mcr primer (2/2)
HOKAY, SO. Now that you're up to speed on the band's history and love them and think they're wonderful sparkly cupcakes, obviously the next thing you want to do is dive into fandom. Like any fandom, bandom has gone through waves of what was popular to write about and tropes that were in most of the stories, influenced by both canon and popular authors. I don't want to try and go through a history of the MCR fandom, though. Not any more than I already have, anyway. Therefore, I've decided to link some classic fics as well as sources to find new fic. Keep in mind that classic fics means that the characterization is based on or established old fanon, as well. Even fics that were written in 2008-2010 were often using LOTMS as their primary source, and LOTMS is old.
The Greatest Hits of 2008
The One Where They're All... Ducks? by sunsetmog - 2,800, all ages, panbandom
As close as it gets to home by airgiodslv (entire series @ AO3) - 22,000 words, adult, panbandom
Bend Over Boyfriend by sinsense - 3,000 words, adult, frank/jamia
Bob Bryar's Secret Baby Project by carleton97 - 26,800, adult, bob/brian
Bob Will Never Hurt You by 1001cranes (@AO3) - 6,300 words, adult, bob/frank
Buy Handmade by jjtaylor (@AO3 - 19,000 words, adult, frank/gerard
Crunchy And Taste Good With Ketchup by carleton97 - 8,400 words, adult, bob/gerard
Distance in the Afterlife by sevenfists (@AO3) - 16,000 words, adult, frank/gerard
Fantasy Book by cimness (@AO3) - 16,000 words, adult, frank/gerard
The Fall and Rise of The Black Parade by jezrana - 53,000 words, adult, frank/gerard, ray/mikey
five times gerard dislodged himself, or, a history in reverse by softlyforgotten - 1,500 words, all ages, frank/gerard
Forever, Now by passe_simple - 78,000 words, all ages, frank/gerard
Hitting the Right Notes by calathea - 12,700 words, adult, bob/patrick
The Holly Golightly Club by fluffontop - 57,000 words, adult, frank/gerard, mikey/pete
An Inexplicable Occurrence of Angels by stele3 - 35,000 words, teen, frank/gerard
I'm Not Sleeping (Trust Me) by dsudis - 12,000 words, adult, frank/gerard [if hurt/comfort about Gerard's sobriety is something you're into, dsudis is the best]
The Last Gentleman in New Jersey by etben (@AO3) - 11,000 words, adult, girl!frank/gerard
Nestyverse by Bexless and cimorene - 105, 090, adult (The first two fics of this verse are Bob/Ray, and they are the B E S T Bob/Ray. The third fic is Frank/Gerard.)
Not A Pretty Girl by idyll (@ AO3, sequel by flyingtapes) - the girl!Bob verse - 28,000 words, teen
Pretty Pink Ribbon by 7iris - 1,800 words, adult, gerard/lyn-z
Skin of the Canvas by sinsense - 42,000 words, adult, frank/gerard
Signal Flare by 3jane and dexwebster - 4,300 words, adult, bob/frank
Something Better by lovelypoet - 19,000 words, adult, frank/gerard
tie your monster down by stereomer - 26,000 words, adult, frank/gerard
Unholyverse by Bexless - 187,000 words, adult, frank/gerard
Wake Up and Notice by cimorene - 21,000 words, adult, frank/gerard
Now, of course people have still been writing fic since 2008, but I had to cut it off somehow and somewhere. A lot of the authors I've already mentioned are still writing in bandom, or were until 2009ish. You can try their LJs or AO3 pages for more fics, if you liked what I've linked, or you can try places like:
Or, maybe fic's not your thing! Well...that's trickier. My personal experience in all my fandoms has been extremely centered around fic, and bandom seems particularly fic-centric. There are certainly other TOTALLY valid and awesome ways to engage with the source material--two examples would be art and podfic--but since those aren't something I'm really into, I'm not really qualified to talk about them. I can give you some starting points, though.
For art, on the MCR side, theopteryx is pretty much queen. Other than that, I'd suggest looking at the participants over at bandombigbang. There's a lot of fanart on deviantart and tumblr as well; try looking at tags like MCR, Killjoys, fanart, etc.
Podfic I am even less into than art; I have aural processing difficulties that mean I have never listened to a podfic and never will. But if you're interested in getting podfic for accessibility or your commute or because you appreciate it as a form of transformative work, try looking at podklb's comprehensive list of MCR podfic or the jinjurly archive. Besides, both of these are good places to look for popular contemporary fic authors. Also, a Podfic Appreciation Week just ran over at pod-aware! So check that out.
On the other hand, if you want to dive more into recent canon, I've compiled a short list of some of the best of the last year's interviews. As always, mcr_unofficial and tothetune are the best sources for news and up-to-the minute info, because Tumblr is terrifying.
