Avengers thoughts
I've watched all the recent movies now, and taken a look around the fandom (mostly by poking around the AO3 tags, since it seems to be fairly centred there) and I have thoughts.
I'm most fascinated by Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, Bruce Banner and Agent Coulson, for different reasons. Tony is bubbling with charisma, has an interesting character arc and is screwed up in some ways that attract me (I do keep seeing him as a young Aral, as I said before). Pepper is gorgeous and competent and strong and reminds me of CJ Cregg. I was occasionally annoyed by the way they played her in the movies, but annoyed in the I-could-do-better-than-this sort of way - it felt like they were trying to make her an equal to Tony but didn't quite dare do it properly. I seriously need AU fic where she's the one who takes down Justin Hammer, using clever business tactics and possibly Natasha, and all that's left for Tony is the mopping up (we have to let Tony fight someone in a suit of armour or he'd feel left out). Coulson - well, I'm susceptible to a quiet unassuming man in a sharp suit who can be badass when necessary, that doesn't need a lot of explaining. But Bruce may be my secret favourite, because oh, what an interesting mess he is. He's all about control and what strength means, and he has so much pain, and then there's Betty and the way they swap who's taking care of who works so well for me. I am fascinated by him and his woes and he's the one I most want to explore.
I'm partly in luck and partly out of luck in the fandom. Tony is wildly popular, but mostly paired with Captain America, which doesn't really do anything for me (they don't even see each other in the films! though apparently there's a whole slashy thing in the comics), and Tony/Pepper is relatively minor. And you could be forgiven for thinking that Bruce is The Invisible Man instead of the Hulk; he's only a secondary character or not even there at all in most of the fic, which is a serious disappointment, and there's almost no Bruce/Betty that I can find, and certainly no epic h/c. But Agent Coulson is the suprise dark horse who has hundreds of fics to his name, almost always paired with someone called Clint. A bit of googling and research helped me figure out who Clint was, namely Hawkeye the archer who doesn't shoot Thor and who has about 45 seconds of mildly snarky banter with Coulson. As far as pairings go it's pretty much a blank slate, but I've thoroughly enjoyed some of the fic I've read. Other than that, Loki is another wildly popular character, but I have almost no interest in him, though I do like Thor. The other thing I'd like to read is gen teamfic stuff with canon pairings, but that doesn't seem to be particularly common. But there's a lot of fic out there, so no doubt I'll find stuff that's what I want to read if I keep looking.
As for writing ... well, I am toying with a few ideas, though the only actual words-on-page I have so far are random half-formed drabbles about Bruce. It's entirely possible nothing will come of it - I've started fics in all sorts of different fandoms, but the only one I appear to have real follow-through in is Vorkosigan. We'll see what happens ;-). I'm definitely looking forwards to the film now.
Oh, and have a rec for a fic that utterly charmed me today: Snakeshark! by Sidney Sussex. This is technically an Avengers fanfic (Coulson & Clint meeting), but I think you could probably just read it as original fiction, because it doesn't particularly use anything from the canon. But it is fantastic original fic - snappy B-movie adventures as our heroes go looking for an escaped scientific experiment. Excellent writing, hits all my narrative kinks (there is action! there is huddling together for warmth! there is hurt/comfort! there is snark! there is a new bond of loyalty being forged!) and basically, it's great.
ETA: Finally, I've found the Tony/Pepper fic I was hoping for: The Courting of Tony Stark. Fantastic characterisation and writing.
Crossposted at http://philomytha.dreamwidth.org/76440.html
I'm most fascinated by Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, Bruce Banner and Agent Coulson, for different reasons. Tony is bubbling with charisma, has an interesting character arc and is screwed up in some ways that attract me (I do keep seeing him as a young Aral, as I said before). Pepper is gorgeous and competent and strong and reminds me of CJ Cregg. I was occasionally annoyed by the way they played her in the movies, but annoyed in the I-could-do-better-than-this sort of way - it felt like they were trying to make her an equal to Tony but didn't quite dare do it properly. I seriously need AU fic where she's the one who takes down Justin Hammer, using clever business tactics and possibly Natasha, and all that's left for Tony is the mopping up (we have to let Tony fight someone in a suit of armour or he'd feel left out). Coulson - well, I'm susceptible to a quiet unassuming man in a sharp suit who can be badass when necessary, that doesn't need a lot of explaining. But Bruce may be my secret favourite, because oh, what an interesting mess he is. He's all about control and what strength means, and he has so much pain, and then there's Betty and the way they swap who's taking care of who works so well for me. I am fascinated by him and his woes and he's the one I most want to explore.
I'm partly in luck and partly out of luck in the fandom. Tony is wildly popular, but mostly paired with Captain America, which doesn't really do anything for me (they don't even see each other in the films! though apparently there's a whole slashy thing in the comics), and Tony/Pepper is relatively minor. And you could be forgiven for thinking that Bruce is The Invisible Man instead of the Hulk; he's only a secondary character or not even there at all in most of the fic, which is a serious disappointment, and there's almost no Bruce/Betty that I can find, and certainly no epic h/c. But Agent Coulson is the suprise dark horse who has hundreds of fics to his name, almost always paired with someone called Clint. A bit of googling and research helped me figure out who Clint was, namely Hawkeye the archer who doesn't shoot Thor and who has about 45 seconds of mildly snarky banter with Coulson. As far as pairings go it's pretty much a blank slate, but I've thoroughly enjoyed some of the fic I've read. Other than that, Loki is another wildly popular character, but I have almost no interest in him, though I do like Thor. The other thing I'd like to read is gen teamfic stuff with canon pairings, but that doesn't seem to be particularly common. But there's a lot of fic out there, so no doubt I'll find stuff that's what I want to read if I keep looking.
As for writing ... well, I am toying with a few ideas, though the only actual words-on-page I have so far are random half-formed drabbles about Bruce. It's entirely possible nothing will come of it - I've started fics in all sorts of different fandoms, but the only one I appear to have real follow-through in is Vorkosigan. We'll see what happens ;-). I'm definitely looking forwards to the film now.
Oh, and have a rec for a fic that utterly charmed me today: Snakeshark! by Sidney Sussex. This is technically an Avengers fanfic (Coulson & Clint meeting), but I think you could probably just read it as original fiction, because it doesn't particularly use anything from the canon. But it is fantastic original fic - snappy B-movie adventures as our heroes go looking for an escaped scientific experiment. Excellent writing, hits all my narrative kinks (there is action! there is huddling together for warmth! there is hurt/comfort! there is snark! there is a new bond of loyalty being forged!) and basically, it's great.
ETA: Finally, I've found the Tony/Pepper fic I was hoping for: The Courting of Tony Stark. Fantastic characterisation and writing.
Crossposted at http://philomytha.dreamwidth.org/76440.html