swim through the fires to stay in this world

In the past week I've come across two really great articles:

‘Veronica Mars’ takes on police misconduct, income inequality

The Full Boyle: Guys who don’t hear “no” just aren’t funny anymore

Both of which are aces and well worth reading.

1. What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?

Any pairing that involves two (or more) penises. I know, I know, that is as subjective an opinion as my feelings about coconut (worst flavor on the planet) and about as much fun to discuss (coconut is the flavor of the devil, people).

2. Are there any popular fandom OTPs you only BroTP?

Cara/Kahlan. Trust me, I see the subtext, I totally get where people are coming from with this pairing. In just about any other situation I would
be all over the hot, fierce ladies and their classic kind warrior/broken bird dynamic and rooting for them to have epically sexy sex… but I just want them to be friends and hang out and kill people together, while Kahlan sexes up her Seeker and ends up having little badass confessor-daughters with him.

3. Any fandoms that don’t appeal to you?

Hmmmm. There are shows/movies/books that I don’t feel the need to seek out fanfics for but if a narrative makes me feel fannish and there's a fandom, I'll participate. And frankly, I've had some good luck and good experiences even with NOTORIOUSLY psychotic fandoms.

4. Have you ever unfollowed/unfriended someone? Why?

HAVE I EVER. I have unfollowed people because our fandoms diverged, I’ve unfollowed people because I stopped enjoying the content that they posted, I’ve unfollowed people because I discovered that I didn’t like them very much, I’ve unfollowed people because my flist was getting unreadable, I’ve unfollowed people because they unfollowed me first.

For me, this questions was a little bit like, ‘do you breath air?’ Yes, of course, who doesn’t?

5. Do you have a NO!TP in [insert fandom here]?

I have many, many NO!TPs. (I’m defining this as the very idea of the ship makes me go ‘NO!’)

-Clint/Loki.

-Natasha/Loki. (I do ship Natasha/Clint fucking on Loki’s bloody, dismembered corpse. Or just murdering the fuck out of him and then having celebratory sex in the backseat of the getaway car.)

-Tony/anyone but Pepper. (If Pepper want to hook up with Steve or Natasha or Darcy or even some really fucked up dark!fic with Obediah, I'd be there.)

-Aang/Katara (FOREVER BITTER. Seriously, my mom recently found out that Legend of Korra existed and she was like, ‘do you want to watch that?’ And I went, ‘I’ll watch that when I stop being angry about the ending of Avatar.’ Nobody hold their breath on that score.)

-Andy/April – ugh, why would you pair an awesome, deadpan girl like April with a moronic waste of space like Andy!

-Veronica Mars/Duncan Kane.

-Blair Waldorf/Chuck Bass.

-Any variation of Elena/Damon/Stefan.

-Caroline Forbes/Matt Donovan.

-Regina/Charming.

-M'gann/Lagaan.

Aaron Cross/Eric Byer.

6. Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?

It's more often the writers ruining a ship for me.

7. Is there anything you used to like, but now can’t stand?

Naruto. Like, I was never under any illusions that the manga/anime was good - I was always just there for the fanworks, but I was undeniably READING the manga and at a certain point I reached my ‘this is bullshit storytelling' threshold and peaced the hell out. I also stopped reading Soul Eater. There was no big break up or anything like that – I just stopped caring enough to hunt down the next month’s scanlation.

8. Unpopular opinion about [insert fandom here]?

I can't think of any off the top of my head. Suggestions are welcome, though!

9. Have you received anon hate? What about?

No, I’ve yet to receive fan hate, therby solidifying my ‘no name’ fan status. I have had a ‘discussion’ that the person I was discussing the
subject with felt the need to delete my comments. I really wish I had screen caps, because I would have have LOVED proof that I was strictly
offering concrit about her fic and was in fact refusing to make it personal and comment about her husband his relationship with their child, which she kept insisting that I was.

10. Any fandom you’re ashamed of being in?

Avatar.

