I'm a tma lover/hater and huuuge fan of your blog, I'd love to hear your takes on the fanon characterization/designs of the archive crew and why you hate them, cause they drive me up a wall every time I see them
TMA lover/hater is a great way to call it. I'm going to be saying this from now on.
I don't remember the last time I talked about fanon designs, but basically:
They are at work for most of the podcast. I get why they might get more lax with what they wear to work after it all starts to unravel, but Tim* isn't going to be wearing Hawaiian shirts from S1. (*who is a professional! He is meticulous about work and not, say, a himbo.)
They are employed adults in a realistic world (supernatural elements aside). Melanie I could see having a more alternative fashion since her line of work originally wasn't academic, but that's about it.
Elias. Elias Elias Elias. It's the most inaccurate fanon design out there. Why is this man, canonically described as "austere" and the Head of an Institute that subsists on donations, dressed like the Onceler. Why do you make him significantly more flamboyant than the rest of the cast (who are better people). Do you seriously not realise why Disney villains being way more effeminate than the heroes is a problematic trope? And don't you think this careful man who does not draw attention to himself, and plays the part of the boring bureaucrat, wouldn't wear flashy suits and eye-shaped jewellery (which could only garner him reactions of ??? even before any secrets came out)? I have a few posts about fandom homophobia and fanon Elias but it honestly drives me up the wall.
On the subject of homophobia, why is Daisy, one of the most physically violent and monstrous female characters, drawn as butch? Especially considering (as a post not by me that I'll reblog after I finish this) that she canonically chooses to call herself Daisy because of its soft femininity and how it contradicts her violence. It really does seem like the mental arithmetic is violent + female = butch.
This isn't Problematic but more so something that I disagree with: I just don't see Peter as a stereotypical old-timey sea captain. He projects salesman energy. He is the cold depersonalisation of capitalism in human form (not Elias). He wears suits and is clean-shaven. To me.
Michael is not an arcade carpet. He thrives on being subtly... off. Seeming off in reflections, on second glance, out of the corner of your eye. I have always associated him with sickly browns and yellows. But I'm starting to think the TMA fandom does not understand subtlety.
Jon is mostly fine in my book, but I am a bit uneasy about the correlation between the universal headcanon of him as brown and how infantilised and dehumanised he is by some of the fandom. I'd be interested to hear actual nonwhite people's thoughts on the matter.
