The Surprising Angry Fic Review
Color me surprised when I had a review for an old fic in my inbox. Now, I'll be the first to admit that a good 80% of what I've written is pretty terrible. Ironically, for the time I wrote it, I didn't think this particular story a Chris/Wesker fic, was that terrible. Even so, I had a particularly scathing review waiting for me, though I was a little bothered by some of what she said. Her profile is also one that is rather...hateful. (And despite her heavily misogynistic comments, she is apparently a woman.)
Here's his review:
Of course, leave it to yaoi fangirls - or in this case, fanboys, to completely wreck the character that is Wesker.
Wesker isn't the sweet- tiddle taddle guy you portray him here.
The entire banter between them was explicitly female. The whole "you're a dick/you're an asshole" thing reeked of female centrism, but this is odd coming from what it appears to be - if I may say it - a pussy-whipped man. I'm terribly sorry, but neither character was in character here, because Wesker isn't an effeminate weakling, and Chris has always loved Jill. What exactly am I reading here?
This is by no means an exploration of the characters. Rather, it is the classic coffee shop effeminacy featuring effeminate men who are by no means Chris or Wesker.
What I'm getting here is the token "hate is love" trope, and I really have to ask why Chris is even talking with a known psychopath in the first place. I mean, their 'relationship' is about Wesker shoving his beloved wonder weasel up Chris' wonder hole. It's horribly cheesy and I'm wondering what this is supposed to be, other than people drinking coffee. This is character exploration?
In regards to the Arklay incident, you do realize there were multiple accounts of cannibalism, right? Strange murders? They were in the beginning of RE1. There's no mention of that here. After all, this is supposed to be a horror genre, not some tacky get together story. I don't understand why it's here other than to make Chris and Wesker homosexual for no reason, other than to get the fangirl's dreaming. And you, of course, considering this is all you write.
Plus, Wesker is the antagonist because he secretly worked for Umbrella. He has stuff to hide! He wouldn't act like this at all, because he has work to do. But I guess since he's that dark, handsome, blonde guy, everybody goes hot for him.
And please, don't include women in this fic when they are obviously barricades for the two 'lovers' here.
Last time I checked, Wesker hated Chris, and Chris hated Wesker. And what's Claire doing there, anyways? She only appeared in the picture to find her brother. Who's this Kelly woman? Why is Jill there?
If I am left asking these questions, your story is either crap, full of plot holes, or both. In this case, it's all of the above.
And my response:
Thanks for taking the time to review the fic. It’s really old, and I’ve mostly since left the fanfic world so I was a little surprised to see this sitting in my inbox. But let me go ahead and address some of your concerns with the fic itself:
I’m not really sure how the “insult banter” thing is female centrism. It’s been my personal experience that plenty of dudes- gay and straight- can act in this manner. It tends to be rather “bro” behavior as well. I also don’t see how any of the dialogue makes Wesker an “effeminate weakling”, though his rather stereotypical villain voice is actually pretty gay/effeminate sounding, not to mention nasally, and in RE5 he is shown to have a love for campy dialogue and puns. Chris, meanwhile, has never been shown to be “in love” with Jill. There’s plenty of subtext, sure, but he seems to stick with the whole “we’re partners” shtick, that he also throws at Sheva and Piers. Outside of the occasional “lean my head against you, thank god we survived” there’s no obvious romance between the two. Not that there’s anything wrong with liking that, or that pairing, just that stating that is kind if irrelevant.
You mentioned wondering about the “hate is love” trope, but that’s not really a thing when Chris and Wesker are talking in the story. That takes place back prior to the series’ beginnings, back when Chris (and the rest) were unaware that Wesker was an insane piece of work. And I can definitely concur this isn’t the most “well written” character exploration, but yeah, I still stand by it being so. It’s little flash into the characters when they’re not facing biological warfare, and the possible relationships/pasts they’ve cultivated together.
As for the Arklay incident, I am aware of the events surrounding it. While the games are “horror” (well, more action with the advent of RE4, but whatever), there’s no reason that every story that comes out about said fandom must also be horror. That would be terribly restrictive. Also, this isn’t a “tacky get together” story. This is more of a “tacky remembering what used to be” story. Chris and Wesker and most assuredly not together anymore in this story. The whole point of the story wasn’t so much fanbait as it was a thought into how Chris and Wesker’s relationship could have worked prior to the events that started their hate-ons for one another.
