drakyndra | And naturally I have more to say about fandom than anything else

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And naturally I have more to say about fandom than anything else

And I'm back! Not that I exactly went away for long. Or exactly "away" for that matter.

Still, the jaunt out the Hamiltonian way was interesting enough. Had dinner with the family at a Greek restaurant I swear wasn't there last time I was in Hamilton; got a bag full of Easter eggs which I lugged back up to Melbourne with me; in a bit of free time, I started to watch Full Metal Panic (

xwingace will be pleased); cleared out some of my more sentimental and/or useful junk from the far, (Gosh, it's been a while since I've been out there). Though I was right, most of the stuff there I won't really miss all that much.

Oh, and got Dad's address for where he'll be living in Thailand. I think he offered to pay for us to come over and visit when he's there. Which on one hand: free trip to Thailand. On the other hand: everything else. Sigh.

In other news, the trip to the USA in the middle of the year is looking increasingly likely. Here's hoping that happens.

In non-Hamilton related news, my flist has exploded with stuff about new Doctor Who. It's all very chatty and nostalgic.

Also, apparently, the new series of Ashes to Ashes, though that got swept away in the tide of Doctor Who. I still need to watch that episode, though.

Oh: New (and final) FMA:B Opening and Ending themes. Like the animation, am still deciding about the songs. They are also quite spoilery to recent chapters, though IDK if it might be cryptic enough to escape people who haven't read the manga.

One of the things I did follow a bit while I was away was some of the ongoing shenanigans between The HMS STFU and the Snapefen, and somehow when wandered into the discussion it somehow ended involving some ongoing dicussion I've been having about certain aspects of Code Geass fandom and then the streams crossed, and now I sorta-kinda want to write a paper analysing the psychological underpinnings of the Draco In Leather Pants tendency in parts of fandom.

Yes, I know. How would you even study something like that? _{I don't even know what subject it would be classified under.}

In conclusion,

ypaladinofchaos, why do you always update that fic of yours on mornings when I am just about to leave home?

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:-)

For the essay; Media Studies?

XWA

It might fir under that, though I'm more interested in individual's reaction to the text than the text itself. Why people would chose an oppositional reading, I suppose.

Well, before reading that CG article, I would probably just have said people root for Lelouch because they like the thrill of what he's doing - I'm sure most of the teenaged audience would love the thought of "rebelling" against authority in some way, for all the various reasons (I'm right, they're wrong, they just don't understand). Give them Lelouch, as a representation of the ability to "rebel" and succeed, add bishie CLAMP sparkles and a charismatic personality and viola. You don't even need to add the leather pants, he already HAS them! And a hot red jacket to boot!

As to why people want him alive, I think I'm still sticking to silly fangirls (and fanboys, too, to quite an extent) wanting their Fairy Tale endings, especially if they liked Lelouch (he must have a happy end for all that he did RIGHT!) or if it gives their ship Happily Ever After (see Lelouch, C.C., and that famous cart). But then of course, I say this because I'm guilty of it myself. ;D
There really is a lot less meaning to the story if he lived, though, and hence I continue to oppose such theories when they're applied to canon.

Well, the first bit is sort of what my hypothesis was getting at: People like characters like Lelouch (and for that matter Snape), because they are cool and badass and rebellious and basically get to do everything people wish they could do and get away with it. But society tells people - especially children - that they should only like things that are good. And so in order to justify liking these characters some people (Key word there: Some. Not all.) go ahead and whitewash all their... less than good aspects. Which frequently entails demonizing characters that oppose or criticise them.

As for the ending - it comes back to the "do everything people want to do and get away with it" factor. People dislike it because they think Lelouch should be able to plan a way to get away with it, or they think it's OOC for him to chose not to try and get away with everything.

But I think it's more heroic that, when given the chance to get away with everything bad he's done, he actively chooses not to. He's finally living up to Zero's principles, which is why I like it; it's not OOC, it's character development.

But yeah, I'll read fic where he lived, but I prefer it if he didn't from a canon perspective.

Yeah, the heavy criticism of characters who oppose Lelouch is just... sad. *shakes head* Especially when CG is especially good for the whole "gray areas" thing.

oooh mymy, is that a sexy new icon I see *sparkly eyes*

Well, that's kind of how this whole thing started: The most extreme Snapefen have a tendency to do the exact same thing to anyone opposing Snape.

And yes, yes it is. From here. I had trouble deciding between 111 and 114.

Well, I'm actually not very familiar with HP fandom at all, having only watched movies no. 1, 2, and 6, read some fluffy DracoHermione by a friend when I was 14, and one other Snape/Harry fic early this year. But I hear that Snape's life is quite a tragic story, in a way. (Because of how he'd loved Lily and all that.)
Oh well, fandom always likes to go overboard with things.

