I just randomly came across your blog while searching for FF7 Remake lore (I know I know) and I can't believe you're the author of Heaven or Hell! What a fantastic and unique story, I was actually just talking about it to a friend of mine. SO MANY PEOPLE whitewash Reno, make him sowwy for what he did uwu and I love your nasty, practically remorseless Reno. He's not bad like EVIL but the drugs, whores, crime underworld thing fit him so perfectly. I loved seeing Cloud just perfectly comfortable in the grime. A well written story, I love the world building in it (Reno's family!!! He was in jail!! ethot Cloud!) and the dialogue and your absolutely unflinching take on SLUM living. Such a unique twist on a Cloud who usually saves the world and angsts about it. I'm a huge fan of yours! Characters do not have to be morally good in order to be interesting and compelling - I don't have to want to marry your Reno in order to want to read 3 full size novels about him. (although actually pls Reno pls)
omg hello!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS LONG COMMENT! I needed this so much in my life right now.
I'm so glad you enjoyed HH and my dark take on Reno. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but I prefer him this way. I couldn't quite reconcile OG Reno (amoral, snarky, cool) with AC Reno (a fucking dork), and 7R Reno (unhinged, loud/foul mouthed, super ratchet) just blew me away. Same with Cloud; OG Cloud is a bit like Goku; AC is an emo boy, and 7R Cloud gives zero fucks whatsoever. I wanted more of that darkness.
It always fascinated me that Cloud is essentially a foreigner to Midgar (he even admits it in the Remake, when he told Aerith that he doesn't know anything about Midgar), yet he doesn't bat an eyelash to any of its griminess.
ethot!Cloud is a whole vibe. It's not uncommon for him to be written that way but I also really wanted to portray it in line with canon, or as in-character as I could possibly make sex worker Cloud. angsty hero Cloud is a by-product of Advent Children, which I generally dislike (I've made my peace with it in other ways). I never really saw him as a hero; just a guy whose personal issues happen to be entwined with the fate of the world--the latter of which hasn't been kind to him, and he could care less about.
I'm in 100% agreement with you about characters not needing to be bastions of morality to be fascinating, and it's the main reason I decided to write HH: to show a protagonist who is a piece of shit, but extremely charismatic and enjoyable.
Ahhh, guys like Reno should be fucked, not married, but who knows! Maybe he'd end up being a good husband after all.
Why is Bare: A Pop Opera not as super popular as Dear Evan Hansen or Be More Chill? The fandom loves LGBT rep (which Bare has) and the songs are amazing and I think B:APO is actually superior to both of those. Thoughts? I mean the musical fandom tends to try to find LGBT characters even when they aren't stated, so why do you think Bare is not as popular?
this is a very interesting question and I am hopefully going to do it justice by analyzing Fandom, Musical Writing, and Many Other Things I’m Super Passionate About
the short: many factors and a lot of luck
the unnecessarily long:
(opening disclaimer: I love dear evan hansen and be more chill, and I’m not upset that they’re popular musicals because I feel that they’re popular for a reason. anything that sounds like an insult in the following response isn’t such because I truly enjoy both of those musicals a lot)
(another disclaimer: spoilers for bare, DEH, and BMC, also mentions of homophobia)
on paper, bare seems like the exact sort of musical that would be popular. bare the musical (cursed as it is) has a cast of super popular actors like Barrett Wilbert Weed, Gerard Canonico, Taylor Trensch, Alice Lee, Alex Wyse, a high quality bootleg exists of the 2013 LA cast, it’s got LGBT+ rep, complex women characters… and yet it’s got a tiny fan base. Why?
first let’s look at why dear evan hansen and be more chill are popular. I’m more well versed in bmc, so let’s look at its history (disclaimer: I’m estimating dates but this is roughly the timeline)
the original bmc run was in 2015 I believe. they recorded a soundtrack, everything was fine, and they closed. in 2017, people began discovering the soundtrack in hoards. specifically, they were discovering one song: Michael in the bathroom. that’s even how I learned about the show- I heard that song and had to look up the rest of the soundtrack. and in February of 2019, they’ll start previews on broadway because the fandom was revived
why this song? I think a ton of fame comes from talent, yes, but also from luck. I think bmc was lucky that Michael in the bathroom, a great song, was discovered as the great song that it is. I also think the fame came because that song is super relatable. as someone with pretty bad anxiety, that song really touched me because I’ve definitely spent parties hiding in the bathroom and avoiding everyone and wishing I was dead because I’m so overwhelmed with anxiety. it’s relatable, so people flocked to it.
