Hi! I’m Lavender, she/they/fae/it, and while I’ve been lurking for quite a few years I only started posting in the starkid tag around January 2021. I mostly post about the lords in black, the hive, and infected paulkins, although you can expect some other stuff as well.
I make playlists, and I want to write but you know... writing is hard, so we’ll see how far that goes. Feel free to ask me for headcanons tho!
Homophobia, transphobia, aphobia, ableism and all that stuff is NOT allowed on this blog.
Throwing my hat into the ring with the current discourse:
If you see a minority cast in a role and you think that casting has some negative implications attached to it and you’re solution to that issue is that they just “shouldn’t have cast that person in the first place” you’re a fucking dumbass. Like you are essentially saying that you do not want someone to be cast in a role because of their race even if they are perfect for that role and you’d rather just have a white person fill that role because it allows your feelings on something to be less complicated.
Idk some of y’all try so hard to prop yourself up as being anti racist you end up sounding more racist in the process.
I think this misses the point, at least in my opinion, as to why this is even a conversation. Starkid has a pattern of both overt and covert racism--as far as writing and casting descsions go, especially.
Every sane person can agree that the issue here with casting a Black actor in the role as "The One Who Dies" can't be simply fixed now. Corey is already in the role, and it would be even more racist to drop him or change it over this.
The issue with Starkid is they don't think about this. At all. They don't do the work to stop this stuff before it happens. They were making poor taste Orientalist jokes in AVPM, and a white writer and mostly white production team might not be the right people to correctly commentate on the dynamic between canonical Cho Chang, AVPM Cho Chang, and Ginny's racism in that show. They wrote Taz to be a walking stereotype, they wrote a disgusting racist and sinophobic joke into HMB (a show made in 2012, this was not okay within the cultural context of the time). They have an issue of casting their few Black actors into small roles, and even sometimes, like in this case, roles that fall into common stereotypes and tropes Black characters and actors get boxed into.
They colour blind cast, but that can only go so far as an excuse. A character and the tropes it plays into will always look different dependent on the actor that is cast. It isn't up to the audience, or even cast members like Corey, to find the solution in that. The casting and writing falls on, often times the Lang brothers (and others), it is their job to be sensitive and careful in this. You can adapt a script, you can cast the show a different way.
We do not have the full picture yet, that is true. However, Starkid is one of those companies (more so than most indie companies, too) where the fans and the audience are the sole investors. They already have issues with transparency in their business and their promises to backers in pervious projects. Their social media management and updates to supporters is lacking. And the full process behind their shows is still mostly kept from us. They, of course, have no obligation to share that--but it also isn't surprising that some people would like to know these things before the supporting the show (whether that be monetarily or otherwise).
They're marketing their show here, and to a lot of people this leaves a sour taste. Black cast members with Starkid are already often given side roles, and the one show with a Black lead and another Black actor given a prominent role, it feels as if the show itself has been brushed aside at this point. We can only judge the show based on what they've shown us so far--and the show can also only be defended on what we know.
Its a complicated issue with no clear answer or solution, but I also think it would be a mistake if we brushed off this stuff. Starkid issues, especially when writing for Black characters, queer characters, female characters, and disabled characters crop up over and over. The fandom have "discourse" (I hate that word, but it's what we call it), people get up in arms and defend the Lang brothers and Starkid as a whole, most of the fandom move on, and the cycle repeats. It leaves fans who are confronted with these writing issues feeling ignored and upset. It leaves me upset, even though many of these issues have no direct effect on me. Starkid should do better, they're years into their careers and it is 2026, we should want Starkid to be striving for more. Not shielding them from any and all deeper discussion of important topics like this.
And I'm not saying you don't want to have this conversation OP, the fact you're engaging at all and appear to be on the fence tells me you do. I guess this is just more of a general comment on the fandom and the way the fandom moves when topics like this (especially racism) come up time and time again.
Everyone is racist, it's a fact of life. It's just important that we all work to unlearn our biases one step at a time. We listen, we learn, we try and understand. The Langs and Starkid are not bad people for these mistakes, they're as human as the rest of us. When we have this image of "The Racist" being a monster, of being someone evil or someone intent on doing harm, we let these instances of bias and racism slip through the cracks.
