YST Fandom, What the Heck?
Okay, so I've had a craving for some fic for a few of my old fandoms lately. Mostly Yoroiden Samurai Troopers. And I've been digging through archives, looking for fic. Including a lot of old, vanished sites, courtesy of the Wayback Machine. And holy cow. Talk about a time warp. Apparently, I am spoiled. These days, much of the fic I read is either on AO3 or FF.net. AO3 is always my first stop.
I mention this, because I'm finding that things were often done differently in these old archives, and it's driving me a little nuts. And it's weird, because I don't remember it being this way, back in the day. I don't know if I hung out on sites that did things differently, or if I was just used to it back then. Probably the latter, but eh.
Probably the thing that's bugging me the most is the lack of summaries. Nearly all the old archives I'm finding just list the author's name and the title of the story. Maybe the pairing, if you're really, really lucky. (GW fandom seems better about that one, at least.) But no summary. No indication whatsoever what the story might be about. No characters, no content tags, nothing. And I just...why would anyone ever think that's a good idea? I want to find fic, but when I've got a few good-sized archives, reading every single story isn't terribly feasible. Plus, it's frustrating enough having to wade through the badly written crap to find the good stuff...that's a basic fact in any fandom. But to add to that, not being able to skip stories that are about subjects that you know don't interest you...that just means a lot more time wasted on stories that I won't like. Argh.
Also, the quality of the writing in a lot of these old archives seems to be kind of...shit, honestly. Like, bad spelling/grammar and formatting, and just generally poorly written. It's weird. I mean, every fandom has fic like that. Stuff that people wrote when they were young and still learning. But usually, there's some good stuff mixed in with the rest. But an unfortunate amount of the old YST fic I'm finding seems to be of the former, badly written variety. Where's the good stuff, already? =(
Speaking of poor writing mechanics...can we please stop writing out accents phonetically? It's painful, seriously. Not to mention, as a sub fan, my version of that character doesn't have an accent! I've been seeing that one a lot, lately. And oddly, not with the character I'd have guessed. From my memory of the dub, the one character I really remember having an accent was Shin ('Cye'); he sounded British. But I guess maybe Touma ('Rowen') did, too? Apparently a lot of fans seem to think so, anyway. I'm not sure what accent they're going for, but it's gotten to the point where I copy and paste and fix the damn dialogue before I read a fic. =/
And holy cow, the Mary Sue fic. Again, MS fic has always existed, and every fandom has some. But I swear, I'm having to beat it back with a stick, here. For each page of fic, it seems like more than half of it is shitty MS fic. I wonder if that's partly because, in this fandom, there isn't much in the way of female love interests for the guys. So if you want het, I guess you'd be inclined to make up an OC. Although, there are female characters. And I've seen barely any fic pairing them with the guys. >_> I kinda ship Ryo/Nasuti and Touma/Kayura, and I'm at least open to shipping Nasuti with all the other Troopers. So, I'd read it! But I am not interested in OC fic. Because it is so very rarely done well.
And on the flip side, where the heck is the slash? In a fandon with a mostly male cast, there is almost always slash. But I'm having a lot of trouble finding any. And again, what little I have found is mostly badly written crap. =( I just want some good Shin/Shuu, Touma/Ryo, or Touma/Shin. Those are my favorites. And heck, I'm open to other combinations. Ryo/Shin, Seiji/Ryo, Touma/Seiji...
Although, speaking of that last one. Of the precious little slash I have found? It's overwhelmingly Touma/Seiji. Where's the variety, fandom? I like the pairing okay, but good grief, it's not that interesting. I don't really get why it's so popular. There's really no subtext for it in canon, that I remember. Unlike Shin/Shuu or Touma/Ryo, which both have some hints.
So, seriously...where's the good YST fic hiding? There must be some, right? Please, fandom?
I mention this, because I'm finding that things were often done differently in these old archives, and it's driving me a little nuts. And it's weird, because I don't remember it being this way, back in the day. I don't know if I hung out on sites that did things differently, or if I was just used to it back then. Probably the latter, but eh.
Probably the thing that's bugging me the most is the lack of summaries. Nearly all the old archives I'm finding just list the author's name and the title of the story. Maybe the pairing, if you're really, really lucky. (GW fandom seems better about that one, at least.) But no summary. No indication whatsoever what the story might be about. No characters, no content tags, nothing. And I just...why would anyone ever think that's a good idea? I want to find fic, but when I've got a few good-sized archives, reading every single story isn't terribly feasible. Plus, it's frustrating enough having to wade through the badly written crap to find the good stuff...that's a basic fact in any fandom. But to add to that, not being able to skip stories that are about subjects that you know don't interest you...that just means a lot more time wasted on stories that I won't like. Argh.
Also, the quality of the writing in a lot of these old archives seems to be kind of...shit, honestly. Like, bad spelling/grammar and formatting, and just generally poorly written. It's weird. I mean, every fandom has fic like that. Stuff that people wrote when they were young and still learning. But usually, there's some good stuff mixed in with the rest. But an unfortunate amount of the old YST fic I'm finding seems to be of the former, badly written variety. Where's the good stuff, already? =(
Speaking of poor writing mechanics...can we please stop writing out accents phonetically? It's painful, seriously. Not to mention, as a sub fan, my version of that character doesn't have an accent! I've been seeing that one a lot, lately. And oddly, not with the character I'd have guessed. From my memory of the dub, the one character I really remember having an accent was Shin ('Cye'); he sounded British. But I guess maybe Touma ('Rowen') did, too? Apparently a lot of fans seem to think so, anyway. I'm not sure what accent they're going for, but it's gotten to the point where I copy and paste and fix the damn dialogue before I read a fic. =/
And holy cow, the Mary Sue fic. Again, MS fic has always existed, and every fandom has some. But I swear, I'm having to beat it back with a stick, here. For each page of fic, it seems like more than half of it is shitty MS fic. I wonder if that's partly because, in this fandom, there isn't much in the way of female love interests for the guys. So if you want het, I guess you'd be inclined to make up an OC. Although, there are female characters. And I've seen barely any fic pairing them with the guys. >_> I kinda ship Ryo/Nasuti and Touma/Kayura, and I'm at least open to shipping Nasuti with all the other Troopers. So, I'd read it! But I am not interested in OC fic. Because it is so very rarely done well.
And on the flip side, where the heck is the slash? In a fandon with a mostly male cast, there is almost always slash. But I'm having a lot of trouble finding any. And again, what little I have found is mostly badly written crap. =( I just want some good Shin/Shuu, Touma/Ryo, or Touma/Shin. Those are my favorites. And heck, I'm open to other combinations. Ryo/Shin, Seiji/Ryo, Touma/Seiji...
Although, speaking of that last one. Of the precious little slash I have found? It's overwhelmingly Touma/Seiji. Where's the variety, fandom? I like the pairing okay, but good grief, it's not that interesting. I don't really get why it's so popular. There's really no subtext for it in canon, that I remember. Unlike Shin/Shuu or Touma/Ryo, which both have some hints.
So, seriously...where's the good YST fic hiding? There must be some, right? Please, fandom?