Entry tags:
Meme time!
Fandom Tennis Match Meme:
Okay, here's how this is going to work. You comment with a fandom question. I answer it and then ask you a question that has some thematic relevance to the question you asked me.
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redbrunja asked me: "You can make three pairings disappear from fandom with a snap of your fingers. What are they?"
I've actually never found myself in a position of wishing for a pairing to go away, given that I've always found it easy to just plain avoid/scroll past pairings that I don't personally ship in all of my fandoms. So my honest answer is: None. I'm serious. This isn't just me being nicey-nice, because I literally do not understand why anybody would begrudge anybody else shipping what they ship. I can understand wanting to defend why Pairing AxB is an awesome pairing when it comes to ship wars, but I've never really understood the opposite mindset, actually caring about the fact that somebody else ships Pairing YxZ when I personally don't. Even when there are squicks involved. There are a lot of pairings in my fandoms that I just can't ship because of squick-related reasons (incest and teacher/pupil relationships being the biggest squicks that I have), but then again, I know that I ship a lot of things that squick other people (especially since I definitely have a kink for unhealthy and abusive relationships), so it's not like I have any right or reason to judge what other people ship, period. I just avoid the ships that I don't like and that's that.
So because that's a total cop-out answer, here are three pairings that I just plain don't like and avoid like the plague. I don't wish for these pairings to cease to exist or anything, but I don't ship them, I don't like them, and I avoid them as much as possible.
1. Smash: Michael/Julia. This has got to be one of the most simultaneously horrifically boring and uncomfortably creepy canon pairings I've ever suffered through. And I do mean suffered through - I almost stopped watching Smash altogether because this goddamn pairing was taking up so much screen time. (Thank God the writers finally killed it.) Michael was creepy, domineering, and invasive; Julia's angst was insufferably boring and repetitive; for a pairing based around the concept that these two people felt such an overwhelming physical attraction to each other they literally could not control themselves around each other there was practically zero onscreen chemistry between the two characters, even during the supposed "hot" sex scenes. Smash has a lot of issues with the way that it writes women and the way that it portrays relationships, and the Michael/Julia ship encapsulates the worst of it. Personally, I find it very hard to believe that a grown woman would be so overwhelmed with lust at the sight of a douchebro like Michael that she would constantly be rendered flustered to the point of speechlessness. Furthermore, I find it very insulting that the writers apparently think that Michael's creepy HEY JULIA YOU SMELL GOOD and IT'S ROMANTIC WHEN I INVADE YOUR PERSONAL SPACE and EVEN IF YOU TELL ME THAT YOU'RE NOT INTERESTED IN ME I'M NOT TAKING 'NO' FOR AN ANSWER BECAUSE DEEP DOWN I KNOW YOU WANT ME behavior to be the sort of shit that women actually swoon for. Literally swoon for. What's worse is that given all of the above I should probably have felt more angry and creeped-out about this ship than I actually did, because mostly I just felt bored by it. Painfully bored. Again, it was that fatal lack of chemistry between the two characters. Any chemistry at all. Boring, boring, awful ship. And yet there's somehow a fandom for it. I can get why there's a fandom for it - the taboo "forbidden love" factor plus the supposedly sizzling chemistry that I guess I never saw - but I got enough of this awful ship in the source material, so I just avoid it in the fandom as much as possible. This isn't always easy, though, because Smash is kind of a miniscule fandom right now.
2. X-Men: Logan/Mariko. Definitely my least-favorite X-Men ship of all time. Zero chemistry, existed only to provide Logan with more boring repetitive angst, and culminating in one of most obvious (and predictable) fridgings in X-Men canon. Even as a kid, before I even knew what a "fridging" was, I could see Mariko's death being broadcast from miles away: because she was a Beautiful Asian Woman With a Tragic Past, and therefore I knew that her story was going to end with some sort of Gruesome Self-Sacrifice For Honor (and it did), and also because she was Logan's love interest, and it was obvious even back in the 80's that comic writers were determined that Logan should never have a happy ending in any of his relationships EVER. So from the minute Mariko was first introduced I knew that it was only a matter of time before she died just so that Logan could have EVEN MORE TRAGEDY to angst over. I was right. What surprises me, however, is that to this day there's still a fandom for this pairing. Of all the bajillion Marvel characters that you could pair Logan with, people still choose Mariko?
3. 30 Rock: Jack/Liz. I just cannot get behind the idea of Jack and Liz in a romantic relationship. I just can't. I hate to be one of Those Fans, but shipping these two romantically feels (to me at least) incredibly untrue to the characters and their canon relationship. Normally I'm not opposed to the idea of characters who are close friends or partners in canon being shipped in the fandom, but the thing is, Jack and Liz aren't just "friends" in canon - they have a very different type of relationship, a mentor/mentee relationship. Also, even though they make great foils for each other in the workplace and even in each others' personal lives, they would still be completely horrible as romantic partners for each other. Sometimes your best friend is NOT the person that you want to wake up next to in bed every morning. Some people NEED for their best friend to be completely the opposite of what they would want in a romantic partner. Jack and Liz both exemplify those types of characters, and that is exactly why I just can't see them being shipped together.
