random fanfic/fandom rant
Actually been trying out some fanfic lately instead of just reading summaries. Nothing really new here, but...
(pretty much all anime/manga because hey, it's my life lately, though a few other things get mentioned)
I like canon. I'm not quite a canon nazi, but unless canon is flatout BAD(in which case, why bother with the fandom anyway?) I see little point in fanfic that opposes it...seems to me that once you're writing AGAINST the story, you aren't even really writing about the characters or world anyway. I have no problems with stories that add to the canon, as long as they don't contradict canon.
That said, most characters tend to be defined by their relationships, romantic or otherwise. In other words, if you want to pair A with B and neither is paired off in canon or indicated to have preferences elsewhere, fine. But if A is paired with C, then by pairing A with B you really aren't writing about the same characters anymore because you're contradicting who and what they are. On the flipside, certain ships I get. I mean, sure Clark/Lex in Smallville are straight, but any time they fight it's like a lover's quarrel...and Lana...if I didn't know Clark would be with Lois in the end, I couldn't bear to watch the thing. And, while it's not MY ship(insert obligatory Kyo/Yuya squee) I get Yuya/Akira in Samurai Deeper Kyo because it likely WOULD happen if Kyo died(I mean, seriously, can anyone REALLY see Akira ending up with someone not directly associated with Kyo?)
Then there's rewriting the stories...I don't mean AUs, but completely rewriting the stories so that having the characters do and act completely differently from how they do in canon makes sense...again, not even writing about the same characters anymore.
Genderswapping? Scares me. So do pregnant guys. I mean, both inspire nothing but a huge "HUH?????" from me.
And child/guardian ships? *shudder* I don't mean ALL of them. Handled right, they can be the best thing ever. I'm all for Rin/Manji(Blade of the Immortal) Sesshomaru/Rin(Inu Yasha) and Kazuya/Kanami(S-Cry-ed). If it weren't for Inara, I'd be all for Mal/River(Firefly-but again, hey, I love the canon ship, so...) However, none of those cases are of a paternal/sibling style guardian and a child. Manji/Rin is actually no greater of an age difference than Kenshin/Kaoru or Kyo/Yuya(older-20s samurai, younger girl seems to be the thing for samurai manga)-in fact, I think it's less. She's 16 and most of the "too old, guardian instead of lover" is because HE thinks she's too young(though for their time period, she'd actually be doing well to get a guy only 10 or so-if that-years older than her) and it would be a bad thing for her right then...it's very clear he's never going to leave her side or stop protecting her regardless of what happens in their lives as long as he's alive, and every character but Rin(who clearly fell for him pretty quickly) is well aware that if she's not technically "his woman"(as virtually every character-including Manji-refers to her) it's only because he's waiting until their lives aren't nuts. In the case of Sesshomaru/Rin, she's literally the only thing that keeps him human and the relationship isn't remotely paternal...he takes care of her because she's the only one he cares about, she all but worships him. The idea that they'd eventually be separated by anything but death is silly. Kazuya/Kanami isn't even much of an age difference-12/13 and 17 or so-and is much like Rin/Manji in that she's someone he takes care of, only with him completely oblivious to her crush(Manji is WELL aware of Rin's) but their future is obvious once she gets a couple more years under her belt and he realizes she's not the kid he first took in anymore. In all these cases, though, I'm all for it when she's OLDER and age appropriate, not at the current stages in their lives.
Those are also all not REMOTELY paternal or sibling(though Manji initially compares Rin to his sister, that's more an age/guilt-over-his-sister's-death thing than any real fraternal feelings) and are all simply a case of a guy taking care of a younger female who needs protecting. Except for Manji/Rin I'd be completely opposed to anything romantic or sexual with them in the timeframe of the story. What gets to me is when it's still in the adult/child timeframe and turns anything remotely sexual. ESPECIALLY when the canon relationship is paternal or fraternal...sets off my squick factor like nothing else.
