That Unpopular Fandom Opinions Meme
Feb. 21st, 2009 04:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crankyoldmanWhat the hell. I'll keep it general, though, and not turn it into something that's obviously skewed to one fandom.
- 35 is not old. Seriously. Just because anime and video games seem to think 15 is the right age to save the world doesn't mean this is by any means normal. Folklore speaking, it makes sense because 15 was adult back in the day, but these are no longer the times for this. And characters over the age of 35 are not boring, you're just not expanding your mind enough. They're complicated.
- I cannot for the life of me ever get Old Dead/Mutated/Whatever Guy and Young Spunky/Hyper/Whatever Girl pairings. Mostly because they tend to be turned into caricatures the instant this happens. In every fandom I've ever been in. Unless it's canon. And even then, the fanfiction tends to be awful there. And I like those types of characters. Just not together. I think it's only a couple steps away from a Bella/Edward most of the time, really.
- The best way to keep me out of your fandom? Is to tell me it's better than one of mine. I don't care if you like it better, just there is no universal scale of awesome and not. I don't mind opinion, but I find, "my stuff is better than yours!" to be immature and rude.
- I don't like Evangelion. I don't dislike anyone for liking it, but if you treat it like the Most Amazing Anime Evar I may raise an eyebrow and scoot away slowly. As far as deconstruction goes, I found it sloppy and no one was likeable at all, not even in the "I don't care about likabiliy" way. And the random Christian symbolism? Made no sense. And I study Ethics for fun, it's not a matter of not "getting it" I just found the message to be depressingly bleak.
- I probably like most of the books you were forced to read in school. Likely because I'm in the sciences and not forced to read them. There are exceptions, of course.
- I like het and slash equally. Because everyone's a little gay or a little straight. And who cares. Character interaction is always fun, why should it matter if they're screwing or not?
- I actually like gen better than anything else. Particularly family gen. Dysfunctional or not. There's a ridiculously huge range of human interaction out there that's missed. And I know it's hard, too, so I don't blame people for not writing it much.
- I tend to lose respect for people that use the term "Mary Sue" too much. Mostly because the definition has turned into "female character I either don't like or identify with". And it's nearly always female. This does not sit well with my creepy feelings I get about misogyny in fandom. Furthermore, I find it a stupid double standard that female characters tend to have to be a lot of different things, when a similar male character gets a hand wave a lot. I'm cool if it's a certain type of cliche across the board you don't like, though (like I don't actually really like theives/rogues much).
- I don't get into a lot of current teenagery stuff because I'm a snob, mostly just because I can't identify with it. I'll watch 80s and 90s teen movies forever though.
- I am more squicked by bad power dynamics played romantic than by mind control. Mostly because I've lived it, likely.
- I don't read longfic anymore because I'd rather just go read a book by a published author if I'm going to invest that much time in something. Not that published authors are any better, I just know there's a lot of decent books out there I haven't read, and I always hate getting into a longfic only to realize three very long chapters in that I'm probably going to want to bang my head on a wall.
- I like poetry, and lyrical prose. If it makes sense? I REALLY like it.
- FF7 and FFX have my favorite main parties of all. For completely opposite reasons and mostly because of the female members. Other unpopular FF things include: I wish FF8 were about Rinoa instead of Squall, I couldn't get into FF9, I thought Yuna was the hero of FFX, I didn't like Locke in FF6, Tellah rocks in FF4 even if his magic sucks, I'm glad FF13 is going to be sci-fi, FF4's Cecil is my favorite hero and I relate to him a lot, and I hate FF7's Zack, but mostly his creepy as hell fanboys.
- I think anti-fandoms are worse than any rabid fandom out there. Do you realize how much time you waste on something you supposedly don't like? Seriously.
- Lancelot and any character modeled after him is a douche.
- If you're writing the same characters and pairings based on type in various fandoms, you need a break. I've been guilty of this too. We like what we like, but if your female lead sounds the same across the board? You may just want to take a break and write some crack.
- 35 is not old. Seriously. Just because anime and video games seem to think 15 is the right age to save the world doesn't mean this is by any means normal. Folklore speaking, it makes sense because 15 was adult back in the day, but these are no longer the times for this. And characters over the age of 35 are not boring, you're just not expanding your mind enough. They're complicated.
- I cannot for the life of me ever get Old Dead/Mutated/Whatever Guy and Young Spunky/Hyper/Whatever Girl pairings. Mostly because they tend to be turned into caricatures the instant this happens. In every fandom I've ever been in. Unless it's canon. And even then, the fanfiction tends to be awful there. And I like those types of characters. Just not together. I think it's only a couple steps away from a Bella/Edward most of the time, really.
- The best way to keep me out of your fandom? Is to tell me it's better than one of mine. I don't care if you like it better, just there is no universal scale of awesome and not. I don't mind opinion, but I find, "my stuff is better than yours!" to be immature and rude.
- I don't like Evangelion. I don't dislike anyone for liking it, but if you treat it like the Most Amazing Anime Evar I may raise an eyebrow and scoot away slowly. As far as deconstruction goes, I found it sloppy and no one was likeable at all, not even in the "I don't care about likabiliy" way. And the random Christian symbolism? Made no sense. And I study Ethics for fun, it's not a matter of not "getting it" I just found the message to be depressingly bleak.
- I probably like most of the books you were forced to read in school. Likely because I'm in the sciences and not forced to read them. There are exceptions, of course.