this made me pause to think “what is bare’s hook song” my first thought was a quiet night at home if we want a song in the same vein as MITB, but that song isn’t as hype as MITB (and fandoms don’t care about fem characters as much as it cares about masc characters). my next thought was are you there because I think it’s a bop and a relatable “pls someone help” kind of song, but I don’t know which song everyone could relate to as much as everyone could relate to MITB
and speaking of relatable content- that’s where the DEH connection comes in. dear evan hansen is similarly relatable, although it takes that to an extreme given what Evan does as a result of his anxiety. Michael and Evan are relatable characters, even if you don’t condone everything they do (and if you condone everything Evan does, we have much to talk about)
but doesn’t bare have relatable characters?? absolutely !! there’s Peter, a closeted gay kid who wants to come out, and Jason, someone who acts tough but is secretly very insecure, and Nadia, with her body image issues, and Ivy, who people won’t take seriously because they’ve decided they already know her, and so many other complex characters. so why are they left behind?
let’s look at bare’s history:
bare was originally written in the 90s (I want to say 1999, but I could be wrong) the performance most people consider the quintessential bare performance was in 2004 with Michael Arden, John Hill, Jenna Leigh Green, etc.
if you compare this to DEH and BMC, the first issue is clear. DEH was hugely popular around 2016. BMC began to grow in popularity in 2017. these are very, very new shows. 20 years doesn’t sound like a lot, but in our current age where time seems to pass so quickly which each new fad, bare seems like an older musical, and a lot of people aren’t the biggest fan of older musicals. and they don’t have to be !! but it’s a personal preference of some people that could affect how they view bare as a potential musical to be a fan of
in terms of the music of bare, it’s definitely catchy, but it’s not like a pop song. (again, no shade at DEH and BMC because those aren’t jukebox musicals or anything). bare is simply not as easy to listen to as DEH and BMC are in my opinion (and it’s not the most complicated thing ever either, but holy cow its lyrics are smart and I have to throw that in here)
now let’s look at reasons why people may not want to watch bare. while it is great that it has canon gay characters, compelling women characters, and is very cleverly written it also has issues that can be turn-offs to people. this includes:
-bury your gays
-gay-guy-cheats-on-boyfriend-with-girl trope
-gay-guy-gets-outed trope
-and potentially other homophobic tropes
I’m not shaming bare for perpetuating these tropes because it was written 20 years ago, and lgbt+ people are allowed to enjoy media in spite of its perpetuation of negative tropes, but for some people these things are enough to turn them away. and I don’t blame them! I watched bare the musical before I watched bare a pop opera, and when Jason I died I closed out of YouTube without finishing the show because I was so Sick of bury your gays.
I am aware that there are reasons Jason died at the end of bare (they’re making a statement about how homophobia kills, particularly how homophobic religious people can have an awful affect on young religious gay people), but there comes a time when “reasons for a gay character to die” is just too much. sometimes, you just want the gay character to live, and I completely respect that notion because I felt the exact same way when I watched bare the musical. I remember when I first watched bare the musical I wrote a thread about how as a Romeo and Juliet adaptation, bare follows some things closely (like death at the end) while avoiding other extremes (Romeo running off to another country) and I thus felt the death was unnecessary. if someone else feels similarly about being sick of gay characters dying, they have every right to not want to watch bare
that’s enough on why someone might not want to watch bare. let’s get back to bare vs DEH and BMC
I also think a big aspect of fandoms is shipping. the fetishization of MLM (and consequently ignoring fem characters completely, along with focusing solely on white men for their shipping and ignoring men of color) is a huge problem in fandoms that I could talk about forever, but for the sake of this response, I’ll keep it a bit shorter
DEH and BMC profit heavily off of shipping in terms of gaining popularity. people love Evan x Connor (and other ships but that’s the main one I see), and people love Jeremy x Michael (and others). so why then do people not care about bare, a show with a canon relationship between 2 basic white men, which is their ultimate goal?
I think people like the idea of these mlm ships more than canon content. if there’s canon, it’s harder for them to make a variety of ships because it feels like everything else has to rotate around the canon without touching it (which is where the bare fandom gets Matt x Lucas because they’re the closest they have to 2 basic men- I can write my criticism of them another time though)
I’ve also seen posts saying that things with canon lgbt+ characters sometimes have smaller fandoms because there is no need for lgbt+ theorizing- it’s right there, and if you want lgbt+ content, watch the thing. I don’t necessarily agree with this for myself (I’ll reblog every pilgrim’s hands gifset I see) but I can definitely see how other people might think this way
failing to hype up stuff with lgbt+ characters can have a negative impact. BMC is the prime example of how a show can be revived by its passionate fan base. if people aren’t talking about bare, it’s not going to spread like other shows do
this is kind of all over the place but anyway- I want to talk about characters more. one thing DEH and BMC have are great, complex characters that are very easy to boil down to a fandom’s favorite stereotypes. I am absolutely not saying DEH and BMC have simple characters because I think all of them have layers; however, fandoms do love to go “this is precious cinnamon roll who can do no wrong and this is evil awful terrible irredeemable person” and it’s a bit difficult to do that with bare.
