Rose Stratford - Tumblr Posts

I am sobbing again

Pulp Musicals Episode 4 Spoilers Below the cut !

I have so many thoughts about Samuel’s death and I have to scream them into my blog as is my right !!

First it’s not fair that we started this journey across the wonderful world of Pulp Musicals with Samuel. Our guide, the young man with the pencil, a muse with a heart of gold and the mind of a true artist. But we won’t finish this journey with him, we’ll have to leave him behind, just like those that love him will too.

Second, Rose is the last Stratford now. A family cut down to just one. A mother, father, and brother dying to the senseless cruelty of the world. All this time Rose has been worried about legacy, about her position in society holding her back from making the mark she deeply wishes too. However, on Lincoln Island Rose got given her purpose, and in return her brother was snatched from her. Her writing partner, her baby brother, her everything.

Samuel was the only one who could make his sacrifice. It’s tragically fated, his life intertwined and invaded by Kal. A man afraid he isn’t taking action, a man worried he might be left behind as his friends go on to better things. Samuel took his action, he sacrificed his life for the safety of his family. This is how it ends.

Rose being the older Stratford is haunting me. She was older by mere minutes, then by two weeks. Now she is eternally older, years will pass and along with the steady marching of time Rose will be forced to leave her twin behind in the past. That was her brother, it was her duty as the older Stratford to protect him. She’ll feel like she failed, she never expected to have to confront her baby brother dying to save her. Shouldn’t it have been the other way around?

I commend Matt for making this bold choice. It’s painful, and each time I think of it I cry (I’m literally crying right now typing this) but it’s brilliant. The shift into darkness, with the knowledge we shouldn’t be afraid because this is where the dreaming starts. But what is darkness without our sun? Eternal? Samuel’s fate is tragic in a beautiful way, you can track his mindset and arc and how he reaches this point straight from Planet Earth, 1835 to Samuel and the Sun (Reprise).

ANYWAY IS ANYONE ELSE GOING FERAL ABOUT THE END OF EPISODE 4 ??? IM FEELING SO MUCH AND MOST OF IT NOT GOOD

Me when the music cuts out

I'm reposting this to add Samuel's glasses and Benjamin's scruffiness.

But also because I'm happy to announce that the AU is complete. Check it out if you want. I promise at least one good thing happens to Benjamin in it.

click for quality!

reblogs are fab, reposts aren't <3

I started sketching some Pulp Musicals characters around midnight last night and thought to myself, "hey, these look pretty damn good!" so I kept going until 3 am. Today I brought 'em into clip studio to play with them some more, and now I have these!! plus my silly doodles and dumb commentary + jokes. <3

and some versions w/o color! the traditional + digital sketching is a neat combination, I think.

What I can only imagine to have been Rose's thought process during It's a Hoax (Reprise) / Carry On

“Stories helped us find our place when New York seemed like outer space”

It's a long story, and I have a work in progress on Ao3 that will explain this. But I just love Benjamin's face in this one.

hi, my name is Jack and my special talent is sketching most of the same references but hopefully a little better/different this time! 😂 I'm working on trying to move a little further away from realism (which seems to be my default when I use references, lol) and add a more cartoony style to my repertoire, so redrawing the same refs has been pretty handy there? idk, I'm just making this up as I go. 😅

alrighty, here are the close-ups! as stated previously, I am so incredibly proud of how everyone turned out. I was also 100% playing fake it till you make it with the shading and whatnot, so it is probably not very accurate at all. but it looks cool! so that's enough for me, lmao.

original post (+ process) || icons

Anna, Rose, and Margaret, completely covered in dirt, after one of those days where everything hurt, raise a glass to toast the past. To Maria Cunitz.

I just realized I never shared ren-from-mars' awesome art of Rose Stratford with her printing press plate

I'm reposting this to add Samuel's glasses and Benjamin's scruffiness.

But also because I'm happy to announce that the AU is complete. Check it out if you want. I promise at least one good thing happens to Benjamin in it.

