Fail!
WAY TO FAIL.
That's my favorite manga you're killing! And plagarizing. Newsflash. It's illegal to do that and people will lose their respect for you.
UGH.D:<
To wash off the bad taste: MEME! Stolen from paperteacup
1. Comment here and I'll pick one of your LJ interests and draw a picture using the mighty MS Paint.
2. You have no say in what I draw for you, ( Read more... )
As for Mushi, I liked her because she was "openly" manipulative to the audience. Her first appearance had her telling 5 something like "Took you long enough to use the I-admire-my-big-sis-soooooo-much trick." And suddenly that placed Mushi in a whole new light and I liked that I couldn't trust the character. Yeah, I have a thing for the manipulative sorts. But only in fiction and never IRL. Manipulative people IRL I avoid like the plague if I can spot them. But usually I can't so I end up getting used and taken advantage of but SUCH IS LIFE and I'm probably just paying off my karmic debt or some such and /ramble ramble ramble.
Yay Fanny fan! She is a very believable 10-year-old little girl as is Lizzie and despite the hilarious and over the top situations the show puts them in, it's great that they can react in surprisingly mature ways but still maintain the idealistic immaturity of childhood. I MISS THAT SHOW SO MUCH ;A; even for the creepy Delightful Children Down the Lane. Creepy hive mentality FTW~
I just think I'd enjoy a good fic featuring Numbuh 5/sexually confused!Heiny (I should really look up her name, and see what pronouns the show used before when she was a he).
If they were older I'd be all over that like white on rice. So much. Canonical surprise les yay! FTW! I don't mind 2/5, I really don't because I find it hilariously amusing that geeky dork 2 manages to get the cool chillax 5. Though he looked pretty good when he turned into a teenager. And now I wish I could draw so I can imagine what they'd look like as teens in KND art-style *0*
Ironic more like hypocritical that in the first response I say I can't multiship but here I am gleeing over 2/5, 1/5, and 5/Henrietta. I think it's because they're kids and that there's nothing sexual about it that I can handle the idea of 5 in multiple pairings depending on what particular "D'awwwww" I'm looking for. But I think it's also because KND as a show isn't about the pairings but the adventures and hijinx the characters go through.
It's how they act around each other, how they react, how they handle situations and scenarios while still being very uniquely them. KND is the show I watch for the show and not for the ship, which was my mistake with AF. I watched Ben 10 for the show. I watched AF for the ship. And when the ship's initial "canon-glow" dimmed, I realized the show is shit. And now the only episodes I watch are those with Darkstar because he's the only interesting thing about the show that doesn't completely break my brain and send me raaaaaaging. He's a complex character who can work with the good guys but is too selfish to ever stay on that side. Also he's voiced by Wil Wheaton and that's reason enough for me :D He makes for a good sparring partner for Charmcaster who in my headspace is a less bat-shit insane Azula but that's just probably me.
And agree so much with the way 1 acts around Lizzie. It was wonderful that they weren't an insta-couple. It took a couple of episodes before Nigel actually gave the idea of dating Lizzie a chance and eventually they did become a couple. The writers were wonderful in that show. They wrote a kid's show that appealed to an older generation. It's what's missing in a lot of the newer kids' shows, I fear. Like they can excuse the glaring holes in their logic because "It's a kid's show."
Ghostbusters was a kid's show. Mummies Alive! was a kid's show. Gargoyles was a kid's show. Ben 10 was a kid's show. Reboot was a kid's show. Visionaries was a kid's show. Centurions was a kid's show. GI Joe was a kid's show. Jem and the Holograms was a kid's show. And yet the writing was amazing and the characters (the adults in particular) were intelligent and still so much fun for the kids and the kids-at-heart who watch these shows. The characters are compelling and believable and I suddenly feel very old.
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However, that whole: “Kevin never really loved Gwen" or "Gwen realized she had only been pretending to love Kevin but is really in love with Ben" is a certain mark for poor characterization and no matter how ‘good’ the writing, it’s not true. It’s a shiny box to a crappy game. The fic will be lacking no matter how amazing your word order. Because the characters are not acting IC. As sI said, they should just write original fiction. ICness is the most important aspect of fiction to me, if you have that, the rest follows (in a way, obviously people can lose track of plotlines, too many characters introduced, losing interest etc…).
Sometimes though, I indulge in bad writing because the couples/gen fics I want to read are non-existent in fandom and I need SOMETHING to reassure me in that, no, I am not crazy. Other’s see it. But then I get forced to write something or else be disappointed for ever more//drama!queen.
