Review of 2010
Happy New Year to everybody! (Except for people who don't celebrate New Year on 1 January. To you, Happy Saturday!)
As usual, I've been through what I posted last year and written up a review. It's actually kind of depressing; I wrote about 25% less fic than I did the year before: 15 stories with 34,533 words. No vids either - you can blame my computer crashing and wiping its hard disk for that, since I lost all my pre-prepared clips. I did write a lot of long meta and posted some very silly polls, though... and I recorded one podfic.
Fiction
Brief Encounter What happens when souled Spike meets Drusilla again? Drama, 338 words.
Which Of You Is The Man? Willow and Kennedy debate this important issue for their relationship. Humour, 632 words.
Reorientation Rampant Sapphism is sweeping Sunnydale: will Xander make the sacrifice that will save the situation? Humour, 1527 words.
Buffy kills something with a kitchen implement and has sex with Spike afterwards The title is almost longer than the fic. Humour, 100 words.
Back, Foul Fiend! Is it only crosses that repel vampires? Drama, 743 words.
Parallel Lines Willow and Kennedy are quarrelling over Buffy. Drama, 1913 words.
Commentary on this fic
A Crack In Space How would the Daleks react to Buffy and Angel's spacefrakking? Humour, 796 words.
Revenge of the Red Witch (6 chapters, unfinished) Epic swords and sorcery as Willow teams up with Conan to defeat an evil wizard. Drama, 12,716 words.
Last To Ancient First (Part of Hiywan's Story) Buffy goes back in time 8,000 years to meet Hiywan. Drama, 3994 words.
Commentary on this fic
Remixed version of this fic (from Buffy's POV) by brutti_ma_buoni .
Heart, Opened (Part of Hiywan's Story) Hiywan gets involved with a talented artist. Drama, 1190 words.
In The Night Willow's telepathic powers lead to some unwanted voyeurism. Porn, 3143 words.
Commentary on this fic.
Going Shopping Buffy, Xander and Willow go on a shopping trip. Humour, 1538 words.
Fair Exchange Is No Robbery Faith's life before she became a Slayer was not a happy one. Drama, 2636 words.
Commentary on this fic.
Golden Morning For Willow, this is the best way to spend the morning. Porn, 552 words.
The True History of the Universe This is the story of issue 8.35 of Season 8 written up in fanfiction form, from Andrew's perspective. Drama, 3053 words.
Podfic
I Am Destruction (Part of Hiywan's Story) 9.22 minutes. The Slayer is the thing that monsters have nightmares about; and this shows how that all started.
And yes, that's me reading my fic out loud. :-)
Commentary Transcripts
Apparently, this is one of the three things that bring most new visitors to my LJ via Google searches. The other two are those looking for Season 8 reviews and commentary, and (rather disturbingly) people with a fascination for centaurs...
Commentary on 'Hush'
General Meta
Magic in the Buffyverse An in-depth analysis of how magic works. Fully illustrated!
Deathrate in Jossverse Relationships "Out of 44 relationships, 14 ended in tragic death. That's 32%. So if you're in love and in a Joss Whedon show, you have slightly better than two chances in three to get out alive... "
Slayer Abilities An in-depth analysis of how Slayer powers work: their capabilities, limitations and practical use.
How Many Slayers? Through logical extrapolation, guesswork and maths, I calculate how many Potentials/Slayers there are at any one time.
Brief Thoughts on Dawn Her character development and role in the story through Seasons 5 - 8.
Writing Female Characters In which I calculate how many of my stories pass the Bechdel Test and/or have a woman as main protagonist, and come to the conclusion that the people complaining about the lack of interesting female characters in fanfic should join the 'Buffy' fandom...
Season 8 Meta
I continued to write reviews of each new issue as it came out; these can be found by clicking the snazzy new link in my sidebar, which I've actually updated now! :-D
S8 Guide: Buffy the Bank Robber Summary and overview of this plotline. "In the old days, Buffy and the Scoobies stole a rocket launcher here or a police car there, and nobody cared. In early S8 they're operating on a much larger scale, but their mindset (and morality) hasn't adjusted yet to the difference."
The Twilight Reveal Written just after we learned Angel was Twilight. "Well, have you seen Season 5 of 'Angel'? Of course Angel would be perfectly willing to work with evil monsters and demons, sacrifice innocents (such as Drogyn), deceive his closest friends, and generally be ruthless, if he thought he was doing it for a good purpose. So what is his purpose? We don't know yet."
Some Season 8 Foreshadowing Comparing Angel's conversations with Buffy in 'A Beautiful Sunset' and in 'After These Messages...'
"So by following Angel's bad advice, Buffy nearly got all her friends killed. There's probably a lesson there."
Foreshadowing in 'Always Darkest' An analysis. "If 'Always Darkest' really was a prophetic Slayer dream, it was warning Buffy that something 'unkillable' inside her will fool her into thinking she wants to marry one of her worst enemies. What could that possibly be referring to?"
Buffy's character arc and choices in later Season 8 Covers as far as her decision to sleep with Angel in 8.33. "I don't think Buffy is making the right decision here - but as I've tried to convey in this essay, I think she's making a very believable and human decision. One that has been foreshadowed and led up to for much of the season."
70 Season 8 Plotbunnies As it says. Seventy fic prompts.
Polls
The Grand Buffyverse TMI Poll If you've ever wondered whether Buffy trims her pubic hair or if Xander pees in the shower... Also, after reading the comments you may never look at blue cheese the same way again. Sorry.
Is leaving clothes scattered over the floor at night instead of folding them neatly a stereotypical male trait?
What is the natural hair colour of Buffy, Willow and Spike?
Buffy/Satsu: True to life or not?
Girls who've seen the ocean. Are you one?
Would you kill an innocent person if doing so could potentially save thousands of lives?
What is Pie?
Would you forgive Angel, and do Dwarf women have beards?
Art
Season 6, with added penguins Four screencaps, in which the part of Buffy is played by a penguin. Obviously. :-)
Why being Scott Allie is currently one of the most dangerous jobs in America A cartoon.
Fic Movie Posters Posters for 'Hiywan's Story', 'Intrusion', 'Netherlands to Nepal', the 'Kisses' trilogy and 'We Just Declared War'.
Commentary on the posters.
Icon for Doctor Who. Don't look away from the icon. Don't refresh your screen. Don't even scroll.
Eleven explicit porn icons. Totally safe for work. Honest!
Non-Fandom
Your Country's History A five-minute guide to English history, "Not as it really was, but as the average person in your country remembers it."
Public Service Announcement #2 'Wary' and 'weary' are two different words. They are not interchangeable.
Does your heroine wear a skirt? Meme on which of the Strong Female Characters™ from my childhood reading wear traditional feminine clothing and which ones don't.
And to end, a question. What would you like to see me write more of in 2011? (Or possibly, what would you like me to write less of? But please be polite. ;-) )