Fandom Tennis Match

[scribblemyname]

Gakked from tielan:

Okay, here's how this is going to work. You comment with a fandom question. I answer it and then ask you a question that has some thematic relevance to the question you asked me

Comments

[alphaflyer.livejournal.com]

What drew you to the Clint/Natasha pairing, and to writing about ... well ... assassins?

[scribblemyname]

Honestly, I always liked gifts and powers from the time I was a wee thing and the two biggest tropes that go with that are being forced to use your powers for the military or some captor like Mr. Bolt in Escape to Witch Mountain and then vigilantes, secret agents, or operatives. Major X-Men influence there.

So one of my favorite tropes, fleshed out long before I realized it was a popular thing or a thing at all, was gifted kids "created" by the military, mindwiped, then trained as weapons. Sound familiar?

My X-Men fan friends got into Avengers and somehow a link dropped me on ohladybegood's series, those who are afraid of wolves, if I'm remembering the title right. Natasha was everything I love in a character, dangerously competent, and fully in control of what she became. She overcame her captors and mastered herself. (I'm hearing the echoes of entire cultures I built here.)

I fell in love with Clint my typical way. He was my favorite character's other half and when I started writing him from his backstory, I got sucked in and now love him just as much as her.

What's the biggest draw for you when writing Natasha and then when writing Clint, or is it the same for both of them?

[tielan]

X-Men movieverse: Would you have changed anything in the movies, and if so, what and how?

[scribblemyname]

X3

Don't kill everyone off, don't have Jean kill them all, and Bobby/Kitty!? Really?

I hate betrayal in fic, betrayal arcs, infidelity, anything where the original love is real. Where there is no love, it's not betrayal, just treachery, which I can handle.

Also, more Storm and Rogue doing awesome stuff.

Which was your favorite X-movie or comics run and why?

[tielan]

I would subscribe to this newsletter! (Admittedly I only watched 1 and 2, sort of wandered in while my stepdad was watching 3, pretty much wandered back out again.)

Famke Janssen (XMM: Jean Grey) noted that one of the problems with the movies was that the intersection of the Big Name Actors conflicted with the characters who originally held down the storylines they were going to tell.

...I may have Feelings about this. (And an unwritten XM3 story in a file somewhere.)

In the regular comics continuum, my favourite book and run was the Generation X series up to and including the development of the private school where the kids were going to 'hide' amidst several dozen rich and wealthy youngsters attending the same classes. It was like a high school AU without the AU.

(Oh, wait, can I have two? CODE OF HONOR - a story about a New York cop trying to live life in the middle of the X-universe. Beautiful, terrible, painful, truthful.)

In the entirety of the X-Books: THE AGE OF APOCALYPSE. (Okay, I'm gunning for three. Because, OMG AGE OF APOCALYPSE.)

It's probably assisted by the fact that it's a limited run, finite universe (or was originally; I hear they've continuuinuuinuummed it) but the storytelling was tight, the echoes were perfect, and the world ended with a bang and a whimper! (BOMBS FALL EVERYONE DIES. LITERALLY.)

I've just realised I have quite a lot of Feelings about the X-Men in various incarnations and 'verses.

Okay, let's switch things up a little: pick One Jossverse To Rule Them All, and why. :)

[scribblemyname]

Everyone dies? :feels faint: I'd heard good stuff about that arc though...

One Jossverse... Hm.

Avengers. After Ultron, I may change my mind. I only do Firefly and his Marvel stuff, and I take issue with gore and most deathfic, even logistically called for deathfic (Serenity, I'm looking at you), but the Avengers was light and fun and serious and epic and adventure and great character dynamics, so it rules for me.

Firefly would win though if he hadn't made the reavers. :shudders:

What do you love and hate most about Joss Whedon's work?

[in-the-blue.livejournal.com]

What would you have done differently at the end of Allegiant? And what was your biggest disappointment with those books?

[scribblemyname]

Not enough icebergs!

No, really. Half or all of every single pairing I got attached to ended up dead. Big disappointment. I wanted so badly to fic the world and I mostly can't. There just aren't enough hooks for me.

If I wrote Allegiant, let's face it. I can't write real deathfic, where it's not canonical. I would have had someone find her before she totally died and be in critical condition then live.

If you could read one epic, well written, in character Divergent series fic, what would it be?

[in-the-blue.livejournal.com]

I'd be all over a Hunger Games-Divergent fusion fic where Tris and Katniss are buddies, and Peeta, Gale, and Four spend a lot of time glowering at each other. In the end, in my perfect world, Cinna would save the day single-handedly, with or without fashion. The world-building would have to be seamless, but the Districts could match up to the Factions, and there is so much potential for these two stories to collide.

If I have to stick just to Divergent, I'd read a fic where Caleb manages to save Tris in a nifty little redemption arc all his own.

[scribblemyname]

I don't quite know enough Hunger Games to fully appreciate it, but sounds intriguing and interesting.

Love the Caleb idea. That would satisfy my need for real costs and sacrifice.

[in-the-blue.livejournal.com]

I think you would like the first book, maybe the first two in the Hunger Games trilogy. Suzanne Collins' world-building is something you'd appreciate.

Reading Allegiant, I knew there wasn't a chance in hell Tris was going to let Caleb carry out that mission. I wish he'd grown a pair and either gone with her or figured out a way to make things work. He was supposed to be so intelligent. Alas. Characterization was sacrificed for the preordained plot. To me, that was a case of the author writing to the outline instead of letting things flow. But I'm not Veronica Roth, so what do I know.