Mai/Zuko. Oh. Oh. Ooooh. Why you bring them in? I cannot stand them, lol. They were the worst part of the show for me, even though I know why the relationship needed to be there. It’s just that in the end? It wasn’t a necessity (like. Uhgh Aang/Katara). It was so left field, too, no real build up. Doesn’t help Mai never truly redeemed herself (betraying Azula was not it, although it made me gasp out loud in glee, but she still would of have let her baby brother be taken away) and in the end she was part of the group la, dee,da and. Ugh, made no sense. I had to make it work though so I wrote a Zutara/Mai fic because I just never saw any of the couples truly working in the end of the series (Sokka/Suki aside since obviously they’re awesome). I had to see it on my own. How does Maiko work? It didn’t. It just doesn’t. But I realize that just because I didn’t like her didn’t mean I should be disrespectful to her, her characters and the creators. If you don’t like a character don’t entirely include them, but give them a good reason to not be included. And no, that doesn’t mean kill them off. Few can pull off dead fics. >_> .
And I agree with the relationships are hard bit. Hardly do I see fic that focus on the relationship AFTER the hook up. Getting to that point is hard, but not as hard staying together. I’ve never read a GI Joe fic, nor do I remember anything past Cobra and GI Joe, but I like the idea of military men and marriage. So far I’ve only seen really poor interpretations of them (one of my best friends is married to a military guy).
But anyway, yeah, I know people who’ve broken up for stupid things (a few weeks BEFORE their wedding…details are too horrid to really explains). If you want me to believe that they’re meant to be, they better have a good explanation for breaking up. A forgotten call? No. Him never supporting her through her accomplishments/supporting her through hardships? Okay, believable but also workable/signs it’s not a good relationship. Both parties sick of each other? Also more believable. Being bratty? Whatever. Drama need not be so shallow.
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For example, (TMNT dorkiness now) I love Mikey/anyone. I hate Casey/Anyone but Raphael. I love Donnie/Raph best and hate Leo/Raph. This, I found out, was due to my own personal nosing around. The fandom loves Raph/Leo and I understand the appeal but I so can’t get behind it. Canon has nothing to do with it. Truthfully, I am hard-pressed to say the Raph/Leo fandom isn’t freaking awesome, actually it has one of my favorite animated fan vids ever and yet. To me, at this point, it’s not about canon, or fandom. It’s about my own personal preferences and these two don’t do it for me like it does others. So while I don't entirely understand the canon-only, I can understand that personal preferences are what dictate what we do and what we don't.
The vanilla-heteronormativity is not uncommon for me either. I always find it on a level appealing because it’s how I’ve been raised, but it’s not my ultimate preference. To be honest it’s taken me a long while to finally admit I like boy on boy just as much as I like girl on girl and boy on girl and boy and embarrassment. This was due to how canon handles its ships. I never liked most of them so I created my own and in the end the boy/boy and girl/girl ones had the best chemistry, and it was on a level of…’should not like this but I do!’. In the end, though, vanilla-het is not for me. And I don’t think Mytrax, for me, is vanilla at all. The alien aspect kind of throws it off the vanilla wagon for me. It’s interesting you think so and I really would like to see your analysis of Gwevin/Mytrax under this backdrop. I know nothing of Darkcaster since I couldn’t stay in Ben 10: AF after the first episode, but I am curious about it too//PROD.PROD.
Er, back to KND. Mushi goes over my head because I don’t care enough to pay attention, but the idea of her being manipulative as a counter point to 3’s cuteness/evil girl is interesting. It still doesn’t make me want to watch the episodes with her and 3 though I will watch them if I see them on TV. At least.
“I just think I'd enjoy a good fic featuring Numbuh 5/sexually confused!Heiny (I should really look up her name, and see what pronouns the show used before when she was a he). If they were older I'd be all over that like white on rice.”
Haha. I laughed way too loud at that.
I like sexually confused!character fics, mostly when they are just about to hit puberty because everything is so weird then (or when they’re at 40 years old, because things are weird then too). I can believe it better than if a 25 year old were confused.
I guess it’s the idea of innocence and sexuality and confusion. Unlike the actual act of sex/minor, I think it’s not wrong for a boy/girl too look at themselves and search for who they are outside of what society believes is right (hetero-relationships). As long as it doesn’t go anywhere the NC-17 territory, even though it makes me a hypocrite.
Anyhow, I think you can multiship 5 since the show really gave you the options and anything and everything can happen, its own canon is all over the place. There’s also the fact that it would be believable 5 had a relationship with all the characters at some point as she grew up. Like we all do with our childhood friends. Of course I am theorizing and assuming at lot of things at this point.
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LAKDSAFDS. WORD on freaking cartoons being, once upon of time, good. Quality has dropped off now a days and I agree. Just because they’re animated doesn’t pardon plot-holes the size of Kansas.
I recognized most the cartoons you listed! O_o. I watched them late, waaaay late, in the game because my country is slo~ow when it comes to translations. Although the centurions bugged because of the blue dude. He felt like a sleeze-ball.
But god, you’ve gained a million extra points in cool by just mentioning Gargoyles. I love that series so much. And my favorite character was Demona. Go figure. XD
Re: art--My pleasure, though don’t worry on your part. It’s all for fun. You can post a circle and it'd count XD.
