Tag: leverage

leverage-commentary:

“The episode is very Beth-centric, by the way. Oh, and those weren’t her parents who lived in that house she blew up. Now whether those nasty abusive people were still in there or not … choose the answer that you like. We’re never, ever going to tell you everything about these characters. For example, you have no idea exactly who Sophie was married to at age 17, do you? Or why when Eliot said “I don’t like guns” in the pilot, he added “… you know that.” to Nate. Why would Nate know that?”

— John Rogers on Kfmonkey, LEVERAGE: Stork Raving Mad/Open Thread

Star Wars, take note: you do NOT have to explain absolutely everything about a character and their backstory.

traveling-magpie:

Okay but consider:

Leverage urban fantasy
AU.

Nate is a reluctant vampire who got turned in the same
incident that killed his son. He only goes after bad guys, and he’s never
killed anyone (that he knows of) but substance abuse is substance abuse, and
the fact that he can’t look in a mirror and see how bad he looks gives Sophie
many a fretful morning of “You were out again all night, I can see it. You didn’t
even wash up” accompanied by grouchy grunts from a freshly-self-loathing Nate.

Eliot is a were-creature of some kind. No one knows what,
because no one who’s seen him fully transformed has lived to tell the tale.
Those who have seen glimpses just know there are a lot of teeth involved. A lot of teeth.

Parker isn’t quite girl and she isn’t quite ghost. She’s
stuck halfway between – the result of not getting out of a certain exploding
house quickly enough as a child – which makes snacking a task sometimes (and
kissing even more so) but the perks are worth it. Being able to literally walk
through walls has made her the world’s greatest thief.

Hardison is human. Completely and totally. But in a world
where vanilla humans are often prey, he’s learned to defend himself with a
grasp of both technology and actual magic that rightfully earn him the title “wizard.”
He frequently uses fictional mages as aliases and Eliot will never let him live
down the time a flustered “Agent Gandalf” got laughed out of an FBI field
office.

Sophie is fey – as fey as they come. No one knows how old
she is (and no one dares ask) and while her acting skills leave much to be
desired (the fey can’t actually lie, after all), when she casts a glamour it
takes a strong mind to see anything other than exactly what she wants them to
see.

Just imagine: magical
Leverage.

polytropic-liar:

I was thinking today about Leverage–as one does–and about the various grifting styles we see the team employ, and how most of them have a very particular grift strategy that they rarely stray from when they have to be the main one in the spotlight. And what I think is really interesting is how their strategies are often exact opposites.

Eliot’s syle of grifting is to flatten himself, to make himself seem simple. He plays nerds, ‘manipulate-able’ fighters, awkward librarians and accountants and basically people it’s easy to dismiss or to pigeonhole as one thing (whereas in reality he’s anything but that). In direct contrast, Sophie’s entire grift style plays up her mysteriousness. She draws people in because they want to know more about her, because she’s intriguing and fascinating and there’s the suggestion that if only the mark were worthy of her time and attention, she knows things they could only dream of.

Nate’s style is to be incredibly obnoxious. Which, let’s all congratulate him on playing to his strengths, first of all. But second of all, it’s a really interesting grift style, because basically it manipulates people by annoying them. While Sophie draws people in and directs their attention and clouds their judgement by making them want her around, Nate directs people’s attention and clouds their judgement by making them want him to leave. They’re both very effective at getting a person to do exactly what they want!

And while Eliot’s grift style almost always involves him pretending to be bad at something (physically harmless alien nerd, unsophisticated boxer who can’t people good, etc), Hardison’s grifts almost always involve him being an expert at something (Iceman, FBI agent, even conspiracy theorist) and using his expertise to gain access, authority, etc.

And then I was thinking about Parker and trying to pin down her style, and I realized that another reason why she was an excellent choice of leader is that she can kind of do them all. Every grift she does has that tinge of ‘weird’ to it, because that’s who she is, but she’s able to switch between strategies in a way that the others never really employ. She can be unassuming and underestimated (Alice, baby reporter), off-putting and upsetting (that pop star with the duck), an expert who comes in and takes over (FBI agent), or intriguing and enticing (that scene with the diamond necklace, you know the one, we all know the one, you whispered “oh no she’s hot” at the screen don’t lie). I wouldn’t say she’s the best grifter, that’s definitely Sophie, but she might be the most versatile one.

Basically Parker is the best, Leverage is the best, we all knew that, thank you for your time.

leverage + and a pirates au??? they would make such cool pirates

innytoes:

Oh man, can you imagine. Nate used to work for The Crown, but after the death of his son he can’t deal with all the back room deals and rich people getting away with stuff and he’s like: FUCK IT, life of crime it is. We’re gonna steal your loot and make sure you pay for being dicks to ordinary people.

There are many legends of Pirate Queens around the globe. What noone realises is that three of them are all Sophie. (One legend of a dread pirate king is also Sophie.)

Eliot has done some bad things for bad people. When he finally managed to flee from the service of the Dread Pirate Moreau, he tries to keep a low profile. He can’t exactly go straight, his face is on too many Wanted Posters (he may have a Very Distinctive scar), and even long haul fishermen have to go to port eventually. Eliot is the reason nobody on the ship has died of scurvy. He can even make Parker eat her vegetables.

Hardison is always fiddling with new navigation equipment. Hell, he’s built more accurate compasses just because he can. There’s a reason they manage to outrun any ship the Crown sends after them. A lot of the jobs they pull is helping escaped slaves. The young ones get dropped off at his Nana’s, who never questions where Alec got all that gold. She just scolds him that he needs a clean shirt and a hot meal. 

Parker has been on ships since she was very, very young. Archie caught her trying to pickpocket him and promptly decided to make her his ‘cabin boy’. Once she was too old to be passed off as a boy, she was already such a fierce pirate that nobody questioned her. She does all the rigging. Nate really wishes she’d stop jumping off the crows’ nest. The more superstitious pirates whisper that she can control the weather. She never has any sea-legs problems.

The dinghy is named Lucille. They’re on their fourth one already.

Sterling, of course, works for the Crown and is still a smarmy bastard.

Put a fandom or pairing and an AU in my inbox and I’ll write you a thing.

“What would Parker do?”

kilterstreet:

In the First David Job I love that moment on the rooftop when Sophie drops the coat, revealing the harness, and spreads her arms, and positions her hands palms out in acceptance. 

Gina Bellman’s movement is so graceful; her smile is beatific. The gesture is a welcoming embrace and a woman imagining herself with wings. For Sophie, this kind of letting go is new, and she throws herself into it completely.