Hrrrngh (YJ fandom stuff).
This is likely completely my issue, and I'm not really expecting a response, but this has been on my mind for a while now so I thought I'd type it out, and if anyone else is in the same boat they can nod and smile and take a shot or whatever. Bear in mind I'm writing this at 4 AM on the anniversary of some rough shit and therefore everything is looking like an Issue when I totally get that it's not, and that I should probably just stfu and go back in my corner but I don't feel like starting essay #3 yet so here goes.
Let's start by saying that I like Robin. A lot, actually. He's fun to write, especially in combo with Kid Flash, and when I was just watching the show and not involved with fandom at all, I would have said he was my second favorite character, but I gotta be real - I just don't quite get the YJ fandom's mind-boggling love affair with this kid. At first I thought maybe it was because he's closest to the age demographic that actually watches this show (overaged college loser over here), but then I realized, no, that's not it. Everybody loves Robin - except me (and I do, honest! just not that much!).
ETA: even as I'm rereading this, I can feel the Robin fangirl/boy hackles raising, and I want to make it clear that I have absolutely nothing against him - this is honest confusion, not a passive-aggressive way of bitching that Kaldur doesn't get enough attention, which he doesn't but that's beside the point.
Maybe it's because I'm not acquainted enough with other DC canons to fully grasp Robin's context, but I'm mystified by the fact that I'm pretty sure there are more prompts on the YJAM centered on the Batsibs than there are about M'gann, despite the fact that none of them have even been mentioned in the YJ universe (unless you count Robin's comment about the Batcave being crowded in "Fireworks"). Like...what? Did I miss something? Is this show actually Batman plus supporting cast, and I just didn't get the memo?
I love Young Justice. I love the team as a whole, and all their beautiful individual dynamics, and all the potential for comedy and tragedy and everything in-between, and I guess as I look at this with my politics goggles on, I have to wonder why it is that with a team of six members, the three that overwhelmingly get the most attention (Robin, Wally and Conner) are the white dudes. Even Spare White Dude (Roy, who let's be real, I adore) gets more prompts and fills than either of the chicks, and probably more than the black dude, even though he appears in a fraction the number of the episodes they do.
So I guess my question isn't why Robin but more why not everyone else? I get that he has more history to play off of than some of the others, but to me half of the appeal of fandom is the space that isn't taken up, the bits you get to make up because no one's told you otherwise. And when I open up the YJAM and there are eight more prompts about Robin getting tortured/cuddled/crushed/crushed on/trolled/his troll on and only one or so about anyone else...I'm a little bummed out, to be honest. I'm probably exaggerating, but it's undeniable that the level of interest in Robin is exponentially higher than the level of interest in any other single character, except maybe Wally.
Some possible contributing factors to my frustration, from a realistic personal perspective:
1) I spent eight years in all-girls school during the height of the Twilight craze, with absolutely no interest in Twilight. I feel like I paid my dues in the "I don't get it" club.
2) He's thirteen, which makes me feel creepy about shipping him with anyone (unless he's aged up) due to personal history/trigger stuff . There have been many prompts that didn't come with trigger warnings because LJ communities in general seem chill with pretty significant age differences, and a few of them (mostly the ones involving dubcon and/or mentor/protege stuff) have actually made me feel sick. I realize this is a personal issue and I don't expect to be accommodated, but it's where I'm at.
3) There's this weird self-repeating cycle of identifying with Kaldur due to being older than everyone/communicating differently/having your would-be girlfriend go for your bff instead, and because you identify with Kaldur, you write him, and few people give a fuck (which is totally within their rights to do), and you realize no one gives a fuck about Kaldur either, so you identify with him more closely, so you write him more, and people continue not to give a fuck, blah blah blah. /drama
In conclusion...I am pro-Robin, but I am pro-everyone else, too, and it makes me sad when tired prompts with him at their center get posted/seconded/filled more often than fresh, innovative prompts featuring someone else. Seriously - bring on the team stories, the not foreveralone!Kaldur, the Artemis outside the Spitfire context, the M'gann in any form. My life is full of angsty white dudes already; I live with several of them.
