuinely how jade felt about him and using davesprite as a scapesgoat to blame their shortlived romance on just dave felt kind of unfair too. i often debate on if i love dave more than davesprite so do forgive the favoritism but he did not deserve to be dragged in that part as much as he was because this was supposed to be a conversation between *dave* and her, manipulated dog puppet or not. and to think that after all this he still chose to save her, like always, probably knowing he had little to no chance, just because he cares for her, her life and who she is beyond this moment, really meant a lot for them. i really, really was mad that this would be the last time they would truly ever be together in a way that to me mattered, because the retcon was where this comic stopped being what i liked and could excuse pulling bullshit
i think they shouldve had their time to finally talk about what happened, to talk about how they felt, didnt even matter if theyd end up together - i just think that for how much they couldve been they ended up very little. i often wonder if hussie just had some kind of problem with harlenglishes or something because that guy despised jake and did some extremely questionable things to jade. im kind of mindlessly rambling at this point, i really need to reread this fucking thing, but yeah, i did like them, i do think they couldve been wonderful together, and i think they deserved to be treated as a proper set of characters because for what they managed to be, they were real fucking good
the one last thing i can say is the "i missed you" scene would kill me with a rock if it was the dave and jade we followed for like, ages, instead of these random versions of them i could care less about
This is complete gibberish because 1) quirks are basically magic with extremely little basis in real science, in fact it makes up its own facts, 2) my half remembered biology has probably also made up its own facts, and 3) very untrustworthy application of simplified sociological concepts, but anyways
So the CRC fascinates me because itās an interesting bit of HeroAcaLand worldbuilding, sadly able to draw basis from irl bigotry. But just like a lot of irl bigotry, the hate is based on something that seems to be completely made up within the logic of the world.
The whole manifestation of quirks / advent of the extraordinary brought about chaos when the regular, traditional definition of āhumanā collapsed, so says All Might in Chapter 59. Eventually, people rebuild and redefined what being āhumanā meant. And the CRC had its origins during an era where things were getting better.
Before, the separation of power/society/identity was between people who didnāt have superpowers and those who did (and not considered āhumanā); then presumably as the quirk-having population grew, as there were more babies born with quirks than not and this rate kept increasing with each generation, the majority of people just came to accept that this was the new normal - everyone has superpowers of some sort.
Which of course meant hatred needed a new target/new scapegoat/new imagined enemy/new group to assert power and dominance over/new underclass of sorts.
Itās not hard to imagine that perhaps, in one scenario, someone without a body-altering quirk would throw a fellow quirk-haver under the bus for their own benefit. In attempting to enter the club of ātrue humanā, the more normal-looking person could simply point to someone with a heteromorphic quirk and say, Look at them. Iām not a freak like them, Iām just like anyone else, with a tiny quirk. Who would you rather have, if you must have us? Something like that. Or itās just easier to include normal-looking people who neednāt special accommodations, no need to spend more effort put into thoughtful inclusion into their community, and wow, arenāt those heteromorphs annoying when they raise the issue? Or simply because someone felt an irrational feeling that they then try to rationalize.
In any case, itās probably from incidents like these that got the CRC formed, claiming that heteromorphs are less than and undeserving. Dehumanize them into āanimalsā, most frequently from what weāve seen, but surely people like Cementoss would similarly be demean as a āthingā.
There is a subtle but reoccurring belief of a kind of biological determinism that runs through current quirk society. That your quirk makes you who you are, inherently, innately; that if you deviate from the norms you community, youāre no longer a person, really, just monsters in human skin. Because itās still ongoing, the fight about who gets to be a person, and treated as such.
But back to the CRC. I think itās kinda āfunnyā, that their break up into fractions shows exactly the cracks in their ideology, demonstrates the bullshit it is. The traits these different fractions hate on seem entirely arbitrary, and the lines they draw not coherent either (does āirregular headsā include animal-esque heads? Does that mean theyāre fine with someone who might have, idk, the body of a tree, but a normal head; yet that personās sibling who only has leaves for hair but otherwise a ānormalā body doesnāt make the cut of whatever āacceptable standardsā theyāve come up with?). In other words, traits arising from quirks and whatever meaning or value people give to them have become a sort of social construct; but the CRC rejects that for nonsensical determinism.