Okay, so, those are my picks for the top three ships that I just avoid in the fandom as much as possible. It's not really the question that I was asked, but it's the question that I ended up answering. ^^;;
Ask me questions!
Okay, here's how this is going to work. You comment with a fandom question. I answer it and then ask you a question that has some thematic relevance to the question you asked me.
redbrunja asked me: "You can make three pairings disappear from fandom with a snap of your fingers. What are they?"I've actually never found myself in a position of wishing for a pairing to go away, given that I've always found it easy to just plain avoid/scroll past pairings that I don't personally ship in all of my fandoms. So my honest answer is: None. I'm serious. This isn't just me being nicey-nice, because I literally do not understand why anybody would begrudge anybody else shipping what they ship. I can understand wanting to defend why Pairing AxB is an awesome pairing when it comes to ship wars, but I've never really understood the opposite mindset, actually caring about the fact that somebody else ships Pairing YxZ when I personally don't. Even when there are squicks involved. There are a lot of pairings in my fandoms that I just can't ship because of squick-related reasons (incest and teacher/pupil relationships being the biggest squicks that I have), but then again, I know that I ship a lot of things that squick other people (especially since I definitely have a kink for unhealthy and abusive relationships), so it's not like I have any right or reason to judge what other people ship, period. I just avoid the ships that I don't like and that's that.
So because that's a total cop-out answer, here are three pairings that I just plain don't like and avoid like the plague. I don't wish for these pairings to cease to exist or anything, but I don't ship them, I don't like them, and I avoid them as much as possible.
1. Smash: Michael/Julia. This has got to be one of the most simultaneously horrifically boring and uncomfortably creepy canon pairings I've ever suffered through. And I do mean suffered through - I almost stopped watching Smash altogether because this goddamn pairing was taking up so much screen time. (Thank God the writers finally killed it.) Michael was creepy, domineering, and invasive; Julia's angst was insufferably boring and repetitive; for a pairing based around the concept that these two people felt such an overwhelming physical attraction to each other they literally could not control themselves around each other there was practically zero onscreen chemistry between the two characters, even during the supposed "hot" sex scenes. Smash has a lot of issues with the way that it writes women and the way that it portrays relationships, and the Michael/Julia ship encapsulates the worst of it. Personally, I find it very hard to believe that a grown woman would be so overwhelmed with lust at the sight of a douchebro like Michael that she would constantly be rendered flustered to the point of speechlessness. Furthermore, I find it very insulting that the writers apparently think that Michael's creepy HEY JULIA YOU SMELL GOOD and IT'S ROMANTIC WHEN I INVADE YOUR PERSONAL SPACE and EVEN IF YOU TELL ME THAT YOU'RE NOT INTERESTED IN ME I'M NOT TAKING 'NO' FOR AN ANSWER BECAUSE DEEP DOWN I KNOW YOU WANT ME behavior to be the sort of shit that women actually swoon for. Literally swoon for. What's worse is that given all of the above I should probably have felt more angry and creeped-out about this ship than I actually did, because mostly I just felt bored by it. Painfully bored. Again, it was that fatal lack of chemistry between the two characters. Any chemistry at all. Boring, boring, awful ship. And yet there's somehow a fandom for it. I can get why there's a fandom for it - the taboo "forbidden love" factor plus the supposedly sizzling chemistry that I guess I never saw - but I got enough of this awful ship in the source material, so I just avoid it in the fandom as much as possible. This isn't always easy, though, because Smash is kind of a miniscule fandom right now.
2. X-Men: Logan/Mariko. Definitely my least-favorite X-Men ship of all time. Zero chemistry, existed only to provide Logan with more boring repetitive angst, and culminating in one of most obvious (and predictable) fridgings in X-Men canon. Even as a kid, before I even knew what a "fridging" was, I could see Mariko's death being broadcast from miles away: because she was a Beautiful Asian Woman With a Tragic Past, and therefore I knew that her story was going to end with some sort of Gruesome Self-Sacrifice For Honor (and it did), and also because she was Logan's love interest, and it was obvious even back in the 80's that comic writers were determined that Logan should never have a happy ending in any of his relationships EVER. So from the minute Mariko was first introduced I knew that it was only a matter of time before she died just so that Logan could have EVEN MORE TRAGEDY to angst over. I was right. What surprises me, however, is that to this day there's still a fandom for this pairing. Of all the bajillion Marvel characters that you could pair Logan with, people still choose Mariko?
3. 30 Rock: Jack/Liz. I just cannot get behind the idea of Jack and Liz in a romantic relationship. I just can't. I hate to be one of Those Fans, but shipping these two romantically feels (to me at least) incredibly untrue to the characters and their canon relationship. Normally I'm not opposed to the idea of characters who are close friends or partners in canon being shipped in the fandom, but the thing is, Jack and Liz aren't just "friends" in canon - they have a very different type of relationship, a mentor/mentee relationship. Also, even though they make great foils for each other in the workplace and even in each others' personal lives, they would still be completely horrible as romantic partners for each other. Sometimes your best friend is NOT the person that you want to wake up next to in bed every morning. Some people NEED for their best friend to be completely the opposite of what they would want in a romantic partner. Jack and Liz both exemplify those types of characters, and that is exactly why I just can't see them being shipped together.