[scribblemyname]

I definitely saw the ending coming. I do admit, I read Roth's note about her writing process before I read the build-up, then the scene, and it happened organically for her, and it felt inevitable to me, more a case of going with your first draft idea because that's what came out instead of reevaluating to see if you want to change it or make it more believable.

And while I do wish he'd figured out what to do on the fly there, it unfortunately did fit in with what I expected of Caleb after the second book and his general lack of training for split-second battlefield type decisions.

I think it could be done though and if I ever get enough through my backlog to make it appealing, I'll probably fic that.

[classics-lover.livejournal.com]

Do you prefer canon pairings or your own OTPs, even if canon disagrees? (Any fandom)

[scribblemyname]

In general, I prefer canonical pairings. I get invested easily and really dislike break-ups of healthy relationships. I don't mind picking up non-canonical pairings, but they're almost always for characters who do not retain the same canonical relationship the whole time or who I meet before I realize they have a significant other.

Now this does not extend to all versions of a canon. I fell in love with Rogue/Remy from the comics before I really got too deep into X-Movie fanficcing, and I am a HUGE Rogue/Remy shipper in X-Men Movieverse.

But no way am I upping my Beaumont/Walsh pairing or Casey/Davis pairing in The Unusuals. So it kind of depends on where I meet them first?

I'm a loyal bird, all in all.

If you opt for a non-canonical pairing, do you prefer to keep amicable relations, add a fiery break-up backstory, or just pretend it never happened?

[classics-lover.livejournal.com]

I've rarely shipped outside of canon pairings, but when I do I give logical backstory breakups (e.g. they drifted apart, they were parted for logistical reasons (long distance or society,etc)) rather than the fiery breakup sagas of DOOOOM that plagued PotC fandom in the fandom wars between Elizabeth/Will, Elizabeth/Jack and Will/Jack shippers*. It just seemed too unbelievable to me for it to work.

*I shipped none of those. My OTP was Norrington/Gillette (and Norrington/Gillette/Groves for OT3 or Gillette/Groves as an alternative) and the little corner of fandom that shipped the officers was much calmer than the noisy Sparrabeth/Willabeth/JackWillers that made up the bulk of the fandom. I like calmness and fun in fandom. When people are writing big, huge, messy breakup fics laden with revenge!sex that turns into Twoo Wuv I bail out as fast as I can.

In MCU I'm lucky that the characters I ship are either canonically single, canonically ambiguous or Tony and Pepper :P (And Tony flirts with anyone with two legs and a pulse, so I can ship him without bothering to deal with Pepper - which is not necessarily fair to Pepper, but easier than deciding that they cannot ever see each other again).

Has there been a part of canon that you just pretend never happened?

[scribblemyname]

Serenity. X3 (except when I sigh and use it). Comics pairing Magneto/Rogue. Everything in Roswell after "Viva Las Vegas." Sadly, I could go on.

Because I really entered fandom through comics, I have a very resilient ability to deal with plot holes, continuity fail, and let's just pretend that run doesn't exist. (There might be occasional proclamations to burn it with fire, but who's counting?)

Is there any headcanon you have or fanon that you simply pretend is canon and won't give up without calling it AU?

[classics-lover.livejournal.com]

I'm not big into X-Men but the thought of Magneto/Rogue made me want to run away and find some mind bleach :P

I did the same with Buffy after Tara was killed and I treated series 7 as a total AU, it was so ooc.

That Norrington, Gillette and Groves are all fuckbuddies/in a relationship (PotC fandom) ;)

That Ezio Auditore is bisexual and doesn't understand people who are either straight or gay (because by the end of the events of Bro'hood he "didn't get" why women provide Leonardo da Vinci with Little distraction? Eh, no. Those boys have been fuckbuddies since 1476) (Assassin's Creed)

And I read a lovely little fic a few years ago that Tony Stark would kiss whoever was nearby when he woke up (leading Bruce to feel both confused and flattered in equal measure) and Pepper explained that Tony didn't really understand affection very well (or words to that effect), and nothing I've seen in canon has changed that impression of Tony, and I don't think anything ever will :D (MCU)

What is your favourite piece of headcanon (in any fandom(s))?

[scribblemyname]

Gets thoughty...

MCU: Clint's deaf or hard of hearing and Natasha definitely wasn't born in '84

Agents of SHIELD: Bobbi and Mack's (and Hartley's) thing is related to Project Gladiator and not Hydra, even better if Fury knew about it and Steve didn't

Divergent: Andrew and Jeanine were almost a thing when they were kids

Roswell: Alex's death was a total accident


What is your favorite piece of commonly accepted fanon for one/any of your fandoms?

[classics-lover.livejournal.com]

The Ezio as bi thing is the darling of fandom headcanon (at least on the kmeme :P). Other than that... I generally can't differentiate between fanon and canon until canon does something contra to the fanon I picked up. Otherwise... my favourite *naughty* headcanon is that Loki knots when in flagrante delicto.

Which do you prefer, fanon or lore?

[scribblemyname]

Pardon my ignorance. What's "lore" in this context?

[classics-lover.livejournal.com]

I suppose I'm thinking of it like the background canon. The world that the fandom is set in, which would have come from the writer(s) him/her/themselves.

[scribblemyname]

Lore. If lore is canon, then all the way, unless it's apocryphal stuff and it's screwing with the things I actually love about canon, then fanon all the way.