no one was more beautiful or dangerous than him
December 11: 
kore asked me to talk about Steve/Bucky.
I think at this point, they've reached OTP OF OTPs status for me, because the movies have done amazing things with their relationship (well, the Cap movies; I don't know what Joss has against Bucky that he's ignored almost completely in both Avengers films), and just when I thought it couldn't be any more central than it was in the movie named after them both, it looks like Captain America: Civil War will yet again put Steve and Bucky's relationship front and center. Which makes sense. It's a seminal (no pun intended) relationship in Steve's life, and it's shaped him not just in his childhood and pre-war days ("Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky."), but also the early days of his true legend (rather than the scripted propaganda he was part of prior to rescuing Bucky and the 107th et al.) when he goes AWOL and drops into Austria as a one-man wrecking crew to rescue Bucky; and then again as Steve's sergeant in the Howling Commandos - and clearly there's reciprocity there on Bucky's part ("I'm with you till the end of the line." "That little guy from Brooklyn who was too dumb not to run away from a fight, I'm following him."). And as Bucky's life shaped Steve's, his loss shapes Steve's death - it's only a few days at most between Bucky's fall in the Alps and Steve's decision not to punch out of the Valkyrie. Also, he goes from "I don't want to kill anyone. I don't like bullies, no matter where they're from." to "I'm going to wipe HYDRA off the map." after Bucky falls.
It's no surprise that when Natasha continually tries to set him up in the present that he says he wants someone with shared life experience. There are only two people who can give him that and neither of them fully remembers him at this point. I really love how they parallel Bucky and Peggy this way, and how it's only when Steve's started making the first tentative steps towards accepting the fact that he's living in the future and might as well start making friends (Sam, Natasha) that the past comes up and quite literally punches him in the face.
So when Steve discovers that not only did Bucky not die, his own sacrifice was in vain because HYDRA not only exists, it's been a parasite inside SHIELD - founded by his friends in what is basically his name (I mean, whatever the Doylistic reasons for choosing that name - and whatever full name it's an acronym of at any given time - within the MCU canon, Peggy [and Howard] clearly wanted the name to spell out SHIELD and the shield is synonymous with Captain America in-universe.) - and not only has it corrupted the good work that Peggy dedicated her life to, it's been torturing Bucky for 70 years!
But Steve is able to break through that programming (which seems to have been extensive and ongoing) just by saying Bucky's name! Pierce blathers on and on about how the Winter Soldier has shaped the century - which seems more like sop to his own ego than any attempt at cajoling the docile asset he's using as a weapon - but Bucky is remembering Steve. "But I knew him." And then on the helicarrier, Steve repeats back to him that line, that vow, "Till the end of the line," and you can see the confusion in Bucky's eyes, the realization that he does know this man, and so he saves him from drowning, and then goes off to find himself.
And of course, Steve will follow.
And then there's the CACW trailer. I mean, YET AGAIN, Steve is going to disobey orders/tear down existing (corrupt) power structures [as I have little doubt the Sokovia Accords, as championed by, let us not forget, Thunderbolt Ross, will turn out to be] in order to save Bucky, who is likely being framed for a new destructive act likely committed by Brock Rumlow/Crossbones. ("I don't do that anymore.") While I hope Steve has some non-personal/non-Bucky reason to oppose the accords, I also think he's reached a breaking point. How much more does he have to sacrifice for a government/world that just keeps disappointing him?
And now Bucky's not a theoretical - he remembers Steve, remembers details about their life together before the war, the man Steve was before the serum (the newspaper in his shoes), and aside from Peggy (and she does only on good days) he's now the only person who does (aside from Steve, and Steve's view of himself is complicated, no doubt). He knows Steve Rogers, and he doesn't necessarily only see Captain America, or the old stick in the mud, etc.
And whatever Bucky does, whatever he might believe he himself deserves for having done the things he's done, regardless of whether he was a POW/under duress/brainwashed/etc., can still let himself follow Steve, the same angry guy he's always followed, the one who was too dumb to back away from a fight when he believed the cause was right.
I mean, that is all just canon (and some speculation based on the CACW trailer). I feel like ten years from now, we wouldn't have to make a case for it, it would just be the romantic relationship in the second and third movies. But as it is, it hits a ton of my OTP buttons: BFF-turned-lovers, tragic separation of a great many years that ends in reunionating, learning to renegotiate a relationship after all that time has past and all those terrible things have happened (i.e., do we still feel the same if we're no longer the same people? are we just latching onto the familiar/comfortable, or can we create something new to move forward with while building on the past?), us-against-the-world/on the run, "I have to do it"/"You don't have to do it alone" etc. etc. It's basically everything I love in a ship at once. I mean, they even gave me insults as endearments in canon!
That was more a restatement of a shipping manifesto than anything new, but uh, I have a lot of Steve/Bucky feels, okay. Sometimes a restatement of basic principles is necessary. *g*
There's still a bunch of dates available, so if you have a topic you'd like me to talk about, comment here.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/800253.html.
people have commented there.
kore asked me to talk about Steve/Bucky.