This is my own ātheoryā, but taking the gists of what I remember about genetics, I think that however much Spinner looks like a lizard, has a quirk called āGeckoā, he doesnāt have āanimal DNAā; he is 100% as human as anyone else in the League. His plus-alpha-quirk-factors-genes-whatever simply gives him this phenotype thatās one variation of many, but itās the same gene as anyone else?
Okay, so like. (Almost) everyone has a unique quirk, which can range anywhere from ābendy fingersā to controlling the weather. But its all still a quirk, a biological aspect of a person decided by plus-alpha-elements/quirk-factors/whatever. When AFO takes away a quirk, he takes it all away - someone who has been able to emit stuff no longer can, and someone with heteromorph looks loses that appearance. It was the solely the quirk that granted them these āextra featuresā, whatever it may be. These two people are/were as human as each other, always had been, no matter how different they looked. Someone with an animal heteromorph quirk has always been 100% identically human as someone who has a non-heteromorphic quirk, or someone without a quirk at all.
Or, approaching this from a different direction, you canāt argue Spinner isnāt as human as say Endeavor/is a little more animalistic than Endeavor; you might as well say Endeavor is as inhuman as Spinner (and so is everyone else). Yes, Spinner looks like a lizard - heās got the claws and the scales, itās not regular āhumanā skin. But neither does Endeavor, because normal human skin would turn to ash at the temperature of heat and fire he makes. On his skin.
Idk how physics in this world works, but still, see - thereās sorta a irl biological basis for Endeavorās heat-tolerant body. Basically his body produces enzymes that do not burn out at the temperature (and higher) that most enzymes do... likely similar to the enzymes of thermophiles - single celled organisms sorta like bacteria, that can survive at super high temperature. Whose to say his quirk isnāt partly ābasedā on this? In other words, Endeavor has similar traits to a species of bacteria or even archaea.
Endeavor, similar to a single celled organism thatās not even of the same taxonomy domain as animals (super far away on the tree of life from humans); vs Spinner, similar to a lizard, which is at least in the same phylum as humans (closer in the tree of life). Whoās more human? Whose got āmoreā āanimalistic DNAā/āhuman DNAā? Which is to say, in the world of My Hero Academia, Spinner (and Endeavor) is just as inhuman as anyone else, having the quirks they do, which means theyāre just as human as anyone else because (almost) everyone has quirks. Spinner can be called lizard as much as Dabi can also be called a (failed) bacteria.
So the CRC are wrong. Which, duh, but now itās āāāāāprovenāāāāā by me and my near 1 am brain. My eyes are tired. Iām on mobile so i canāt do a spoiler cut sorry. Night everyone, thanks for putting up with me.
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>>> Realm of Magic, General Qās, Simblr Resources & About Me
@battlecouples: Hey! Realm of Magic looks and sounds absolutely amazing. Do you know if Vampire or Aliens can become Spellcasters and/or learn Alchemy?
As far as I can tell, Vampires can become Spellcasters but Aliens & Mermaids cannot. I think if you use MCCC you can get around this, though. If anyone can verify that, feel free to let me know in the replies! (I havenāt gotten around to trying it myself & I donāt personally use MCCC)
@petaluhsims: Could you let us know if there are any off-the-grid compatible items in realm of magic? Does that stove in the screenshot you shared work off the grid?
The kitchen stove & a variety of light fixtures (candles) are off-the-grid compatible, but the kitchen fridge isnāt. Kind of a bummer, but Iām sure someone will make it compatible soon.Ā š¤
Anon: Do you think Realm of Magic will have a storyline like Strangeville?
Anon: I have my future witch sims ready, Iām so excited. I really hope thereās a storyline like with Strangeville
To answer both of you: there isnāt a story this time around.Ā
Anon: Hello, so I have ROM question, Spellcasters are immortal like vampires? And can they make youth potions ? Thanks for your time ^^
They arenāt immortal, but there are potions & spells that can make them immortal! You just have to level up your Spellcaster before they can attempt either of those (which isnāt that hard to do).
Anon: After downloading ROM Iām finding a lot of slowness and bugs with my game. I have a really good computer that was working flawlessly before installing ROM, is EA releasing a patch to fix this soon?
