I've seen a post string that Aziraphale's way of dealing with problems has been to fix things while Crowley has been taking the avoidance route.

I wanna note tho:

In the beginning - or rather, before the Beginning - it was Crowley who wanted to fix things, make suggestions, and he got eternal damnation for it.

Even despite his status as, what we currently assume (right?) an Archangel he was cast out for trying to make the humble suggestion not to end the universe.

Aziraphale, at the same time, went all "best not get in trouble", didn't ask questions.

Of course Crowley doesn't wanna fix things anymore! He learned the hard way that good intentions actually lead to hell, that you'll be punished for it.

And now Aziraphale has accepted the bloody job offer, thinking he can change things, but Crowley KNOWS he can't, because he's been there, and it's heartbreaking

Good Omens season 2 ending and Crowley's (probable) Time Stop

When it comes to the Good Omens season 2 ending, I'm firmly on Team Time Stop, which is to say that I think Crowley has this spectacularly useful skill for moments of extreme duress, when there's intense pressure and huge stakes and no time to think or privacy to talk. He used that power to great effect towards the end of season 1 when he and Aziraphale stepped out of time in the middle of the panic of Armageddon to take some deep breaths and help Adam prepare to confront His Father.

So, in the emotionally fraught bookshop scene at the end of season 2, when Aziraphale is acting strange and trying to communicate something unspoken and urgent, and they're each full of strong emotions and feeling like there's no time to listen to one another or process what's happening, and there's no privacy (hello, Metatron and Muriel at the window), and maybe they're splitting up for who knows how long to take on very dangerous tasks, and they're angry and hurt and frustrated with one another, and they both have SO MUCH they want to say, how could Crowley NOT use his power to stop time so they can breathe, talk, think, and plan?!

In season three, I’m gonna need their first meeting’s ‘gorgeous’ line to happen again, except this time it’s *actually* aimed at Aziraphale.

Every piece by this amazing artist is a delight!

One thing I love about Crowley --never stated, but consistently shown-- is that he is, at heart, an engineer.

I have a few different things to say about that. Let's unpack them.

As the Unnamed Angel, we see his designs for the Pillars of Creation are millions of pages long, comprised of cramped text, footnotes, diagrams, schematics, etc. It's very...Renaissance polymath, in the way it implies a particular intersection of artist and inventor.

Also: in the naked romanticism with which he views his stars.

We already knew he made stars, but in s2 we learn that he did NOT sculpt each of them by hand. He designed a nebula ("a star factory," he says) that will form several thousand young stars and proto-planets, and all --aside from getting the 'factory' running-- without him lifting a finger. We also learn that these young stars and proto-planets stand in contrast to those made by other angels, which are going to come 'pre-aged.'

...I'm reminded of Hastur and Ligur's approach to temptations. Damning one human soul at a time, devoting singular attention to it over the course of years or decades, and how that stands in contrast to Crowley's reliance on, quote, 'knock-on effects.'

Hm.

I'm also reminded of the M25.

The M25 may not be as grand as a nebula (sentences you only say in GOmens fandom...), but LIKE his nebula it's an intricate, self-sustaining engine that does Crowley's work for him, many times over. Again.

That's some pretty neat characterization --and so is the indication towards Crowley's disinterest in victimizing anyone tempting individual people. It takes a considerable amount of planning and effort (and creeping about in wellies), but in accordance with his design the M25 generates a constant stream of low-grade evil on a gigantic scale.

Cumulatively gigantic, that is. Individually? Negligible.

But no other demon understands human nature well enough to parse that one million ticked-off motorists are not, in any meaningful way, actually equivalent to one dictator, or one mass-murderer, or even one little influential regressive. That's the trick of it. Crowley gets Hell's approval (which he NEEDS to survive, and to maintain the degree of freedom he's eked out for himself), and at the same time ensures that any actual ~Evil Influence~ is spread nice and thin.

It's some clever machinery. And he knows it, too:

The Unnamed Angel and Crowley are both proud of their ideas.

(musings on professional pride, Leonardo da Vinci, the crank handle, and 'the point to which Crowley loves Aziraphale' under the cut)

Made this 2 months ago and forgot to post but here🤲

This is gorgeous!

Thinking about how during the confession, Crowley was trying so hard to hold back his tears. He looks up, to the side multiple times to prevent any single tear from falling. He's choking on his words, breaking apart because he knows it's too late by this point. But he's pushing through it, just to tell Aziraphale he wants to spend the rest of his life with him, because maybe it'll change his mind.