Alternately, someone explain it to me. I feel pretty alone in this fandom a lot of the time. Is that inevitable, or is everyone harboring some secret enthusiasm for characters other than the Boy Wonder? If you're out there, speak up, please.
Let's start by saying that I like Robin. A lot, actually. He's fun to write, especially in combo with Kid Flash, and when I was just watching the show and not involved with fandom at all, I would have said he was my second favorite character, but I gotta be real - I just don't quite get the YJ fandom's mind-boggling love affair with this kid. At first I thought maybe it was because he's closest to the age demographic that actually watches this show (overaged college loser over here), but then I realized, no, that's not it. Everybody loves Robin - except me (and I do, honest! just not that much!).
ETA: even as I'm rereading this, I can feel the Robin fangirl/boy hackles raising, and I want to make it clear that I have absolutely nothing against him - this is honest confusion, not a passive-aggressive way of bitching that Kaldur doesn't get enough attention, which he doesn't but that's beside the point.
Maybe it's because I'm not acquainted enough with other DC canons to fully grasp Robin's context, but I'm mystified by the fact that I'm pretty sure there are more prompts on the YJAM centered on the Batsibs than there are about M'gann, despite the fact that none of them have even been mentioned in the YJ universe (unless you count Robin's comment about the Batcave being crowded in "Fireworks"). Like...what? Did I miss something? Is this show actually Batman plus supporting cast, and I just didn't get the memo?
I love Young Justice. I love the team as a whole, and all their beautiful individual dynamics, and all the potential for comedy and tragedy and everything in-between, and I guess as I look at this with my politics goggles on, I have to wonder why it is that with a team of six members, the three that overwhelmingly get the most attention (Robin, Wally and Conner) are the white dudes. Even Spare White Dude (Roy, who let's be real, I adore) gets more prompts and fills than either of the chicks, and probably more than the black dude, even though he appears in a fraction the number of the episodes they do.
So I guess my question isn't why Robin but more why not everyone else? I get that he has more history to play off of than some of the others, but to me half of the appeal of fandom is the space that isn't taken up, the bits you get to make up because no one's told you otherwise. And when I open up the YJAM and there are eight more prompts about Robin getting tortured/cuddled/crushed/crushed on/trolled/his troll on and only one or so about anyone else...I'm a little bummed out, to be honest. I'm probably exaggerating, but it's undeniable that the level of interest in Robin is exponentially higher than the level of interest in any other single character, except maybe Wally.
Some possible contributing factors to my frustration, from a realistic personal perspective:
1) I spent eight years in all-girls school during the height of the Twilight craze, with absolutely no interest in Twilight. I feel like I paid my dues in the "I don't get it" club.
2) He's thirteen, which makes me feel creepy about shipping him with anyone (unless he's aged up) due to personal history/trigger stuff . There have been many prompts that didn't come with trigger warnings because LJ communities in general seem chill with pretty significant age differences, and a few of them (mostly the ones involving dubcon and/or mentor/protege stuff) have actually made me feel sick. I realize this is a personal issue and I don't expect to be accommodated, but it's where I'm at.
3) There's this weird self-repeating cycle of identifying with Kaldur due to being older than everyone/communicating differently/having your would-be girlfriend go for your bff instead, and because you identify with Kaldur, you write him, and few people give a fuck (which is totally within their rights to do), and you realize no one gives a fuck about Kaldur either, so you identify with him more closely, so you write him more, and people continue not to give a fuck, blah blah blah. /drama
In conclusion...I am pro-Robin, but I am pro-everyone else, too, and it makes me sad when tired prompts with him at their center get posted/seconded/filled more often than fresh, innovative prompts featuring someone else. Seriously - bring on the team stories, the not foreveralone!Kaldur, the Artemis outside the Spitfire context, the M'gann in any form. My life is full of angsty white dudes already; I live with several of them.
Alternately, someone explain it to me. I feel pretty alone in this fandom a lot of the time. Is that inevitable, or is everyone harboring some secret enthusiasm for characters other than the Boy Wonder? If you're out there, speak up, please.