I think at this point, they've reached OTP OF OTPs status for me, because the movies have done amazing things with their relationship (well, the Cap movies; I don't know what Joss has against Bucky that he's ignored almost completely in both Avengers films), and just when I thought it couldn't be any more central than it was in the movie named after them both, it looks like Captain America: Civil War will yet again put Steve and Bucky's relationship front and center. Which makes sense. It's a seminal (no pun intended) relationship in Steve's life, and it's shaped him not just in his childhood and pre-war days ("Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky."), but also the early days of his true legend (rather than the scripted propaganda he was part of prior to rescuing Bucky and the 107th et al.) when he goes AWOL and drops into Austria as a one-man wrecking crew to rescue Bucky; and then again as Steve's sergeant in the Howling Commandos - and clearly there's reciprocity there on Bucky's part ("I'm with you till the end of the line." "That little guy from Brooklyn who was too dumb not to run away from a fight, I'm following him."). And as Bucky's life shaped Steve's, his loss shapes Steve's death - it's only a few days at most between Bucky's fall in the Alps and Steve's decision not to punch out of the Valkyrie. Also, he goes from "I don't want to kill anyone. I don't like bullies, no matter where they're from." to "I'm going to wipe HYDRA off the map." after Bucky falls.
It's no surprise that when Natasha continually tries to set him up in the present that he says he wants someone with shared life experience. There are only two people who can give him that and neither of them fully remembers him at this point. I really love how they parallel Bucky and Peggy this way, and how it's only when Steve's started making the first tentative steps towards accepting the fact that he's living in the future and might as well start making friends (Sam, Natasha) that the past comes up and quite literally punches him in the face.
So when Steve discovers that not only did Bucky not die, his own sacrifice was in vain because HYDRA not only exists, it's been a parasite inside SHIELD - founded by his friends in what is basically his name (I mean, whatever the Doylistic reasons for choosing that name - and whatever full name it's an acronym of at any given time - within the MCU canon, Peggy [and Howard] clearly wanted the name to spell out SHIELD and the shield is synonymous with Captain America in-universe.) - and not only has it corrupted the good work that Peggy dedicated her life to, it's been torturing Bucky for 70 years!
But Steve is able to break through that programming (which seems to have been extensive and ongoing) just by saying Bucky's name! Pierce blathers on and on about how the Winter Soldier has shaped the century - which seems more like sop to his own ego than any attempt at cajoling the docile asset he's using as a weapon - but Bucky is remembering Steve. "But I knew him." And then on the helicarrier, Steve repeats back to him that line, that vow, "Till the end of the line," and you can see the confusion in Bucky's eyes, the realization that he does know this man, and so he saves him from drowning, and then goes off to find himself.
And of course, Steve will follow.
And then there's the CACW trailer. I mean, YET AGAIN, Steve is going to disobey orders/tear down existing (corrupt) power structures [as I have little doubt the Sokovia Accords, as championed by, let us not forget, Thunderbolt Ross, will turn out to be] in order to save Bucky, who is likely being framed for a new destructive act likely committed by Brock Rumlow/Crossbones. ("I don't do that anymore.") While I hope Steve has some non-personal/non-Bucky reason to oppose the accords, I also think he's reached a breaking point. How much more does he have to sacrifice for a government/world that just keeps disappointing him?
And now Bucky's not a theoretical - he remembers Steve, remembers details about their life together before the war, the man Steve was before the serum (the newspaper in his shoes), and aside from Peggy (and she does only on good days) he's now the only person who does (aside from Steve, and Steve's view of himself is complicated, no doubt). He knows Steve Rogers, and he doesn't necessarily only see Captain America, or the old stick in the mud, etc.
And whatever Bucky does, whatever he might believe he himself deserves for having done the things he's done, regardless of whether he was a POW/under duress/brainwashed/etc., can still let himself follow Steve, the same angry guy he's always followed, the one who was too dumb to back away from a fight when he believed the cause was right.
I mean, that is all just canon (and some speculation based on the CACW trailer). I feel like ten years from now, we wouldn't have to make a case for it, it would just be the romantic relationship in the second and third movies. But as it is, it hits a ton of my OTP buttons: BFF-turned-lovers, tragic separation of a great many years that ends in reunionating, learning to renegotiate a relationship after all that time has past and all those terrible things have happened (i.e., do we still feel the same if we're no longer the same people? are we just latching onto the familiar/comfortable, or can we create something new to move forward with while building on the past?), us-against-the-world/on the run, "I have to do it"/"You don't have to do it alone" etc. etc. It's basically everything I love in a ship at once. I mean, they even gave me insults as endearments in canon!
That was more a restatement of a shipping manifesto than anything new, but uh, I have a lot of Steve/Bucky feels, okay. Sometimes a restatement of basic principles is necessary. *g*
There's still a bunch of dates available, so if you have a topic you'd like me to talk about, comment here.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/800253.html.
people have commented there.