Fanfic Recs To The Max

[bendingwind]

So as probably everyone who has ever spoken to me knows, I like to rec fics a lot and I have a massive, massive archive of over-tagged fanfic bookmarks, and I generally keep up-to-date-ish on stuff that's been posted on AO3

Comments

[bendingwind]

Yes! Precisely those feels! I also want there to be a lot more hints that Batman is legit insane and like idk crap you've got me started on building my massive headcanon for DC again whyyyy well now you have to hear about it.

It got worse after I watched this thing where Lex Luthor kills Superman on netflix but like, ~repents in the end and someone else obtains Clark's DNA and is like going to create a human-Kryptonian hybrid child for Lois to have because theirs is a ~true love only I want to mash

okay so basically you're right. DC has a fuckton of writers doing a fuckton of very different things with characters and like. I mean, that's a thing in Marvel to, but not quite to this extent. I want to consolidate all of it and I have in my head but my headcanon DC characters actually grip me more than the Marvel ones do even where the canon DC characters don't interest me that much and like

Wow this is super incoherent.

But basically I want to write this whole universe where, as I have indeed discussed with you before, Clark is a relatively light character with a darker side and some more intensely noticeable flaws; for example, I want to play around a lot more with his double life and Clark Kent's relationship with Lois Lane while Superman has a thing with Lex Luthor in my headcanon 'verse, and Clark epically rejects Superboy but there are some REALLY HEAVY issues in play there that some people do know about and some people don't (and possibly play with body-horror mpreg in the process idk?)

And like

Diana for all the awards and ALL THE FEMSLASH UP IN AMAZONIA AW YASS.

Also Bruce like I said being legit pretty unhinged and multiple-personality-y and his little hoard of robins but like, in my verse he plays favorites and pits them against each other pretty viciously on purpose because I am a dick and I love angst too much and part of the reason he accepted Stephanie in the first place was to throw Tim off his game, only it sort of backfires and Stephanie is kind of the best Robin until Damien comes along? And then Stephanie and Damien really really loathe each other and fight all the time and when he grows up naturally this progresses into hatesex and then she accidentally gets pregnant again and they wind up married because actually they kind of love each other too idk everyone figures its batinsanity at work but hey they seem happyish.

And Oliver Queen is like. Not even remotely like Oliver Queen, I would 100% rewrite his character except that there's like a 100% chance he would end up being rich Clint Barton so maybe I shouldn't do that. But Black Canary is still tapin' dat.

Um what else OH we get to go back to the 80s (90s?) when Starfire didn't suck and was a badass alien lady who believed in loving where she chose and okay so like a lot of my DC feels are Teen Titans feels from the show from the 90s (? early 2000s?) so basically Raven would rule the universe most of the time and idk a lot of stuff would go down brb starting a spreadsheet.

*deep breath*

:|

I told you not to get me started.

[ladymercury_10]

Hahaha, see, I think the thing with Batman is that they are trying to write him on the brink of insanity a lot of the time and I am just like Batman what are you doing are you actually crazy? I think you ACTUALLY lost your mind for at least five minutes there. You were legit RUNNING AROUND GOTHAM SCREAMING AT THE VILLAINS THIS IS MY CITY THIS IS MY CITY.

I have not read much of the rest of the DCU, so I don't know very much about the rest of your headcanons vs. canon DC. But from what little I know about Starfire, this seems like a good choice for the Titans. And I finally read some Wonder Woman not that long ago, and YES, Diana is great. :D

[bendingwind]

I'm writing all this out in a notebook now this is all your fault XP

Yeah, Batman is generally written as insane/verging on insane, but I guess I'd like some in-canon acknowledgement of it? Like, rather than the audience going BATMAT WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU BATMAN WHAT ARE YOU SMOKING I'd like some characters in canon to be like, uh you know he's crazy right?

Also I feel like 'I saw my parents get shot SO I DECIDED TO BECOME A BAT' is kind of a shit origin story. I mean they at least could have been one of the few uncorrupted families of Gotham and they were tortured and murdered brutally in front of Bruce for their failure to be influence, right? And Bruce just sort of fractured and genuinely suffers from multiple personalities (I have forgotten which term is currently politically correct) and when he reaches majority he leaves rather than face the same fate, only he goes and gets stronger and comes back, vowing to make the city safe for people like his parents or something?

