'A Monkey In Persian Robes.'

Send this to all your favourite moots and pass the pumpkin round! KEEP THE PUMPKIN TRAIN GOING 🎃🖤🎃🖤🎃

Pumpkin recieved - and passed on.

(Thanks, smol skeleton Erik!)

I just started a new journal for the first time in years. Of course, I'm addressing my entries to Count Dracula.

I quote: 'let this Undead creature address her woes to a dead Undead who wouldn't care less if she was putrefying from coffin-rot (bed-rot).'

I had to find some way to amuse myself while trying to be my own therapist.

*Slams this lil dude down on the table* Phandom, dinner time!

I found out that the Chinese Phandom calls the Phantom 饭桶, "Rice Bucket," because it sounds like "phantom" (fàntǒng... meh, close enough).

That isn't the best bit.

If someone is a rice bucket, it means they're good for nothing but holding rice inside them (i.e., eating). So it means "useless person."

Now, isn't that perfect for someone who cools his heels in a dank cellar and blackmails his way to massive wages?

More POTO nonsense here!

I just want to say how much I adore and love the way you draw your cats. And how much I adore YOUR phantom cats.

And Cherik. I love your Cherik! AAAAAAAAAA

May I perchance hold your Cherik please?🥺🙏

Here you go! Please take Kitty Cherik out sparingly, he likes peace and quiet. Picnics in woods are very welcome, though.

Would you people like to hold Cherik? If you send an ask with a photo, I can give you a Cherik to hold like I did above (you can see why I complain about short sleeves now, haha)

Thank you so much for this lovely ask!

Always delightful when my friends throw me under the bus for inspiring unhinged ideas.

Look at him, he's Goth and cool and Eldritch, unlike my silly goober

@purrlockswatson made me do it

Coloured pencils and white ink on tinted cardstock.

Susan Kay's Phantom, WHY?

Lord save me from Erik and Christine's child. I'll never recover from all the times the existence of that child hurt me - not in a good way.

The last 80 pages really turned the grasshopper for me. Kay built a beautiful opera house, then sent a flaming, gunpowder-loaded chandelier through the roof. I enjoyed the first three-quarters of the book. It took incredible storytelling and research to build up that sprawling history only hinted at in the closing of original novel, and I love how the story made a spectacular Frankenstein Phantom from many adaptations.

But then came Christine.

Kay's afterword makes it worse for me. She states she doubts that A) Raoul would doubt Christine's love for him, and B) whether pity is a strong enough motivation for Christine to go back to Erik in spite of her fear. Ergo: Raoul was right when he suspected Christine loves Erik.

Well, I can clear up both of those points - A) Raoul is an insecure, jealous boy; B) aside from pitying Erik, Christine thought she could pacify him by going back, making pity AND fear her motivations, which she explains in Apollo's Lyre.

But Phantom's loyalty to the original is beside the point. What disturbed me about this explanation is that Kay meant it to be a love story. But there is no love.

I have already harped on to two friends about Phantom of the Opera and sexuality (thanks to @blackforrestpunk and @blackghostm2o for putting up with me). I think I can write an essay on the subject. After all, vampire fiction is my area of expertise.

⚠️Warning: Heavier subjects discussed below. I don't usually post content like this, so I thought i should give a heads up.⚠️

Leroux's Erik was never sexually attracted to Christine. All his fantasies he concerning her were purely romantic, even domestic ('a wife to keep amused on weekdays and take out on Sundays') whereas in Webber's adaptation, seduction is a recurrent theme in the Phantom's songs. There is nothing wrong with adding this extra layer to Chrsitine and Erik's relationship, as long as it doesn't overshadow their artistic bind through music.

But in Kay's Phantom, towards the ending, Erik's music becomes purely a sexual euphemism. It's a hypnotic drug that he uses to control Christine, and of course, there is that scene where he describes himself assaulting her by playing Don Juan Triumphant.

That is deeply misguided. Erik's music was his one connection to the purest, truest part of humanity. He was treated like a monster and often lives like one, yet he could express and evoke feelings that no most people could never, through his song.

And there is the child.

Erik thinks that Christine looks exactly like his mother. He speaks of her as his daughter. He is, self admittedly, old enough to be her father. And they still have a son together. There is no context, no possible way, that this is romantic. Horrible things can happen in a book. But it needs to be clear that it is horrible. Not so with this abominable ending. It was written as a romance, the bittersweet parting of starcrossed lovers. If Kay set out to write a love story for Erik and Christine, she did not do it: there is no evidence whatsoever in the text I read that Christine and Erik love one another. Erik lusts after her; Christine is drawn to his dark broody mystery. That is not love; it's Twilight.