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This reminded me of a fic I read that I really need to rant about to get off my chest. Bear with me for the next couple of paragraphs @.@ It was a Tetrax-centric fic. Initially I was "8D!" then I saw it was a Tetrax/OC fic and I got all apprehensive and then the summary said he adopts a child and I sat stock-still for about fifteen minutes (give or take) debating whether or not I should risk bad-fic/bad-premise and in the end I did click on it out of sheer morbid curiosity.
In the first sentence of the fic, the author wrote that Tetrax had a wife and a son. I spent the next five minutes basically arguing with the canon-police in my head (read: myself) why the premise could work. We weren't given much information on Tetrax's past, he could have had a child and a family. If, that is, we ignore the fact that he made NO MENTION of said family when he told Ben of his world being destroyed because of his actions. If he did have a family, he would have said something about it considering Ben was grieving the (supposed) death of Gwen (meaning a member of Ben's family) in Secret of the Omnitrix. The empathy Tetrax was showing would have been much more intense to Ben as well as the audience.
But no, all he said was "I lost my world." Maybe he also said "My people" but bottom line: it was too general, too broad. Having a family would have merited a more intimate, more personal remark, but fine we generally interpret Tetrax as not being good with emotions. So handwave, give the author some leeway, maybe it'll still work.
Twelve sentences into the fic Peter Parker, a.k.a Spider-man, suddenly shows up with his kid. I'm no Spidey-hater, but there was no mention of a crossover. ANYWHERE. Not in the summary, not in an Author's Note, nothing. After that paragraph, we have Vilgax who managed to kidnap Tetrax's son and was using him as hostage to get what he wanted. Uh, wasn't it established that Tetrax worked for ANYONE who paid him? That he didn't care jack shit what his client does with the goods thus ending up with his planet getting obliterated?
Eventually, my brain shut down the logic parts to save itself because I'm just a masochist and I didn't back button but instead kept reading.
After several choppy, disjointed scenes involving Venom, Megatron, Tetrax's "father instinct" kicking in and making him save the OC, bringing the hurt OC to some galactic council where humans aren't welcomed (IDEK), Predator showing up, among other WTF things, I learned Myaxx was in it. Now, I managed to ignore the fact that the author also made no mention that this was an AU because Tetrax only met Myaxx in SotO, which only happens some time after Vilgax blows Petropia up. But whatever, Myaxx is in it! That made me happy and I managed to tell myself to tolerate the fic all the way to Chapter two.
And I regret it.
The "death" of his family/specie was recent. As in it just happened three Earth weeks ago. Tetrax overcame the grief of his family's death so fucking fast that it added to the existing whiplash from the SURPRISE CROSSOVER CHARACTERS. Plus, Tetrax decided to adopt the OC child as a sort of "second chance" thing. It was not forced onto him. He volunteered for it. WAT WAT WAT?
The part that made me rage was where the Author has Myaxx in love with Tetrax. That should have been a good thing! Except. Except s/he never explained how Myaxx realized she had feelings for him. If the author had established that the two had a long-time working relationship ala Tetrax and Gluto, then maybe I could be more willing to accept the statement of "She was in love with him." But GAHD for her to "realize" this while she watched Gluto bond with the OC child? When did Myaxx become so maternal? And over a HUMAN child at that?
It read like a throw-away comment rather than the supposed angst-ridden internal turmoil that it should be given that Tetrax was married. Then again, we don't know what Chimeral culture is like, maybe they have polygamy, maybe they didn't have the idea of husband and wives, it could be a non-issue to Myaxx altogether but because she knows it's an issue with Tetrax she wouldn't pursue it.
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Case in point: Aptitude. Yes, the fic starts out with them already "in love" or at least attracted to/with each other. We learn all this through the way they interact, the way they speak to each other, the angry snarls, the familiar jeers, the "this close to killing each other" atmosphere between them, the fact that they're so accustomed to each other it feels like a routine from an outside party's (Gluto's) perspective.
The fic did not use an "X loved Y" statement to indicate the characters' feelings for each other. And it is because the fic had this statement go unsaid that made the fic and the pairing work without needing a lengthy build-up.
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF! I had to sit on my hands to keep myself from leaving a review which is what I basically ranted at you (Blouper) with. GAHD that fic was a waste of my time. /end rant
Now onto Mai/Zuko (Who the hell thinks Mai looks like it would sound like May/Mei?). I'm a casual fan. I watched the show when I could but I never actively sought it out. Hell, the only reason I ever watched it was for Sokka (who is PIMP and AWESOMESAUCE) so when a non-slash goggle wearing, casual viewer like me can see Zuko/Aang working but Zuko/Mai not? Yeah, there's something wrong with the writing and the way the pair was handled.
But I realize that just because I didn't like her didn't mean I should be disrespectful to her, her characters and the creators.
THIS! SO MUCH FUCKING THIS! Character bashing is lame. I can get in-character character bashing because they were written to hate each other's guts, or at least be annoying enough to get on some characters' nerves that they would, well, trash talk. But to do so in narration? To demonize and make the character you disliked into something s/he is not just to justify your ship? Learn you some canon, please.