WHAT A BUNCH OF SHINY. But alas I am lazy to go through pixiv at the moment; you wouldn't happen to have the original fanart for that, would you?? (Just thought I'd ask, since nothing to lose xD - although I'm sure I'll come across it when I DO eventually perform that raid on pixiv)

HP was my main fandom for, oh, years and years. And the books are far better than the movies, which drop a lot of subplots, some which are quite relevent. And Snape's life is tragic, but he also makes some epically dumb choices. (He joins an organisation devoted to wiping out Muggleborn wizards and witches, when the girl he loves is Muggleborn.) He's basically a guy who never quite gets over his teenage issues.

Here it is! I liked that art from the first time I saw it.

They all seem to make idiotic decisions from time to time, don't they?

Ah, lovely, just lovely ♥ Thank you!

And you can tell where peoples biases lie by seeing who's dumb choices they criticise and who gets a pass.

It is a lovely piece of art, isn't it?

(I update because I like to tempt you into wasting your morning)

It would probably be under psychological associations or whatever it's actually called- people subconsciously identify with a character and thus can't bear to see their mental image of that idol torn down lest it put on some hard truths about themselves.

(Except you update at times when I can't procrastinate. I'm already expecting another update when I fly to the States).

Mmm, the belief that what we like provides some kind of moral judgement of the liker - which comes back to my original hypothesis, it's do with the social pressure to like only "good" things.

Which explains why male fanfic writers so often turn their favourite male characters into physical badasses, even if they aren't in canon - it's the stereotype of how a man is supposed to be.

I'll probably update like 3 times while you're gone. *grins* Giving you about 100 more pages of IHTW to read.

True, true- I wonder what that says about me, that I like characters with morally gray ideals and questionable methods, like Lelouch. In the extreme, I can't claim I like Light himself, but his ideals hold some merit, if not his methods.

Yeah, that's definitely true. Author-inserts are the most amusing of this philosophy- those characters are always unstoppable badasses, full of wit and charming to boot.

Aha! But I will be staying with my Uncle for much of the time, and he actually has Internet access!

See, here's something really odd about me: I almost always go for the traditional hero types, the kind that hate killing and will save their enemies, who believe in the good of humanity and are optimists and idealists, etcetera.

And then you have Light, who is my favourite Death Note character. I have no idea why.

"Charming" would be a better way of putting it - I find that the vast majority of the time, those sort of characters lose whatever appeal they may have originally had. For one thing, they are inevitably simpler and far less interesting than they are in canon.

Curses.

I usually favor the knights in sour armor more than the traditional hero- people who are genuinely heroic but conceal it behind a facade of snark/disinterest.

Hmmm... well, sometimes going against type is also nice- though I doubt anyone has one so radically against their usual type as you, lol. *grins*

It's difficult to keep a character the same as canon in a fanfic- the writer's prejudices, preferences, and other such personal issues will inevitably taint the characters without exception. The only way to deal with it is to try and minimize one's own influence as much as possible.

I have foiled your cunning plan.

Oh, I don't mind them, either. But yes, Light - and Ozymandias from Watchmen - are the two very pointed exceptions to my character type.

True, but unless you're going AU, there should at least be an attempt to keep things in character. I just find this kind of "fixing" characters rather tedious, not the least because that sort of fixing seems to lead to vastly different characters from vastly different fandoms becoming basically interchangable. It's no longer a story about Lelouch or Harry Potter or whoever, it's Generic Male Power Fantasy Character pretending to be these characters.

NOOO. Now I have to go back to the drawing board...

Perhaps its the tragic nobility of what they're doing, mixed with the fact that they actually do is so monstrous it's hard to feel anything but horror?

YES. It's a criticism I even level at my own works- the thing about fanfic is that, IMO, it should feel like, if you took it out of the universe you're basing it off of, it just would not work. Revenant and IHTW are my attempts at this- creating a story that only works because of the established setting and characters.

Mwahaha.

Maybe. With Light at one point I wondered if it might be because he's the only character in Death Note we get a really good understanding of from the inside - most of the other characters, especially his opponents, we see very little of beyond the surface.

There was some interesting stuff about that during the Gabaldon "Fanfic is evil" wank.

Well, I think you have done a decent job - certainly a lot better than many of the other longfics in the fandom. Though IHTW is only really in it's early stages, technically speaking. Though, the fact that you actually bothered to develop the characters - and set them for future development - puts you ahead of most of them, since they seem to merely establish the characters (as awesome) and then proceed to have no development whatsoever, outside shipping. ~~Possibly because development either comes from overcoming flaws and dealing with mistakes and god forbid the Self Insert have flaws or make mistakes~~.

Definitely true- the inner mind of even L is vague and unclear, as even now I can't get a clear picture on if he was Lawful Good/Neutral or True Neutral, to put it in a nerdy manner, doing things out of a sense of justice or because of his own self interest.

