Episode 40: Pimp My Fandom Transcript
Ep 40 PMF Transcript
Host: elanorofcastile
Guest: Jen aka astudyinfic
Fandom: Bond/Q (James Bond: Skyfall)
ElanorofCastile: Welcome to the Pimp My Fandom segment for episode 40 of Slashcast. This is your fabulous ElanoroCastile chiming in and this month we’ve got, er, Jen also known as Astudyinfic talking about the fabulous pairing of Bond and Q from Skyfall. So welcome, Jen.
Jen: Thank you.
EoC: Alright! So: Skyfall. Yay!
Jen: Yay!
EoC: So, let’s see. How about we do just do a little quick rundown on the 411 on what Skyfall is.
Jen: Okay. Skyfall is, I believe, the 24th um James Bond movie just recently released back in November. And it involves Daniel Craig as James Bond and he’s doing his thing saving the world, this time from a rogue MI6 agent named, er Raoul Silva, and yeah, that’s pretty much… he does his Bond thing and of course there is our beloved Q who is there with not as interesting a gadgets as Bond would like, but he’s always there to help him out when needed. So.
EoC: Awesome.
Jen: Pretty much it.
EoC: Yeah, and the bonus is it’s now out on DVD. I know that I haven’t had a chance to watch through and play with all the extras-
Jen: Yeah.
EoC: - there’s bound to be some, some more fun stuff in there. So we know that, kind of the vague ship, and the one that we’re going to mostly talk about is Bond and Q, but are there any other, kind of, parings in the fandom?
Jen: Well there’s two canon pairings from the movie which are both, um, James Bond and Severine who is one of the Bond girls, I guess you could call her, who actually works for the bad guy. And then there’s Bond and Eve Moneypenny who is another MI6 agent. But then outside of canon there’s also the 00Silva pairing, which is Bond and the bad guy, Raoul Silva [EoC makes agreeing sound]. And there’s actually some hints… there’s more hints at that probably than 00Qin the film, so that is actually also a pretty big pairing, in the fandom.
EoC: Mmhmm. Well, and I mean Javier Bardem, you can’t go wrong. [laughs]
Jen: Exactly.
EoC: With different fandoms comes different sorts of, kind of, activity locations, umm some older fandoms are more, like, livejournal or fanfiction.net focussed, but how about Skyfall? Where does it kind of live on the internet?
Jen: Well most from most of my experience it’s mostly on tumblr. There are a couple bl- er, yeah blogs I guess on livejournal, and I know that livejournal is actually hosting a 00Q big bang writing contest right now.
EoC: Oooh.
Jen: Yes. Er, 15,000 words in five months, so it’ll be interesting. But yeah it’s mostly on tumblr from what I can tell. It’s a pretty small fandom compared to some of the other ones on that website, but it’s definitely growing.
EoC: Cool. Yeah. Well and with the er, you know and with the big long history of James Bond, as well, behind it leaves for an interesting- interesting different opportunities.
Jen: Yeah. And then the actor who played who played um Q, Ben Wishaw, he actually had another major movie come out at the same time, and in that one he’s actually in a gay relationship which gives all sorts of fun gifs that can be carried over into the 00Q because by a happy coincidence the actor he’s in a relationship with looks a lot like Daniel Craig. So we’ve been having a lot of fun with that.
EoC: Great. Oh, yeah and that was Cloud Atlas, right?
Jen: Yes, Cloud Atlas.
EoC: Oh, yes I have not seen that one yet, it is-
Jen: Yeah, it never made it to my part of the world so I’m hoping it will come out on DVD soon so I can actually see it.
EoC: For sure, for sure. So with things kind of, you know, centralised more or less around tumblr and then some different communities on LJ and some on AO3 what are some of the good, um, gateway, like introduction to the pairing sorts of fics that you would think would be great recommendations? Or other, like, communities, people who do photosets, or that sort of stuff?
Jen: Yeah. Yeah, um well I love fic, it is kind of my bread and butter when it comes to fandom, so I… it took me a long time to even come up with a small enough list so I’m not taking up all of your time [EoC laughs], cause there’s just so much good stuff out there and we may be a small fandom but I feel like we’re really talented because everything is just amazing as far as I’m concerned. But if you only read one fic my personal all-time favourite is called The Sheer Lack of Professionalism, in which Q gets kidnapped and is just horrified by how unorganised his kidnappers are. [EoC laughs] And it is just, it’s a short fic, it is, take the fifteen minutes and read it, it makes me so happy. I’ve read it at least a dozen times, it is amazing.