And slash/yaoi...I have no inherent problems with it, I just hate seeing female characters sacrificed to slash their love interest with another guy, and again, back to the relationships defining characters thing. (Same thing with Mary Sues and the rarer Gary Stus, too.) If a character isn't indicated to really have one preference over the other in canon, have fun(respectful fun, please, but have fun) For example, though I don't see it personally, I don't run from the idea of Hakkai/Gojyo in Saiyuki because there's nothing to really oppose it and, frankly, the 2 are good for each other regardless of the context(Sanzo/Goku and Kougaiji/Dokugaku, OTOH...)
One other thing I never get is being into a fandom when you hate the main character...preferring other characters to the main character, yeah, but plot generally centers around the main character, so it just always seems odd to me when someone loves a show, series, book, movie, etc. but hates the main character(I say that despite loving Eragon the book but disliking the character...though that could explain why Eldest has been sitting here unread for a month or so now. *is all about Murtagh*) because it seems that that would naturally lead to hating the story and themes of the series. Buffy, Angel, Veronica Mars, Bones, etc. come to mind.
And for a few fandoms:
Fushigi Yugi: LEAVE. MIAKA. ALONE. Seriously. Yes, she can be annoying, but there's nothing wrong with her that a little prozac and a few loaves of bread and a gallon of water first thing in the morning wouldn't fix. I'll leave the more vehement Miaka defending to
dangermousie, who adores her as opposed to my just liking, but Miaka is essentially likable, quite amusing, has a strong personality and unlike other heroines in similar storylines, manages to avoid being a Mary Sue(ignores part 2 in that statement) And, frankly, without Miaka, you don't have anything resembling FY left anyway, unless your fic is about a different priestess and thus, and entirely different set of characters and timeframe anyway. And Nakago? I love the guy but he is NOT misunderstood. Yui? Misled and essentially brainwashed. The twins? Pretty much the same, and in Amiboshi's case, on the misunderstood side. Nakago? Exactly what he seems and totally unrepentant about it. And really people, Watase tried hard enough to wreak FY with part 2(then the OVAs did far worse) why add to it?
Wolf's Rain: Enough with the female wolves already. We already HAVE a female wolf who, frankly, is one of the coolest female anime characters out there. Your Mary Sues are no match. And really, no matter how much she might irritate the fans, no wolf is going to do anything but love Cheza, that's just the way it is. Even Tsume couldn't hold out for long. And at no point in time did Kiba try to do anything resembling heartlessly destroying the world, thankyouverymuch. The entire point is that Kiba is supposed to be the wolf to find Paradise and SAVE the world...it's literally what he lives for. If you got the opposite from it, then you missed the entire point of the character and series and I wonder why you bothered. Not touching Tsume/Toboe.
W Juliet: Yuto and Ryuya are twins, not lovers, and both have a thing for blondes about a foot shorter than they are(tall family) Unlike a certain other pair of twins in another gender-bending manga, they aren't remotely narcissistic or into catering to fangirly fantasies...too busy being obsessively overprotective of their sister and OTPs. And Toki was NEVER into Makoto, even when he thought Mako was a she. The only thing capable of getting through his Ito-vision is his overprotectiveness of Nobuko(and YES! to my pet-OTP being canon by the end-love the huge, overprotective jock-type being nuts about the teensy girl he always thought he thought of as a sister until he almost loses her)
Samurai Deeper Kyo: *brain goes pop* LEAVE. SHINREI. ALONE. Seriously, I think half the reason I love the guy is because he gets so shafted in fic. He's not an idiot and he's not gullible or clueless. Yeah, that stick is so far up his butt he could chew on it if he wanted and he's too "buy the books" for his own good, but he's intelligent, an expert fighter and a good strategist...he just isn't overly imaginative and isn't quite sure what a sense of humor is. Also, Yuya is NOT a trigger-happy shrewish haranguing harpy-leave her money alone, don't hurt her friends and don't insult Kyo and she's about the nicest, most forgiving girl you could meet. Heck, girl doesn't even know what a "grudge" is and bandages up her enemies! And yeah, Kyo isn't a nice guy and is a flatout jerk