You know in the second episode of Green Lantern when Razer is like, ‘In my heart I am guilty of murder’? That’s how I feel about Avatar fandom. I don’t think I was ACTUALLY an obnoxious, overly passionate fan (okay, I was a little obnoxious and over passionate) but in my heart, I was REALLY obnoxious and over-passionate.

I really love Avatar as a show and I'm hugely grateful for its existence and the fanworks it inspired because it came to me at a time in my life when I absolutely needed it, but.... in my heart I'm guilty of being a bratty fan about the show and Katara/Zuko.

PLEASE VOTE VERONICA MARS!

IT WAS BAD ENOUGH THAT ELEVEN TOOK DOWN BUFFY BUT VERONICA TOO? MY SOUL COULDN'T TAKE IT.

I MIGHT BE AMENABLE TO OFFERING BRIDES FOR VERONICA VOTES. I'M JUST SAYING.

(To everyone who is sick of Fandom March Madness, capslock, and rabid character praise, I offer complete sympathy. I know exactly how annoying I'd find all this if I wasn't participating.)

Name five characters you'd like to take a road-trip with, and where you'd go (fannish5 ).

1.) Dean Winchester. Fantastic car, Kansas et al, and you know we'd have a fantastic time and end up hunting things and saving things.

2.) Veronica Mars. As a character created by Rob Thomas, Veronica would have fantastic taste in music, plus she owns a manual convertible (fun to drive, fun to ride shotgun) and has the personality that could handle driving through the deep South with another woman in stride.

3.) Tony Stark. It would be more of an air/road/water trip, but I wouldn't have to foot the bill and I'd probably end up seeing half the countries in the world before Stark gets distracted and leaves me in Calcutta. And then I call Potts for a plane ticket home.

4.) Damon Salvatore, Virginia.

5.) Pepper Potts, Italy. I imagine Pepper would know everything there is to know about the art, plus she has impeccable taste for clothes. Imagine shopping with her in Milan.

 After several weeks of questions that sparked nothing or I didn't feel equipped to answer, we finally have an awesome fannish5  question (thanks jakia !):

Five jobs you could see a character have besides the one they already have. (Either five jobs per character or one job per character)

5.) Fi: Navy Seal. You know this would be so awesome it would break the awesome meter.

4.) Blair Waldorf, fashion designer. Honestly, if she couldn't buy every haute couture item her little heart desires, I feel sure she would have had Jenny's arc instead of the one she has now.

3.) Misato, bikini model.

2.) Veronica Mars, spy. With her fetish for surveillance equipment and her ability to lie like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, she'd be a shoe-in for the CIA.

1.) Kahlan Amnell: Mord Sith. We all know she would make a fantastic Mord Sith. She's strong, compassionate (and book!verse states that it was the kindest girls who were taken to be trained as Mord Sith), looks hellishly sexy in the uniform and already has the attitude down pat.

 ( HQ Photo Evidence )

Damn, that should SO be an icon.

 gacked from yahtzee63 :

( Television Meme )

Okay, so I was going to do that icon meme thing again, only in the middle I changed my default and adeleted a whole bunch of icons and uploaded some more so have some random crack tastic cross-over sentences since I'm not going to bother rewriting:

( cut for cracky-ficcage )

From this week's fannish5 :

Name 5 characters who you think are great parents, or who would be great parents.

I picked five characters who 'would be', because I've done great fictional parents already, and I love speculating on who would be good parental figures based on what we know.

1.) Hakkai. I don't have words to describe what an awesome dad I think he'd make. He'd love and (probably over) protect his kid(s), but he'd make sure they grew up smart and strong and awesome-tastic. With great eyes and pretty, platonic hair.

2.) Gojyo. Would be the male equivalent of Lorelai Gilmore. He would be possibly one of the funniest dads ever and he'd love his kids to death and when/if they got bullied he'd teach them how to fight back and sure, that may not be the best option, but his kids would grow up scrappy and loved and badass. Actually, they'd probably be the kids getting into fights with bullies who are picking on OTHER kids, 'cause I think Gojyo would raise empathic little spitfires like that.