Iāve been experiencing some bugs, too. I have no idea when theyāll release a patch to fix them, but I hope itās sooner rather than later.Ā
Anon: I'm loving the Realm of Magic pack so far, but I have one little issue...you can't sell potions for money! Is this purposeful or a bug, do you know? I wanted to have my Sim make a living by selling her potions :(
As far as I know it was on purpose, but I hope theyāll patch in pricing at a later date. In the meantime, @icy-spicy-scalpel made a mod that allows you to sell your potions/gives them a price!Ā š
Anon: will you put your realm of magic house on the gallery or up for download? it's so beautiful
Iāll try to do that as soon as I'm able! Itāll most likely be CC free & edited from the original, but itās mostly CC free to begin with, so it wonāt be too different.Ā
Anon: Is there any way to access your body sweat overlay outside of Wicked Whims?
As of right now, no. I made those as a commission so Iām not sure if Iāll release them through my blog.
Anon: Hi, I'm just starting out making a simblr for the odd piece of cc I make for the Sims 4. I want to make a download page like yours, but have no idea where to start. Any help you could give me would be appreciated, even if it is just a link to a code that would work for a download page. Thank you!
Iām not much of an expert with coding, but if you find a decent base code thereās so much you can do with it! I recommend checking out @simblrlayouts or the family/network tag on @theme-hunter. I use a heavily edited version ofĀ this one for my own Downloads Page.Ā
Anon: what is the font you used on your sims 4 icon graphic? the part that says āoh my sims overhaulā i mean! i donāt know if this is technically a wcif, so please feel free to ignore me if it is!
Itās calledĀ āThe Catās WhiskersāĀ š±
Anon: Hi! I was wondering if youād fixed your Burtās need lipstick? I havenāt seen a post but I wasnāt sure if Iād missed it :(
Iām so sorry, no I havenāt yet. Life has sort of been getting away from me as of late & CC has taken the back burner. +Iāll be away this weekend, but iāll try to do it sometime this coming week if time allows.Ā
Anon: Would you ever consider including the trill mesh(es) with just the kismet denim and ripped swatches? i never use coloured jeans but i love the trill set
If they need to be updated, sure, but I probably wonāt be editing them any time soon. I want to focus more on new/future content. I hope youāll understand!
Anon: Do you have any good guides on how to download creative content? I haven't been able to find a good trustworthy looking guide
This one includes a written walk-through as well as a video.
Anon: Whatās the best way to get into cc clothing making? Iāve been a huge fan of badass cc for female sims and wanna steal a lot of looks from the Kim Kardashian game
I highly recommend checking out the @sims4studioofficial forum. They have an entire CC creation index full of tutorials & general resources that will help get you started.Ā
Anon: Has the stuff packers ever gone on sale?
Not that I can rememberĀ š¤
Anon: Hey I've been trying to add the pack icons to my tumblr but it keeps bugging out, could you help?
Feel free to send me a message off anon & Iāll try to help to the best of my abilities! As a general message, itās always easier to contact me off anon, that way, Iāll get back to you much sooner.Ā
Anon: Hi! I'm not sure if I'm asking at the right place, but maybe you could help :D Do you know about any mod or a way to turn off the ambience of photos? It's so annoying that you happened to take a photo of a flirty sim and you can't really display it unless you want every sim in the room to get flirty :/ Thanks for any help!
I have no idea š Ā but if anyone can help, feel free to do so in the replies! š
Anon: Hello. I hate to ask this, because I know it's an inactive group, but do you know if it's possible that any of the PlumbobTeaSociety sets will be updated? I absolutely adore the cottage garden stuff, but I'm getting an error when I place the swing set. I use it everywhere, but now it's placing for a quick second before immediately disappearing. I wouldn't bother you with this if I had any idea how to fix it. Thanks for your time. I love your work.
Since dissolving the group, I donāt think any of the items/packs in general will be edited or updated any time soon. Iām so sorry.
Anon: What do you consider to be your worst trait?
I overthink everything, which leads me to feel even more anxious & causes a lot of internal tension & stress-- aka itās incredibly self-destructive behavior. Itās... not great. Iām trying to work on it, but itās so tough.
Anon: Hey! You are a wonderful person, thank you for that!
Thank you! Hereās a bunch of hearts for ya~ ššššš
