More Bunny and Raffles
Oct. 12th, 2009 08:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elabyMore Bunny and Raffles squee! Incidentally, fandom, is the normal idiom "Bunny and Raffles" or "Raffles and Bunny"? For some reason, the first one easily presented itself, but, as "Watson and Holmes" sounds very strange to my ears, I wanted to ask.
I've read more. These two just never get old.
I've decided that Raffles and Bunny are to Holmes and Watson as BBC's Merlin is to Doctor Who. That is, I can enjoy the former of each - no matter what takes place - without worrying too much about my heart getting broken, and for this I sacrifice a measure of quality. I can't say exactly why I feel like this, without going into extreme detail and thinking more than I care to at the moment, but that's how I feel about Bunny and Raffles.
Today I finished "The Amateur Cracksman," which ends with Raffles apparently drowned and Bunny getting hauled off to prison. This was, strangely enough, less horrible than FINA because Bunny knew what was about to happen, because he kind of saw Raffles swim away and therefore had hope, and because it was slashy as all get-out. Bunny's livid jealousy at Raffles's association with the Australian girl was wonderful and hilarious (not to mention unmistakable) and the story was filled with wonderful lines like "Climb into my bunk, Bunny, and you shall see." *sporfle* They are also just... oh, the pressing of hands and the squeezing of shoulders and the liberal application of "my" in front of each other's names, and bwagh. They're so adorable.
I'm trying to character-analyze them like I've done with Holmes and Watson (in spite of the arguably lesser quality of the characterizations) because this is the kind of thing I do for fun *is dork* Bunny is considerably easier, so far. I've read one or two stories after Raffles's miraculous return, and Bunny has developed a little, which is really awesome. His character, in my first-read-through assessment, consists of two major facets:
1: Bunny is enamoured of Raffles.
2: Bunny feels morally conflicted about his life of crime.
It's important that #1 never fails to trump #2, no matter how much Bunny protests. In the early stories (I'm trying not to refer to them as pre-Hiatus... "the double-life era" works, though, since in the later ones they don't have high-class personas) Bunny secretly enjoys the thrill of burglary, but he's wracked with guilt and feels very virtuous whenever they stop for a while. He's conflicted about his relationship with Raffles, too, even though he gets used to the fact that he's always kept in the dark. One of the things I like about Bunny is that he's not afraid to get really angry at Raffles, yell at him and act sanctimonious, even though he knows that Raffles will get his way no matter what. Bunny gets pissy with him, and I think it's adorable. After Raffles returns, though, he just kind of surrenders both to the crime and to Raffles's persuasion (it need not be said that the two intersect XD). He certainly doesn't have any qualms about stealing things anymore, and he's just so happy to have Raffles back that Raffles's masterfulness doesn't bother him as much anymore.
Raffles is harder for me to get a handle on. Apart from all the superficial similarities to Holmes, Raffles isn't really like him at all, not when you get down to it. Raffles doesn't get depressed, which is hugely important. He's freer with his emotions, much quicker to apologize when he's hurt Bunny's feelings, and I get the impression that he doesn't really think about what he does. Where Holmes is hyper-aware, even if he doesn't know how to deal with what he perceives, I think Raffles just gets blindsided by things (like how he feels about Bunny). Whenever he does something terribly earnest, it seems like it's taken him by surprise, but he doesn't hide it or wonder at it. He just does it. He's very cautious in everything except, I think, how he acts to Bunny, especially when they're alone.
So, they're cute. Lord, they're cute. They don't have the capability to rip my heart to bits the way Holmes and Watson do, which is in some ways a relief.
What am I going to do for icons for these two?
I've read more. These two just never get old.
I've decided that Raffles and Bunny are to Holmes and Watson as BBC's Merlin is to Doctor Who. That is, I can enjoy the former of each - no matter what takes place - without worrying too much about my heart getting broken, and for this I sacrifice a measure of quality. I can't say exactly why I feel like this, without going into extreme detail and thinking more than I care to at the moment, but that's how I feel about Bunny and Raffles.
Today I finished "The Amateur Cracksman," which ends with Raffles apparently drowned and Bunny getting hauled off to prison. This was, strangely enough, less horrible than FINA because Bunny knew what was about to happen, because he kind of saw Raffles swim away and therefore had hope, and because it was slashy as all get-out. Bunny's livid jealousy at Raffles's association with the Australian girl was wonderful and hilarious (not to mention unmistakable) and the story was filled with wonderful lines like "Climb into my bunk, Bunny, and you shall see." *sporfle* They are also just... oh, the pressing of hands and the squeezing of shoulders and the liberal application of "my" in front of each other's names, and bwagh. They're so adorable.
