HAH! Omg, my getting into the Marvel movies is actually pretty similar. Saw the first Iron Man with friends because I liked RDJ, saw the second with friends on DVD because someone else paid for the rental, skipped Iron Man 3 and Thor because I just didn't care, then Thor ended up on Netflix and I put it on while I was alone and doing something on the computer, just eh, whatever, nothing better to watch and Chris Hemsworth *does* make for a nice view when I bother to glance at the screen...and then Loki. xD I feel everything you said about wanting that emotional resolution for him though...SO MUCH. I love that sort of character, the tortured anti-hero sort, doing bad things but coming from a place of incredible pain and then maybe not being so entirely awful...and an ACTUAL redemption arc? The painful kind, where the character has to face up to the things they've done and accept that they can't be undone but that that doesn't let them off the hook for *trying* to be better and maybe doesn't *forever* preclude their own happiness? Not that they gave us that with Thor 2 but they teased it and I want it so bad it's practically a physical ache. xD (And then the part when he crashes that party and tells everyone to kneel to him as their god-- *_* Yessir!!! 3:) )
But my first dance with fandom, the first fanfic I ever felt the need to write, was for the Rumbelle ship of Once Upon a Time. Have you seen the show? I HATE what it's become with a passion reserved for the very worst and most vile betrayals, but I stand by the first season as being absolutely amazing, if still imperfect, and episode 12 of season 1 is possibly my favorite single episode of any tv show ever. xD I'd been paying so little attention to the first episode that I honestly couldn't tell three of the main female characters apart (Snow White, the Evil Queen, and the Blue Fairy) but there's a part where they visit Rumpelstiltskin, one of the show's main villains, who's imprisoned in a dungeon, and he creeps out of the shadows, this skinny little 50+ year old Scottish guy in crazy makeup, his teeth painted brown, wild contacts and wide eyes, talking in this creaky, bizarre voice that he apparently based on his youngest son's baby talk--and I was hopelessly hooked. His arc was everything I've ever loved, he's manipulative, literally world-endingly powerful, *gleefully, prancingly, gigglingly* evil, but you find out he fell into for actually rather altruistic reasons, trying to save his son, and where he is by the time the series starts is the result of a cruel combination of Fate (a Seer literally scared him into some of it/"foretold" it), incredibly bad luck, Very Bad Things working against him, and his own unfortunate choices, though I think none of the early ones warrant what happens to him because of them. His later choices are another matter...But he's such a beautiful, complex, character! Then they set him up as the Beast in the Beauty and the Beast (in episode 12 xD) and tease a gentler heart even under the monster he's become and the possibility of better choices and I...just...asdfihukjb! Then in season 4 and 5 they threw all character development out the window and started smashing the characters into each other like cardboard cutouts, assassinated one by one in the name of PLOOOOTTTTTT...and stupid plot at that. They've actually set up several fascinating redemption arcs, almost every villain on the show gets the chance if they aren't killed, but they short cut it, EVERY. FREAKING. TIME...angsty angsty angst, and then the Heroes(TM) show up and say "you don't have to be bad, we believe in you!" and they are unreservedly forgiven everything and anyone who continues to hold their actions against them (actions like...oh, rape? kidnapping? child-murder/slavery? literally wiping out whole villages of people? ...and a bunch of viewers got all "moral" about the fact they finally put in a canon gay couple??? What is this world?!) is considered cruel and uncaring. O.o Even when they backslide, they're instantly forgiven if anyone bothers to notice they did it at all.
Anywho...(sorry, that got long, it's still fresh for me, and I shouldn't rant but I still NEEED to xD)
Yes! Snowblind! I read it last night, and stayed up until almost 4am, (so glad I'm on vacation right now, lol, because I don't think I could have made myself stop and go to sleep even if I had had work today) reading and then being stunned, pondering it all. Holy crap, I want to print it out and staple it over the ending in my copies of the book!
Yfandes! ;-; ...But Van lives! And Stefen saves him! ...omg, what revenge cost Lendel! ;-; But Van and Stef are alive and together, dammit! But we have to see Randale die and Shavri bring Stefen up on charges for using his Gift to save Van! But they both LIVE! The grinding hopelessness...I was literally in tears (though it's not hard to make me cry over fiction, it's almost harder for me not to xD) but the end is so good! So poignant, no easy happily ever after but a realistic relationship developing between damaged but loving equals. I was gutted by the thought of Van without Yfandes, without any Companion, but it is sort of par for the course of his strange, against-the-grain life and I loved the detail that other companions might talk to him directly now out of a sort of respect and sympathy for his deeds and his loss, or at least they did the once (but I'd like to head canon they continue to do so when it's warranted--at first I wanted him to be Chosen again, but I actually like the idea of him being adopted by all of the Companions as a whole better). The ride *on a horse* back to Haven, just struck me as too awful to think about but typhe made me do it anyway. xD
I actually did leave a comment on that fic, today, when I'd had time to sleep on it and chill a little, but I think I was still too wound up by the story to say anything nearly as coherent or thorough as I'd've liked. Flailing indeed!