Chapters: 10/10 Fandom: The Great Moon Hoax - Dahan Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Benjamin/Rose, Benjamin/Samuel, Benjamin/Morgan (Sheet Music), Rose/John (paper stars), Samuel/John (great imaginations), Margaret/Samuel (radient words), Charles/John (3 long years), Hershey & Nova, Benjamin & Samuel Characters: Benjamin Park, Margaret Cavendish, Rose Stratford, Samuel Stratford, Sir John Herschel, Chester Thomas, Anna Hanover, Charles, Morgan Reese, Sia | The Traveler Summary:

This is the alternate universe where things turn out differently for Benjamin. Many thanks to AmethystUnarmed, jackalope_with_a_pen, SnarkyWallflower, oswalds_apotheosis, and sparrowfox for their contributions to this idea. I'm officially launching it. This started as a joke/wish for Benjamin to have at least one story where he gets to be happy, combined with the question of how the story would have turned out differently if Benjamin had gone with the Stratfords, and then stuffed with a bunch of silly headcanons and cute moments that I wanted to happen. I also tried to make the satellite fulfill my understanding of physics (you know, without all that gravity), so it’s a bit different than in canon, but I’m personally really proud of those scenes in ch 8 and especially ch 9.

The gang <3

S1 Pulp Musicals Gang my beloved

The idea of them experimenting with aircraft is so fun and cute to me. And I love all the colours and lighting in this.

paper stars <3 I just think that them :3

So over the past two weeks I’ve absolutely fallen in love with @pulpmusicals so ofc I had to draw something!! Have a Rose and John for your troubles <3

Based off of this Leyendecker piece :)))

I love them!

Also, I'm so glad our ship names are catching on. @starlightsparrowfox came up with Paper Stars.

(We've been calling Margaret and Samuel Radiant Words if you ever want to use that. @snarky-wallflower came up with that one)

Paper Stars ✨

OKAY, WE GOT A TRAILER AND A TITLE AND I HAVE THOUGHTS

You know what that means: it's brainrot time.

🏝 TITLE REVEAL: WHO IS THE SEARCHER IN THE SHADOWS?

quick note, I love this title. It's rad as hell. 10/10. anyway—

of course when I hear the word "Searcher" I immediately think of the one and only Addison Arvad, missing captain of the Antikythera and beloved wrecker of journals.

look at her. I love her. she's beautiful. also I am lowkey obsessed with how Jackie draws hair. (please teach me your secrets.)

We didn't get to learn much about Capt. Arvad in episode 3, but we do know that she was a Searcher who disappeared without any explanation, along with the rest of her crew. Kal probably had something to do with it, since he was attempting to retrieve the ship's orrery and said some vague stuff about fog and vortices, but even he doesn't seem to know exactly what happened to her and the crew.

Whatever the case, her disappearance is the reason most of the events in TGOA even happened, so it would make sense for her to be a big part of the next episode. And if Addison is the Searcher and the Searcher is in the shadows, then I have two (and a half?) theories.

The first is that she (and her crew, if they survived, who are also presumably all Searchers) are lost somewhere and that whatever "fogging the vertices" entails led to her getting whisked away somewhere else. She could be trapped there, trying to get out, and/or maybe she is in shadows in the same way Margaret was—maybe she has lost her memories and her magic.

The second theory is actually an idea @man-down-in-hatchet-town proposed that promptly blew my mind: what if whatever happened to Addison led to her getting corrupted and going dark and she is the villain of the episode? I honestly love this idea so much and I think it would be fun and also delightfully heartbreaking after hearing that entry from Addison's journal and getting a glimpse of the person she once was.

(also every pulp fan I know is in complete agreement that we want a cool female villain, pretty please Matt— 🥺🙏)

🏝 OH GOD, THE TIME TRAVEL

I've already yelled a bit about Rose being separated from Samuel and the others, so I'm not gonna repeat myself here, but I also have other thoughts about the time travel!

The trailer has confirmed that Rose was indeed sent two weeks into the past like Ahlaam said she would be. I think it's safe to assume that Rose will have to wait those two weeks until she can reunite with the others, and I also believe we're gonna have to wait with her.

Rose’s two weeks are going to be important—she's meeting Dakkar and hopefully getting some Travelore™ about the island and The Blazing World, and probably getting into some sort of trouble that better not require a printing press plate to resolve, since she doesn’t have it right now—so I don’t think they're going to just blip by. Otherwise what’s the point of sending her back in time?