In other words: You be preaching to the choir XD
G.I. Joe has some really well-written fics. Mature and intelligent and the writing flows so wonderfully despite having some really technical jargon (that I needed to look up but yay learning new things!). I highly recommend anything TiamatV, Zeng Li, and Slayne22 wrote.
As for people breaking up for the most shallow of reasons, I blame how our society became such an instant gratification one. The moment something is inconvenient, they just chuck it out for something easier. Whatever happened to sticking with it until the end? Oh right, profit, and selfishness. I will stop here before this turns into some pretentious socio-politcal commentary I have no right to comment on given I live in a bubble 9/10ths of the time.
TMNT pairings - I have no real comment? I was always more interested in Irma than I was with the turtles XD I like the mousy girl with the glasses. I like it when she "wins" even if fleeting so my attention was never about pairing the turtles or the other characters with anyone. I think I was a fan of the show when I was too young to ship fanon, when I was far too interested in canon pairings than with what-ifs. Now that I look back, I think I would have been able to ship Baxter and April in the original, classic cartoon.
As for "Vanilla" I guess my definition is technically wrong but Vanilla to me is basic, classic, common. I don't label a pairing something based on the couple's physical appearances. I could ship two animal characters (Lion King for example), I could ship a zombie-vampire and a witch (I will get into later), Hell, I ship Mytrax and I call it vanilla because it is: Male and Female.
It's the most basic of pairings and it has kept our species alive for this long (though I sometimes argue humanity in itself is a mistake that eventually will correct itself when we all kill ourselves but I'm a misanthrophist so I don't really count).
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What isn't vanilla? Anything that requires a warning is automatically not vanilla to me. Male/Male is not vanilla. Female/Female is not vanilla. Shota/Loli is not vanilla. Incest is not vanilla. Beastiality is not vanilla (OGAD THIS IS NOT VANILLA). Now that last "kink" I mention, some might argue that Mytrax falls under this because they're not human. Beastiality to me is a "human" or in Mytrax's case a sentient "humanoid" with a non-sentient non-human. Would I consider a feral child/character like Tarzan with Jane or Mogli with Ashanti as beastiality? I would say no, because the "ferals" have a certain sentience to them. I might even go so far as to say that Blossom with Mojo Jojo isn't beastiality either because they're both technically not human even if Blossom looks like she is (gah essbeejay explained it better).
But anyway, because both Myaxx and Tetrax have humanesque qualities to them, I don't consider them beastiality (maybe with some tentacle pr0n possibilities but that's beside the point). Sometimes, in my headspace, I see Tetrax and Myaxx as an interracial relationship. If you ignore the fact that one is a diamond-hard being, and the other has heavy Chtulhu influences, their personalities, their behavior and mannerisms have been influenced by their cultures.
Well, at least that's why I see it as Vanilla. I'm sure the idea of non-humans in a relationship with each other squicks the fuck of some people but Mytrax still adheres to the fact that One is Male, One is Female. They're both sentient beings with human-like qualities. You might even call them a "furry" pairing, I would still think it's vanilla because I don't base it on their looks.
And speaking of not basing on looks: Darkstar and Charmcaster or the DarkCaster ship.
Darkstar first appeared in Alien Force as Mike Morningstar. He is the typical golden boy (and I meant that literally). He's popular in his prep school, he's rich, he's good looking in that classic blonde, blue-eyed classy preppy look. He has powers that allow him flight and energy blasts and he leaves a trail of golden glitter when he flies. Eventually we learn he's actually a vampire who feeds on people's life-energy (or "mana" as the show likes to call it) rather than blood. And instead of puncture wounds, he leaves star-shaped marks on their skin where his hand-mouths are. He fed primarily on the girls at his posh, prep school. There were two side-effects with his feeding: First the girls end up head over heels in love/obsessed with him, causing them to actively seek him out so he could keep feeding on them. Second the girls end up gaunt, ashen-skinned, limp-haired and basically a zombie until their energy levels are restored or at least stabilized.
Obviously when he meets the hero trio, he set his sights on Gwen. And HOLY FUCK is her mana potent! He feeds on her and he turns Golden Plated and is nigh unstoppable. He was defeated only because Gwen (who can manipulate her mana) drained her energy back from him. Now, the zombie girls had been following Mike's orders but when they saw what Gwen had done, they ganged up on him to take their energy back. Why didn't they do this earlier? My theory was: Mike was a sealed vessel. Mana goes in, and he keeps it inside him. When Gwen pulled her energy back, Mike-as-a-vessel started to have cracks. The zombie girls realized the cracks and exploited them.
It ruined him physically, because now his hunger had grown to the point that the energy from regular teenage girls weren't enough to sate him. Not to mention he was now all zombiefied, except he wasn't a shambling, slow-moving, dull-witted sort. He was fast. He was strong. He was smart and you can tell these were things he was bred and raised to be. The problem was, he was now fugly and could no longer play the role of Golden Boy. Which puts a serious cramp into his style and into his plans.