Fanfiction has always been a nice idea in my own mind, if only because I've always approached it as a way to practice my skills in a way that lets me do technical aspects without having to completely draw up characters and settings. (I love world building, but my ideas for any of my own original settings is modified constantly)

It really is at the "infant" stage, as Chapter 8 and 9 will be the final part of the "Intro" arc- and I do find it funny that when compared to other fics in the fandom I'm moving at a snails pace.

Character development is interesting for me, if only because I knowingly have to leave flaws and epiphanies for characters to have and experience later on. It's good practice.

L actually had the same thing happen as Lelouch to me - the impression I had gotten from fans prior to starting the series was a lot... nicer and woobier, and so when I saw for myself how ruthless they were, I was a bit taken aback. But yes, L is such a cypher to me.

That's probably a better motivation than many people for fanfic. At the very least, it means you have a story with direction instead of just a chain of events happening.

It's good practice which certain other people should do more of.

Fan impressions=definitely not actual character.

Well, a vague direction, anyway. The story is going somewhere- I can see up to a hill or so in the horizon (i.e. I can tell you where this story will go for over a score of chapters more) but after a certain point everything disappears into a haze of "God that's too far ahead to plan". I know how things will look towards the end, but not necessarily how it will end.

Oh for sure. But alas, practice is something most people generally don't care for.

So very, very true.

Well, that seems a reasonable way to write. Personally, my stories - short as they were - I could never get anywhere with unless I new just what the ending would be. I'd frequently have no idea how to get there, but I knew how it ended.

True, that. Even aside from that, I think I prefer people who write for What Ifs rather than Fix-Its. But this may be because I tend to only read fanfics of stuff I like, and I dislike the implicit whiny criticism a lot of Fix-It Fics imply.

The way I write usually varies- some of my original works, for example, I have definite endings but lack the "meat" of the story on how I'm getting from A to Z. I guess it depends on what inspired the story in my mind- for IHTW, it was the setting more than it was any plot. Sometimes both happen, of course, where the setting and the ending are created and motivate me.

Oh definitely- Fix-Its are pretty insulting to the original canon, which I usually happen to have liked. What If is far more interesting, which is why AUs are about the only long-fic I'll probably write now that Revenant is done.

I just find it difficult to write if I don't know what I am writing towards. Sometimes the ending is fairly nebulous and vague, but so long as I know where I am going - it's a light-house, I suppose.

Fix-It's don't have to be terrible, they just seem to be because of the attitude behind them - the main difference between them and a What If is seeing it as "Canon is a Problem that needs to be fixed" as opposed to "It would be interesting if Canon did this". Even if you have issues with canon, you can still write without that snideness.

That makes sense. For me, with stories like IHTW, I know what things will look like as we move towards the end, but bringing every surviving character to a satisfying conclusion is difficult.

It might have been obvious or not, but IHTW is not a stand alone, but the first part of a sequence (which is why I've been spending so much time world-building and characterizing). I know how IHTW will end, but the story itself goes beyond that.

The reason why the story had no definite ending yet was that nothing was working- but actually in the middle of replying to this I was struck by a vision of how it could end- just a simple scene where things could be brought to a true denouement. A lot of loose ends would have to be tied up beforehand, but it could work.

Definitely- A possible good Fix-It could be some kind of retcon fic where some plot hole is explained with actual coherency and intelligence. But yeah, most people just try to fix personal problems they had with the story, not anything truly interesting.

Yes, well you are dealing with a rather bigger cast than most of the stuff I did for Creative Writing.

I'm curious as to what else you might end up playing around with in the same world - there's the story of IHTW, and I remember you said the R2 equivalent would head off into a whole new direction, and I suppose your one-shot stuff, but beyond that...

And I'm glad I could possibly be of assistance, even tangentially.

True, that. Which might be why there are surprisingly few Code Geass fix-it's of the big one - the Geass on Euphie. Fixing that one would actually require the effort to work out a different way the story could go, instead of falling into the normal cliches of Self Insert and shipping.

That's another reason why IHTW is such good practice- writing long, multi-novel trilogies will require me to know how to work with massive casts.

All of the plot of IHTW and any sequel will continue the same stories and characters, though time skips may occur. But yeah, IHTW is at its core a conflict of morality between Lelouch and Suzaku, but the R2 equivalent complicates that heavily and makes things a little clearer.

Thanks, btw. I've more or less cemented the scene now into the story.

I've seen a few ones that try, most of them terrible sounding, but it is an interesting question. I'm not going to apply too much of my brain to this lest I get tempted into a new project, but I suppose it would just be a story about Lelouch, Suzaku, and Euphemia trying to work together to protect and save the SAZ. Which has a lot of potential and ARGH NO MUST NOT.