I'm trying to character-analyze them like I've done with Holmes and Watson (in spite of the arguably lesser quality of the characterizations) because this is the kind of thing I do for fun *is dork* Bunny is considerably easier, so far. I've read one or two stories after Raffles's miraculous return, and Bunny has developed a little, which is really awesome. His character, in my first-read-through assessment, consists of two major facets:
1: Bunny is enamoured of Raffles.
2: Bunny feels morally conflicted about his life of crime.
It's important that #1 never fails to trump #2, no matter how much Bunny protests. In the early stories (I'm trying not to refer to them as pre-Hiatus... "the double-life era" works, though, since in the later ones they don't have high-class personas) Bunny secretly enjoys the thrill of burglary, but he's wracked with guilt and feels very virtuous whenever they stop for a while. He's conflicted about his relationship with Raffles, too, even though he gets used to the fact that he's always kept in the dark. One of the things I like about Bunny is that he's not afraid to get really angry at Raffles, yell at him and act sanctimonious, even though he knows that Raffles will get his way no matter what. Bunny gets pissy with him, and I think it's adorable. After Raffles returns, though, he just kind of surrenders both to the crime and to Raffles's persuasion (it need not be said that the two intersect XD). He certainly doesn't have any qualms about stealing things anymore, and he's just so happy to have Raffles back that Raffles's masterfulness doesn't bother him as much anymore.
Raffles is harder for me to get a handle on. Apart from all the superficial similarities to Holmes, Raffles isn't really like him at all, not when you get down to it. Raffles doesn't get depressed, which is hugely important. He's freer with his emotions, much quicker to apologize when he's hurt Bunny's feelings, and I get the impression that he doesn't really think about what he does. Where Holmes is hyper-aware, even if he doesn't know how to deal with what he perceives, I think Raffles just gets blindsided by things (like how he feels about Bunny). Whenever he does something terribly earnest, it seems like it's taken him by surprise, but he doesn't hide it or wonder at it. He just does it. He's very cautious in everything except, I think, how he acts to Bunny, especially when they're alone.
So, they're cute. Lord, they're cute. They don't have the capability to rip my heart to bits the way Holmes and Watson do, which is in some ways a relief.
What am I going to do for icons for these two?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-10-13 12:13 am (UTC)I shall have to read that series sometime ;)
Cheers,
Cat
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Date: 2009-10-13 02:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-13 01:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-13 02:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-13 02:19 pm (UTC)I use Bunny and Raffles. Dunno why apart from, as you said, it sounds right.
Bunny's livid jealousy at Raffles's association with the Australian girl was wonderful and hilarious
Eeeee, yes! And the whole thing being prefaced by Raffles objecting to "my "apostasy," my "lapse into virtue,"", and saying "You--you've grown such a pious rabbit in your old age!" and then Bunny saying "to annoy me, or perhaps to punish me for my long defection, he must turn his back on me and devote himself to this chit." Poor Bunny, it's okay to be gay! You don't have to go trying to convince yourself you're straight and kicking Raffles out of bed, forcing him to go chase ladytypes, making him try to seduce you back by leaning over you in his bunk and planning NAKED HEISTS, for heaven's sake! Oh Bunny. Poor sweet Bunny. You don't have to be ashamed of who you are. *sniffles* I bet you regret it when Raffles is off being presumed dead and you're stuck in prison, with hopefully not all manner of horrible things happening to you although with THAT face it makes me very nervous and oh, our poor, poor little rabbit!
A-hem. Yes. Possibly I did get a bit carried away there, yes. But y'know how you said Baffles doesn't break your heart like Holmes does? For me, it's just that Watson breaks my heart openly, and Bunny breaks it between the lines. In a good way, though.
One of the things I like about Bunny is that he's not afraid to get really angry at Raffles, yell at him and act sanctimonious
Yes! It proves he really loves Raffles, rather than just hero-worshiping him, that he's willing to stand up and object when Raffles is putting himself in unnecessary danger. Plucky Bunbun!
(I think a good 42.5% of my love for this fandom may be the sheer adorability of having a narrator named "Bunny" and the many possibilities for calling him by still more adorable nicknames.)
Apart from all the superficial similarities to Holmes, Raffles isn't really like him at all, not when you get down to it. Raffles doesn't get depressed, which is hugely important.