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And he knows this. He enjoys the benefits of his abilities and is at the core selfish. He consciously knows what he's doing is not what the "good guys" do, and he doesn't care. He's vain and arrogant and up until he met the hero trio, he had reason to be. He's not your typical kid's show villain because he doesn't go around committing random acts of violence on others. He may be a villain but he's not "evil." He may feed on people but come on, he needs to eat to live. It's like saying a lion is evil for hunting a gazelle.
It's just the way his body operates. And no, I don't consider vampires or werewolves evil just because they feed on humans. But again, misanthrophist, I'm biased. Besides, he hasn't killed anyone yet. But when he does, I think he will have properly established that he is, in fact, evil. And I will love him all the more for it.
Eventually in the series, the hero trio convinces him to help them save the world with a "deal" that they'd let him out of the Null Void (which by that point in the show was just a closet for villains rather than the ULTIMATE OF ULTIMATE LAST DITCH EFFORT PUNISHMENT it was in the original). Darkstar's answer? "Why do you trust me?"
Which pretty much has him admitting he's not to be trusted and that he's being upfront about it.
In any case, his desire for power, his selfishness, his intelligence (to a degree because AF writes everyone as a stupid idiot so I take what I can get) and the fact that Darkstar's ability of draining people of their life energy is pretty damn powerful to the point they needed to SWARM him to beat him are very important points to take note.
So now that I've raved about Darkles, let me go into Charmcaster.
The Charmcaster I write him with is 4/5ths old-school Charmcaster and 1/5th Alien Force. Charmcaster is a powerful witch/sorceress but she is not the most powerful. The only reason why she "could" beat Gwen in the original was because she had more experience with the spells. She was taught magic. She grew up with magic. Her very name screams magic. But she's scared of her Uncle and she has no choice but to go along with his orders. She has lost to Gwen several times, even if Gwen was younger and less experienced.
I believe that Charmcaster knows, deep down, that her magic is not the most powerful. That there are other people, magic-users and aliens and mutants, out there who can take her down. And she refuses to accept this.
Why do I say this? The episode where Hex was trying to recreate the Charms of Bezel, Charmcaster wanted the charms all to herself. She had been preparing to take her Uncle out when he was vulnerable but when Gwen does it for her, well, all the better!
Now, take a look at her name: Charmcaster. "Charms" in general are not guaranteed to work. They can help but they don't have the same "potency" of say wards or talismans. Heck, a hex is more dangerous than a charm, which pretty much places her position in the magical-power heirarchy significantly lower than what she would want.
She is manipulative, a liar, and cannot be trusted. She has her pride, which I think was why it infuriates her to no end that Gwen kept beating her but Charmcaster is not above letting someone else do her dirty work. So long as she still gets what she wants in the end. She knows this and is unapologetic about it. She will lie and play nice and be all sweet until she gets what she wants. And then her true nature of being power-hungry, selfish, and antagonistic to the heroes surfaces.
Alien Force Charmcaster has stronger spells and bigger golems/clay dolls and I think that shows the evolution and growth of her abilities. Unfortunately Alien Force pulled something out of their ass about her powers being tied to the moon or some shit. Regardless of her strength and leveling up in terms of magic and power, Gwen still beats her.
While Darkstar and Charmcaster are never on-screen, the pairing has a common enemy: Gwen.
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You have two equally selfish, equally power-hungry individuals out for revenge on the same person. They're both intelligent and I say this because you cannot be manipulative and get away with it without some level of intelligence. (Darkstar had gotten away with feeding on the girls at his prep for who knows how long before he finally figured out getting more than what he needed gave him extra powers. Charmcaster had successfully fooled Gwen, Ben, Max, and who knows who else in the original series. And back then, the characters had this ability called "LOGIC" and the the power of "OBSERVATION" and the strangely rare "COMMON SENSE." She fooled Kevin in Alien Force and had used what he felt self-conscious about to get him to "turn" on Gwen, which shows she can understand empathy and even fake it.)
You would think that because they're so alike, they'd butt heads, wouldn't you? But as I stated: They're both intelligent. They both use others to get what they want. And they both don't care about the means because all the matters to them is the ends. Namely: Power and Revenge, in that order but preferably at the same time.
Their powers complement and balance each other out. Yes, Darkstar can drain the life out of Charmcaster, but she can manipulate her energy and pull it right back the way Gwen did. You could say they're each other's weaknesses. If Darkstar feeds on her just a little faster than she expected he would win. If Charmcaster had anticipated his attempt at feeding her a little sooner than he planned she would have him flat on his back (and not in the naughty way).
Their MO may be the same in theory but in practice? In practice they can cover for what the other lacks and that makes them valuable allies to each other. But just because they're allies doesn't mean they'll suddenly play nice and be all BFFs with each other. Their actions and choices are calculated to make them more powerful. Their decisions boil down to "how will this benefit me" and "what use are you to me?"
Darkstar can see Charmcaster as the next best thing to Gwen being a mana-manipulator herself. Charmcaster can see Darkstar as the perfect living weapon and an easy substitute to her golems for disposing unwanted obstacles. They're using each other, and they both know this. They're both practical thinkers, knowing when to flee and when to stand their ground. They're not so stubborn with their pride that they'd risk getting caught just to prove to their foes that "I AM TEH BEST!" Even though they so badly want to prove that they are.