- I like het and slash equally. Because everyone's a little gay or a little straight. And who cares. Character interaction is always fun, why should it matter if they're screwing or not?
- I actually like gen better than anything else. Particularly family gen. Dysfunctional or not. There's a ridiculously huge range of human interaction out there that's missed. And I know it's hard, too, so I don't blame people for not writing it much.
- I tend to lose respect for people that use the term "Mary Sue" too much. Mostly because the definition has turned into "female character I either don't like or identify with". And it's nearly always female. This does not sit well with my creepy feelings I get about misogyny in fandom. Furthermore, I find it a stupid double standard that female characters tend to have to be a lot of different things, when a similar male character gets a hand wave a lot. I'm cool if it's a certain type of cliche across the board you don't like, though (like I don't actually really like theives/rogues much).
- I don't get into a lot of current teenagery stuff because I'm a snob, mostly just because I can't identify with it. I'll watch 80s and 90s teen movies forever though.
- I am more squicked by bad power dynamics played romantic than by mind control. Mostly because I've lived it, likely.
- I don't read longfic anymore because I'd rather just go read a book by a published author if I'm going to invest that much time in something. Not that published authors are any better, I just know there's a lot of decent books out there I haven't read, and I always hate getting into a longfic only to realize three very long chapters in that I'm probably going to want to bang my head on a wall.
- I like poetry, and lyrical prose. If it makes sense? I REALLY like it.
- FF7 and FFX have my favorite main parties of all. For completely opposite reasons and mostly because of the female members. Other unpopular FF things include: I wish FF8 were about Rinoa instead of Squall, I couldn't get into FF9, I thought Yuna was the hero of FFX, I didn't like Locke in FF6, Tellah rocks in FF4 even if his magic sucks, I'm glad FF13 is going to be sci-fi, FF4's Cecil is my favorite hero and I relate to him a lot, and I hate FF7's Zack, but mostly his creepy as hell fanboys.
- I think anti-fandoms are worse than any rabid fandom out there. Do you realize how much time you waste on something you supposedly don't like? Seriously.
- Lancelot and any character modeled after him is a douche.
- If you're writing the same characters and pairings based on type in various fandoms, you need a break. I've been guilty of this too. We like what we like, but if your female lead sounds the same across the board? You may just want to take a break and write some crack.
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(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-21 09:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-21 09:58 pm (UTC)As I mentioned in my comments to Jamie's post, I'm really only into pairings that at least make some bit of sense. I realize this is all about suspension of disbelief, but like you were saying about the old messed-up dude paired with the young spunky girl, at some point I don't like to have to work to make a pairing seem feasible. I'm perfectly okay with the obvious pairing, like Cecil and Rosa 6_6 Throw Kain in for an affair with Rosa when I'm feeling kinky. I'm all for like, Cid/Edward crack, but I'm never going to be "into" all these contrived pairings, either het or slash XD
Eva wasn't bad, but it kind of made me want to cut my wrists at the end. I enjoyed it; definitely not the Greatest Anime of All Time though.
Amen to the Mary Sue comment!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-21 10:25 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-21 10:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-21 10:41 pm (UTC)I'm really quite squishy deep down.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-21 10:39 pm (UTC)And exactly, can't happy people be together? ^^
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-21 10:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-21 10:31 pm (UTC)So it's been a lifelong obsession of mine. And I'm glad I'm getting older myself because more people are aware.
'm perfectly okay with the obvious pairing, like Cecil and Rosa
Them and Cid and Edea are probably my favorites in the FF series. It's just.... cute. Oh and Locke/Celes, because it makes Locke less annoying. XD I LIKE YOU AS LOCKE THOUGH. I just have a great aversion to Heroic Thieves.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-21 10:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-21 10:40 pm (UTC)It's ok. I used to have a crush on Wesley Crusher.
We all have something.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-22 12:07 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-22 07:47 am (UTC)The thing you have to remember about Locke is that he is fucking crazy. I mean, seriously, he has his dead girlfriend preserved in a basement. That is serious hardcore nuts.
Which is why I like him, honestly.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-21 11:21 pm (UTC)And I also like het and slash equally-- but I feel like a damn minority or a sore thumb if I ever mention it to people.
I mean, why is fandom all slashlashlash!? It's not all, but I wonder why people feel more comfortable with two guys doing it more than they are two girls, or a girl and a guy--
/rant
Aw, I'll love Locke for you XD
I tend to like the theives/rogues(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-21 11:27 pm (UTC)I’ve guiltily started finding longer fanfic more appealing than books since it’s been awhile I’ve bought a book I’ve liked, the price is right, and you can drop it without having it sitting around taking up space.
Gen stories are outside of my main fandom is generally what I read. I enjoy romance and appreciated it as it add layers to characters, then there’s the fun of getting to squeal at the cute parts, outside of that I don’t much care for it as anything other than a side thing. Expect in the final fantasy VII fandom where I have trouble with reading stories that don’t have vague mention of my favorite pairing. It’s odd really.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-21 11:33 pm (UTC)I like having diverse opinions with my friends. It is opinion after all, I won't suddenly disown you. Don't feel guily. ^^ Sorry I haven't had the time/attention to write some longer things for you. XD
Hell, in a few weeks my tastes will prolly change anyway.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-22 12:09 am (UTC)And Yuna is totally the hero of FFX.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-22 03:24 pm (UTC)Also AMEN on Lancelot!! But we ranted about this at length.