I got a notification that I was mentioned and was really pleased to read this defense of the South Park fandom - it's a really good analysis of why the show is perfect for fic, and why I'm still writing in it after three years, though it's a very fic-light fandom (at least in proportion to the art). There's so much potential for both seriousness and whimsical stuff like getting Satan and the forces of evil involved, and I think it's my ideal canon in terms of strong relationships between the characters that would change and develop as they grew older, potential for surreal plotlines (like mpreg, ha, it's kind of canon, Kyle was sort of pregnant with the Antichrist on the show ... sort of), and all the gender identity fodder. It's also a show that doesn't romanticize any of its characters, so I think that lends toward both romanticizing them a bit more in fandom, for those of us who crave that, and prevents that kind of non-canon perspective from being too unrealistic or cheap, in the better fics.
I feel like I'm rambling, I'm randomly written a lot about SP fandom today in other venues -- but yeah, your points are so valid and relatable to me, and I wish more people would give the fandom a chance (I mean, HP involves a lot of aging up, and it's huge!! But then there's the cartoon/simple animation style deterrent, I suppose). I really appreciate the rec of my stuff, too, thank you!
(fyi I still think about your fics with the messed up Kirk/Chekov-->Sulu dynamic, and I largely credit you for making me so interested in that kind of messy relationship between the three of them, and it's just good to hear from you!)
It's good to hear from you too! Yoooouuu have no idea how huge it is to hear that my fic influenced you like that. It makes sense that you can relate to my points since I pretty much drew directly from what I like about your work! I'll second your bit about the show not romanticizing the characters because, even though the fandom is kind of bitty, I imagine it has the same amount of pairings as HP, if not more.
And since we're on the subject of pairings, I think it needs to be mentioned that SP has the cutest ship names of all time. This is directly from the South Park Fanon wikia: "The South Park fandom seems to favor ship names that can be actual words: Style (Stan/Kyle), Bunny (Butters/Kenny), Creek (Craig/Tweek), Candy (Cartman/Wendy), Dip (Pip/Damien), Cutters (Cartman/Butters)."
I don't think anything will ever beat "Stark Spangled Banner" as a ship name in my mind but this collection comes close.
So yes! I'm 100% with you as always and I'm using this opportunity to mention how damn swell it would be if you were to put some recs up in your journal! I have such difficulty finding stuff and I can only re-read Testaburger Manor so many times XD
I feel like I'm rambling, I'm randomly written a lot about SP fandom today in other venues -- but yeah, your points are so valid and relatable to me, and I wish more people would give the fandom a chance (I mean, HP involves a lot of aging up, and it's huge!! But then there's the cartoon/simple animation style deterrent, I suppose). I really appreciate the rec of my stuff, too, thank you!
(fyi I still think about your fics with the messed up Kirk/Chekov-->Sulu dynamic, and I largely credit you for making me so interested in that kind of messy relationship between the three of them, and it's just good to hear from you!)
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It's good to hear from you too! Yoooouuu have no idea how huge it is to hear that my fic influenced you like that. It makes sense that you can relate to my points since I pretty much drew directly from what I like about your work! I'll second your bit about the show not romanticizing the characters because, even though the fandom is kind of bitty, I imagine it has the same amount of pairings as HP, if not more.
And since we're on the subject of pairings, I think it needs to be mentioned that SP has the cutest ship names of all time. This is directly from the South Park Fanon wikia: "The South Park fandom seems to favor ship names that can be actual words: Style (Stan/Kyle), Bunny (Butters/Kenny), Creek (Craig/Tweek), Candy (Cartman/Wendy), Dip (Pip/Damien), Cutters (Cartman/Butters)."
I don't think anything will ever beat "Stark Spangled Banner" as a ship name in my mind but this collection comes close.
So yes! I'm 100% with you as always and I'm using this opportunity to mention how damn swell it would be if you were to put some recs up in your journal! I have such difficulty finding stuff and I can only re-read Testaburger Manor so many times XD
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