EoC: Awesome.
Jen: So, um, yeah. If you’re also looking at fights I guess I should warn you that I really love fluffy fics. Happy. I don’t do dark, so that definitely taints my opinions on fics; so, you will notice a lot of these are rather fluffy and happy. Another one would be Prowl by professorfangirl, um this one’s basically a Plot What Plot, but it’s terrifically written I would highly recommend it to everyone. Um, yeah, I don’t know what else to say about that one. [EoC laughs] Go read it. It’s great. It’s also a short one, and there is a second part which is significantly longer, but Prowl can be read on its own without needing to go on if you don’t want. So, um, if you want more, to include more of the other Skyfall characters I’d recommend Thursday Nights, which is basically where James Bond, Q, Eve Moneypenny and Bill Tanner who’s MI6’s chief of staff basically get together every Thursday night and play games, eat food, and gossip and it’s amazing, and fun, and just adorable, and poor Eve and Bill having to put up with James and Q is just pretty hilarious. [EoC laughs] Um, if you’re looking for a longer one I’d recommend The Firewall Series. It’s actually an alternate universe.
EoC: Oh, okay.
Jen: Where they still work at MI6, they still have their same jobs, however they have superpowers.
EoC: Hey! That’s pretty smart.
Jen: Q is a technopath who can control technology with his mind, and I won’t actually say what James is because it’s kind of a big plot point.
EoC: Ahh.
Jen: So, but yes, so if you’re- it’s a series. I think there’s five or six parts at the moment and it’s still growing, so definitely look into that one. And then my final one would be Gunpowder Grey and Flashes of White by oldamongdreams.
EoC: Uh huh.
Jen: And in that one Q sees sounds as colours.
EoC: Oh yes.
Jen: Which sounds interesting, but- So he sees- So each person he interacts with he associates a colour with them: with their voice, with the way their shoes sound on the tile, and it’s an interesting take on James and Q getting together with Q having this extra ability which James doesn’t quite understand.
EoC: Mhmm. And that one’s a crossover too, right?
Jen: I believe so, yes. It’s been a while since I read it. I think it’s a Bondlock crossover.
EoC: Yeah. Well and that’s, that’d definitely be a, an interesting bit to crossover since they technically do live in, in modern London.
Jen: Yes. And Q very much looks like a young Sherlock Holmes.
EoC: Oh for sure.
Jen: I have written several Bondlock fics myself, there’s a Bondlock tumblr.
EoC: Uh huh.
Jen: Bondlocksettogo, or something like that, I’d have to look it up.
EoC: Cool.
Jen: But yeah, Bondlock itself is actually its own fandom as well, where either Q is the younger Holmes, or John and Sherlock’s son depending on who’s writing and how they wanna do that.
EoC: Cool.
Jen: Unfortunately I’m not very up on artists but I would like to promote ShipImala on tumblr.
EoC: Mmhmm.
Jen: She does, um, photo and gif sets and she’s done over 120 00Q gifsets.
EoC: Wow.
Jen: And they are all linked right off of her front page and they are amazing. Some of them are in universe, some of them are AUs, I find ‘em really inspiring for writing because they’re just pictures and a couple of lines and you can take it however you want and it’s just- they’re- I suggest looking at them because they’re gorgeous.
EoC: Yeah. Yeah. I’ve really started to truly, really dig photosets and gifsets, you know? Because it’s like [happy sigh], you know? It gives everything and I’m like ‘I don’t have time to write this but oh man I really hope someone does’, so you follow it.
Jen: Yeah. Exactly.
EoC: You watch the talent.
Jen: There have been some really good fics that have come from her gifsets, so, um, yeah and she usually links - actually I’m just assuming it’s a she, I’m pretty sure it’s a woman behind the blog, but um - she links to the fics if somebody writes one about it so that’s another way to get into the, to reading these stories.
EoC: Cool.
Jen: Yeah.
EoC: Well, great. Hey. And, you know, definitely we will have links for these up all on our post-show-post, so be sure to check ‘em out, they are pretty exciting looking. I know I have actually started to read [laughs] the Firewall series. I haven’t gotten very far in, but it’s been good so far, so hey.
Jen: Yup.