You can rant at me abt your problematic faves any time. As you can see I am equally disposed to spewing such verbiage XD
UGH IKR???!!! The thing that strikes me the most is how organic it feels, like literally you could cut out the last chapters and edit this in. There is absolutely nothing about it that feels forced, like, "This is the end result I want, how do I make the characters serve the conclusion", it just feels like this is what was supposed to happen. I just. Love this story to itty bitty bits.
Also Stefen in the later installments is so heartbreaking, I love that we can see how much he's grown from being the vain little thing he was, only out for his own gain and security, to being genuinely selfless. He' s trying so hard to hold himself and Vanyel and everyone else together. I just want to pet his hair and tell him it's okay, bb, you can ask for help dealing if you need to.
No joke! I kind of did just cut out the last bit of canon and insert Snowblind, the way I was listening to the audiobooks. Like I said somewhere up there, I listened to the part where Van goes all suspicious and preachy on Stef about the gift of the focus stone and quit for the night to fume to myself about how much that scene has always annoyed me (like if we're already drawing attention to the possible problem of the age difference, but trying to make it not a *huge* thing, then maybe don't have a such a weirdly condescending and parental interaction happen for no reason? Van can wonder where it came from, he can even be worried about it or even have a freak out that causes strife between them to show that they're not really seeing things eye-to-eye yet and the trust isn't fully there, but him turning into Papa Van has always struck me as weird and uncomfortable and at the very least should have been addressed as weird and not a particularly healthy confrontation?). But then...I just couldn't go back to the story because I know where it's going and I didn't wanna. xD
So instead I went to AO3 and found the fanfic! And you're right, although I stopped before Savil dies even, let alone Van being captured by the bandits, (as if I don't remember those parts quite well, thanks xP) I had no trouble seguing from canon to Snowblind. And it feels so good, so right! It's gritty and dark and painful and even hopeless but it ends on a much weightier and yet more hopeful note than canon does, for me anyway. xD And yes, Stefen is fabulous in it, it is good to see him grow as a character, not just be told that he managed to pull it together for the rest of his lonely life so he could earn a long-time ghost romance when he finally died, but to see him really caring about the people around him.
Sigh...I have a need to finish things, so I am going to go back and finish listening to the rest of the audiobook at some point though. ;-; But for now...I still have a billion tabs open with other fics or searches! ;)
YESSSS You are spot on in your assessment of that scene. It felt just kinda skeevy and wrong. Stef having a bit of a skewed moral compass is part of his charm, anyway! That, I literally just now realized is one reason why I love typhe's Stef so much. I'd have preferred them to have a fight, which lbr is what was most likely to happen. I mean, I'd be pissed if someone accused me of obtaining a gift for them either in a shady or all out illegal way. Especially if was my SO and it was a fucking welcome home present...!
You know what I suddenly really want a fic of Tantras mediating a fight between Van and Stef, oh god. *bites fist* imagine how glorious that would be ;__; goddammit
You know what, on l_h_m.dw's interest list I added "fake happy endings", because no Lackey them being ghosts together with Yfandes as the eternal third wheel is not what you can legit call a happy ending. I feel like I shouldn't have to explain these things.
My dad and sister were super into OUaT, but I was just never intrigued enough by the premise, and then they started complaining about how it was going downhill, so I figured for my own relative peace of mind, I'd stay away.