Just something to think about. To pose this conversation now as the fandom being the ones to find the solution feels foolish. The decision has been made, we have thoughts on it. Now we can only hope that Starkid can grow. But they won't grow if we don't at least talk about it.
I was talking very specifically about certain people I saw on the tags saying Corey shouldn’t have been cast which I took to mean a white actor should have taken his place in that role and I was uncomfortable about that. I agree with a lot of stuff in this post.
I think it’s complex. There’s a difference in my eyes between critiquing the process before the mistake here occurred (i.e they should have cast someone else in the role) and an active suggestion that the role should be taken away from Corey.
Like I think at this point for Tomb Quest at least the damage is done. They could change the writing, and it does appear Corey’s character will be active than just a simple off screen dead character, but beyond that the cast is set really.
But I can understand being uncomfortable at the notion a Black actor should be removed from a role or not considered for a role as well. I also think that would be totally unfair, uncalled for and isn’t a good thing to suggest either.
I honestly think it’s a matter of Starkid process itself changing than any one solution in this direction moment regarding this character and Corey. Sensitivity readers, a more diverse writing team and giving writing opportunities to others within Starkid, more conscious and prepared choices when casting and writing, that sort of thing.
I’ll also say I’ve heard some of this whole discourse has happened on one of the confession blogs, which I’ve had blocked for a long time and refuse to look at, so I might be missing some context as well.
always, always together and constantly touching. the ONLY times they're separated are when Pokey has them putting on a show in roles that require them to be apart for a bit. the only times they're not touching are if they're attacking/assimilating someone, or if they're in a musical number and choreography requires they break contact. those are the only exceptions. otherwise, always touching. holding hands, little touches on the shoulders or back, arms around each other, holding each other, kissing.
their kisses are nasty and slimy and sticky. when they kiss its like they're trying to infect each other MORE. Paul especially likes to kiss Emma's neck and arms and hands, leaving slimy blue stains.
Pokey always intended for Paul to be the Leading Man, and Emma was only meant to be the Love Interest long enough to appease Paul and re-tell his story. then she would've been pulled back into the ensemble to just fill in whatever role she was needed for. just another hive drone. Paul's affection for her was just too strong though, he wanted Emma to be with him. it kind of infected Pokey and made him want Emma in a bigger role. and Emma died wanting Paul back so her want was incredibly infectious too. Emma got bumped up to Permanent Leading Lady kind of by accident. I really enjoy the infection amplifying their mutual crush/infatuation SO intensely - in a way that was intended to mock them and the life they didn't get - that their obsession with each other bleeds into Pokey himself. they're his dolls either way but it was meant to be hollow, he wasn't meant to actually be FOND of them together. I think it's fun if he kinda can't help it.
dancing in pairs isn't really something the other infected do, they tend to just do group numbers. Paul and Emma are the only ones who dance just the two of them. it's a form of communication for them and the rest of the hive sees it as, like, unusually intimate.
they sing the SAPPIEST love duets and call each other the most sickeningly sweet pet names, stuff that would make human!paulkins gag. I've always been partial to infected!Emma calling Paul "Stardust", and infected!Paul calling Emma "Dove" or "Songbird".
when they go after humans to assimilate them Emma is the violent one and Paul is the happy smiley one. Paul does the luring and Emma does the killing.
Emma experiences apotheosis like constant calm contentment and satisfaction. she's always happy, but it's slightly muted, like a really nice high. Paul experiences it like mania, more intense.
their voices form a natural harmony, it sounds slightly incomplete when either of them sing alone.
something that makes Emma so compelling and tragic is that she THOUGHT she knew what she wanted, she thought she had it. she thought severing her roots and living only for herself, denying connection and obligation was fulfilling her. then she lost the one person who kept trying to reach out, the one person she thought would always be there, and without Jane she realized she was wrong. she wasn't happy, she wasn't fulfilled. she was alone, with nothing to show for it.
and now that she's changed course, pursuing family connection, a career, stability - things she never expected to want, things she's uncertain she can even achieve - she DOES want these things. she'll fight for them, because she has to, because they're worth it. and these are the things she doesn't get to have. her family avoids her, they all die before she can prove she's deserving of the connection she wants, even if she does integrate into the family dynamic, Tom has a mental breakdown and gets arrested. she dies before she gets the chance to even graduate, she's given land for her pot farm but she never makes it there, even if she gets her farm it ends up taken over and destroyed. Paul dies, he ghosts her, even if she gets to be with him, it's not her, it's the copy of her that stole her life.
