Started this over in
mrswolfwood's journal, and it took on a life of its own.
So, I was thinking 'aloud' about being a fan and online fandoms, and I came up with this.
I don't know what makes me join a fandom over simply being a fan of a particular show. Part of it, I think, is whether there's a feeling of completeness to it. Trigun... feels complete. Yes, there are plenty of places for fanficcers to play in -- especially when it comes to backstories -- but... I don't know. I don't need those holes to be filled in.
Meanwhile, Gundam W? Tons and tons of plot, but by the end how much of a handle do we have on the characters? Not much, I think. There are too many of them and too much going on at any given time to really get to the point where the audience can say "Character A is absolutely thinking this," without another large subsection of the audience saying, "Character A would never think that, his motivation is clearly THIS." It was my first online fandom, and going on five years later, I still check up on favorite sites and authors regularly.
And Weiss Kreuz? Is nothing but plot holes. It's really a hideously badly written show -- even the second, oh-look-how-pretty series suffers from the writing, but the fandom is just wow. The barely sketched in characters of the series -- in the hands of capable authors -- have such promise. The situation of assassins working at a florist shop as their cover, though ludicrous, is workable if the ridiculousness is handled well, whether it be as a source of humor or to highlight the inherent darkness of the premise.
Saiyuki... I only touch on the fandom. I love the show, I LOVE the manga even more. And yet, there's just not enough of it. So, sometimes I get frustrated with the english-language release schedule, and go hunting for fanfic that feels in character by my definition. Unlike with Gundam W or Weiss Kreus, though, the characterization by the original author is so crystal-clear to me, that I'm easily thrown out of a fic by an action or a piece of dialogue that just doesn't fit. For GW and WK, 'in character' covers alot of ground to me, my primary concern being that characters are internally consistent within a story. For Saiyuki, my determination for in character is a lot more harsh. Sanzo said he loves/loved someone? I'm done; story over. There's wiggle room -- there's always wiggle room -- but not as much.
I'd probably read more Yami no Matsue if I could find a good, centralized archive to start from. Then again, with the manga just coming out (excuse the phrasing) in English, maybe more of my questions will be answered by canon. ... then again, maybe not.
I've read very few fics about Fruits Basket, or Hellsing, or Firefly (to dip into live-action). I love those series. Big fan of all three. But I don't generally crave more than is available -- especially with the currently running manga releases for two of them. I suspect much of what I would like to see delved into more deeply will be, in time, if I pick up the manga. But even without it, each of those series feels fleshed out. Full. Complete.
And then there's Harry Potter. Which I read in massive spurts, sometimes start to write for, then abandon for months at a time. It's a bit like Weiss Kreuz *ducks flames* in that it's what's NOT there that makes it so interesting. Pretty much everything in canon is from Harry's POV. The POV of an eleven year-old, through his teenage years, is unreliable pretty much by definition. So, to me the interesting ideas are, 'What doesn't Harry know?' And by extension, 'what doesn't the audience know?' Dumbledore's thoughts and motivations, all along... Snape's thoughts and motivation more recently... Slytherin House as a whole (can an entire House be considered evil by default? why then would the House exist?)...the Marauders' ethics or lack thereof... absolutely wonderful plot holes and chinks to play in.
... and yes, there's much more to online fandoms than fanfic. I know. But I'm antisocial in the real world -- it'd be a bit ooc for me to go seeking direct social interaction here. ^_^