As for having stuff to hide/working for Umbrella, there’s no reason to believe Wesker still didn’t interact with his men. He’s kind of a weirdo, but to keep up appearances, it’s safe to assume he did mundane things with his coworkers. Either way, this is a matter of opinon and preference. Making the two gay wasn’t just for giggles, either. There’s really no reason they couldn’t be. Wesker, especially, whom has no female interests (and notably lacks interest in the hot and femme fatale Excella) and has a creepy obsession with Chris (but not Jill, so much, when they both fucked up his Arklay plans).
The ladies are definitely supportive roles, but they aren’t “barricades” in anyway. Claire/Jill/WaitressNPC have no romantic purposes in the plot. There’s no reason not to have them. I didn’t put them in so they would be bashed for being women, they’re more or less Chris’ support so far.
Also, I don’t think you read very carefully. You say: “Last time I checked, Wesker hated Chris, and Chris hated Wesker. And what's Claire doing there, anyways? She only appeared in the picture to find her brother. Who's this Kelly woman? Why is Jill there?
If I am left asking these questions, your story is either crap, full of plot holes, or both. In this case, it's all of the above.”
Well, the states and shows via the dates that it takes place prior to “Lost in Memories” in RE5, so Jill is still working with Chris in the BSSA. There’s two time periods in this story that are clearly stated. And why can’t Claire be there? As we see in the CGI movie she’s just running around doin’ her thing. The story starts with the premise that Claire wants Chris to visit with her. Kelly’s an unimportant plot device who is there for exposition purposes, as unimportant plot devices are want to do.
So it’s fine to dislike the story or deride it as “crap”, but all of the plot holes you’ve mentioned are easily answered with careful reading comprehension of the story.
I hope I was able to address all of your issues with the story, and thank you for the review you left! Should I ever step back into the fic’ writing game I hope to only improve further.
Hm.
EDIT: Oh yeah, might help if I left a linkto her profile. Be forewarned, she's "anti-feminist revisionism" and also very anti homosexual (even once stating it's worse than TB, since people aren't lobbying for TB to be universally accepted) Yikes.
Here's his review:
Of course, leave it to yaoi fangirls - or in this case, fanboys, to completely wreck the character that is Wesker.
Wesker isn't the sweet- tiddle taddle guy you portray him here.
The entire banter between them was explicitly female. The whole "you're a dick/you're an asshole" thing reeked of female centrism, but this is odd coming from what it appears to be - if I may say it - a pussy-whipped man. I'm terribly sorry, but neither character was in character here, because Wesker isn't an effeminate weakling, and Chris has always loved Jill. What exactly am I reading here?
This is by no means an exploration of the characters. Rather, it is the classic coffee shop effeminacy featuring effeminate men who are by no means Chris or Wesker.
What I'm getting here is the token "hate is love" trope, and I really have to ask why Chris is even talking with a known psychopath in the first place. I mean, their 'relationship' is about Wesker shoving his beloved wonder weasel up Chris' wonder hole. It's horribly cheesy and I'm wondering what this is supposed to be, other than people drinking coffee. This is character exploration?
In regards to the Arklay incident, you do realize there were multiple accounts of cannibalism, right? Strange murders? They were in the beginning of RE1. There's no mention of that here. After all, this is supposed to be a horror genre, not some tacky get together story. I don't understand why it's here other than to make Chris and Wesker homosexual for no reason, other than to get the fangirl's dreaming. And you, of course, considering this is all you write.
Plus, Wesker is the antagonist because he secretly worked for Umbrella. He has stuff to hide! He wouldn't act like this at all, because he has work to do. But I guess since he's that dark, handsome, blonde guy, everybody goes hot for him.
And please, don't include women in this fic when they are obviously barricades for the two 'lovers' here.
Last time I checked, Wesker hated Chris, and Chris hated Wesker. And what's Claire doing there, anyways? She only appeared in the picture to find her brother. Who's this Kelly woman? Why is Jill there?