Emma was free from Hatchetfield for years. she had the free, uninhibited, completely independent life she thought she wanted, and all the lonely emptiness that came with it. now that she knows what she really wants, now that she's willing to work for it and stomach the hard parts for the connection she craves, she can't have it. she can't have any of it, no matter how hard she works, no matter if she does it all right. it'll be taken from her. because she had to come home to get it.
Thinking about how Lex Foster views responsibility.
Which is a crazy thing to say, I know. We meet Lex as a disgruntled teen smoking 'a bud' outside her job before her shift starts. Normally, this is based (it still is), however we get hints that she has had issues with this habit in the past AND the background that not only has she picked it back up, but she is now supplying her mother as well.
In her very first appearance we hear that when Lex was in school she struggled, seemingly with grades and attendance. Enough that Tom points out in a positive light that she was 'back in school' and 'on top of her classes'. Lex meets this flippantly, initially saying that she was hardly valedictorian, and when pushed, goes on to say the one class that Tom has proof she was doing alright in, is extremely easy and anyone can get an A.
This was the very same class that as soon as the teacher stopped showing up, her raised grades seemingly dropped low enough that her GPA tanked to a failing grade. Lex attributes her choice to drop out as being inspired by Tom so she just stopped showing up completely.
Keep in mind, Lex wants to hurt Tom here. She wants to see if any part of him actually ever cared about her. That still doesn't erase the fact that if Tom is correct, and Lex was doing better, she saw someone she respected deem school as not an important enough responsibility and moved on.
She didn't give up. This is important. In this first scene, Lex dropping out is supposed to be seen as just a teen who doesn't care about her future making a selfish decision to give up when things got hard.
But that's not the full story.
Because the musical shifts perspectives. We aren't following Tom anymore, we follow Lex. Something important to note here, is that we already know Lex arrived not only on time, but early. She had time to casually smoke outside and have a conversation with Tom before going inside to meet with her boss. I want to come back to that, but right now we're in the process of finding out more about Lex's work ethic.
"You know you've got a real attitude problem. You're snippy with customers, your no good boyfriend's always hanging around, you'd think a drop-out with a record would be grateful to have a job."
Look. Frank's not a good person. He's not meant to be. He is meant to show us how the rest of the town views Lex. Tom greets Lex with hope and positivity until she pushes him back. Then we see the themes of greed start to set in place as he tries to use her to guarantee himself a Wiggly. It establishes a complicated relationship between these two characters. (One I absolutely adore.)
Frank's opinion of her is clear from the beginning. He views her as a delinquent and makes that clear even as she tries to keep things between them light. She's patient and almost playful with Frank up until the moment he starts lecturing her. Of course we learn more about her through his expositive lecture, but we also learn just as much through her reactions. When Frank starts his lecture, there is a moment where Lex looks genuinely surprised and taken aback. It switches quickly to irritation the moment her mother and her past is brought up but importantly her demeanor only changes to hostile when Frank mentions the part of the puzzle we haven't seen yet.
Hannah.
(Quick interruption because I will always credit incredible talent when I see it, all of this is conveyed completely silently through Angela's acting. Lex doesn't have a lot of lines in Black Friday, but she's still one of the most fleshed out characters in the entire musical. The way she genuinely looks pissed and ready to swing the moment Hannah gets mentioned is insanely telling and we haven't even learned the why yet. While I'm here, the back and forth between Corey as Frank and Angela as Lex is top tier. I don't how these two managed to perfectly capture the begrudging love/hate relationship you have for your coworkers, especially in retail, but they did.)
Up until this point Lex has been sarcastic, cruel and defensive. We get an idea of how bad her home life is, but not the full story. We know she's got some sort of criminal record and we know she's dropped out of school. In the next scene, we find out she's not above stealing either.
So now let's get into meeting Ethan, and more importantly, meeting Hannah.
Because, and I know it's hard to remember, this post is about Lex's views on responsibility. As of right now, we are set to expect Lex not to be responsible. She dropped out. She's got a record. She steals. She is sarcastic with people looking out for her interests and defensive against people calling her out on her behavior.