most of the time, and his hands are far too grabby(though, frankly, once he gets it out of his system, he only does it when one of them is stressed or fretting about something, and eventually forgets unless the poor girl comments on him not doing it) but he'd die before he hurt Yuya(man stabbed himself to KEEP himself from hurting her, how do you top that?) and he'll kill anyone who hurts her, including his friends. And on the flipside, I'm sorry but the words "I love you" are never coming out of the man's mouth, probably not even for his kids once they come into being. He also doesn't spend his time fretting and worrying over his feelings for her or hers for him...she's his woman, he'll keep her and take care of her as long as she's with him. I mean, he spends the bulk of the series convinced she loves Kyoshiro and will leave him for Kyoshiro-who he clearly sees as being a "better man"-once all is over, anyway, which is why he never quite gets that she's as crazy about him until the end anyway. It doesn't matter if some random person gets it-all that matters is that Yuya-and, to as lesser extent, their friends(read: the other people who will kill you if you hurt Yuya)-gets it. Everyone else is irrelevant. Also? Yeah, Kyo's pretty much a battle crazed nut, but unless it's part of his goals, he doesn't go looking for fights-enough fights come to him. Don't bother him and don't mess with his friends or hurt Yuya, and he couldn't care less about you. And he's NOT going to rescue some random person, especially some damsel in distress(except Yuya)...the only way you register on his radar as anything but meat is if you manage to win his respect somehow(even Sasuke and-when they met-Akira only got his attention because they earned his respect one way or the other, even if they were just kids) Let's face it, if Yuya hadn't headbutted him when they met, she would have died then(especially given his mindset regarding anything connected to Kyoshiro at the time.) Swords? Fists? Cowering in fear? Run of the mill stuff. Getting headbutted in the chin and then yelled at by the cute girl you're trying to terrify? An attention grabber. And I'm not even getting into Sasuke/any cast member, now or in the future. Just nonononono. And a thousand more times.
I could cover plenty more fandoms, but it's almost 3:30 am...
I KNOW there's good fanfic out there, and that there are good fanfic writers on my flist, and I trust the opinions of the people on my flist who have recced fic to me(though,
chomiji, I don't think you'll ever get me to read that one Saiyuki fic...) it's just that actually reading a few fics reminded me of why I haven't touched fic in years.
My sleep deprived mind has decided to blame this post on
dangermousieas I hadn't even THOUGHT about fanfic in years until I started reading her fanfic posts.
*heads for bed as she should have an eternal post ago*
(pretty much all anime/manga because hey, it's my life lately, though a few other things get mentioned)
I like canon. I'm not quite a canon nazi, but unless canon is flatout BAD(in which case, why bother with the fandom anyway?) I see little point in fanfic that opposes it...seems to me that once you're writing AGAINST the story, you aren't even really writing about the characters or world anyway. I have no problems with stories that add to the canon, as long as they don't contradict canon.
That said, most characters tend to be defined by their relationships, romantic or otherwise. In other words, if you want to pair A with B and neither is paired off in canon or indicated to have preferences elsewhere, fine. But if A is paired with C, then by pairing A with B you really aren't writing about the same characters anymore because you're contradicting who and what they are. On the flipside, certain ships I get. I mean, sure Clark/Lex in Smallville are straight, but any time they fight it's like a lover's quarrel...and Lana...if I didn't know Clark would be with Lois in the end, I couldn't bear to watch the thing. And, while it's not MY ship(insert obligatory Kyo/Yuya squee) I get Yuya/Akira in Samurai Deeper Kyo because it likely WOULD happen if Kyo died(I mean, seriously, can anyone REALLY see Akira ending up with someone not directly associated with Kyo?)
Then there's rewriting the stories...I don't mean AUs, but completely rewriting the stories so that having the characters do and act completely differently from how they do in canon makes sense...again, not even writing about the same characters anymore.
Genderswapping? Scares me. So do pregnant guys. I mean, both inspire nothing but a huge "HUH?????" from me.