You can see the moment he can't hold it back anymore. The moment he realizes they're not on their own side because Aziraphale chose heaven, and has to get out of there, has to put up his defenses.

It's so very human.

The most vulnerable, without trying to put any act on, that we have ever seen him. And it’s when his heart shatters.

Neil Gaiman Tumblr FAQ: Good Omens

Tumblr questions that Neil Gaiman has already answered. Yes, it does have some Neil-provided info of S2. But, it is spoiler leak-free! (It also does not have spoilers from early screenings of S2.)

Docs Version: Here Spreadsheet Version: Here

I’m excited about Good Omens 2 and I was already going through Neil Gaiman's blog ( @neil-gaiman ). I initially made it for me and my friends for reference, but then decided to go ahead and throw it out into the Tumblr void, too. I hope it helps.

I made my own FAQ about this here (please check it before messaging me): OrpiKnight's FAQ FAQ

Before you ask a Good Omens question, look here. An incredibly impressive job of research and gathering.

Crowley in the bookshop

Took a break from needlepoint, and drew this...ink, watercolor, and gouache on toned paper.

oh my god oh my fuckikg ahhh!! this is so good

Hear me out: lapels are wings

I’m going to sound like a mad conspiracy theorist here, but I can’t stop thinking about some very subtle costume design patterns in Good Omens.

First, let’s have a look at the angels. All of the angels have nice, spotless, crisp suits in pale colours, as we know. Let’s have a look:

Specifically, let’s have a look at the lapels on those expensive-looking blazers:

All of them are wearing a peaked lapel that points up. But that’s fine - peaked lapels are more formal so maybe Heaven’s just a fancy place. How about Hell’s emissaries?

Great big overcoats with floppy collars that point down. Style choice, right? Well, let’s have a look at our two favourite ineffable idiots.

How odd - they seem to have got it backwards.

Now admittedly, through many of the scenes that involve lapels, Aziraphale is wearing the same coat - but Crowley is remarkably consistent through time:

(No picture from the Odegra presentation or church scene, because I can’t for the life of me get a clear screenshot bright enough to tell.)

Aziraphale, on the other hand, varies a bit. Just after the duck and top hat scene, where the two had a mini-breakup, Aziraphale is doing good deeds and is back on the side of the angels, as it were:

When he’s figured out where the antichrist is, and lies to Crowley about it, and is trying to figure out what to do, he’s wearing this, which is arguably neutral:

But when he’s discorporated and makes the decision to return to Earth to help, having finally learned that no one in Heaven wants to stop the war, he’s in his old coat again and back on side:

So, what does this (probably not actually) symbolism mean? Well, first you could suggest that peaked lapels are fancier than notched or floppy ones, so may Heaven is just stuffy and overly formal and Crowley really is a flash bastard, while Aziraphale just enjoys comfort. 

I prefer the second, more allegorical option, which is that the lapels indicate their allegiance. The angels up towards Heaven and the demons down towards Hell make sense. For Crowley and Aziraphale, though, the up from Hell and down from Heaven are…well, Earth, Humanity, in the middle. (Or, for those with a romantic streak, their attachment to each other.) 

If you want more evidence (and I use the word evidence with extreme disregard for semantic accuracy here), this vertical alignment is replayed in their wings when Crowley stops time. When they first appear, their wings show their original alignments (Aziraphale up, Crowley down)

Then as they relax, they take on each other’s arrangement, reflecting their change in priorities (Aziraphale down, Crowley up):

And finally, as they prepare to speak to Adam, they settle into the same position: both horizontal, both neutral, both aligned with humanity:

It seems likely that this is style and not substance, and there are plenty of counterexamples (e.g. Gabriel wears a “neutral” lapel at Aziraphale’s trial, and Michael none at all at Crowley’s = subtle hint that they are deviating from their allegiance to Heaven by willingly associating with Hell?; Beelzebub wears an “up” peaked collar but doesn’t seem too heavenly to me; etc.). So maybe I’m just seeing things that aren’t there. But there is one final possibility why Crowley always puts on a fancy peaked lapel every time he sees Aziraphale (quote from this same site):

Maybe he just lives in hope.