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And...that is all I've got! If you still have questions and Google and/or Delicious and/or Pinboard are failing you, leave a comment! Keep shinin' on, Killjoys. ♥
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Part 1 | Part 2
The Greatest Hits of 2008
The One Where They're All... Ducks? by sunsetmog - 2,800, all ages, panbandom
As close as it gets to home by airgiodslv (entire series @ AO3) - 22,000 words, adult, panbandom
Bend Over Boyfriend by sinsense - 3,000 words, adult, frank/jamia
Bob Bryar's Secret Baby Project by carleton97 - 26,800, adult, bob/brian
Bob Will Never Hurt You by 1001cranes (@AO3) - 6,300 words, adult, bob/frank
Buy Handmade by jjtaylor (@AO3 - 19,000 words, adult, frank/gerard
Crunchy And Taste Good With Ketchup by carleton97 - 8,400 words, adult, bob/gerard
Distance in the Afterlife by sevenfists (@AO3) - 16,000 words, adult, frank/gerard
Fantasy Book by cimness (@AO3) - 16,000 words, adult, frank/gerard
The Fall and Rise of The Black Parade by jezrana - 53,000 words, adult, frank/gerard, ray/mikey
five times gerard dislodged himself, or, a history in reverse by softlyforgotten - 1,500 words, all ages, frank/gerard
Forever, Now by passe_simple - 78,000 words, all ages, frank/gerard
Hitting the Right Notes by calathea - 12,700 words, adult, bob/patrick
The Holly Golightly Club by fluffontop - 57,000 words, adult, frank/gerard, mikey/pete
An Inexplicable Occurrence of Angels by stele3 - 35,000 words, teen, frank/gerard
I'm Not Sleeping (Trust Me) by dsudis - 12,000 words, adult, frank/gerard [if hurt/comfort about Gerard's sobriety is something you're into, dsudis is the best]
The Last Gentleman in New Jersey by etben (@AO3) - 11,000 words, adult, girl!frank/gerard
Nestyverse by Bexless and cimorene - 105, 090, adult (The first two fics of this verse are Bob/Ray, and they are the B E S T Bob/Ray. The third fic is Frank/Gerard.)
Not A Pretty Girl by idyll (@ AO3, sequel by flyingtapes) - the girl!Bob verse - 28,000 words, teen
Pretty Pink Ribbon by 7iris - 1,800 words, adult, gerard/lyn-z
Skin of the Canvas by sinsense - 42,000 words, adult, frank/gerard
Signal Flare by 3jane and dexwebster - 4,300 words, adult, bob/frank
Something Better by lovelypoet - 19,000 words, adult, frank/gerard
tie your monster down by stereomer - 26,000 words, adult, frank/gerard
Unholyverse by Bexless - 187,000 words, adult, frank/gerard
Wake Up and Notice by cimorene - 21,000 words, adult, frank/gerard
Now, of course people have still been writing fic since 2008, but I had to cut it off somehow and somewhere. A lot of the authors I've already mentioned are still writing in bandom, or were until 2009ish. You can try their LJs or AO3 pages for more fics, if you liked what I've linked, or you can try places like:
Or, maybe fic's not your thing! Well...that's trickier. My personal experience in all my fandoms has been extremely centered around fic, and bandom seems particularly fic-centric. There are certainly other TOTALLY valid and awesome ways to engage with the source material--two examples would be art and podfic--but since those aren't something I'm really into, I'm not really qualified to talk about them. I can give you some starting points, though.
For art, on the MCR side, theopteryx is pretty much queen. Other than that, I'd suggest looking at the participants over at bandombigbang. There's a lot of fanart on deviantart and tumblr as well; try looking at tags like MCR, Killjoys, fanart, etc.
Podfic I am even less into than art; I have aural processing difficulties that mean I have never listened to a podfic and never will. But if you're interested in getting podfic for accessibility or your commute or because you appreciate it as a form of transformative work, try looking at podklb's comprehensive list of MCR podfic or the jinjurly archive. Besides, both of these are good places to look for popular contemporary fic authors. Also, a Podfic Appreciation Week just ran over at pod-aware! So check that out.
On the other hand, if you want to dive more into recent canon, I've compiled a short list of some of the best of the last year's interviews. As always, mcr_unofficial and tothetune are the best sources for news and up-to-the minute info, because Tumblr is terrifying.
- AP 272, Dawn of the Dead Mic, January 2011. Fucking hilarious and filmed by AP Editor/friend-of-the-band Jason Pettigrew.
- Kerrang!, February 2011
- Hilaridorable BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend Interview. Mikey is an amused vampire bodyguard and Gerard is SUPER embarrassed by the interviewer teasing him about doing a striptease. Also Gerard talking about how they're "the rock band" and don't know anybody, because MCR are always loner nerrrrds. ♥
- Kerrang!, August 2011, which has some GREAT new-to-us old info.
- Kerrang! podcast, August 2011. An interview with the Ways prior to the BRIAN FUCKIN' MAY show. Adorable adorable Mikeyway-ness and describing May as "better than jet packs." Also, Gerard's sexy rocker dad look and more hinting at new music.
- "Reading Was The Best Show Of Our Lives", August 2011. Post-Reading pre-Leeds interview with Gerard and Mikey where they talk about all their ~~FEELINGS about Reading and give some insight on how they know Brian May. There are two more videos from this interview that I've transcribed here, which are short and fucking hilarious.
- Fuse Voodoo interview, October 2011. The last interview we got from them. I know I mentioned it in the first part of the primer, but I wanted to include it here as well. They just look really fucking good and they are BROS in a BAND mocking themselves and fanboying David Bowie. Well, Gerard fanboys Bowie. The rest of them just look fondly at him.
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And...that is all I've got! If you still have questions and Google and/or Delicious and/or Pinboard are failing you, leave a comment! Keep shinin' on, Killjoys. ♥
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Part 1 | Part 2