And child/guardian ships? *shudder* I don't mean ALL of them. Handled right, they can be the best thing ever. I'm all for Rin/Manji(Blade of the Immortal) Sesshomaru/Rin(Inu Yasha) and Kazuya/Kanami(S-Cry-ed). If it weren't for Inara, I'd be all for Mal/River(Firefly-but again, hey, I love the canon ship, so...) However, none of those cases are of a paternal/sibling style guardian and a child. Manji/Rin is actually no greater of an age difference than Kenshin/Kaoru or Kyo/Yuya(older-20s samurai, younger girl seems to be the thing for samurai manga)-in fact, I think it's less. She's 16 and most of the "too old, guardian instead of lover" is because HE thinks she's too young(though for their time period, she'd actually be doing well to get a guy only 10 or so-if that-years older than her) and it would be a bad thing for her right then...it's very clear he's never going to leave her side or stop protecting her regardless of what happens in their lives as long as he's alive, and every character but Rin(who clearly fell for him pretty quickly) is well aware that if she's not technically "his woman"(as virtually every character-including Manji-refers to her) it's only because he's waiting until their lives aren't nuts. In the case of Sesshomaru/Rin, she's literally the only thing that keeps him human and the relationship isn't remotely paternal...he takes care of her because she's the only one he cares about, she all but worships him. The idea that they'd eventually be separated by anything but death is silly. Kazuya/Kanami isn't even much of an age difference-12/13 and 17 or so-and is much like Rin/Manji in that she's someone he takes care of, only with him completely oblivious to her crush(Manji is WELL aware of Rin's) but their future is obvious once she gets a couple more years under her belt and he realizes she's not the kid he first took in anymore. In all these cases, though, I'm all for it when she's OLDER and age appropriate, not at the current stages in their lives.
Those are also all not REMOTELY paternal or sibling(though Manji initially compares Rin to his sister, that's more an age/guilt-over-his-sister's-death thing than any real fraternal feelings) and are all simply a case of a guy taking care of a younger female who needs protecting. Except for Manji/Rin I'd be completely opposed to anything romantic or sexual with them in the timeframe of the story. What gets to me is when it's still in the adult/child timeframe and turns anything remotely sexual. ESPECIALLY when the canon relationship is paternal or fraternal...sets off my squick factor like nothing else.
And slash/yaoi...I have no inherent problems with it, I just hate seeing female characters sacrificed to slash their love interest with another guy, and again, back to the relationships defining characters thing. (Same thing with Mary Sues and the rarer Gary Stus, too.) If a character isn't indicated to really have one preference over the other in canon, have fun(respectful fun, please, but have fun) For example, though I don't see it personally, I don't run from the idea of Hakkai/Gojyo in Saiyuki because there's nothing to really oppose it and, frankly, the 2 are good for each other regardless of the context(Sanzo/Goku and Kougaiji/Dokugaku, OTOH...)
One other thing I never get is being into a fandom when you hate the main character...preferring other characters to the main character, yeah, but plot generally centers around the main character, so it just always seems odd to me when someone loves a show, series, book, movie, etc. but hates the main character(I say that despite loving Eragon the book but disliking the character...though that could explain why Eldest has been sitting here unread for a month or so now. *is all about Murtagh*) because it seems that that would naturally lead to hating the story and themes of the series. Buffy, Angel, Veronica Mars, Bones, etc. come to mind.
And for a few fandoms:
Fushigi Yugi: LEAVE. MIAKA. ALONE. Seriously. Yes, she can be annoying, but there's nothing wrong with her that a little prozac and a few loaves of bread and a gallon of water first thing in the morning wouldn't fix. I'll leave the more vehement Miaka defending to
dangermousie, who adores her as opposed to my just liking, but Miaka is essentially likable, quite amusing, has a strong personality and unlike other heroines in similar storylines, manages to avoid being a Mary Sue(ignores part 2 in that statement) And, frankly, without Miaka, you don't have anything resembling FY left anyway, unless your fic is about a different priestess and thus, and entirely different set of characters and timeframe anyway. And Nakago? I love the guy but he is NOT misunderstood. Yui? Misled and essentially brainwashed. The twins? Pretty much the same, and in Amiboshi's case, on the misunderstood side. Nakago? Exactly what he seems and totally unrepentant about it. And really people, Watase tried hard enough to wreak FY with part 2(then the OVAs did far worse) why add to it?
Wolf's Rain: Enough with the female wolves already. We already HAVE a female wolf who, frankly, is one of the coolest female anime characters out there. Your Mary Sues are no match. And really, no matter how much she might irritate the fans, no wolf is going to do anything but love Cheza, that's just the way it is. Even Tsume couldn't hold out for long. And at no point in time did Kiba try to do anything resembling heartlessly destroying the world, thankyouverymuch. The entire point is that Kiba is supposed to be the wolf to find Paradise and SAVE the world...it's literally what he lives for. If you got the opposite from it, then you missed the entire point of the character and series and I wonder why you bothered. Not touching Tsume/Toboe.
