The Year in Review (2009) -- Vera Steine
The year 2009 in review... Well, it was a time of greatness as well as sadness, and that makes picking my favourites all the more poignant. But fandom and its fan production is always so, so much more than the sum of its parts, (canon + love), and I have, still, a great affection for this fandom and what it achieves. So here are Vera's nods and awards for 2009.
Most Likely to Make You Go 'Aww...' goes to __justaday's art series, Notes. This little stash of guilty-pleasure Jack/Ianto romance comes in the form of post-its and always makes me smile. Most Likely to Make You Giggle goes to evelynwordsmyth's Pride & Prejudice vid. The casting alone is worth giving this vid a look, plus that it's guaranteed to make you laugh.
There's more to Torchwood fandom than the laughs, though, and one of the reasons why I loved 2009 was the amount of intense, serious, and beautiful fic that I read. Epitomising how I see Torchwood and its characters, the Guaranteed You Will ReRead award goes to kaydeefalls' five times Death stopped for Jack (and once he didn't).
A story I didn't know I needed to read until I read it is competing in the Most Heartbreaking category with a story that punched me in the chest and stayed with me for days. bioathens' Demolition Lovers ties for this honour with little_giddy's Too Far To Row. Both fics will break your heart in quiet ways, but are all the more beautiful for it.
Comedy and tragedy aside, this fandom has diversity, too, and I loved reading or watching outside my beloved pairing and styles as much sometimes as reading or watching in it. The plurality awards therefore go to orbythesea, who made me fall in love with the idea of Jack/Sarah Jane in Three Times Under, xandra_ptv, who reminded me why Jack/Gwen is a pairing whose existence cannot be denied in Nine Crimes, and lastly, no one made me love gen fic quite as much as rustydog did when writing Some Say In Ice.
Finally, though, what truly stands out, looking over the long list, are the ones that stick with you for the weird quirks, the ones that you look back on and say, "yes, it was a late night in February, but I still remember when..." For me, those quirky, beautiful, obstinate fics and vids of 2009 were frostfire_17's Hi, I'm Captain Jack Harkness, which wins the 2009 award for Most Unlikely Success and Most Unlikely Sexy. Also, non_sequential, who wins Bringing the Joy Back after CoE for the simplicity and beauty of their Jack/Ianto portrayal in The Joys of Summer in Cardiff. Most Bittersweet goes to mirien3 for her vid, Run, which, when it was first posted, made me long for series 3 in a way nothing else had. Alas, it was not to be and I got my heart broken like so many Ianto fans, but that vid will always represent, also, What Could Have Been.
Here's to a beautiful, rich, passionate, and loving 2010.
Most Likely to Make You Go 'Aww...' goes to __justaday's art series, Notes. This little stash of guilty-pleasure Jack/Ianto romance comes in the form of post-its and always makes me smile. Most Likely to Make You Giggle goes to evelynwordsmyth's Pride & Prejudice vid. The casting alone is worth giving this vid a look, plus that it's guaranteed to make you laugh.
There's more to Torchwood fandom than the laughs, though, and one of the reasons why I loved 2009 was the amount of intense, serious, and beautiful fic that I read. Epitomising how I see Torchwood and its characters, the Guaranteed You Will ReRead award goes to kaydeefalls' five times Death stopped for Jack (and once he didn't).
A story I didn't know I needed to read until I read it is competing in the Most Heartbreaking category with a story that punched me in the chest and stayed with me for days. bioathens' Demolition Lovers ties for this honour with little_giddy's Too Far To Row. Both fics will break your heart in quiet ways, but are all the more beautiful for it.
Comedy and tragedy aside, this fandom has diversity, too, and I loved reading or watching outside my beloved pairing and styles as much sometimes as reading or watching in it. The plurality awards therefore go to orbythesea, who made me fall in love with the idea of Jack/Sarah Jane in Three Times Under, xandra_ptv, who reminded me why Jack/Gwen is a pairing whose existence cannot be denied in Nine Crimes, and lastly, no one made me love gen fic quite as much as rustydog did when writing Some Say In Ice.
Finally, though, what truly stands out, looking over the long list, are the ones that stick with you for the weird quirks, the ones that you look back on and say, "yes, it was a late night in February, but I still remember when..." For me, those quirky, beautiful, obstinate fics and vids of 2009 were frostfire_17's Hi, I'm Captain Jack Harkness, which wins the 2009 award for Most Unlikely Success and Most Unlikely Sexy. Also, non_sequential, who wins Bringing the Joy Back after CoE for the simplicity and beauty of their Jack/Ianto portrayal in The Joys of Summer in Cardiff. Most Bittersweet goes to mirien3 for her vid, Run, which, when it was first posted, made me long for series 3 in a way nothing else had. Alas, it was not to be and I got my heart broken like so many Ianto fans, but that vid will always represent, also, What Could Have Been.
Here's to a beautiful, rich, passionate, and loving 2010.