you can say Peter is your perfect son, but he does try to force Jason out before he’s ready. you can say Ivy is the evil seductress trying to tear apart your gay babies, but I will physically fight you. there aren’t any black-and-white good or bad bare characters (except Father Flynn- hate him), which doesn’t fit in line with the way fandoms function. sweeping generalizations about the current state of society based on the internet are exhausting and bad, but we do live in an age where everything must either be perfect or evil, and you can’t do that with bare. no one “did nothing wrong uwu” and that’s what fandoms Want
(note: they will excuse wrong actions, such as everything wrong Connor Murphy has ever done, if the character is played by a mildly attractive guy they want to ship with another mildly attractive guy)
another point that I don’t have fully fleshed out thoughts on enough to devote too much time to is the integration of parents into the shows. in both DEH and BMC, the parents get redemption arcs. in bare, Claire does say she love Peter at the end, but she’s much less of a sympathetic character than Mr. Heere or Heidi (that’s her name right- Evan’s mom) or the Murphys. when I was younger, I wasn’t allowed to watch anything that painted parents, or adults in general, in a negative light, but maybe that’s not a universal experience
this is getting way too long and it probably has more thought put into it than what was necessary, so I’ll try to close this quickly
I think, first off, that DEH and BMC completely deserve the hype that they have received. they’ve got compelling stories, interesting characters, and fantastic soundtracks. I also think that luck factors heavily into them getting what they deserve. there are plenty of great shows, like bare and the boy who danced on air and spies are forever and probably more that I’m not thinking of, that have great music and characters and story that, out of sheer chance, don’t get the chance they should have been given. there is no bulleted list someone can follow and at the end they’ll be on broadway with an armful of tonys; is the luck of the draw, and bare has not been afforded that chance
I’ll end with some reasons why anyone who happened to read this but might not be a bare fan should listen to or watch bare:
- it is an amazingly clever show; every time I watch it or listen to it, I realize another moment of foreshadowing or a line I originally brushed off was actually very significant or there’s another recurring motif/theme in the music
- it’s full of bops (go listen to you and I or are you there or portrait of a girl)
- canon gay characters in a canon gay relationship
- 3 dimensional fem characters that actively criticize stereotypes
- it’s about a religious gay boy who grapples with his religion and his sexuality and how those two things can coexist
- it is Very Very Good
in conclusion: bare is very good and deserves attention xx
Who is the better pairing? Light/L, Light/Mikami, or Light/Matsuda?
I don’t think there’s objectively a better/best/worst ship here. It’s a matter of preference, and I think all three ships have something you could like or dislike them for. Like, it’s difficult to find a ship for Light that wouldn’t be in some ways “problematic” or just pure crack anyway.
If done right, I personally like both Lawlight and Mikalight a lot, but my reason would merely be that I enjoy their chemistry & potential… while I’m not all that interested in the Light/Matsuda dynamic.
Have you ever read the "Secret Language Of Plants" series on AO3? I never in my life enjoyed a fic with Snape as a main character until that one and I BAWLED. Kind of a "what if Snape wasn't so shitty and saw Harry as Lilys son instead of James and therefore couldn't let him get abused and rescued him from the Dursleys" fic. Starts with "The Meaning Of Dandelion". I didn't write it but it's a trilogy, best HP fanfic I have read BAR NONE. Anyway sorry just a quick fic rec for a Snape blog lol.
bluejaye91 replied to your post “btw uhh share with me ur headcanons . hmu…….. any day …. any time id…”
OKAY SO HEADCANONS, Vincent is a trans man. Part of why Hojo wanted to experiment on him and why he didn’t take his affection for Lucrecia seriously ps Hojo is a dick. Zack is bisexual. Cloud is gay. COME ON CLOUD IS DEFINITELY GAY. Sephiroth is thought by everyone to be asexual, but he’s just extremely demisexual - he doesn’t feel attraction to hardly anyone except a rare few. Aerith is polyamorous.
VERY GOOD HEADCANONS… THANK U FOR SHARING I LOV THEM!!!! 100% A+
I just read Twist and Shout and I'm a quivering mess of feelings. HELP ME. Can you recommend some excellent FUNNY or at least HAPPY Destiel stories to help me heal??? Something fluffy or happy? (I like stuff where they stay in character pretty well). THANK YOU <3
I've stayed away from Twist & Shout (don't like AUs) but I WILL HELP WITH YOUR FEELS BB <3
Okay fluffy and happy, I got this.
*Red Bull: Red Bull gives you wings. Cas has got himself into a bit of a sticky situation and Dean can’t seem to take it seriously.
*Careful What You Wish For: Takes place during season 6’s You Can’t Handle the Truth. Castiel is affected by the truth spell Dean invoked.
*Life's Coming Attractions: Castiel's humanity offers him a vibrant imagination, and it keeps catching Dean by surprise. (Or, four ways they could have fallen in love, and one way they did.)
*Top 40 Nightmare: The Winchesters and Cas get hit by a curse that makes them all sing.
*Our First Christmas: The boys have Christmas at Bobby’s and Dean invites Castiel.