(That is as far as I have gotten in this notebook anyway)

[ladymercury_10]

ike, rather than the audience going BATMAT WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU BATMAN WHAT ARE YOU SMOKING
This is...actually how I feel about Bruce a good deal of the time. Which is not, I think, either how DC wants me to feel about Bruce (except when he is ACTUALLY tripping fear gas or whatever) or how I want to feel about him. I read some fanfic where he was characterized as, like, a "stern dad," and I think that would be nicer, and possibly what they are going for, but "stern dad to all superheroes" + "tortured past" + "often near the brink of insanity" + "massively stressed out by his many neurotic children" sort of adds up to, yes, Batman what are you smoking. (Although Dick Grayson doesn't have all of Bruce's problems, and even he got a little twitchy and kind of shouty when he was Batman. But not nearly as bad.)

And yeah, it is kind of a strange origin story. Especially the part where he grows up with Alfred as his guardian and Alfred is supposedly pretty good at psychology, right? But he never catches on that Bruce has THE ACTUAL WORST coping mechanisms ever? :P

[bendingwind]

Exactly! And definitely, yeah, more Bruce than Dick on the "are you actually crazy" thing. Which is where the multiple-personality comes in, because seriously Bruce, how are the Stern Dad With The Tortured Past And Often Near The Brink Of Insanity And Massively Stressed By Neurotic Children I mean c'mon.

I guess it's weird for me to say since DC is already by far the darker of the two major comics verses, but I kind of want it to be darker? Like I want more attention paid to/criticism of Bruce's tendency to drag young children into lives fighting crime, especially because they explicitly address that he GETS THOSE KIDS KILLED.

I mean DC is a pretty dark place, I guess, but it doesn't seem like it's often acknowledge as such in canon outside of the ~ooh la la Gotham is so shaaady~

I am having too many intense DC feels tonight halp.

[ladymercury_10]

Yeah, there were times when Dick was, like, yelling at people a lot, and there were times when he got gassed and THEN he hallucinated, but it was generally on the "being Batman is getting to him" side rather than the "Batman, what the heck are you TALKING ABOUT?" side.

I think part of Bruce's problem might be that he has TOO MANY books right now. Like, there is Batman, and Batman and Robin, and Detective Comics, and Legends of the Dark Knight, and WHO KNOWS how many once you count the Batfamily books. It is not really possible to achieve consistent characterization over that many comics with that many writers, and that alone would give a character split personalities.

I think I have the opposite reaction, and I end up wanting to either read really silly things, like Li'l Gotham, to get a break from all the angst, or to read fanfiction that is, like, more realistic but less grim since a lot of the stuff I have read lately is Grant Morrison which is dark but goofy.

ALL THE COMICS FEELS. I have a lot of them also.

[bendingwind]

I mean I guess I have Marvel to go too when I don't want super dark stuff? Also I usually do want dark stuff re: superheroes, sooooooo...

Okay I'm going to sleep before I give myself brain damage over obsessing about this.

(That is a lie. I am going to make more spreadsheets.)

[ladymercury_10]

Have you read any of the Earth One stuff? I've heard that is darker/more realistic.

Haha, what kind of spreadsheets? Also, when you say spreadsheets, I think of this. :P

[bendingwind]

Oh my gaaaaawd, Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiim ahahahaha.

But uh, basically exactly like that? Plus longer and more detailed histories in paragraph form with accompanying timelines because of, uh, reasons.

(I may end up writing an LJ-locked series of this stuff because I'm well aware that I WILL GLEEFULLY REMAKE THIS 'VERSE IN MY OWN IMAGE is less than fandom-kosher and I don't want to offend anyone, but I do want to write stories in this verse Because Of Reasons.)

[ladymercury_10]

Why is it not fandom-kosher?

[bendingwind]

Mostly because I intend to deliberately alter the characterization of a couple of characters in significant ways? Obviously changing history isn't problematic in fandom, though the extent to which I would be doing it would be somewhat unpopular, but... eh. Deliberately re-characterizing, however, would get me some flames.

[ladymercury_10]

Oh, I see what you mean. I've seen some pretty crazy AUs, but I've never tried to write any, so I don't know what the etiquette on those things is.

[bendingwind]

I mean, essentially, you just want to keep everyone in-character. For that reason I rarely write major AUs, because I can't help but be like, oh here's where this event would change/shape who Character X became, and in the end I come out with an at least pretty seriously altered characterization. Soooo yeah.

[ladymercury_10]

Ah, yeah, that makes sense. That would be tricky.

[bendingwind]

tl;dr: It is ALWAYS a bad idea to get me started worldbuilding D: