shitposting

But if you have a character with one of those Always Outfits, and then there's a timeskip and they show up again a bit older than before, you have to give them something new to wear. I'm willing to ignore laundry, but I've never met a 15-year-old who wants to wear the same thing she wore when she was 12. Laundry isn't an interesting detail. How the character has changed over the timeskip, and how that can be represented in their design, absolutely is.

N:

THAT BEING SAID i think it's interesting to me how comparatively little fic there is in the bond fandom about james dealing w internalised homophobia. this probs comes from the majority of it being (at least primarily) craig bond influenced, and esp 00q dominant. since the same movie that introduced young (therefore shippable) q also implies bond has at least had some experience w gay sex and isnt uncomfortable w the implication, it makes sense that it doesnt come up. however it's a bit of a shame as bond + masculinity is such an interesting knot of assumptions and cultural expectations and the fact that as a character he has this big womaniser reputation that doesn't quite match canon (imo). fertile ground for getting a bit anthropological

Me:

I've not been here for very long (*this was several months ago but I stand by it) but I have picked up on the lack of internalised homophobia, and I think your diagnosis is a compelling one (sidenote: as much as I got here by 00q and I like it, having rewatched skyfall I do have thoughts cooking on that "therefore shippable" point) (*outwith the scope of this post but maybe i'll eventually get round to writing it up). It would be dull for every fic to have an agonised "I'm not gay" Bond but again even with experience (public/ boarding school and the navy as you point out here) what characters say openly doesn't always reflect how they feel inside (and in this case he is literally a spy do I need to elaborate) So I honestly think it's a reasonable read for him to be able to goad Silva or even act casual about it in other situations but still have a crisis or at least mixed feelings around his own masculinity and perception of himself v how the world sees him. Again a rich vein I think.

N:

yes! this made me think of something where like. that scene w silva is the first time he actually discusses his attraction to men/sexual history with men out loud, explicitly, in front of people other than the person he's fucking. i feel like that internal struggle would be so intriguing. he ends that scene being like "why tf did i say that ?????" or if everythings going on and when skyfall is all said and done, bond finally has the change to take a breath and go WHY IS SILVA THE FIRST PERSON I EVER CAME OUT TO!?

Ever since he first said it I've just loved that idea of Bond's insatiable need to banter and quip momentarily overriding his internalised homophobia then giving himself a massive bisexual crisis on top of all the skyfall shit. Incredible vision.

There's also this @halfbaked00q post (which looking at my tags was what ended up with me going off oan one™️ and pulling out into whatever the hell this has ended up being)

there is something spicy abt exploring either an internalized homophobia or like a "he has a ton of sexual trauma in general but a Super Special ✨️Extra✨️ flavor of sexual trauma re sex with men :')" ... seeking out sex w men thing almost becomes like a form of emotional self-harm :') that he undertakes

But his thing with Q.... he genuinely has developed an emotional connection with him/genuinely desires a genuine emotional connection/relationship/etc. Except now uh oh! all of his deferred consequences of retraumatizing himself will come to bear.

he seeks that out as a form of self flagellation or like#cutting-esque self harm….. :')#& w Q it's like. he WANTS to unlearn/learn how to cope w & heal from his trauma.. he wants to learn how to enjoy it- like ACTUALLY enjoy it

It's also smth I talk a bit about in one of the White Papers (such a pretentious bit!):

Anyway I think you could take this in an interesting direction and explore ideas around (craig!)Bond's single minded, almost pathological obsession with finding a woman to become monogamous with (I think of the line from Chapter 2 of pervysage's fic Serial Peripheral Interface (E, WIP) that reads: "You're a serial monogamist who expects all your serious relationships to change your life—and, granted, you're willing to put in a lot of effort to make that happen—but for whatever reason the change doesn't stick, and you end up where you started, just a lot more hurt.") and his ideas of marriage, queerness, and masculinity. It might be interesting to have a less sure of himself, more insecurely masculine Bond for this. I know a lot of people take the "What makes you think it's my first time?" and run with a securely bisexual Bond. but like proper "not-gay" msm Bond? Bond who's had a nonzero amount of sex with men — including bottoming — but has never come out to anyone. Or has come out to people and/or presents a level of outward confidence that simply is not matched by the sickening discomfort he feels inside. Maybe Q has his own assumptions and hangups around gay marriage, sex, and/ or monogamy.

RE: fics that do look at this, brevifolia's Game Theory (E, 235k) series comes to mind. Which is such a fascinating and addictive look at Bond and masculinity, though I think part of why that interpretation of the characters works so well is because of how he translates them into the 1950s setting. I'm trying to think of others more in the canon... hit me up if you have any?

PLASMA:)

PLASMA:)