They're a power-couple. And they're bad guys. Which means their moral compasses are both so screwed up that they'd probably sacrifice the other without a second thought if they were no longer usefull. And this knowledge keeps them both on their toes and on their guard with each other because they're equals.
They would grudgingly or secretly respect the other for their power (and power is such a big deal to these two). The idea of being able to overcome someone like that is an attractive challenge. A constant struggle for dominance because neither of them will ever submit permanently. Who "wins" depends on the situation and scenario. Whoever has the upper-hand for that moment isn't guaranteed to still have it the next time. And I think, deep down, they wouldn't want it settled.
I don't think Charmcaster or Darkstar would want to be with someone they didn't respect and I don't think they would respect anyone they can beat. But because they refuse to be defeated, they will keep trying and their constant attempts at getting the upper hand while plotting their revenge on the hero trio (Gwen in particular) allows them to become closer to each other. I mean, if you wanted to defeat your opponent wouldn't you try to figure out everything about them and find what their weaknesses are and what makes them tick?
Yes, they have ill intentions behind their "getting to know you" but they figure the other party's just as guilty of it and this (according to their twisted morals) makes it okay.
FUCK ME THIS GOT LONG @.@
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I answer: So what? Darkstar may be a "minor" since he's not eighteen but it's not like they engage in sexual activity. Besides, in a few year's time, he will be an adult so that point is moot.
Let's not forget the "BUT HE'S AN ICKY, UGLY ZOMBIE!"
I answer: I honestly believe the begining stages of learning Magic is not as glamorous as most think it would be. It's like learning to paint or draw or even write. You don't automatically have a masterpiece. You go through tons of sketches or drafts that most people (especially when you're first starting out) will find FUGLY and/or just plain PAINFUL to read/look at.
When you're manipulating energy or life essences, and you screw it up the results generally are worse than a leg drawn at a painful angle or an incredibly convoluted run-on sentence (like this one XD). Charmcaster would have seen far uglier, far more horrible things. Hell, she may have even SUMMONED one or two or ten. If not her, then her Uncle or her other magically inclined relatives.
Darkstar would have the issues where his appearance is concerned, considering he knows what he should look like. But the "attraction" I see between these two are not about how "OMG HAWT" they look. They're smart characters who know that there's more than meets the eye and they're complex enough not to let something as shallow as appearances get in the way of what they want.
"But that's not a healthy relationship! They're not thinking about the other person! Only themselves!"
Honestly? That's the challenge to them. Two inherently selfish, self-centered people eventually acknowledging that they do feel concern for the other's well-being. They will not verbally admit it (because that would be like admitting defeat!) but they will show it through their actions. Darkstar not making Charmcaster become enamored with him when he feeds on her, Charmcaster demonstrating the "Glamour" spell on Darkstar just to make him less defensive about his looks, one mocking the other for getting hurt while helping/healing him/her because s/he will heal the other's wounds but will rub salt in them first. Just because they can and because they know the other would do that should the positions be reversed.
Their personality would allow them to "get" the other and because of this, they know not to pull punches or risk losing the fight. And they're pretty sick of losing to the heroes as it is.
And there you have it. The extremely long-winded explanation why I fucking love DarkCaster. CharmStar is an alternate portmanteau for the ship, but I reserve that for a different universe XDDDDDD
Anyway, moving on... I think one more reason why I can't write KND fic is that I'm honestly confused about the whole adult tyrany thing. That the moment a kid turns into a teenager they have to get decommissioned. But not every kid is a KND operative. What happens to these kids? What are their lives like? Are they automatically recruited to serve the adults or are there non-adult-serving teens the way not every kid is a KND operative? These unanswered questions are what keeps me from jumping into the fandom and trying to write for it because it would affect how I would understand the mental process the characters would go through.
I can totally write Henrietta wondering about the attraction she has for Abbie, but she would attribute that as being grateful for having the curse broken/lifted. But of course she would wonder if it was real gratitude or more? And what would Abbie say about it? Would Henrietta wish she was still Heinrick in order to properly explore these feelings? Wouldn't it be simpler? But as Heinrick, she knows there are things about her that would be lost if she were still Heinrick.
And then I think to myself: Are kids these days really this sexually concerned? And I'm immediately squicked by the idea ;A;
There’s also the fact that it would be believable 5 had a relationship with all the characters at some point as she grew up.
You hit the nail on the head. It's the fact that she has established relationships with all these characters that allows the potential for multishipping 5. And everyone else in the series except 4 tbh.
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As for Mushi, I prefer her over 3 but she's not my favorite either XD but am I the only one who was disappointed the series never followed up with the King Sandy breaking Mushi out of her bedroom after being grounded? Maybe it did follow it up and I never got to see it ;A; but that was a cute villain couple because a little kindergartener ordering his teenager cousins around is just adorable in my head.
