all these things I would say

[reflectedeve]

Ugh, am I awake? I have royally messed with my own sleep schedule this weekend. Mainly because I made the mistake of reading prozacpark's old rec post for Pretty Little Liars, started watching it while coloring one of my kink_bingo pieces, and wound up binging. I had to forcibly remove myself from the computer yesterday afternoon in order to get in the script revisions I had planned. It's all very ... dramatic and somewhat overblown, in terms of the plot, but it's certainly entertaining. The real draw, however, is absolutely the female-dominated cast, and the marvelous set of nuanced female friendships that the show develops. It's something I miss from the majority of my media, and it's so damn refreshing.

(I have to say, it's also really trippy to be watching Bianca Lawson play an adorable high school lesbian when I've just been watching her as a morally ambiguous high school guidance counselor!)

So maybe there'll be some fanart at some point ...

Meanwhile, speaking of the kink_bingo art I posted a couple days ago (here and here - simulated gore in the former, nudity & sexual situations involving tentacles in the latter), I've been trying some new process stuff and I thought it might be neat to talk about it a little.

My Gerard/Lindsey "guro" piece was a little challenging, because I wanted to do a two-color ink illustration in a lot of detail. I ... still haven't gotten around to learning to use a tablet (I have a tiny refurbished one to practice on sooner or later), so I needed to draw the two elements separately on paper and assemble them in Photoshop. I did the pencils all together (using two different colors of lead, for easy differentiation), and then inked on two pieces of translucent vellum. (I was just going to do that with the paint/"blood," but I liked my pencils so much that I wanted to preserve them! I might do this more often.) After scanning them together and recoloring the paint/"blood" inks red, I recombined them.



Originally Gerard had paint on his face and upper arm as well, but I decided not to include them in the final piece. And if you look closely, you might notice a lot of little spots of white gel pen on the first piece of vellum ... I kind of had a last-minute fight with Gerard's facial expression.

I should get going; I have more comic script revisions and job search stuff ahead of me. And then Teen Wolf ... which, in spite of its flaws, continues to inspire large amounts of sheer fannish giddiness. But I leave you with this question: what even IS Gerard Way? He certainly makes me feel a bit better about myself (I feel like someone's been telling me that I look at least five years younger than I am every other week lately). Ugh, come do a signing near me, bb. (I really can't wait 'til I have time to get down to my hometown comic shop and grab some Killjoys already!)

Comments

[prozacpark]

Yeah, I don't really feel the need to consume or engage in fannish things until I start feeling canon withdrawal? Or, well, if I am shipping something VERY HARD, then I might spoil myself terribly by reading fanfic because I can't wait. But given the obscurity of most my ships and the fact that there's rarely ever any fic for what I am shipping, that happens, like, once every five years or so. ;)

I love the Halloween episode SO much, because Alison is...Alison and still cruel and manipulative, but it makes it so clear that she needs them, too? In a very different way than they need her, but all the various relationships she maintains with them are so nuanced and different that I just want to ship her with them all to varying degrees, mostly with Spencer and Emily, though.

I love antagonist relationships too, and morally ambiguous characters, but I need to be able to find some part of them relateable/redeemable, you know?

Yes, me too. I mean, I would probably still fangirl the character, but if I feel like the text isn't giving enough depth to a female antagonist (or worse, wants me to hate her for reasons it wants me to LIKE men), I have to break up with the text. But yeah, I absolutely need depth to the moral ambiguity in order to keep engaging with the narrative

OH! Do you have tumblr savior? If so, I can tag my PLL stuff with "spoilers" (or another tag!) so you don't have to worry about scrolling past them or getting spoiled? Let me know!

But Spencer's my favorite character, so you have a good chance.

YAY FINALLY. You do not know how many people I have converted to PLL only to have them NOT have Spencer as their favorite, and I sometimes feel like the only one. BUT YES SPENCER OH GOD SPENCER. Um, me and my thing for Go Getter Girls. ;)

I have heard good things about the female characters of Teen Wolf, but yeah, also faily things about the rest of it. I am waiting to watch it when I am not being spoiled by shows treating women well between "Pretty Little Liars" and "Bomb Girls" because I suspect I would judge it harshly if I watched it while watching other, obviously more women-positive things.

[reflectedeve]

Speaking of morally ambiguous characters and relateability, every time they show Jenna being vulnerable I find myself loving her. I wish we could see more of her, get more of an arc; it seems like she's more inclined to do this sort of cycle between completely hostile and more human.

Ah, don't worry about the tagging, I'm gonna be caught up very soon anyway. ;)

Spencer is just so ... she cares SO MUCH and she tries SO HARD. She's ... earnest in a very particular way that really gets to me. And I find her relationship with Alison to be the most compelling, probably because of how much she pushed back. Plus I always like the really smart ones. (And ... she's also got the canon relationship I find most interesting, at this point. Of all the male significant others, or maybe even the male characters, Toby's the one I care about a fair bit. Not that this would stop me from slashing Spencer, but. :p)

Teen Wolf is ... generally so absurd, and makes so many strange storytelling and character choices, that it's one of those things you're most likely to enjoy if you mostly throw up your hands and go along for the ride. Which isn't to say that I don't find myself critiquing it when it fails really hard at women, etc, but my investment doesn't come from that kind of engagement (the way it does with so many shows). It's my junk food fandom, I guess. That said, Allison and especially Lydia are great, and they do some pretty interesting things with them (even if they're kind of inconsistent). Lydia starts out as this very calculated Queen Bee type character who every once in awhile slips up and spits out some super-intense science fact because she's a genius ... actually, she would cross over with PLL pretty nicely. :p

Also, ooh, how is Bomb Girls?