If I am left asking these questions, your story is either crap, full of plot holes, or both. In this case, it's all of the above.
And my response:
Thanks for taking the time to review the fic. It’s really old, and I’ve mostly since left the fanfic world so I was a little surprised to see this sitting in my inbox. But let me go ahead and address some of your concerns with the fic itself:
I’m not really sure how the “insult banter” thing is female centrism. It’s been my personal experience that plenty of dudes- gay and straight- can act in this manner. It tends to be rather “bro” behavior as well. I also don’t see how any of the dialogue makes Wesker an “effeminate weakling”, though his rather stereotypical villain voice is actually pretty gay/effeminate sounding, not to mention nasally, and in RE5 he is shown to have a love for campy dialogue and puns. Chris, meanwhile, has never been shown to be “in love” with Jill. There’s plenty of subtext, sure, but he seems to stick with the whole “we’re partners” shtick, that he also throws at Sheva and Piers. Outside of the occasional “lean my head against you, thank god we survived” there’s no obvious romance between the two. Not that there’s anything wrong with liking that, or that pairing, just that stating that is kind if irrelevant.
You mentioned wondering about the “hate is love” trope, but that’s not really a thing when Chris and Wesker are talking in the story. That takes place back prior to the series’ beginnings, back when Chris (and the rest) were unaware that Wesker was an insane piece of work. And I can definitely concur this isn’t the most “well written” character exploration, but yeah, I still stand by it being so. It’s little flash into the characters when they’re not facing biological warfare, and the possible relationships/pasts they’ve cultivated together.
As for the Arklay incident, I am aware of the events surrounding it. While the games are “horror” (well, more action with the advent of RE4, but whatever), there’s no reason that every story that comes out about said fandom must also be horror. That would be terribly restrictive. Also, this isn’t a “tacky get together” story. This is more of a “tacky remembering what used to be” story. Chris and Wesker and most assuredly not together anymore in this story. The whole point of the story wasn’t so much fanbait as it was a thought into how Chris and Wesker’s relationship could have worked prior to the events that started their hate-ons for one another.
As for having stuff to hide/working for Umbrella, there’s no reason to believe Wesker still didn’t interact with his men. He’s kind of a weirdo, but to keep up appearances, it’s safe to assume he did mundane things with his coworkers. Either way, this is a matter of opinon and preference. Making the two gay wasn’t just for giggles, either. There’s really no reason they couldn’t be. Wesker, especially, whom has no female interests (and notably lacks interest in the hot and femme fatale Excella) and has a creepy obsession with Chris (but not Jill, so much, when they both fucked up his Arklay plans).
The ladies are definitely supportive roles, but they aren’t “barricades” in anyway. Claire/Jill/WaitressNPC have no romantic purposes in the plot. There’s no reason not to have them. I didn’t put them in so they would be bashed for being women, they’re more or less Chris’ support so far.
Also, I don’t think you read very carefully. You say: “Last time I checked, Wesker hated Chris, and Chris hated Wesker. And what's Claire doing there, anyways? She only appeared in the picture to find her brother. Who's this Kelly woman? Why is Jill there?
If I am left asking these questions, your story is either crap, full of plot holes, or both. In this case, it's all of the above.”
Well, the states and shows via the dates that it takes place prior to “Lost in Memories” in RE5, so Jill is still working with Chris in the BSSA. There’s two time periods in this story that are clearly stated. And why can’t Claire be there? As we see in the CGI movie she’s just running around doin’ her thing. The story starts with the premise that Claire wants Chris to visit with her. Kelly’s an unimportant plot device who is there for exposition purposes, as unimportant plot devices are want to do.
So it’s fine to dislike the story or deride it as “crap”, but all of the plot holes you’ve mentioned are easily answered with careful reading comprehension of the story.
I hope I was able to address all of your issues with the story, and thank you for the review you left! Should I ever step back into the fic’ writing game I hope to only improve further.
Hm.
EDIT: Oh yeah, might help if I left a linkto her profile. Be forewarned, she's "anti-feminist revisionism" and also very anti homosexual (even once stating it's worse than TB, since people aren't lobbying for TB to be universally accepted) Yikes.