As for the random question: The tugging at the collar for me is an off-shoot of the whole "Hot under the collar." That something made the character so bothered that it feels like they can't breathe and rather than consider that the cause is an emotional one rather than a physical one, they feel like their collar is constricting them. So they tug at it in an attempt to distract themselves and alleviate their discomfort. IDK don't take my word for it @.@
Translation? Does your country dub over or have subtitles? Most of the cartoons I watched were on cable TV and I miss having cable because the local dubs here have declined and are just blah with the editing and cutting out parts and RRRRRRRRGH! What country are you from, if I may ask? XD
Demona was such a tragic character. My heart goes out to her, it really does. She'll probably eat it though. Or crush it and I wouldn't blame her for it.
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I also like crack ships in that I can create my own playground and not worry about stepping on something someone else has already thought about. And it’s pretty satisfying when I hear someone say “I never considered it but now I am really interested in it!” [Mytrax is like my golden!child].
Anyway, the author of the fic probably threw in a bunch of characters together because: 1. S/He wanted to write about them without actually delving into any specific fandom, and 2. wanted to insert herself/himself into the story and ‘meet’ her/his favorite characters, who will fawn and whatever at what a special child he is since Tetrax loves him! And safely too, since he’s still a human kid. I only read bad fics that exclude OC. I guess I am not as free-loving as I once believed.
Out of your entire spiel with bad!fic, I thought, “it can be salvageable!” And then you said Myaxx was in it. My brain refused to accept it. Also LKDSFLD NOOOO. If Tetrax has a wife, a kid, and is happy in this relationship, why would putting Myaxx in as a third party with nothing more than a petty melodrama about ‘oh what I’ve missed’? If you do that, you need to at least have her do something useful. Like help negotiate with Vilgax or what not. Oh, and please remember she’s not a maternal creature, or nice, or all that sentimental, oh and she’s a scientist! Stop reducing her to a stereotype of women and relationships. She doesn’t fit into it because she’s not human and her culture proooobably would be a bit different. What with her being an alien and a rather mean one at that. UGH.
That aside. Why would Myaxx fall for Tetrax anyway? In the end of SotO Myaxx went with Azmuth anyway. There was very little to base Myaxx (WHY her anyway, couldn’t Tetrax be the one in love? ) falling for Tetrax. A crush? Okay, love? Ehhhh. No…Love at first sight is a big fat lie.
I am kind of amused, though, at the idea someone else is picking up Mytrax and trying it out (and mangling it in the process).
>///< Aptitude was such a random experiment for me, I expected a million flames and people claiming I was crazy/sick/weird and being kicked off ff.net. It was a pleasant surprise when nothing really happen and it actually ended up getting faved. And you picked up everything I wanted to show in the fic; ‘show don’t tell’ is the hurdle I struggle with most (and ICness). Plus they were surprisingly fun to mess with since they’re pretty out there, no one really writes them, canon is loose, and they’re not typical characters you can pair off and call good.
I wouldn’t have left a review, maybe a PM since you would look like a bad guy; unless the author asks for con-crits. Some people are too sensitive though, but I am of the kind that likes to help others improve.
That reminds me, how’s your AU!Mytrax-repopulation idea going?
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My introductory episode to Avatar was ‘Jet’. And I loved how black, white and gray ‘evil’ was shown. The phrase “You’re a monster!” had never been so true to me. Avatar was glorious! The scenery porn, the plot, the bending, the animation, the research, the characters designs and growth. The characters and AZULA. JALKDFSLD. Azula/Ty Lee. Unf. Have you read their ship_manifesto? It’s pretty damn awesome.
And damn. Zuko/Aang. The Firebending Masters was hilarious. I think it sealed it for a lot of people. Doesn’t hurt that their ancestors were BFF too with a lot of not so subtle subtext. The show liked to indulge everyone (even Azula/Sokka shippers! Which made me squee like a moron).
Mai (Isn’t it said Mei?) was a plot device, and I never understood her appeal. She’s kind of boring to me, and Zuko was boring with her. Plus the Beach episode established why they didn’t work and the show never allowed them a proper way to solve their issues. So why the sudden hook-up? It reeks of bad writing, though I want to say it’s because the writers ran out of time.
I still wouldn’t like it, but it wouldn’t leave such a bad taste in my mouth. It’s as if Mai/Katara were prices to be won, a reward for Aang and Zuko for their hard work and sacrifices. Both of them were kick ass women and the end didn’t need for them to be in a relationship. Funny how that worked.
People breaking up is a fact of life. People breaking up because of silly things is a fact of life. People staying in relationships they shouldn’t be in, another fact of life. And still it bugs me when I hear my friends complaining about how he ‘wasn’t good enough. Because of his habits, or music preferences. Yeah. Even though he was nice, loved her, and his family adored her to death.
I disagree on that the idea that break ups are because of instant gratification. I think it’s because we want perfection and when our expectations aren’t met, we justify the break up. Perhaps it’s an example on the same coin; I find it far too easy to blame it on gratification and not on our own expectations.