3.) Katara. She'd be a great mix of loving and strict and would always raise her kids up and gently push them to be the best they could be.

4.) Charlie Crewes. Would drive his kid(s) crazy and it is only looking back that they'd realize what an awesome dad his is. This is partially inspired by the fact that I watched Life today, and Rachel and Charlie's interactions are made of sheerest win. (This is also how I think Kakashi would parent.)

5.) Iruka. Arguably the only teacher who has saved the world by buying a student ramen.

Honorable Mention: The Mayor. Yeah, he was evil, but he gave Faith the attention and love that she was thirsting for. If Giles had been her Watcher instead of Wesley... well. I think it would have worked out far, far differently.

(Note: I realize that four out of five of these answers are guys. This is partially a reflection of my own preferences/issues/dreams and partially because I didn't want to just point to a female character and go, 'she's got a womb, she's sane, smart and patience -she'll make a great mom', thereby making the assumption that she wants kids because all chicks want kids. Plus, I see Katara as a mother much more easily than characters like Maka, Sakura, and Veronica. They need a decade to get their wild oats sewn and to find the right guy to say, 'you know... babies have adorable little socks.' Whereas I would STRONGLY argue that Iruka, Gojyo and Hakkai want and should have kids. And yes, I realize that the men I listed are older than the women, which throws those dynamics off.... but now I'm just rambling.)

Comment on this post. I will choose seven interests from your profile and you will explain what they mean and why you are interested in them. Post this along with your answers in your own journal so others can play along.

aj  gave me:

abhorsen:

The rank of Sabriel, the awesome heroine of Garth Nix's Sabriel. Imagine a quick witted school girl killing zombies and crossing back and forth between a WWI-era world and the classic fantasy-land. Awesome action, a magic system that makes sense, and a sweet, nicely underplayed romance.

canon underwear meta:

Once upon a time, chomiji posted an announcement on her livejournal that she had posted fic. We commented, and then their was comments about the underwear of the Sanzo-ikkou (Minukura approved, thus the 'canon'). That conversation, mutated, spawned, and almost reached 1,000 comments, which, considering it was four people chatting, was pretty damn impressive.

fictional women you hate:

You know those girls you hate because they hate tits and emotions and get in the way of the slash? Fuck you, she's awesome.

kimi wa petto:

The Japanese title of the manga 'Tramps Like Us' which is about when a japanese journalist has a very bad day (her fiance left her for his pregnant girlfriend, she punched on of her superiors after he came onto her drunkenly at a party, and she got demoted) and finds, on her way home, a homeless dancer. After he oh so cutely pleads with her, she lets him stay at her apartment if he'll be her pet.

The heroine, Sumire, is me. I am not even kidding a little bit. Thoughout the manga I was constantly stopping and going, 'oh my god, I do/think/feel that too!'

I actually named my new computer after her.

nymphadora tonks deserved better

This one is kinda self-explanatory. Tonks was badass. She deserved better than to have Kishimoto possess JK and write the Lupin/Tonks romance, which I shipped hardcore until it actually happened. (Which is why, boys and girls, that you choose carefully when shipping canon).

the fall of ile-rien

The series of books by Martha Wells that starts with The Wizard Hunters. It contains Tremaine, who is, in a world of warriors and mages, a half-suicidal playwright raised by her criminal mastermind of a father, and who has everyone going in circles around her. The action takes place in two different worlds - one a WWII mix of France and England and the other a tropical and less technologically advanced society that is the only functional matriarchy I have ever read.

veronica/weevil

My fanon pairing for Veronica Mars. Veronica is the nancy-drewing daughter of the ex-sheriff and Weevil is the leader of a motorcycle gang. It illustrate how perfect they are for each other, let me simply tell you that Veronica is driving to search for the truth the way people lost in the desert search for water. Of everyone in Veronica's life, Weevil is the only person who has never gotten pissed at her for it. Also, they have a long history of saving each other.