Life Is Fraught-less

Fiyero (about Boq): I call my boyfriend “Bambi”.

Fiyero: he thinks it’s because he’s cute with his brown eyes.

Fiyero: little does he know, I want someone to shoot his father with a rifle.

I’m thinking about Wicked tonight, specifically why Elphaba ends up with Fiyero instead of Glinda in the musical despite Elphaba and Glinda having the more well-rounded relationship.

You could chalk it up to the writers wanting a heteronormative ending (and I’m certain that’s part of it) or the fact that Elphaba and Fiyero had a love affair in the book. But I think there’s a bit more nuance to it.

The whole point of Glinda’s character is that she upholds the status quo of Oz. No matter how much she loves Elphaba or sympathizes with the plight of the Animals, she will always align herself with the current system and those in power. And as long as that remains the case, a relationship between her and Elphaba is futile because Elphaba will not give up her cause.

Elphaba and Glinda represent to different ends of a spectrum. Elphaba resists the oppressive forces in Oz, while Glinda upholds them. But Fiyero is somewhere in the middle. He starts out privileged and carefree like Glinda, but quickly turns to Elphaba’s side. He does become Captain of the Guard, but only to find Elphaba and help her evade arrest.

And therein lies the difference between Glinda and Fiyero as love interests to Elphaba. Glinda would never sacrifice her title as “the Good Witch” and all her power granted from the Wizard, even if it meant helping Elphaba. Fiyero, on the other hand, does give up his privilege, his title, and even his human form for Elphaba. Glinda clings to what the status quo gives her, while Fiyero ultimately rejects it.

Yes, the writing around Elphaba and Fiyero’s romance is a bit rushed and doesn’t have the same gradual development that Elphaba and Glinda have. And yes, I have no doubt heteronormativity played a role in giving Elphaba a male love interest in the end. But I see a lot of people write off Fiyero and his relationship with Elphaba and I just don’t agree.

Why does Elphaba end up with Fiyero instead of Glinda? Because Fiyero makes the sacrifices that Glinda wasn’t willing to.

Brothers

Spoke to a gen z person the other night and apparently the young folks don't know about the very legal sites from which you can access public domain media (including Dracula, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and other Victorian gothic horror stories)?

Like this young person didn't even know about goddamn Gutenberg which is a SHAME. I linked to it and they went "aw yiss time to do a theft" and I was like "I mean yo ho ho and all that, sure, but. you know gutenberg is entirely legal, right?"

Anyway I'm gonna put this in a few Choice Tags (sorry dracula fans I DID mention it though so it's fair game) and then put some Cool Links in a reblog so this post will still show UP in said tags lmao.

Werewolf Janus: *in wolf form utterly soaked by river water, locks eyes with the others* Witch Logan: Janus, please don't- Fey Roman: What? Oh NO! Vampire Virgil *grabs Patton and pulls him behind his umbrella*: DON'T! Fey Remus *full on T-posing*: Take me! Werewolf Janus: *full on body shake sending the water flying, drenching everyone but Virgil and Patton* Fey Roman: MY HAIR! AAAAAAAAAAAAH! Witch Logan: Good job... you've now soaked us all. Werewolf Janus: *satisfied huff*

Superhero AU where Janus was born with the snake eye, a chilling evil laugh, and a talent for scheming and everyone was side-eyeing him his entire life waiting for his debut into villainy, only he decided it was too much work and went to design school and he's basically Edna Mode, but for villains.

(actually, let's make it funnier, Roman was straight up born with superpowers, but he decided to follow his heart and pursue fashion, now he and Janus are rivals in the arena of supers costume design, which plays out as a textbook hero/nemesis dynamic, just minus the actual fighting)

(Like, it's basically Megamind but if they both went to art school...)

Royals Legacy Day

I r63d thebgc as promised plus Duchess.

Cringe culture is dead, I’m drawing the famous video game cowboys together. Even if they’re from entirely different games and eras.

(Moment for just Arthur 🤌)

Jason: Hi, it’s me.

Dakota: Hey there he is, there’s our titan slayer. We had every bit of faith in you man. Look at you alive and not dead.

Jason: Yeah I’m not dead which is an awful surprise considering how many of you wrote my obituary yesterday.

Jason: Pre-emptively incase I did die.

Dakota:..Okay who snitched?

Reyna: Wasn’t me.

Jason: But I didn’t so suck on that.