Fic: Rare and Precious Thing (1/1)

[bernie_laraemie]

Title: Rare and Precious Thing
Author: Me
Fandom: G.I. Joe (movie-verse)
Pairing: Rex "The Doctor" Lewis/James McCullen
(a.k.a. Cobra Commander/Destro)
Rating: TA -- Totally Awesome (for explicit sexytimes)
Note: First completed and edited fic in four years? Oh man. Many thanks to beta, blackletter, who is completely responsible for this travesty so

Comments

LJ cramps my style (=part 1)

[ladynyks]

Replying to this comment instead of where it was discussed, because the squeezedtightlytogether comments will just get worse in some layouts, as further above. "An entire movie of testosterone and *no one's* getting slashed?" While not having been on message boards for ages, I think it's also in part the old fandom. This was, despite everything and my gender, a guy comic more so. The number of people in the military on some message boards back some 7 years ago was not surprising given that it was G.I.Joe, but if you look at the macho image some of that might have to uphold, plus "Don't ask, don't tell" stuff, you may get an inkling of how slash wasn't the most popular or focused on thing in what little fic floated around. I never read much fic in any fandom, but the fandom didn't seem too focused on the pairings or the social stuff too much in general even in discussions. Too no-nonsense for that?

Add to that the fact that it's a fandom that kind of started in 1982 from what I recall, if going by the cartoon and comics that really brought it forth. Nearly 30 years is a long time to do stuff, and if the old fans don't always react with the greatest enthusiasm, well, dunno. The comic hasn't run in this country since 1995 either, and the movie was held back 3 weeks to premiere at the end of August, so lost all summer blockbuster benefits, too. Barely anybody went to see it compared to some regular stuff and in this town it only ran for two weeks. If you're running against District 9 and Inglourious Basterds, too, boo hiss to their sabotaging the movie here.

Still, the midnight showing someone from the States on my f-list went to was apparently +90% guys. Guys don't seem to gush or ship or write fic for the most part. We lose out again, the word not reaching fangirl types that there are things to ogle here. *flashes LGBT friendly credentials lest seem sexist or whatever* Anyway.

Jumping back to the boards, Cobra Commander was not among the most popular characters either, although he always had a reasonable following due to his status as the leader of Cobra, of course. Or being the way he was, my not wanting to go into his special on those fronts just now. Destro I recall seeing even less about, although at that stage it was possibly also for the Devil's Due storylines having brought Alexander in, and his being so domesticated with the Baroness that there was even less new to say?

Last, have a look in Joseph Gordon-Levitt's fancomm on LJ. There's only one post about the Rise of Cobra, and all it talks about is ew over how he looks in it, and how it's thus to be ignored in favour of (500) Days of Summer and more. Which I figure will be awesome once this godforsaken country finally gets that, too, but really, I'm not keen on Zooey Deschanel and do not find her cute automatically, so, yeah. Then again, I don't know what they thought of Mysterious Skin either and JGL gayboying there. This is for connoisseurs. Or the lopsidedly grinning "weirdoes" who appreciate the unusual, whichever you like. Christopher Eccleston comms I didn't check since had pictures a-plenty of him from elsewhere and in the promos, so I don't know what they thought of the movie, but again, it's a "toy franchise" supposedly, not hoity-toity enough for fancier fans.

Re: LJ cramps my style (=part 1)

[bernie_laraemie]

Yeah, there are certainly a lot of reasons that this fandom is small and relatively slash free. But that's all right, the more authors there are the more likely you run into Mary Sues and arguments other fandoms are rife with.

As a young boy I grew up with GI Joe, and I loved it. I was always the villain when my friends and I played army and war games, probably because I insisted on it. Unfortunately, most little boys don't grow up to be me. (Well, boys that aren't blackletter, anyway.)