I think it’s a pretty safe bet that we (the listeners) are probably going to be doing some time travel ourselves, hopping between Rose's two weeks with Dakkar and the rest of the brick family in the present as Sia takes them to the island and they get started on all that mysterious work they have to do. I have no idea what they're going to find there except maybe a rocket? but I can imagine Samuel and the others following Rose's trail as they piece together what's happened to her and learn about this place and its inhabitants, and then the storylines will connect by the end of the episode and we'll get the twins back together and they'll never be separated again!

Isn't that right, Mr. Dahan?

/lh

Alternatively, I suppose the Ellen Austin could be met on the shore by a Rose who has already spent two weeks on the island and then we could get relevant flashbacks here and there, but I don't think that's as likely. It might be too impractical for this medium when we have a lot of story (and lore) to cover and only so much time to sing about it! Plus, that"By the time our heroes are reunited" bit really makes me think that they won't see each other until closer to the end of the episode. The reunion is absolutely gonna make me cry. I can't wait.

🏝 TRAVELER ISLAND, BABEY!

The island's inhabitants have magic similar to Margaret's, and are led by a new group of powerful Travelers.

...Well, maybe it's not Traveler island, exactly. I'm guessing that most of these ~inhabitants~ are actually Searchers. Sia might not be the only Traveler, but I don't think there are a lot of them out there. It makes more sense for there to be less Travelers and more Searchers to balance things out if the Travelers are significantly more powerful like they've been implied to be.

I definitely think Ahlaam is one of the "new group of powerful Travelers" and I'm super excited to get to know her more. (I am also hoping that maybe we'll get a Jackie Traveler character? 👀) I still don't know if Dakkar is a Traveler or not, but I'm inclined to believe he might be a Searcher—mostly because his portrait doesn't have glowing eyes and flashy gold jewelry like Sia or Ahlaam. (I also feel like it may not be a coincidence that he's wearing a light blue-ish colored shirt like Addison, even if it's a different style and looks considerably less like a space suit, lol.)

They speak of a lost kingdom, The Blazing World, and how what occurs on Lincoln Island will impact an entire civilization.

The Blazing World!!! Rose hasn't heard this name yet, but we have! (and Margaret and Samuel.) The people on Lincoln Island could be survivors/refugees from the Blazing World, or perhaps they are all here on a war mission and this is simply their base of operations. Either way, I'm sure the civilization being impacted is the Travelers'; even if this island isn't currently sheltering all that remains of their people and this is only an outpost for the war, they still have some valuable people here—like Margaret, who is recovering her memories and I am certain has an incredibly vital role to play in this war—and the aftermath of whatever happens will undoubtedly be felt beyond the shores of Lincoln Island. Either our heroes succeed in whatever they're trying to do here, or it goes wrong and the Blazing World potentially loses valuable warriors & resources, and the war against Itzal takes a turn for the worse.

🏝 THE "D" WORD: DESTINY

By the time our heroes are reunited, they will be closer to understanding their destinies than ever before...

Destiny... oh, I've had many thoughts about this and been part of multiple discussions with various friends about fate and coincidence and puzzle pieces coming together in this story. enough that I'm almost not sure where to start.

...Eh, chronologically, I guess.

1817 — the year the Stratford family paper stand was established and the year Anna Hanover's father lost his place in the world. Both of these events affected the characters' lives, helping to cement the twins' love of stories and giving them an eventual connection to the New York Sun that would allow them to publish the moon hoax, and giving Anna her tragic backstory and a goal that would drive her to construct her own moon out of brick rather than ink.

1829 — the year I believe Margaret Cavendish arrived in New York City. She lost her memories and her magic, and the Travelers set her up here to live in comfort and safety and loneliness. We don't know why this happened yet, but I think it's safe to assume the location isn't a coincidence when we know at least one Traveler with precognitive abilities and it's only a handful of years until...