"Complicates and makes clearer". That's a lovely duality there. Just what have you been watching lately?

Huzzah! *\o/*

I've seen maybe make a decent crack at it. There's a few others that change that point by changing the whole thing from the start... but that's the sort of thing that easily falls into what I was bitching about before.

And write whatever you want to write. But it's probably best to stick to just one big project at a time.

Lost, perhaps, wherein every question answered leads to about a thousand new ones. I dunno- I wasn't even conscious of how unusual that sentence was, lol.

I've seen that one before, though I always get it mixed up with the other "For Want of a Nail" story where Suzaku gets killed. I suppose I'll give it a shot- there's only 2 more scenes left in the next chapter and I could use a break, lol. Maybe refresh my creativity.

Oh definitely. I'm already holding back a different CG project that I keep resisting the urge to work on. Though occasionally the idea of writing a completely deranged, animal-torturing crazy Lelouch gets tempting. (I would use this story to break myself of my own squeamishness in writing truly horrific scenes)

Heh. I just came from Ashes to Ashes finale, the show in which the crazy ridiculous fan theories turned out to actually be correct! ~~And make me cry~~.

...I wouldn't want to get those two mixed up at all. But well... if you want a change, go ahead. I'm not trying to push you away from IHTW or anything.

Ain't nothing wrong with doing one-shots/short fics between chapters, I suppose.

The Lost finale is tonight, and chances are I'll be emotionally drained at the end. My mind will be so blown I'll need a week to recover, I think.

Same, lol. But nah, I'm just streamrolling through the final scenes in this chapter. 1 1/2 scenes or so left, all of it dialogue I've been building up to for a long time. Hopefully I finish it before Lost, because otherwise this could take a while.

Yeah, I'm interested in writing a few other one-shots to add to Visions, such as how Rivalz joined the rebellion, a scene with Naoto and Kallen's father, and a few others. When Kaguya formally joins the cast there will be a few Noodle Incidents that chapters will allude to but I'm tempted to write in full as side stories/omakes.

I don't watch lost - the early seasons were a bit slow moving (and I was still at school when it started). But reactions to it seem pretty good so far, from what I've seen.

I have seen it! ...But I won't review until I get this stupid poster finished. *sigh*

LOL, I look forward to some of the Kaguya stuff, I can imagine that being hilarious. And interesting backstory is always fun.

Yeah the early seasons did move a bit slow, but then again they also didn't contain utterly insane plot twists that pushed at one's willing suspension of disbelief, lol, which is why it's nice to watch them. We watched the 2 hour recap beforehand, and it was really cool seeing stuff from the early seasons retrospectively.

Well I got your review, thanks! Glad to see you finished!

I'm looking forward to it, but the main plot must trudge on first before I can touch some of those scenes.

In a fit of great irony, I've taken a look at some of the Lost reactions on my flist. I am highly amused to hear it ended... rather similarly.

Well, it wasn't that hard to finish, I just had to sit down and not get distracted for an hour or so. Stupid wall-of-text poster.

Well, it's certainly got a crack on now. (I am amused at that comment that reckons Suzaku and Milly should have a Saturday morning cartoon ;) )

Yeah- I dunno, I think you had to have a real attachment to the show, at least in part, to get through a lot, and definitely to get the full impact of the ending.

lol, I know that feeling.

You know that reminds me of this in-universe thing I was considering where Kallen had an anime based loosely on her own exploits in IHTW, and Lelouch finds out and never lets her live it down. (Because I do like to think about what the media of the universe is like sometimes)

a2ashes currently has an ongoing debate as to whether Ashes to Ashes or Lost had a better take on the same idea.

Oh, that would be brilliant. I love that sort of thing, in-universe media, and Code Geass has always been spectacularly good for considering this, given how different the public knowledge is to what actually happened. The crazy conspiracy theories that must exist around Zero...

Lol. That reminds me of one of the segments in Batman: Gotham Knight where these four kids tell exaggerated stories about watching Batman fight a supervillain. A similar segment with Zero might be interesting.

They've done that with Batman a few times, comic and the animated series. But the really fun part is finding out what Kallen or Nunnally or Zerozaku would think of that stuff (You just know there's going to be like a zillion biographies and histories and theories written about it all - and then there'll be the "Based on a True Story" movies and TVs that are nothing like the actual truth).

lol that icon.

Definitely. I just imagine all the pretentious history textbooks which will analyze Lelouch's reign and laugh at how inaccurate some psychological profiles of Lelouch might be, and what "experts" might attribute his conquering of the world to.

I have assorted hilarious Batman icons.

The "explanations" for Lelouch and Suzaku really would end up so hilariously wrong - and it'll be even stranger when they start fictionalising it. "Based on a true story, huh?"

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And naturally I have more to say about fandom than anything else

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