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Top Fives
for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
errant_shadows, Top Five Buddy (non-romantic/non-family) pairings.
Ann Perkins and Leslie Knope
Allison Argent and Lydia Martin
Cara and Kahlan.
Julie Beafout-Stuart and Maddie Brodatt
Carol Danvers and Jessica Drew
If you looked at the above list and thought, ‘wow, that is super lady-centric,’ you’d be right. I’m pretty allergic to dude-friendships at this point, considering their prevalence in literature and the way that fandom slavishly pants over them. Originally, I really tried to get some male-female friendships in there, but they were all cut in favor of relationships I was way more passionate about. (Honorable mentions: Joan Watson and Sherlock Holmes and Cinna and Katniss.)
forerrant_shadows (and ladymercury_10, who just asked me this a couple days ago) Top Five Female Villains:
Elementary's Irene Adler
Huntress (strictly on Arrow – in the comics she’s clearly on the side of the angels.)
Kate Argent
Lust, from the original FMA anime.
Queen Ravenna, from Snow White & The Huntsman
forerrant_shadows, Top Five What-the-F#!@-were-the-writers-thinking moments that ruined a fandom for you:
-killing off Abigail at the end of Hannibal’s first season. I was always on the fence about Hannibal, but that made me decide not to watch season two. I’ve softened on that stance somewhat, and it will really depend on my fannish landscape whether or not I watch season two. But I felt like killing Abigail was the kind of predictable storytelling that Hannibal is usually above, destroyed a lot of amazing plotlines in process, and killed out future storyline I was deeply, deeply invested in.
-Aang doesn’t want to make a hard choice, so he whines at the universe until he doesn’t have to. Katara is then wordlessly given to him as a prize, allowing Aang to have his cake and eat it too, and making him the only major character to sacrifice nothing to achieve his goals.
-the finale of BSG. You all know why.
-Aya (a super-intelligent, sentient robot) goes murderously crazy in the most irrational, unrobotic way ever, completely destroying all previous character traits established. To add insult to injury, it turns out that she was always PARTIALLY biologically alive, thereby retroactively wrecking the fantastic ‘robot gains sentience’ arc that had been going on.
-Spike’s attempted rape of Buffy. I have both in-text and out of text reasons for hating this with a fucking fiery passion.
forladymercury_10, Top five superheroes:
Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Selina Kyle, Stephanie Brown, MCU Steve Rogers. (This was a brutal question, by the way.)
for 12_12_12, top 5 fight scenes:
forqualapec, Top 5 Sex Scenes In Books
A Gentleman Undone, Cecelia Grant.
She writhed, all abandoned, and that was the answer he wanted anyway. In the mirror, they looked like a tableau from some ancient myth, a nymph escaping a demigod's rude grasp by turning into smoke, or a dancing fountain, or moonlight on uncalm waters.
Heat Wave, Richard Castle
When he was ready, Rook didn't down the shot. Instead, he held his hand out to her. She looked down at the salt on his skin and the lime between his thumb and finger. Nikki didn't look up at him because she was afraid that if she did she would change her mind instead of taking the leap. She bent her head towards his hand and darted her tongue out, quickly at first, but then, choosing to slow the moment down, she lingered there licking the salt off his skin.
An Ice Cold Grave, Charlaine Harris
"I wish I could see you," he said, but I was glad of the dark. It made me a little braver, and I concentrated on my sense of touch, so I didn't have time to think.
Dime Store Magic, Kelly Armstrong
I don't have one paragraph that's easy to pull, but the sex scene between Paige and Lucas is perfectly in character - a wonderfully playful back and forth that really illustrates how well they work together.
Fake It, Jennifer Crusie
"You don't care that I'm a forger," she said, looking like crime made flesh.
"Honey, for the first thirty years of my life, I scammed everything that moved. Where do you think the FBI found me, church?"
"You're twisted, too."
"Like a pretzel."
"So I can confess anything to you and–"
"Matilda," Davy said as her nefarious little art-forging hand warmed his shirtsleeve and his blood. "Tell me you have the Hope Diamond stashed behind the jukebox and I will fuck your brains out."
And for number five, really just pick any of Ilona Andrews sex scenes, they're all pretty solid.
errant_shadows, Top Five Buddy (non-romantic/non-family) pairings.Ann Perkins and Leslie Knope
Allison Argent and Lydia Martin
Cara and Kahlan.
Julie Beafout-Stuart and Maddie Brodatt
Carol Danvers and Jessica Drew
If you looked at the above list and thought, ‘wow, that is super lady-centric,’ you’d be right. I’m pretty allergic to dude-friendships at this point, considering their prevalence in literature and the way that fandom slavishly pants over them. Originally, I really tried to get some male-female friendships in there, but they were all cut in favor of relationships I was way more passionate about. (Honorable mentions: Joan Watson and Sherlock Holmes and Cinna and Katniss.)
for
errant_shadows (and ladymercury_10, who just asked me this a couple days ago) Top Five Female Villains:Elementary's Irene Adler
Huntress (strictly on Arrow – in the comics she’s clearly on the side of the angels.)
Kate Argent
Lust, from the original FMA anime.