EoC: So, let’s see. So I guess, er, is there anything else maybe, about the fandom or whatever pairing that, er, you wanna kind of handwave about, or share with us?
Jen: Well another neat thing about it is that this fandom and pairing is very active in the tumblr roleplaying community.
EoC: Okay.
Jen: It’s actually… I run into tumblr roleplayers that are Q, or James, or even the other characters on a daily basis. I’m actually involved with that as well. And it’s just, it’s a good time, and it’s so fun because Q only gets about fifteen minutes of screen time in the movie.
EoC: [laughs] Uh huh.
Jen: So we don’t actually get whole lot of character development with him so it’s interesting to see how everyone has their own take on who he is and how he got to be in such a high position at MI6 so quickly.
EoC: Uh huh.
Jen: So it’s fun to read and learn about everyone else’s take on this, ‘cause everyone knows James Bond, but not everyone knows the Quartermaster behind James Bond, so.
EoC: Exactly. Exactly. Fun. Yea I know that I’ve seen, I guess, it’s always exciting to see what sort of things develop out of different sorts of, kind of, online communities or whatever, and the different, like, ask commun- Ask tumblrs.
Jen: Oh yes.
EoC: And things like that are really fun, and the creativity that people can put into it is just astounding.
Jen: Yes.
EoC: I’ve seen a few that it’s like, they do, er, like videos of themselves in cosplay as the characters and things, so…
Jen: Yah.
EoC: It’s an interesting phenomena.
Jen: Yeah. I haven’t actually seen a whole lot of, um, 00Q fan, er cosplay yet, however I do have one of my friends making me a scarf that looks like Q’s sweater. So I’m just very excited.
EoC: Oh my god. That’ll be so much fun.
Jen: I’ll be wearing that every day if I can.
EoC: [chuckling] Excellent.
Jen: Yes.
EoC: Well great, and thank you, Jen for talking with me today about Bond and Q, and Skyfall fandom. And if anyone out there would like to pimp your fandom on Slashcast feel free to leave a comment on the post show post at any of our different sites: tumblr, Livejournal, our website, Dreamwidth, all over the place. Or you can email us at islashdoyou @ gmail.com. Thanks for listening!
Transcribed by: angelbabe_cj
Host: elanorofcastile
Guest: Jen aka astudyinfic
Fandom: Bond/Q (James Bond: Skyfall)
ElanorofCastile: Welcome to the Pimp My Fandom segment for episode 40 of Slashcast. This is your fabulous ElanoroCastile chiming in and this month we’ve got, er, Jen also known as Astudyinfic talking about the fabulous pairing of Bond and Q from Skyfall. So welcome, Jen.
Jen: Thank you.
EoC: Alright! So: Skyfall. Yay!
Jen: Yay!
EoC: So, let’s see. How about we do just do a little quick rundown on the 411 on what Skyfall is.
Jen: Okay. Skyfall is, I believe, the 24th um James Bond movie just recently released back in November. And it involves Daniel Craig as James Bond and he’s doing his thing saving the world, this time from a rogue MI6 agent named, er Raoul Silva, and yeah, that’s pretty much… he does his Bond thing and of course there is our beloved Q who is there with not as interesting a gadgets as Bond would like, but he’s always there to help him out when needed. So.
EoC: Awesome.
Jen: Pretty much it.
EoC: Yeah, and the bonus is it’s now out on DVD. I know that I haven’t had a chance to watch through and play with all the extras-
Jen: Yeah.
EoC: - there’s bound to be some, some more fun stuff in there. So we know that, kind of the vague ship, and the one that we’re going to mostly talk about is Bond and Q, but are there any other, kind of, parings in the fandom?
Jen: Well there’s two canon pairings from the movie which are both, um, James Bond and Severine who is one of the Bond girls, I guess you could call her, who actually works for the bad guy. And then there’s Bond and Eve Moneypenny who is another MI6 agent. But then outside of canon there’s also the 00Silva pairing, which is Bond and the bad guy, Raoul Silva [EoC makes agreeing sound]. And there’s actually some hints… there’s more hints at that probably than 00Qin the film, so that is actually also a pretty big pairing, in the fandom.
EoC: Mmhmm. Well, and I mean Javier Bardem, you can’t go wrong. [laughs]
Jen: Exactly.