And again: yes, yes, a million times YES. Also, no music, no chemistry, no monographs; Holmes is an ardent polymath in a way Raffles just isn't, and it's because Holmes HAS to keep his brain busy in a way that Raffles just doesn't. Raffles is much healthier, really, but it makes him less deep, less believable, less human, and less admirable. Which also makes Bunny less deep than Watson. Bunny is brave and loyal and sweet, but he doesn't have that absolute, unfathomable nobility that's the cornerstone of Watson's personality. I do love Bunny and Raffles, don't get me wrong. But Holmes and Watson will always hold a majority share of my fangirlish heart.
We DO need icons!
(also, because you are the only person who will squee with me about this: I love that Bunny's last name is Manders, because thence commeth the verb "bunnymandering." I haven't decided what it means yet, but it NEEDS to happen.)
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Date: 2009-10-15 12:35 am (UTC)Your squeesplosions are one of the many reasons I adore you so :)
You don't have to go trying to convince yourself you're straight and kicking Raffles out of bed, forcing him to go chase ladytypes, making him try to seduce you back by leaning over you in his bunk and planning NAKED HEISTS, for heaven's sake
I know, right? Sometimes these stories just absolutely boggle me with how blatant they are. The naked heist! "Climb into my bunk"! The fact that Bunny keeps obliquely referring to things that could only be taken in a "my-somewhat-illicit-relationship-with-Raffles" way!
oh, our poor, poor little rabbit!
No kidding! I've counted three times in how far I've gotten that he's thought Raffles was dead. Good heavens, the poor thing. He hasn't got half Watson's fortitude and just once was damaging enough for him.
Possibly I did get a bit carried away there, yes.
*hugs the stuffin's out of you! Only doesn't really because that wouldn't be nice*
Bunny breaks it between the lines.
YES. That's a really good point. Buh, poor little rabbit.
(I think a good 42.5% of my love for this fandom may be the sheer adorability of having a narrator named "Bunny" and the many possibilities for calling him by still more adorable nicknames.)
<3! And it's not like Raffles doesn't encourage you! With his "poor old Bunny," and "Bunny - my Bunny!" and "my poor/dear/etc. rabbit" all the time!
Raffles is much healthier, really, but it makes him less deep, less believable, less human, and less admirable.
YES. Head of nail, meet hammer. When he does the kind of bad things to Bunny that Holmes does to Watson it reflects less on any damage to his psyche. Which is to say, you know Holmes is doing it because of his own emotional problems, and you don't see that as clearly with Raffles.
Bunny is brave and loyal and sweet, but he doesn't have that absolute, unfathomable nobility that's the cornerstone of Watson's personality.
So very, very true. Ah, you get Watson so well that it makes my little heart happy!
I love that Bunny's last name is Manders, because thence commeth the verb "bunnymandering." I haven't decided what it means yet, but it NEEDS to happen.
EEEEEEEEEE XD My first thought is that "bunnymandering" would be to follow after someone with mingled adoration and anxiety for the outcome of whatever escapade they were undertaking. It need not be said that you should win some sort of prize for coming upon this idea.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-15 03:47 am (UTC)Sometimes these stories just absolutely boggle me with how blatant they are.
I know! Surely, surely some of it must have been intentional? It's just TOO in-your-face. And I love it so XD
Which is to say, you know Holmes is doing it because of his own emotional problems, and you don't see that as clearly with Raffles.
Yesyesyes. It honestly does hurt Holmes, the fact that he hurts Watson, whereas Raffles can, at times, be offhandedly mean. Not quite cruel, but mean. And yet he really does love his Bunny, I do believe. He's just not...well, he's not as good a man as Holmes is. Which is why, once again, I'll always love Holmes more. But you gotta love Raffles to some degree, because Bunny loves him so much.
From henceforth, the above is the definition of "to bunnymander." We must both endeavour to use it both wisely and well XD
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Date: 2009-10-15 11:32 pm (UTC)I believe so too. I really feel like Hornung was writing these in response to Holmes in some ways, because Raffles is constantly apologizing, sincerely, for being a jerk. It's like for every time I read Holmes do something callous to Watson and I go "Gah! He never says he's sorry!", there's a scene where Raffles says he's been such a brute, etc. etc. One of the reasons I like Holmes more is because he has that reticence, that inability to express affection, that obviously doesn't trouble Raffles even as mean as he can be.