The first thing she asks her boyfriend is: Where’s my sister?
It's established immediately that once her shock and excitement at seeing him passes her first concern is: Hannah.
We also hear this concern is not just a knee-jerk realization. She's been telling Ethan every day for 4 weeks straight that he needs to pick up her sister.
The line is glossed over quickly, because of the introduction and the way in which Ethan reassures her almost immediately that he hasn't forgotten.
But I want you to think about it for a minute.
It's clear by even this seconds long introduction scene of Ethan that Lex cares about him. We see her genuinely smile for the first time the entire day and rush over to him. Yet, her concern for her sister is still very present. So present in fact, that she's been thinking about this one moment, this one instance she trusts someone else with Hannah's wellbeing, for a month straight. We know Lex trusts Ethan. She trusts him to clear everything with the buyer. She trusts him on fixing up his car to get them out of town and across the country. She even trusts him to be the 'smarter' of the two and takes his word on how to spell 'liar'.
The fact that she has been pestering Ethan about this for as long as she has tells us Hannah is an exception. Because the rest of those things she can handle being wrong on, losing control on.
Hannah is her responsibility and we'll end up seeing just how important that responsibility is to Lex in every single appearance we follow her character.
Ok. So our delinquent has a soft spot for her sister and a chip on her shoulder about her home life. What else did we learn from this scene?
Let's go over what we know, we know that Lex being back in school is a good thing. Immediately my instinct was to assume that was because of bad attendance that she had to work on improving. However, thanks to the Tarot Cards revealed this year, we finally know exactly what Lex's record officially is. She went to juvie for arson. Now it doesn't eliminate the possibility of bad attendance but it does recontextualize what Tom meant when he said Lex was, 'back in school'.
Importantly, we see that bad attendance doesn't seem to be the case for her job either. She's shown to be on time to her shifts, if not early. Frank lets us know that her boyfriend is always hanging around, implying that he's there often, waiting for Lex. However it's not implied that Lex ever leaves her shift or shirks her work to be with him. In fact, we know Ethan gets up to trouble on his own because the cop later tells us he's not allowed in Lakeside anymore. If Lex was associated with him during whatever trouble he caused to get that ban, we can assume she would've lost her job.
We only hear Frank complain about Lex's attitude at work. Not her work ethic or any other problem we would normally associate to a teenager working a minimum wage stocking position such as laziness, tardiness or absences. Those would all be very easy to bring up to accomplish his goal of reminding her to be grateful she has a job. But he doesn't. He has to pull on her past and her family to really dig into her.
Furthermore, in this scene we hear Lex tell Ethan that he'll watch Hannah until she gets off at noon. THEN they'll leave.
The thing is, Lex HAS the doll. She has enough money to leave right then. They're getting $6,500 more than what they initially planned on leaving with. Finishing up the last few hours of her shift isn't going to make a difference now. That paycheck would not be worth it. And yet? She still doesn't leave. She takes a smoke break and goes back in to what she knows is going to be a very long and difficult shift.
Even after their fight in the loading bay, Lex comes back in with patience for Frank's over-the-topness about this 'holy day'. She holds his hand to lead him out in front of the crowd as if he's a princess, begrudgingly, of course. (The choice to sniff him here is always hilarious.) She even starts dancing with him, looking genuinely surprised and amused as he includes her before willingly making sure he's put back together in time for the doors to open.
Lex's patience for her job is crazy. She's dealing with an overbearing manager (who is acting so weird she had to make sure he wasn't the one who smoked before their shift), and a long, long line of customers. Customers who we already know aren't her strong suit. AND, as a reminder, Lex can leave at any time. She has no reason to finish her shift with a buyer lined up.
For someone who we are supposed to assume is a no-good delinquent, all signs point to Lex being a very responsible worker. For someone who we are supposed to assume is a disgruntled uncaring teenager, we've seen her weirdly caring about the adults who hurt her. Both with Tom who she tries to get to move his car so it doesn't get towed, even after his blatant attempt to use her AND to Frank who very personally laid into her after a few too many jokes.
The narrative to paint her as just another uncaring teenager is quickly falling apart. And we've only known Lex for about 15 minutes.