EoC: With different fandoms comes different sorts of, kind of, activity locations, umm some older fandoms are more, like, livejournal or fanfiction.net focussed, but how about Skyfall? Where does it kind of live on the internet?
Jen: Well most from most of my experience it’s mostly on tumblr. There are a couple bl- er, yeah blogs I guess on livejournal, and I know that livejournal is actually hosting a 00Q big bang writing contest right now.
EoC: Oooh.
Jen: Yes. Er, 15,000 words in five months, so it’ll be interesting. But yeah it’s mostly on tumblr from what I can tell. It’s a pretty small fandom compared to some of the other ones on that website, but it’s definitely growing.
EoC: Cool. Yeah. Well and with the er, you know and with the big long history of James Bond, as well, behind it leaves for an interesting- interesting different opportunities.
Jen: Yeah. And then the actor who played who played um Q, Ben Wishaw, he actually had another major movie come out at the same time, and in that one he’s actually in a gay relationship which gives all sorts of fun gifs that can be carried over into the 00Q because by a happy coincidence the actor he’s in a relationship with looks a lot like Daniel Craig. So we’ve been having a lot of fun with that.
EoC: Great. Oh, yeah and that was Cloud Atlas, right?
Jen: Yes, Cloud Atlas.
EoC: Oh, yes I have not seen that one yet, it is-
Jen: Yeah, it never made it to my part of the world so I’m hoping it will come out on DVD soon so I can actually see it.
EoC: For sure, for sure. So with things kind of, you know, centralised more or less around tumblr and then some different communities on LJ and some on AO3 what are some of the good, um, gateway, like introduction to the pairing sorts of fics that you would think would be great recommendations? Or other, like, communities, people who do photosets, or that sort of stuff?
Jen: Yeah. Yeah, um well I love fic, it is kind of my bread and butter when it comes to fandom, so I… it took me a long time to even come up with a small enough list so I’m not taking up all of your time [EoC laughs], cause there’s just so much good stuff out there and we may be a small fandom but I feel like we’re really talented because everything is just amazing as far as I’m concerned. But if you only read one fic my personal all-time favourite is called The Sheer Lack of Professionalism, in which Q gets kidnapped and is just horrified by how unorganised his kidnappers are. [EoC laughs] And it is just, it’s a short fic, it is, take the fifteen minutes and read it, it makes me so happy. I’ve read it at least a dozen times, it is amazing.
EoC: Awesome.
Jen: So, um, yeah. If you’re also looking at fights I guess I should warn you that I really love fluffy fics. Happy. I don’t do dark, so that definitely taints my opinions on fics; so, you will notice a lot of these are rather fluffy and happy. Another one would be Prowl by professorfangirl, um this one’s basically a Plot What Plot, but it’s terrifically written I would highly recommend it to everyone. Um, yeah, I don’t know what else to say about that one. [EoC laughs] Go read it. It’s great. It’s also a short one, and there is a second part which is significantly longer, but Prowl can be read on its own without needing to go on if you don’t want. So, um, if you want more, to include more of the other Skyfall characters I’d recommend Thursday Nights, which is basically where James Bond, Q, Eve Moneypenny and Bill Tanner who’s MI6’s chief of staff basically get together every Thursday night and play games, eat food, and gossip and it’s amazing, and fun, and just adorable, and poor Eve and Bill having to put up with James and Q is just pretty hilarious. [EoC laughs] Um, if you’re looking for a longer one I’d recommend The Firewall Series. It’s actually an alternate universe.
EoC: Oh, okay.
Jen: Where they still work at MI6, they still have their same jobs, however they have superpowers.
EoC: Hey! That’s pretty smart.
Jen: Q is a technopath who can control technology with his mind, and I won’t actually say what James is because it’s kind of a big plot point.
EoC: Ahh.
Jen: So, but yes, so if you’re- it’s a series. I think there’s five or six parts at the moment and it’s still growing, so definitely look into that one. And then my final one would be Gunpowder Grey and Flashes of White by oldamongdreams.
EoC: Uh huh.
Jen: And in that one Q sees sounds as colours.
EoC: Oh yes.
Jen: Which sounds interesting, but- So he sees- So each person he interacts with he associates a colour with them: with their voice, with the way their shoes sound on the tile, and it’s an interesting take on James and Q getting together with Q having this extra ability which James doesn’t quite understand.
EoC: Mhmm. And that one’s a crossover too, right?