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Date: 2009-10-15 11:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-16 01:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-16 01:44 am (UTC)I think a good 42.5% of my love for this fandom may be the sheer adorability of having a narrator named "Bunny" and the many possibilities for calling him by still more adorable nicknames
Hahaha, it is true, and yet it is not as true for me as I already know two other fictional characters named Bunny, and neither are particularly cute in the way I imagine Raffles's Bunny is going to seem when I finally get around to reading about him. But y'all should read, when you have the time, about the other Bunnys also. One is in a book called The Secret History, by Donna Tartt, whose Bunny is involved in a conspiracy, and I would tell you more but it would ruin the book. The other Bunny is in The Charioteer, by Mary Renault, and this Bunny is EVIL EVIL EVIL. He is like the killer rabbit in Monty Python & the Holy Grail. It is like he is angry at the world for giving him such a humiliating nickname, and he is taking it out on those around him.
Incentive for reading the two above-mentioned works: both include canonical guy-kissage.
Also lulz at the "bunnymandering". I cannot help but think that it should have something to do with gerrymandering. Perhaps the former means 'redistricting the world so that Raffles gets more votes than anyone (indeed everyone) else'.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-16 02:19 am (UTC)Those sound fascinating! Your Evil Bunny reminds me of, um, whatshisface, CB the Red Caboose from Twilight Express, who is EVIL and ADORABLE.
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Date: 2009-10-13 02:23 pm (UTC)I've decided that Raffles and Bunny are to Holmes and Watson as BBC's Merlin is to Doctor Who. That is, I can enjoy the former of each - no matter what takes place - without worrying too much about my heart getting broken, and for this I sacrifice a measure of quality.
This is sometimes a very good thing.
Today I finished "The Amateur Cracksman,"
Okay, this started me off giggling. Just what is a "cracksman"?
which ends with Raffles apparently drowned and Bunny getting hauled off to prison.
Oh my lord. Really? Raffles really apparently drowned? This is too delightful.
This series sounds like such a fun, fun read.
What am I going to do for icons for these two?
You draw them, silly girl. *loves snuggles*
no subject
Date: 2009-10-15 12:39 am (UTC)Okay, this started me off giggling. Just what is a "cracksman"?
Bwaha, as well it should XD A cracksman is a thief; presumably it comes from "cracking safes". I'm not sure if this is just me, but to me it has a connotation of thieving from high-quality establishments.
Oh my lord. Really? Raffles really apparently drowned? This is too delightful.
Oh yes. He jumped ship after he and Bunny were caught and their real identities revealed. They'd been caught before, but only disguised and under aliases. Bunny went to jail; Raffles went to Italy. And that's only one of the three (so far) times that Bunny's thought he was dead, poor little woobie!
You draw them, silly girl. *loves snuggles*
n____________n *is made so happy by that*
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Date: 2009-10-15 03:24 pm (UTC)Oh, okay. That makes sense.
Bunny went to jail; Raffles went to Italy.
I know which one I'd prefer. ;)
And that's only one of the three (so far) times that Bunny's thought he was dead, poor little woobie!
All this slashiness and the emotional torture of the characters. What more could you want? *giggles*
And you should totally draw them and make icons.
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Date: 2009-10-15 11:42 pm (UTC)SERIOUSLY. There's no catharsis, though, and it makes me twitch. It's all "OMG, my Raffles is dead! I shall be manly and English and bear it strongly!" and then Raffles turns out to be fine and there's no crying on shoulders, only "My word, however did you manage it?" *sigh*
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Date: 2009-10-18 11:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-19 10:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-14 03:02 am (UTC)It does seem to me that Raffles is so used to getting his way with people, he tends to run roughshod over Bunny without meaning to. Makes him kind of adorable. ^w^
It's a freaking cheesy Yaoi waiting to happen! Where's my pencil, dammit?
PS, you can make any Baffles arts I do into an icon, if ya want. I don't have one at the mo., but will get more.
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Date: 2009-10-15 12:24 am (UTC)And you're so right, Raffles does just kind of act like things will go his way and then be surprised when Bunny objects, poor thing.
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Date: 2009-10-15 12:40 am (UTC)*ahem* Yeah, I'll be drawing more stuff soonish.
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Date: 2009-10-14 07:18 am (UTC)Raffles and Bunny, I loveses them!
It's important that #1 never fails to trump #2, no matter how much Bunny protests.
Yes! And it never fails to make me laugh and squee at the same time. Oh, Bunny, you're so easy! *hugs him*
They don't have the capability to rip my heart to bits the way Holmes and Watson do
I agree, but yes, it is a bit of a relief. I think there are only so many angsty 'ships I can handle :)
I really need to read these some more so that I can start analysing them (because I do that for fun too! Yay for dorkiness!)
Also, these two over-excite the plot bunnies and now they're bouncing around like crazy!
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Date: 2009-10-15 12:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-15 08:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-15 11:38 pm (UTC)