Hey OP how does it feel to be so RIGHT and GALAXY BRAINED  (for context - this meta has been confirmed as true in the panel on costume design BY GO COSTUME DESIGNER CLAIRE ANDERSON  at Ineffable Con 2, 18/10/2020)

Older GO asks (and answers!) from Neil Gaiman’s inbox

SO, I have been wading in Good Omens meta for months now, and I often see things come up that Neil has actually addressed in asks. Trouble is, his ask box is deep and intimidating, and since season 2 was announced all the pre-season 2 asks have basically been buried. But I went hunting long ago for basically anything GO-related and I took screenshots of a bunch. So I thought I’d present them here, roughly organized, in text form, for the benefit of anyone else who’s curious.

Of course, none of this is meant to invalidate headcanons or whatever; Neil himself is firmly against doing so. But I’ve personally had no issue accepting author’s word with this series, since Neil has not, as yet, done anything that made me want to shout at him or eat a couch in frustration, which is a refreshing change from the writers in most of the fandoms I’ve ever been part of. So, for what it’s worth, here are the answers. At least some of them; I know I’ve missed a lot.

(And yes, they pretty much all relate to the angels and demons, Crowly and Aziraphale specifically. There were very few asks that DIDN’T concern them, and none that I have saved. Of course, the ask box is still open…)

Keep reading

MAG-FUCKING-NIFICENT!!!

Congratulations to Kentucky state senator Dr. Karen Berg for taking her ignorant Republican colleagues out to the proverbial woodshed and whipping their old white male asses with facts and logic.  Shame on them and more power to her, science, and women’s choice over their own bodies and lives.

[VD: A video in a courtroom. Dr. Karen Berg is sitting behind a microphone and talking to the other senators. At the bottom of the screen it says, "Discussion of SB 321 (Sen.Wise) An Act Relating to Abortion". Dr. Berg says:

/end VD]

Unsurprisingly, she’s also the only Jewish member of the Kentucky state senate.

➸ “This is a sentence.”

➸ “This is a sentence with a dialogue tag at the end,” she said.

➸ “This,” he said, “is a sentence split by a dialogue tag.”

➸ “This is a sentence,” she said. “This is a new sentence. New sentences are capitalized.”

➸ “This is a sentence followed by an action.” He stood. “They are separate sentences because he did not speak by standing.”

➸ She said, “Use a comma to introduce dialogue. The quote is capitalized when the dialogue tag is at the beginning.”

➸ “Use a comma when a dialogue tag follows a quote,” he said.

“Unless there is a question mark?” she asked.

“Or an exclamation point!” he answered. “The dialogue tag still remains uncapitalized because it’s not truly the end of the sentence.”

➸ “Periods and commas should be inside closing quotations.”

➸ “Hey!” she shouted, “Sometimes exclamation points are inside quotations.”

However, if it’s not dialogue exclamation points can also be “outside”!

➸ “Does this apply to question marks too?” he asked.

If it’s not dialogue, can question marks be “outside”? (Yes, they can.)

➸ “This applies to dashes too. Inside quotations dashes typically express—“

“Interruption” — but there are situations dashes may be outside.

➸ “You’ll notice that exclamation marks, question marks, and dashes do not have a comma after them. Ellipses don’t have a comma after them either…” she said.

➸ “My teacher said, ‘Use single quotation marks when quoting within dialogue.’”

➸ “Use paragraph breaks to indicate a new speaker,” he said.

“The readers will know it’s someone else speaking.”

➸ “If it’s the same speaker but different paragraph, keep the closing quotation off.

“This shows it’s the same character continuing to speak.”

I knew about half of this when I started writing. It’s amazing the stuff they don’t teach you in school that you have to work out on your own. And look, all beautifully laid out for you.

Good Omens and Nineteen Eighty-Four: a comparison

You can read this meta on AO3 here

The final lines of the book Good Omens contain a clear reference to the book Nineteen Eighty-Four: ‘And if you want to imagine the future, imagine a boot… no, imagine a sneaker.’

As a result, Neil and Terry set up the ending of Good Omens in opposition to the ending of Nineteen Eighty-Four. They tell us: if you want to know what could have been, what was avoided, go read Nineteen Eighty-Four. In doing so, they also hint at exactly how Heaven and Hell might operate i.e. like the Party in Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Although the exact final lines from the book Good Omens are not in the show, the comparison between Good Omens and Nineteen Eighty-Four still stands.

Keep reading