Queen Ravenna, from Snow White & The Huntsman
for
errant_shadows, Top Five What-the-F#!@-were-the-writers-thinking moments that ruined a fandom for you:-killing off Abigail at the end of Hannibal’s first season. I was always on the fence about Hannibal, but that made me decide not to watch season two. I’ve softened on that stance somewhat, and it will really depend on my fannish landscape whether or not I watch season two. But I felt like killing Abigail was the kind of predictable storytelling that Hannibal is usually above, destroyed a lot of amazing plotlines in process, and killed out future storyline I was deeply, deeply invested in.
-Aang doesn’t want to make a hard choice, so he whines at the universe until he doesn’t have to. Katara is then wordlessly given to him as a prize, allowing Aang to have his cake and eat it too, and making him the only major character to sacrifice nothing to achieve his goals.
-the finale of BSG. You all know why.
-Aya (a super-intelligent, sentient robot) goes murderously crazy in the most irrational, unrobotic way ever, completely destroying all previous character traits established. To add insult to injury, it turns out that she was always PARTIALLY biologically alive, thereby retroactively wrecking the fantastic ‘robot gains sentience’ arc that had been going on.
-Spike’s attempted rape of Buffy. I have both in-text and out of text reasons for hating this with a fucking fiery passion.
for
ladymercury_10, Top five superheroes:Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Selina Kyle, Stephanie Brown, MCU Steve Rogers. (This was a brutal question, by the way.)
for 12_12_12, top 5 fight scenes:
for
qualapec, Top 5 Sex Scenes In BooksA Gentleman Undone, Cecelia Grant.
She writhed, all abandoned, and that was the answer he wanted anyway. In the mirror, they looked like a tableau from some ancient myth, a nymph escaping a demigod's rude grasp by turning into smoke, or a dancing fountain, or moonlight on uncalm waters.
Heat Wave, Richard Castle
When he was ready, Rook didn't down the shot. Instead, he held his hand out to her. She looked down at the salt on his skin and the lime between his thumb and finger. Nikki didn't look up at him because she was afraid that if she did she would change her mind instead of taking the leap. She bent her head towards his hand and darted her tongue out, quickly at first, but then, choosing to slow the moment down, she lingered there licking the salt off his skin.
An Ice Cold Grave, Charlaine Harris
"I wish I could see you," he said, but I was glad of the dark. It made me a little braver, and I concentrated on my sense of touch, so I didn't have time to think.
Dime Store Magic, Kelly Armstrong
I don't have one paragraph that's easy to pull, but the sex scene between Paige and Lucas is perfectly in character - a wonderfully playful back and forth that really illustrates how well they work together.
Fake It, Jennifer Crusie
"You don't care that I'm a forger," she said, looking like crime made flesh.
"Honey, for the first thirty years of my life, I scammed everything that moved. Where do you think the FBI found me, church?"
"You're twisted, too."
"Like a pretzel."
"So I can confess anything to you and–"
"Matilda," Davy said as her nefarious little art-forging hand warmed his shirtsleeve and his blood. "Tell me you have the Hope Diamond stashed behind the jukebox and I will fuck your brains out."
And for number five, really just pick any of Ilona Andrews sex scenes, they're all pretty solid.
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Yep. It cut off interesting storylines and wasn't required for the storylines that they wanted to tell.
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Cara and Kahlan - damn I miss that show. I get kind of pissed about it's cancellation, because I feel that it's failure was primarily due to poor marketing that meant it didn't find a decent audience.
Spike - not really sure what to say about this. I guess I kind of get what Whedon was trying for in that scene, but I feel that it could have been a lot more powerful if they'd just whaled on each other in a more traditional fight, rather than violating her in such a way. Failed attempt or not, she was put in a position where she was victimised as a woman, rather than a warrior.
Spike had already killed two slayers, so it would be plausible for him to get the upper hand against Buffy as well. If they'd fought in an all out, this-is-life-or-death brawl, it would have been an epic moment. I can completely imagine Spike going into the situation not caring whether he survived - and that's what would give him the edge, which would in turn force Buffy to "dig deep" and draw on aspects of her slayer nature - the demonic parts - that she's repressed up to that point because she's never been comfortable with the dirty little secret that she's never told anyone - there's a monster inside of her, and however big or small that part may be, that part loves the blood and the violence.
But that's who Spike is, through and through - he's a monster and he knows it, embraces it even - and he's always felt a kinship with Buffy because of that. If he bested her in a fight and was moments away from delivering a death blow, and then chose to walk away? That would have been a powerful moment on so many levels.
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Their friendship makes me SO happy.
Cara and Kahlan - damn I miss that show. I get kind of pissed about it's cancellation, because I feel that it's failure was primarily due to poor marketing that meant it didn't find a decent audience.
The only reason I'm not pissed it was canceled is that I would rather a show end when I still love it than go on until it sucks, which seems to be the only two options for television.
Spike - not really sure what to say about this. I guess I kind of get what Whedon was trying for in that scene,
You know, I really don't, because I feel like the fallout doesn't make any narrative sense with what had come before and what came after, imho.
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The problem being, they didn't really take into account the fallout from that, or what the fallout should have been if it were to be portrayed realistically. Narrative wise, they could have achieved the same thing through different means, and had a better outcome.
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