We know how the rest of Black Friday goes. We know that when her and Frank are taken away by the cult and bound her first thought is about Hannah's safety. How the first time we finally see her drop the tough persona she puts on is when the mob turns to finding her sister, breaking down immediately and begging them to not hurt her.
How later on, when she's told to 'wake the warrior' she goes to the only adult she knows how to trust.
The irony of her story is that she is a kid who should fit the mold all these adults fit into, with holes she doesn't know how to fill. All these worries, all these responsibilities that are dragging these people into going insane, it doesn't work on her.
Because Lex doesn't see her responsibilities as burdens.
Let's talk about Witch in the Web.
We don't see Lex in it. We see Willabella, disguised as Lex. But Lex isn't here.
Yet we still learn a lot about Lex's view on responsibility through this episode. Specifically her responsibility to her sister. In Witch in the Web we meet Duke, aka Douglas Keane. A social worker assigned to Hannah.
We hear from him that Lex has been gone and why. She's in prison. 5 years. Picked up selling her mother's pills.
Only, selling them wasn't her idea. It was Pam's.
Lex could have faced a much shorter sentence, could have argued for her innocence, she goes so far as to confide in Duke this information but still chooses to deny it in court. Duke suggests it's because she was worried about leaving Hannah completely alone. He admits that Lex was more of a mother to Hannah than the horrible woman we finally have the displeasure of meeting in this episode ever was.
There is no nuance to this. It may have been revealed in one small conversation but Lex's love and care for her sister is evident throughout the episode.
It's in the fact that as soon as Lex goes away, the nightmares start for Hannah. It's in the fact that the reason she's able to hold the witch off for as long as she does is because Lex gave her the ukulele. (A gift Pam tries to take credit for, a gift that neither her nor the witch could ever understand. Because it's not about simply about having it. It was always about Lex being the one to give it to her.) It's in the way that Hannah's first safe space she thinks about when she's back in her mind is her room, the one she shared with Lex. In the way the happiest we see Hannah at all in the entire episode is the moment Lex comes in. The moment she comes back.
(Hi! Another talent appreciation break. Can I just say that I love Kendall's version of Hannah so so much. Genuinely in Black Friday and in WitW she kills it. Even in a format like NMT we see her give it her all and nearly steal the show away from everyone else once again. From something as small and endearing as: 'Hiya Duke.' To the infamous 'Lexi!'. I love watching Nick's little smile as Kendall builds up to the line, I also love watching Angela melt in reaction, breaking character in the most in-character way possible.)
Importantly, we learn through WitW that Lex's responsibility to Hannah is always chosen.
Their dynamic could easily fall into the trope of an older sibling burdened with taking care of their younger sibling because of a failing parent. But it doesn't. Even in Black Friday the precedent that is set that Lex chooses to care about her sister. That she doesn't see it as a burden, but rather one of the only good things she has.
That the love she has for her sister is a need.
At first I didn't know what she was to me.
At first I didn't know why I cared, or why I wanted,
To hold her and rock her to sleep.
Did I need her more then she needed me?
This character makes me normal, I swear.
Let's move into Yellow Jacket.
Though we already knew it in Black Friday, it's more explicitly made clear here that Lex has been diligently working since she was 16. We know that she dropped out of school only a year before Black Friday takes place, but we also hear her say later that she has worked at Toyzone for 2 years. So not only did she struggle with school in general, she also willingly picked up a job while attending, juggling the two for about a year.
Yellow Jacket also reinforces the points I brought up during the breakdown of Black Friday. Lex is a hard worker. She takes her responsibility seriously. So seriously, that we now finally start seeing the cracks forming under the surface.
Lex knows she now has a debt she's going to be struggling under for a long time. She's been working for 4 years and has only managed to put away $4,000 in that time. All of it is immediately gone over the course of a single day.
That very night she pivots into taking on more responsibilities, knowing she has to get another job. Which means picking back up the studying and school work we already know she struggled with in the past. All of this on TOP of working a full-time job with some really shitty hours. We know she's being called in early, but also she seems to be closing multiple nights as well? (I don't know, Toyzone only having two employees is so fucking funny to me. Frank, what the hell are you doing man? What is the schedule? What are the hours?! How the hell are you cutting them if only 2 of you work there?!)