1835 — the year of the moon hoax and the brick satellite. Samuel and Rose Stratford write a story that takes the city by storm, attracting the attention of both Margaret Cavendish, who has been looking for answers and winds up with more questions and magic she doesn't remember or understand, and Sir John Herschel, who doesn't want fantastical stories written about him, thank you very much—but wait, how did he get here? He was in South Africa, a whole other hemisphere! How did he find out about the hoax so quickly?

Well, someone brought him the newspaper that made him come to New York, meet the Stratfords and Margaret, and invite them all to work on the brick satellite with him. They go to British Guiana, manage to finish the satellite alongside Anna, get it into the sky thanks to Margaret's Radiance, and finally meet the Traveler out in space, who somehow knew they would be there and knew Margaret's magic was returning but is surprised that her memories weren't. The Traveler knows more than she's telling, but rather than explain she sends the quartet back to Earth.

1874 — the year the quartet are teleported to. They happen to meet a friendly bosun who offers them a place on a ship that'll take them to New York, right where they want to go. Perfect, right? But in reality it takes them to a ghost ship that just so happens to contain some stuff that helps Margaret remember some things. There's a crazy awesome magic battle, sailors vanish, the ghost ship vanishes, and by the end of it all they're sailing towards a mysterious island and the Traveler, Sia, is telling them they have a lot of work to do.

...okay, the point I'm attempting to make here is that yeah, it definitely seems like something has been leading them here, to this time and place. I just can't tell if it's ✨️destiny✨️ or if it's just Sia, who can see into the future and had a clear hand in at least some of these occurrences. She sent our heroes to 1874 in a flash of light, right into Morgan's path, into Kal's, into the Antikythera's. And if she did that, who's to say she hasn't been guiding the quartet in more covert ways this whole time? Someone had to get that paper to John. Someone—specifically a Traveler someone—had to get Margaret settled in New York.

You could say that it's all destiny and that Sia's foresight and her actions are simply destiny's way of getting shit done, that it was all going to happen this way no matter what. You could also go round and round questioning how destiny and precognitive abilities work & influence each other until your brain feels like it's melting (why yes, I am speaking from experience) but I think I'm going to skip that and focus on a different question instead:

What does destiny (or Sia) have in store for our heroes?

I don't know, of course. probably a rocket at some point? gotta wait for the episode to find out.

but regardless of who or what has been pulling the strings, it took a lot to get our heroes to this point and the idea that they're meant to be here, that they've always been headed toward something that's more than this the lives they had before is so unbelievably exciting??? even if you don't care for the idea of destiny or fate, you know great things are coming and that the story is gonna get bigger and wilder.

🏝 YEAH I KEEP MENTIONING THE ROCKET, DON'T I?

might as well actually give it its own little section on this ramble-y ass post, lol.

We've had hints that there'd be at least one rocket in the story from the very first M.A.I.A. transmission. (If you haven't seen those, you're missing out!) Now that we're getting new cast photos where everyone has been posing with a little red rocket, it looks like it's time!

Maybe the quartet are going to help the Travelers build a rocket. Maybe they're going to help repair a rocket that already exists. Maybe they're going to go to space again, or another planet—The Blazing World?—or maybe they're only going to see the Travelers off and that'll be it. (Okay, that last one would be a little disappointing, lmao.) Hell, maybe they're only going to Lincoln Island to meet a rocket that hasn't arrived yet! So many possibilities!

...hmm. I think that's it? I think that's all the thoughts I had. I have been putting this post together off and on since last night so if I missed anything or it seems a little disjointed then that's why, lmao.

this is admittedly less of a theory post at times and more of a John impression (it's not my fault I have questions!) but why wait for M.A.I.A. transmissions and more information when I can shout about it all now? the universe simply wouldn't be right if I didn't seize every opportunity to scream about Pulp Musicals.

anyway, if you read all of this then I hope you enjoyed it! you can expect/dread more posts like this in the coming weeks, as soon as we get more info and M.A.I.A. transmissions. can't wait to see my best girl again. 💙

...I really hope Matt and Jackie have gotten that window fixed.

he’s trying his best don’t make fun of him </3

More paper stars bc I MISS THEM. EVEN IF I LISTEN TO PULP NEARLY EVERYDAY. AUGUST CANNOT COME ANY SOONER

They're adorable

the Urania Propitia trio, you’ll always be famous to me