Protect Public Libraries

Had some thoughts about the themes emerging in Neverafter so far in another post’s notes that I may as else clarify in my own.

(BBEG is Capitalism truthers beware ig, there’s a lot of me talking about why I don’t like that theory and find it reductive.)

Ok. So. I guess I’d like to start saying that I get why people enjoy a good “haha bad guy is capitalism” joke, because everyone who plays dnd hates capitalism—especially right now, considering current controversies. BUT, I find the common posts of “OMG Neverafter’s bad guy has GOT to be capitalism/Disney” very irritating because it feels less like people picking up on the clues the narrative is putting down and more hammering their own biases of what they want the series to be about into the narrative.

Like, some people keep saying the moral is that Disney sanitizing everything is bad but like… literally nothing about the setting (aside from some fairy tales Disney used appearing) suggests that. The stories are getting worse, darker, closer to their older versions. And the characters don’t want that! Non-Disney versions of the stories aren’t framed as better like you’d think a “Disney Bad” narrative would—in fact, several characters would much prefer to be in their Disney versions right now, whether or not they should be. That kinder versions of the story—which would include the Disney movies—are vanishing due to the carelessness of a select few is presented as a bad thing.

If the theme of the story was that sanitation of fairy tales is bad, don’t you think we’d start off in more “Disney” style versions of the stories? You could easily make a horror story about the dread of being trapped in a “perfect” world. But that’s not what’s happening.

One of the horrors of the Neverafter, courtesy of Cinderella’s visit, is that bad things keep happening no matter what you do. Cinderella’s mother always dies. She always becomes a servant to her Stepmother. Over and over again. Why? What is making this so?

It’s the horror of predestination, of bad things happening to you because someone has decided they should no matter what you want. It’s a much bigger and baser concept than Historic Versions vs Disney Versions, or even Characters vs Disney.

As the conversation with the Librarians and Mother Goose’s encounter with the Inkwell seem to suggest, the conflict is moreso Characters vs Authors.

The question Brennan seems to be posing through Neverafter’s world and story isn’t “Isn’t Disney So Awful?”, it’s “In a reality where storybook characters are real people, is it moral or ethical to make those characters suffer for a good story?”

Or, removed from the trappings of the setting, the question is: “Is it moral or ethical to make real people suffer to make a good thing?”

Good children, good spouses, good futures, good ideals, good communities—and, in a Capitalist society, good profits. But what is good enough to sacrifice people for? And what is “Good” at all?

PSA since it seems like a lot of people don't know this: Zac Oyama is a DM! He has a podcast! They've done 11 story arcs so far!

The Rotating Heroes Podcast is so good, you guys. Most of your Dropout faves have been on it, and the world Zac's created is fascinating. Jasper William Cartwright has also DMed at least one arc.

Just a note, because a lot of people seem surprised by him briefly taking Brennan's seat lol

Ally: *says K2 is quitting vaping*

Me: oh lmao what a coincidence I just got patches to stop yesterday and I'm starting tomorrow. I'm doing it for you K2

Brennan: *announces that K2 is real now. A real human woman living in England in our world with the memories of Kristen's life except happening in England*

Me, an English lesbian ex fundamentalist cult survivor who lost their faith in their early teens after their first real interaction with death: Blimey...

I love the library

Free Free Palestine!

Oisin: “Liked my Ping Pong ball trap? Figured you all wouldn’t be clever enough-“

Riz: “I’m gonna eat your fucking family, dude”

Oisin: “What?”

Riz: “I killed and ate your grandma’s boyfriend, I just killed your grandma and like six of your aunts and uncles and cousins, im going to eat them all and you. You got siblings at the Middle School?”

Oisin:

Riz: Gugkak family tradition, fucker

This is something I need to get more into. During college and now after my mind is always thinking that any and all stories I read need to be in the mindset of possibly being published but sometimes you just need to write the mountain of the most plotless but chaotic amazingness that builds up.

i feel like all writers just need like....an oc story. and i dont mean like a story just with original characters. i mean like a piece of writing that simply makes your brain go wheeeeeeeeeee and its at the level of something your 13 year old self would write and post to deviantart. its liberating. its freeing. its comforting. my ocs are all gay and overpowered as fuck and there's really no plot to this but by god I'm having fun.

Obviously Velma sucks but if we do ever make a more adult Scooby Doo I want a semi realistic period piece from the late 60s where the Scooby Gang are draft dodgers and hippies that just happen to stumble into the crime fighting business because there is just a fresh stream of con artists when you’re drifting town to town in a van.

Freddie and Daphne start it all. Instead of showing up at boot camp when drafted, Fred Jones got the van he bought with his summer job and ran off. Daphne, his girlfriend (who frankly has the least strong feelings about Vietnam but for gods sake are they not taking Freddie there) runs along to be supportive and to get away from her strict, stuffy family.

Velma catches wind of Fred and Daphne’s plan a few days before it happens. They invite her along but she has to consider it. A staunch feminist and the brightest girl in school, she has the most to lose if she leaves. However, she grows embittered by the fact she’s never gonna get into her dream college since it doesn’t admit women, and decides to go along. Besides, if Fred and Daphne leave without her, there won’t be anyone like minded in their hometown for Velma to be friends with.

Shaggy wasn’t originally part of the group, but they find him and Scooby hitchhiking and pick him up. The gang learn he has similar circumstances to Fred for running away from home, being a conscientious objector who ran off when they tried to put him in a non combative position instead. He opposed even this as it still meant he would be part of the war machine. He comes bearing plenty of 8 track tapes and some real good pot, so he’s welcomed along happily.

Along the way they become friends and use their combined skills to solve cases of supposed hauntings. Every single one is shown to be some kind of capitalist fraud.