Also, quick aside, Lex had a savings account.
That's it. That's the whole point. I mean what more can I say? We know she's definitely living paycheck to paycheck with what money her and Ethan bring in. Which means that every single extra cent Lex earned she never even entertained the idea of spending it on herself. It was put away to be used in emergencies. We also see that later on in the episode when they DO have the extra money, Ethan is understandably thinking about filling out their new home and Lex can only think about putting that money towards her sister.
I swear I'm normal about this character.
I've already somewhat covered the Happy Birthday Hannah scene, BUT WE'RE DOING IT AGAIN. (This will not be the last time either)
The amount of stress we see Lex go into the day with is crazy. Which makes sense, she has been working her ass off for this test for probably a few weeks at this point. She knows she's forgetting something. Even stressed out and panicked, her brain won't let her forget about Hannah. Not completely.
She only barely gets off in time to make it to the test, and even then she's still late and can't get the full time.
She doesn't make it past the first question.
As soon as she realizes what day it is, Lex throws away everything she's worked herself past exhaustion for. All for a chance of trying to get something together for Hannah before the day is over. She rushes to Partyzone, all the way back across town, to drop what little money she had on something fun only to find it closed. She doesn't give up though. She finds something that could work, anything.
She comes home and waits.
When her boyfriend and her sister do return home, she is genuinely relieved to hear that Hannah had a good time. Because at the end of the day, that was all that mattered to Lex. So much so, that she can't help but blame herself for missing it. For being unable to provide the day she would have given Hannah.
Hannah is her responsibility. It's the one she chooses, every time. Even at the cost of everything she has worked for. Because of that she won't ever come home empty-handed.
Even when the best she can do, is a half-filled, stolen balloon and a lousy cupcake.
Yellow Jacket isn't done however.
Even without this absolute WALL I have typed out, even without yet another instance of Lex still going to work despite having enough money to not have to anymore, I really wouldn't have needed to do anything but point out one single line in Ethan's Letter.
You say you're irresponsible. I am too. I don't know if either of us has what it takes to protect Hannah, but she's my sister, not yours.
I think a lot about how Lex views responsibility. I think about how her character is built around the stereotypical disgruntled delinquent teen. I think about how she should fit into the mold of the adults around her. Bitter about responsibilities that are burdens, riddled with holes they don't know how to fill.
I think about how Lex views responsibility as a choice. A choice that she makes out of care, out of love. That responsibility is sacrifice and it's one she makes willingly.
Lex views responsibility as something she isn't capable of, despite everything she does to prove the contrary.
obsessed with how vhscc is “couple cutely sells things to buy each other presents” and “grouchy old man learns the spirit of christmas” and then sandwiched in the middle is “little girl dies of exposure after hallucinating her dead grandma”
was in a bad mood earlier and also happened to be thinking about hatchetfield, and i caught myself thinking "man, if i could get a wiggly plush that would like. solve all my problems" for about two seconds before realizing what an absolutely insane thought that is to be having about The Product from hit musical The Product Will Not Solve All Your Problems
"i don't want to see this highly-praised movie because i don't like musicals" ohhhhh my god really? should we tell everyone? should we throw a party?should we invite paul matthews
When I said that VHSCCS is ignored in the fandom I meant that people straight up do not acknowledge or recognise it as a Starkid show. People will make posts about “every Starkid show ever” and VHS will be the only one missing. People will make rankings of Starkid shows/songs and say they didn’t include VHS because it “doesn’t count”. I’ve even seen people say it’s “a concert and not a musical” when it’s arguably the most musical theatre thing Starkid has ever done. People will literally claim nightmare time as a Starkid musical before acknowledging that VHS Christmas Carols is a Starkid musical
Someone's definitely said it, but Girl Jeri taught Grace how to hide a body by complete accident
That woman stress talks and Grace just absorbs the information. Girl Jeri is losing her shit because Lil Jerry killed someone and starts venting to seven year old Grace.
Carrying bleach everywhere? Girl Jeri said that's normal, you should always be prepared. Lying to the police? Girl Jeri says you shouldn't talk to them
Reblog to let your followers know that despite your current obsession your previous obsessions still exist and are simply lying dormant until they awaken and strike again