W Juliet: Yuto and Ryuya are twins, not lovers, and both have a thing for blondes about a foot shorter than they are(tall family) Unlike a certain other pair of twins in another gender-bending manga, they aren't remotely narcissistic or into catering to fangirly fantasies...too busy being obsessively overprotective of their sister and OTPs. And Toki was NEVER into Makoto, even when he thought Mako was a she. The only thing capable of getting through his Ito-vision is his overprotectiveness of Nobuko(and YES! to my pet-OTP being canon by the end-love the huge, overprotective jock-type being nuts about the teensy girl he always thought he thought of as a sister until he almost loses her)
Samurai Deeper Kyo: *brain goes pop* LEAVE. SHINREI. ALONE. Seriously, I think half the reason I love the guy is because he gets so shafted in fic. He's not an idiot and he's not gullible or clueless. Yeah, that stick is so far up his butt he could chew on it if he wanted and he's too "buy the books" for his own good, but he's intelligent, an expert fighter and a good strategist...he just isn't overly imaginative and isn't quite sure what a sense of humor is. Also, Yuya is NOT a trigger-happy shrewish haranguing harpy-leave her money alone, don't hurt her friends and don't insult Kyo and she's about the nicest, most forgiving girl you could meet. Heck, girl doesn't even know what a "grudge" is and bandages up her enemies! And yeah, Kyo isn't a nice guy and is a flatout jerk most of the time, and his hands are far too grabby(though, frankly, once he gets it out of his system, he only does it when one of them is stressed or fretting about something, and eventually forgets unless the poor girl comments on him not doing it) but he'd die before he hurt Yuya(man stabbed himself to KEEP himself from hurting her, how do you top that?) and he'll kill anyone who hurts her, including his friends. And on the flipside, I'm sorry but the words "I love you" are never coming out of the man's mouth, probably not even for his kids once they come into being. He also doesn't spend his time fretting and worrying over his feelings for her or hers for him...she's his woman, he'll keep her and take care of her as long as she's with him. I mean, he spends the bulk of the series convinced she loves Kyoshiro and will leave him for Kyoshiro-who he clearly sees as being a "better man"-once all is over, anyway, which is why he never quite gets that she's as crazy about him until the end anyway. It doesn't matter if some random person gets it-all that matters is that Yuya-and, to as lesser extent, their friends(read: the other people who will kill you if you hurt Yuya)-gets it. Everyone else is irrelevant. Also? Yeah, Kyo's pretty much a battle crazed nut, but unless it's part of his goals, he doesn't go looking for fights-enough fights come to him. Don't bother him and don't mess with his friends or hurt Yuya, and he couldn't care less about you. And he's NOT going to rescue some random person, especially some damsel in distress(except Yuya)...the only way you register on his radar as anything but meat is if you manage to win his respect somehow(even Sasuke and-when they met-Akira only got his attention because they earned his respect one way or the other, even if they were just kids) Let's face it, if Yuya hadn't headbutted him when they met, she would have died then(especially given his mindset regarding anything connected to Kyoshiro at the time.) Swords? Fists? Cowering in fear? Run of the mill stuff. Getting headbutted in the chin and then yelled at by the cute girl you're trying to terrify? An attention grabber. And I'm not even getting into Sasuke/any cast member, now or in the future. Just nonononono. And a thousand more times.
I could cover plenty more fandoms, but it's almost 3:30 am...
I KNOW there's good fanfic out there, and that there are good fanfic writers on my flist, and I trust the opinions of the people on my flist who have recced fic to me(though,
chomiji, I don't think you'll ever get me to read that one Saiyuki fic...) it's just that actually reading a few fics reminded me of why I haven't touched fic in years.
My sleep deprived mind has decided to blame this post on
dangermousieas I hadn't even THOUGHT about fanfic in years until I started reading her fanfic posts.
*heads for bed as she should have an eternal post ago*