Samuel Stratford - Tumblr Posts

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.

He's always fucking running from something!!!

The gang <3

S1 Pulp Musicals Gang my beloved

Yes! I love them. My one issue with the name is that I struggle to spell radiant correctly, but that's on me.

I love the way Samuel talks about the radiance in Great Things as this thing he is both in awe of and terrified of; "it enchants me, stares into my soul, and chills me to the bone."

Radiant Words, A (Very Short) Study

So I wrote this a while back, but then @faery-people-of-the-future-day mentioned the actual ship name on here, and I figured hey, why not? I have a normal amount of thoughts about these two. Here's why I went with Radiant Words for Samuel/Margaret's ship name, and why it is one of the Pulp creations I'm proudest of. Radiant - well, I mean, this one is a little obvious for Margaret, isn't it? We all love the Radiance here. But I think it also gets to apply to Samuel, because seriously, look at this man. He's one of the brightest characters in the show! He's a whole bundle of light, and I adore him. (So does Margaret.) Margaret may be bright magically, but Samuel's bright personality-wise. I just think they complete each other in that sort of thing.

Words - both these two are such nerds, and I say this with full affection. Samuel's whole job is writing! Just look at Margaret's library! Both of them believe in the power of words to shape and create the world, trying to learn as much as they can. And even if it goes badly (understandably) at first, words are what brought them together! Samuel (and Rose's, but it is his journal)'s words was what brought Margaret to meet him, even if it drove them apart for a while. I just think the reason they first met deserves a shoutout in their ship name.

All together, the name Radiant Words kind of just makes me think of Samuel scribbling down whatever he can see of Margaret, and her actually being happy about it. It's cute. I'm a real sucker for it.

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.

an artistic rendition of samuel stratford realising that Maybe This Wasn't Such a Good Idea during belief

This is very aesthetically pleasing, and I also need all my followers to know that the 7th painting is of Margaret Cavendish and her husband William Cavendish. And I know this because I gave Samuel William's outfit in this drawing I did back in March. Margaret's outfit is based on a different painting though. (I have since read Blazing World and realized real Margaret's self insert character is the Empress's "platonic lover" and not the empress herself, but this was basically just pulp Margaret being space royalty in extravagant clothing)

People Matching Artworks: An Unusual Photo Series By Stefan Draschan

People Matching Artworks: An Unusual Photo Series By Stefan Draschan More info: Website | Instagram…

My friends are hilarious

@nabwastaken mentioned that this photo would be a good meme so I made a few quick ones, lol. all pulp musicals themed, of course.

Got some Pulp requests from the lovely folks over at Blinky's Rewatch Party (there's a very dedicated Pulp Thread there with some brilliantly talented creators) and I'm sharing them here! Close ups under the cut.

Pulp Musicals my beloved August can’t come soon enough

i might make these into prints if anyone is interested! idk i think that would be cool

A friend dragged us into Pulp Musicals hell and I might or might not have listened to it all like perhaps 5 times today 😳😁 anyway here's a lil Samuel and Mags from the scene of "On The Roof" !!

I am obsessed with these guys fuuhfhhfgg

@pulpmusicalsfortnight2024 day two: horror + alternate: possession

if Kal had been slightly more sly with how he went about things earlier on, Gunpowder and Rum, Part 3 could have gone a little bit differently, I think

(an alternate version and my nonsensical explanations are under the cut, in case you're interested!)

alternate version, because I couldn't choose between the blue and the green and wanted to include both:

and here's my explanation for how Samuel was possessed here, although it's certainly not the only way this could have played out (I took some creative liberty with how Kal's fog works, too, so it doesn't entirely agree with canon):

in Gunpowder and Rum, Part 1, Kal doesn't do anything differently; he messes with Samuel's mind a little bit, but disappears once Rose arrives (same as canon)

Kal possesses AJ in Gunpowder and Rum, Part 2, however, at the end of the song, when Samuel comes in, he manages to trick Samuel into having a drink with AJ. the concoction he gives to Samuel is one he has engineered to be "dormant" until activated by some of his fog.

Samuel goes to Margaret, still suspicious about AJ (I would imagine Kal said something similar at the end of the encounter to what he said in canon), Something Familiar and Antikythera happen

at the beginning of Gunpowder and Rum, Part 3, Kal senses his chance and sends in The Fog™, taking Samuel's body and leaving AJ's body unconscious for him to return to as a back-up plan.

Steampunk Stratfords!

@pulpmusicalsfortnight2024

I thought it was interesting how both Margaret and Samuel had a moment where they were alone and were approached by a mysterious magical stranger insisting they take something, so this is kind of just highlighting the similarities and differences between those encounters.

@pulpmusicalsfortnight2024

son boy allowed? no, SUN boy allowed

im so sleepy and this is unfinished but please forgive me pulp fandom <3 day 9 (?i think?) home <3

Here’s my submission for @pulpmusicalsfortnight2024 Day 13 (ignore that that was technically yesterday): Light/Dark

Young man with potential…