Heh. TMNT. It was just as an example. If I shipped anyone from the old show (and the first live action movie) it was Raph/April, but like I said. Preference has a lot to do with how I ship and what I read, even though I am open to just about anything. If you can convince me, I will give it a better chance.
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Vanilla to me is the classic fall in love, marry, get a house, have a few kids and live happily ever after. It doesn’t matter if it’s Male/male or female/female or female/male.
Male/Female relationships aren’t, or don’t have to be vanilla. There are really het sadistic relationships out there. As you mentioned Darkcaster, I don’t believe I would write a fic about them without some sort of warning. They’d be in a symbiotic relationship, sure, but dark themes would run underneath their mutual benefit (i.e. revenge, greed, UST, power hunger).
Same with Mytrax since I don’t believe in adhering to the idea that just because they are male/female it is the only way they can reproduce. It’s projecting my beliefs on another culture and that sets me on edge simply because people do it unconsciously all the time to me. I learned English in a rather scholarly manner and often I am talked to as if I was U.S.A Born, I like what they like and understand archaic jokes/sayings/ideas just because I read/speak/understand English.//side-tracked.
Mojo/Blossom. Ship manifesto has something on them too, and it’s really well done. Her explanation on why it’s not bestiality is rather compelling, though I don’t prescribe to it. Same with Mytrax. Because I don’t see why it’s beastiality. They’re from a different planet and if humans/aliens can mate, so can aliens/aliens, right? What I mean, I agree with your idea of human-qualities help deflate the bestiality argument, but I don’t think it’s a necessity. But then again, I’ve never really been into furies/bestiality so I don’t know how deep the gauntlet for it is, and what the arguments for and against it all is.
So Darkstar is not a one-shot character? I watched his episode and couldn’t be bothered with it because Morning Star was such a Stu and everyone else was being moronic.
And he turns evil-evil? :D ahahahaha. It sounds like he’s one of their better villains along with Charmcaster, though I am afraid of watching the episode introducing her. I like her a lot and Kevin bothers me and I don’t care for him, but I like the idea she was able to manipulate him to get back at Gwen. Let’s see if I can help you with your manifesto (YOU SHOULD SIGN UP AND WRITE IT:D!!! You’re already half way there XD), or at least play devil’s advocate. One should always know both sides of an argument. Side questions, how did you get into this ship?
Well, I don’t really have any solid arguments, I am far too casual a viewer to appreciate Darkstar how you do and I haven’t seen Charmcaster in her debut episode. But I wonder, besides the common enemy being Gwen, would either Darkstar or Charmcaster really work well together? Feeding Darkstar doesn’t seem like something Charmcaster would be happy about, and I don’t think Darkstar would trust her enough to put anything of hers in his body (poison, mind-control substance, a growing dependency).
You’ve presented the characters as being partners, without either really relying on each other Darkstar is the muscle/scheme and Charmcaster the scheme/distraction, but I am not entirely convinced on the idea that they would develop anything past partnership, and I don’t feel a partnership would work either. In fact I am almost sure one would eventually over power the other (betrayal, what), so the relationship wouldn’t work in the end, it would be master/slave. Romantically speaking, I am confused as to where it would even start since they’re one-track minded.
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She would want to rule the earth (if her ambition in the Ben 10 original show was any indication) and he would want to make himself stronger. Would two selfish characters manage through it all to form anything past a working relationship? It seems far-fetched and difficult to believe without throwing some clichéd romantic ideals in there.
My main concern is this: What exactly is this ship about/for? It reeks of short-term, paranoia and certainly it is a car-crash waiting to happen. Why should I ship it? Why is this better (or worse if we are taking the sado-masochistic aspect of the ship) for both parties? How is respect earned for each other, if taking into consideration they are both selfish, where is it earned?
Gwen is, I repeat myself too much, a weak connection between them. Could they find somewhere else to maintain their relationship, should it evolve?
I think it could, but it seems like a very difficult pairing if you’re not careful. Fluffy bunnies and stickers just wouldn’t work for them. Unless it’s a parody.
As for the older-Charmcaster/Ugly!Darkstar. People are shallow. I think you’ve reasonably argued against them, even though it bothers me people are so stuck on beauty. Darkcaster is a way to show how evil can be pretty and ugly, and oh hey, twisted. Looks has very little to do with it. And as for them having sex? Uh. Probably. Teenager meets hot older lady that could/would use sex as a means to gain his trust and/or loyalty? Pff, you know she wouldn’t hesitate; it’d be a means to an end.
They’d give and take. It’s a very dark ship, so I wouldn’t ignore the sexual aspect of their personas.
Which is why I balk at the idea of either becoming enamored with each other. It seems to take away from the couple. I mean, they start caring enough to not hurt each other? Sounds too…too conventional.
If they were to fall for each other, and I am totally weird and biased here, it would be as to see how they can defeat each other, up the ante. They’d burn the candle at both ends. Either they learn and help each other to -be- with each other or consume and destroy each other in the process.
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