[prozacpark]

I love Jenna. Honestly, whatever crap Jenna pulls with them, I can't ever dislike her because they did really badly screw her over. And Jenna is the only instance where i kind of feel like the girls are out of line sometimes in their treatment of her? Of course, they're all stuck in this weird-otherworldy conspiracy, where they're forced to distrust anyone not in the group, but still. But YES, I would love a Jenna-centered arc of her becoming an ally of sorts? Although, I am not sure that's possible.

And yes, Spencer's relationship with Alison fascinates me the most, because I think Spencer was the hardest to bend and so Alison's biggest accomplishment in a way? Like, Emily was clearly her favorite (and I actually believe her when she says that because of how she phrases it <3), but Spencer probably took the most work, so was also special?

And I also LOVE that out of all the girls, Spencer is the one who is most like Alison. She's not cruel or manipulative the way Alison was, but she still has that need for control and that intensity that makes the girls respond to her in a similar way? Like, I love Spencer, but she does often dictate what they do or how they do it, sometimes against the wishes of the others, and they generally go along with it, even when she's constantly wrong about things (ha, ha, I kind of love how OFTEN she is wrong and HOW INTENSELY she ALWAYS believes she's right, despite all the evidence to the contrary, and I am all "OH, bb, NEVER stop believing!" <3)

So, um, yeah, I have Spencer feels. And Spencer/Alison feels, HI. And I am not going to complain about the Spencer/Toby shipping as long as you're willing to ship her with ALL THE GIRLS. ;)

I think I am going to have to try Teen Wolf for Allison and Lydia some time soon. My sisters have been watching, but they keep trying to get me to watch, so between all the fandom flailing over the women and them, it's definitely going to happen one of these days. Also, um, PLL crossovers would definitely give me motivation to get to it faster.

I really like "Bomb Girls!" I started watching it because people kept telling me that the protagonist is like Spencer Hastings (this was during the hiatus when I was going through my Spencer withdrawal and fixating on Annie Edison as a substitute after discovering Community. Because, HI, I very obvious types ;). There's also fanon agreement that Gladys is Spencer's grandmother, which makes the entire canon very fun, and the show actually crosses over with PLL very well in spirit? Lots of women, who love and support each other, and watch out for each other and even the 'antagonist' women are given depth and layers, so you still feel for them. And there were male characters I liked! Which is practically impossible these days. <3

[reflectedeve]

Oh, Jenna got screwed over, no lie, but I don't quite see that as license to do whatever she wants to them forever. That said, my issue is more that she's so often framed entirely from their perspective, as a Threat (I love the ominous music that accompanies her when she just happens to be drifting by in the hall or present in the same room), and that doesn't give us much chance to really get to know her. She has quite the facade most of the time, which I see as a very necessary built-up defense, but I still want to get past it more. More flashback episodes, maybe (a better sense of who she was before the accident, in various contexts), and an Unlikely Allies episode would be amazing, where she and the girls are forced to team up against a common enemy, and maybe find that their dynamic gets complicated/problematized a bit as a consequence of working together closely. Even if that doesn't exactly make them allies after the transient threat is dealt with!

Hmm, yes, this is true; Spencer is definitely the new leader, insofar as they have one. It's funny, because the thing that I love so much about the show might be part of what prevents me from having really compelling 'shippy thoughts about the main four (although I'm highly convinceable): they are so cooperative. It's wonderful and I love the show for it, but I enjoy lots of headbutting and pushing and tension in my 'ships, and Spencer and Ali are perfect for that. Since Spencer's had a chance to grow into her strength (even with her big crash) in Ali's absence, it would be fascinating to see how their dynamic would have evolved. (Especially since I agree with you: Alison is totally alive.) And yes, yes, Spencer's (often incorrect) stubborn belief in her own ability to understand and control circumstances! <3 It's why it makes the most sense that she was the one to try "switching sides" for a bit (and how much did I love that plot, jeez).

Since when have I EVER had problems 'shipping ALL THE GIRLS with each other? ;) Never fear! (I do like Toby for himself and for his really lovely friendship with Emily, not just as Spencer's romantic object.)

P.S. I am ALL CAUGHT UP. Wheeeee. God, I'm so glad the current season's just starting, I'd go through such withdrawal.

Ooh, okay, thank you for the Bomb Girls thoughts. I was intrigued, because a) female-dominated cast and b) historical setting (how I love them, and that one's a favorite); it's been on my list, but I like your PLL headcanon, so it might have to move up a bit. ;)