Okay, so, those are my picks for the top three ships that I just avoid in the fandom as much as possible. It's not really the question that I was asked, but it's the question that I ended up answering. ^^;;
Ask me questions!
no subject
Question: What's the most epic fanfic crossover idea you've ever had but never had the time (or the inclination) to actually sit down and write?
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I've had countless crossover ideas in the course of my many years of fandom shenanigans; some are still brewing in docs, others have died out with time, and a few cling to my consciousness but never end up going anywhere or are ever written out on a doc because of the sheer absurdity of them. It doesn't help that the ideas have more or less exploded as of recently. SO MANY CROSSOVERS TOO LITTLE TIME
Most of the time I stick with writing oneshots centered around a direct crossover between two universes or finding some kind of neutral ground, where Character A from Universe 1 interacts with Character B from Universe 2, and usually, any sort of novella fic I'll (sometimes) write are usually orientated around crossover ships.
In terms of crack, the most epic thus far came from a chat with my partner in crime. She said that Soul was a likely candidate for being the ectobiological paradox child of Dave Strider and Karkat Vantas. Cue me coming up with all kinds of crazy shenanigans involving slime, ectobabies, fluffy Veilstuck, and shared custody within the timespan of five minutes. Bounced the idea of some kind of fic around during an English class, played with the notion, but never ended up doing it because seriously, where the fuck would I go with that?
Most crossovers I entertain with these days normally revolve around the two (soon to be three, hopefully) Team ICO titles or the Legend of Zelda series, but the most recent fic idea that I've been BURNING to write but somehow never got around to getting down was a Portal/Soul Eater crossover, with Chrona as the silent Chell, Medusa as the dripping-with-sarcasm-and-neurotoxin GLaDOS, Stein as the slowly-descending-into-madness and poisoned-to-death-by-moon-rocks Cave Johnson, and Noah as the bumbling personality core Wheatley.
Of course I would just be copy-pasting the Portal 2 plot in terms of a storyline so I scrapped the idea after two weeks of brewing up scenes and dialogue, and still kinda regret it to this day.
Sorry this got lengthy fast.
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I love Soul Eater/Homestuck crossovers - and they work surprisingly well given that both canons play fast and loose with pesky concepts like "time" and "space" and "reality" - and I can totally see how Soul has traits of both Dave and Karkat, now that you mention it.
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And...well, I'm actually working on a Soul Eater/Homestuck crossover with (assuming some shenanigans) the meisters and weapons playing Sburb, figuring out their purpose, and otherwise having reality check issues with the fact that their world is gone. But I've only posted experimental oneshots that need heavy revision, so I'm not sure if this'll ever sail as a full-blown novella or sink as another scrapped idea.
Anyways, ANOTHER QUESTION I SUPPOSE!
What fandom, in your opinion, has (or had) the best fanfiction, the kind of fanfiction that simplys blows you away with all it's glory?
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Question: is there any canon that you would ever not want to write fic for, for whatever reason?
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(Anonymous) 2012-04-03 06:06 am (UTC)(link)Hmmmm, surprisingly, depending on where it goes, I may not really want to write for Soul Eater canon anymore. I think I'm one of those few people who really hope that absolutely NO Soul Eater pairings become canon at all (yes, not even Soul/Maka despite my burning love for this pairing), and the shipping is left entirely to the fandom.
Anyways, in terms of present fandoms, the first canon I never really wanted to write for was Shadow of the Colossus. Yeah, I ended up writing fic for it anyway, but for a good five years I avoided replaying that game, or anything to do with it, like the plague because goddamn, that game ripped my heart to shreds, stomped it to tiny bits of pulp and slugged me in the face at the tender age of 13 and I'd be damned if I let it happen again. Course, when the PS3 HD remake came out along with ICO how could I resist playing it again? It still hurts though...
The one canon I will probably NEVER see myself writing for is the ending movie to the first Fullmetal Alchemist ending. Although I greatly prefer the first anime over the remake, the ending REALLY didn't sit well with me cause I was a hardcore Winry/Ed shipper back then and that was just too much for my shipper heart to take. The ending to the manga/FMA remake was beautiful and I wouldn't have it any other way.
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I always got the impression that that was the majority of the fandom, actually. But maybe with the fandom tilting younger now we're getting more of the actually-caring-about-whether-their-ship-becomes-canon shippers, I dunno.
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OK NEXT QUESTION: Is there a pairing you thought you'd never ship in a million years but ended up shipping it anyways?
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Hmmm, do you mind if I shoot back the same question to you? I'm interested in your answer!
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That ship would be Lina/Gourry from Slayers.
Truthfully, when I finally got around to watching Slayers with a friend who REALLY liked Lina/Gourry I was kinda leaning towards Lina/Zelgadis and didn't really see much of the appeal of Lina/Gourry. And then I got to the second season, watched the finale and goddammit I was in tears all night long.