I will reread this book for the sake of the brilliant child Erik, who I see myself in, and for Nadir and my feline lady Ayesha, but I will never be reading past Erik's delightful meetings with his old friend. As far as I'm concerned, he lived in his damp cellar in peace, with a large salary, to the end of his days.

More rants, I mean, very dignified and reasonable reviews of POTO adaptations here.

The Kitten is absolutely smitten!

(Text in ALT because my handwriting is not... writing)

The ✨️wrist thing✨️:

You captured this dummy drama vampire perfectly! 🦇🎀 Kudos to drawing two very fine hands, I was struggling with mine, haha!

Art trade with @purrlockswatson! Their original vampire character, London Pierce ♡

He's just a cutie, disaster kitten

Uncommon Questions for OCs and their creators:

Send me a # (questions for OCs) or a letter (questions for creators) and I’ll answer

QUESTIONS FOR YOUR OCs

What’s the maximum amount of time your character can sit still with nothing to do?

How easy is it for your character to laugh?

How do they put themselves to bed at night (reading, singing, thinking?)

How easy is it to earn their trust?

How easy is it to earn their mistrust?

Do they consider laws flexible, or immovable?

What triggers nostalgia for them, most often? Do they enjoy that feeling?

What were they told to stop/start doing most often as a child

Do they swear? Do they remember their first swear word?

What lie do they most frequently remember telling? Does it haunt them?

How do they cope with confusion (seek clarification, pretend they understand, etc)?

How do they deal with an itch found in a place they can’t quite reach?

What color do they think they look best in? Do they actually look best in that color?

What animal do they fear most?

How do they speak? Is what they say usually thought of on the spot, or do they rehearse it in their mind first?

What makes their stomach turn?

Are they easily embarrassed?

What embarrasses them?

What is their favorite number?

If they were asked to explain the difference between romantic and platonic or familial love, how would they do so?

Why do they get up in the morning? 

How does jealousy manifest itself in them (they become possessive, they become aloof, etc)? 

How does envy manifest itself in them (they take what they want, they become resentful, etc)? 

 Is sex something that they’re comfortable speaking about? To whom? 

 What are their thoughts on marriage? 

 What is their preferred mode of transportation? 

 What causes them to feel dread? 

 Would they prefer a lie over an unpleasant truth? 

 Do they usually live up to their own ideals? 

 Who do they most regret meeting? 

 Who are they the most glad to have met? 

 Do they have a go-to story in conversation? Or a joke? 

 Could they be considered lazy? 

 How hard is it for them to shake a sense of guilt? 

 How do they treat the things their friends come to them excited about? Are they supportive? 

Do they actively seek romance, or do they wait for it to fall into their lap? 

Do they have a system for remembering names, long lists of numbers, things that need to go in a certain order (like anagrams, putting things to melodies, etc)? 

What memory do they revisit the most often? 

How easy is it for them to ignore flaws in other people? 

How sensitive are they to their own flaws?

How do they feel about children? 

How badly do they want to reach their end goal? 

If someone asked them to explain their sexuality, how would they do so? 

QUESTIONS FOR CREATORS

A) Why are you excited about this character? B) What inspired you to create them? C) Did you have trouble figuring out where they fit in their own story? D) Have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look? E) Are they someone you would get along with? Would they get along with you? F) What do you feel when you think of your OC (pride, excitement, frustration, etc)? G) What trait of theirs bothers you the most? H) What trait do you admire most? I) Do you prefer to keep them in their canon universe? J) Did you have to manipulate or exclude canon factors to allow them to create their character?

I was reading POTO in French and remembered that this existed, and everything seems a little less bleak. Thank goodness for art.

I sometimes wonder if I'm selfish for spending my time and life on something so immaterial as art. I forget that it's what keeps me sane.

It's not escapism; it's a fight to understand. Immaterial is not the same as useless. It's easy to forget these things.

(I intended this reblog to be a joke about how I've forgotten Erik is French - I imagine him having an RP accent after watching the musical - but I got punched in the face by a dose of Doom and Gloom so here we are. Apologies.)

Local Sad French Man

which phantom is ur fav. in all versions. please.

Aahhhhh!

Got to say the OG O.G., Leroux's Erik, but it's EXTREMELY PAINFUL to say so and PLEASE don't tell me all the versions I didn't pick will be put on a converter belt to a Phantom meat grinder

(I'm sorry to every Phan friend who sees this. Cherik lovers, don't come at me with swords, I do love him, okay?)

All my Phantom art in which there is NO FAVOURITISM, I swear