Jen: I believe so, yes. It’s been a while since I read it. I think it’s a Bondlock crossover.
EoC: Yeah. Well and that’s, that’d definitely be a, an interesting bit to crossover since they technically do live in, in modern London.
Jen: Yes. And Q very much looks like a young Sherlock Holmes.
EoC: Oh for sure.
Jen: I have written several Bondlock fics myself, there’s a Bondlock tumblr.
EoC: Uh huh.
Jen: Bondlocksettogo, or something like that, I’d have to look it up.
EoC: Cool.
Jen: But yeah, Bondlock itself is actually its own fandom as well, where either Q is the younger Holmes, or John and Sherlock’s son depending on who’s writing and how they wanna do that.
EoC: Cool.
Jen: Unfortunately I’m not very up on artists but I would like to promote ShipImala on tumblr.
EoC: Mmhmm.
Jen: She does, um, photo and gif sets and she’s done over 120 00Q gifsets.
EoC: Wow.
Jen: And they are all linked right off of her front page and they are amazing. Some of them are in universe, some of them are AUs, I find ‘em really inspiring for writing because they’re just pictures and a couple of lines and you can take it however you want and it’s just- they’re- I suggest looking at them because they’re gorgeous.
EoC: Yeah. Yeah. I’ve really started to truly, really dig photosets and gifsets, you know? Because it’s like [happy sigh], you know? It gives everything and I’m like ‘I don’t have time to write this but oh man I really hope someone does’, so you follow it.
Jen: Yeah. Exactly.
EoC: You watch the talent.
Jen: There have been some really good fics that have come from her gifsets, so, um, yeah and she usually links - actually I’m just assuming it’s a she, I’m pretty sure it’s a woman behind the blog, but um - she links to the fics if somebody writes one about it so that’s another way to get into the, to reading these stories.
EoC: Cool.
Jen: Yeah.
EoC: Well, great. Hey. And, you know, definitely we will have links for these up all on our post-show-post, so be sure to check ‘em out, they are pretty exciting looking. I know I have actually started to read [laughs] the Firewall series. I haven’t gotten very far in, but it’s been good so far, so hey.
Jen: Yup.
EoC: So, let’s see. So I guess, er, is there anything else maybe, about the fandom or whatever pairing that, er, you wanna kind of handwave about, or share with us?
Jen: Well another neat thing about it is that this fandom and pairing is very active in the tumblr roleplaying community.
EoC: Okay.
Jen: It’s actually… I run into tumblr roleplayers that are Q, or James, or even the other characters on a daily basis. I’m actually involved with that as well. And it’s just, it’s a good time, and it’s so fun because Q only gets about fifteen minutes of screen time in the movie.
EoC: [laughs] Uh huh.
Jen: So we don’t actually get whole lot of character development with him so it’s interesting to see how everyone has their own take on who he is and how he got to be in such a high position at MI6 so quickly.
EoC: Uh huh.
Jen: So it’s fun to read and learn about everyone else’s take on this, ‘cause everyone knows James Bond, but not everyone knows the Quartermaster behind James Bond, so.
EoC: Exactly. Exactly. Fun. Yea I know that I’ve seen, I guess, it’s always exciting to see what sort of things develop out of different sorts of, kind of, online communities or whatever, and the different, like, ask commun- Ask tumblrs.
Jen: Oh yes.
EoC: And things like that are really fun, and the creativity that people can put into it is just astounding.
Jen: Yes.
EoC: I’ve seen a few that it’s like, they do, er, like videos of themselves in cosplay as the characters and things, so…
Jen: Yah.
EoC: It’s an interesting phenomena.
Jen: Yeah. I haven’t actually seen a whole lot of, um, 00Q fan, er cosplay yet, however I do have one of my friends making me a scarf that looks like Q’s sweater. So I’m just very excited.
EoC: Oh my god. That’ll be so much fun.
Jen: I’ll be wearing that every day if I can.
EoC: [chuckling] Excellent.
Jen: Yes.
EoC: Well great, and thank you, Jen for talking with me today about Bond and Q, and Skyfall fandom. And if anyone out there would like to pimp your fandom on Slashcast feel free to leave a comment on the post show post at any of our different sites: tumblr, Livejournal, our website, Dreamwidth, all over the place. Or you can email us at islashdoyou @ gmail.com. Thanks for listening!
Transcribed by: angelbabe_cj