But no lie, That storyline sounds just like my jam. Idk, more and more it seems like TV is just out to disappoint us. I was a HUUUUUGE fan of Sleepy Hollow. Season one is literally the most perfect thing ever, and I was prepared to find it cringy as hell. Season Two was also good, and most of season three. But the season finale ruined it for me. I honestly don't know if I'll watch season four or not :/
But yes double standards are one of the things in Marvel that piss me off to no end; mass murder, racism, attempted genocide? It's ok when the heroes do it (lol remember in Thor 2 when Odin is like, the dark elves are no longer a threat because we killed them all, and the narrative just...doesn't...question that statement. So when Loki tried to destroy Jotunheim, that was bad because...?). Because it either just isn't bad when Heroes do it, or else heroes get the chance to atone, but when the villains (which lbr, means when Loki) does it it's utterly unforgivable and he is never given the opportunity at redemption. Or the only way he can be redeemed is by dying. (I will die on the hill that Loki didn't fake his death on purpose). Didn't he save Jane Foster's life at nearly the cost of his own earlier in the scene? The woman he really hated in Thor 1? Didn't he step up and save Thor's life when the smart thing to do was just run away? Those acts of selflessness weren't redemptive enough? he really had to die to be truly sorry?! So yes let us commiserate about our shittu taste in fandoms lol.
I had pretty much that same experience with Sleepy Hollow as you did with OUaT, it hadn't sounded like my sort of thing at all and by the time I was hearing things that made it sound like I might have liked it people were already talking about how they were ruining it and I didn't want to get into it then. I hate tv for *exactly* that reason, there's very little that I watch that isn't on Netflix anymore, because if they ruin everything I liked, at least I get it over faster that way and I don't get my hopes up and start investing in it. Although even that doesn't always work out. I discovered OUaT on Netflix and fell in love with the seasons that were available, and then started watching it as it aired just in time for it to crash and burn. (The Walking Dead and OUaT are the ONLY things I watch as they air, and I'm so done with OUaT; I wouldn't have watched this season except I'm shallow and Rumpelstiltskin made me fall in love with Robert Carlyle's face and that show's the most reliable place to see it. xD)
And YEEEESSSSSSS!!!!! That's exactly it! That the heroes always get forgiven and the villains are always held to a harder standard. I understand it's a trap that's easy to fall into when you have a villain that you explore enough to make him/her more than a cookie cutter, mustache-twirling cliche who does what they do purely for the Evuls, (or just when the casting people stumble on an actor good enough and nuanced enough to make it feel like they're more than that) but I wish they would choose to play with that more, let it *be* unfair, let the audience notice it's unfair, let that be a dimension of the conflict between the sides...or just, y'know, keep ignoring it and keep calling the "good" guys always good and the "bad" guys always bad, as the plot requires, even when they aren't always acting that differently. Forgiveness for the heroes, endless piles of recrimination for the "villains." (Even in forgiving, the side of the heroes can be so...off! I saw a post on tumblr that called out the whole, hero hacking and slashing his way through all the villain's mooks, then "proving his morality" by refusing to kill the villain himself O.o ) So many wonderful opportunities for amazing conflict and subtleties and instead...they go with...dull. :P
Just in the span of the past few months my best friend got me hopelessly hooked first on podcasts in general, and then The Blackes Tapes and Tanis in particular, and then on Orphan Black. It's actually my sudden interest in podcasts that made me try listening to LHM, since I also had some birthday gift cards for Amazon and was feeling...nostalgic (and I'd just caught up on Orphan Black and needed something else, quick, lol). xD She's tried with Dr. Who, too, but there's so much of that, she doesn't try too hard. ;)
In Sleepy Hollow's defense, it was very self contained. Each episode resolved itself with the exception of a handful of two-parters, and while seasons one and two obviously left room for more story to happen, you can just stop there. Season three was honestly kinda meh, if it wasn't for Nicole Beharie's face I wouldn't have felt very motivated to keep watching. If you live for platonic m/f friendship like I do this show is very rewarding. Also sisterly relationships! Tropes subverted! It was great while it was, you know, great.
Tbh as far as Marvel goes, I just want some kind of scene where Thor ends up explaing to the other Avengers about Loki's backstory, and they point out just how racist and fucked up what their parents did to Loki actually was, and really, what did they think was gonna happen? Not that his actions were justified, but if his grandfather basically exterminated the Dark Elves...and by Asgardian standards, that was a goodright thing to do...? correct me if I'm wrong? Then why would he not think exterminating the jotuns was also right and just and would prove to Odin he was AT LEAST as good of a murderer as Thor?
And there is just so much subtext in Loki's interactions with The Other. That is clearly not a relationship of equals. I don't buy the mind control theory, but it was pretty obvious that there was some degree of coersion. Again, not saying he is absolved of his actions. But it is a mitigating factor.
Ok friend let me tell you about Doctor Who: seasons 1 through 4, while not perfect, were just plain old fun. There was humor, there was srs bsns, there was sad. It was a show that didn't take itself too seriously. Then the Moffat Years happened. I can summarize most of the Moffat Years as: Fuck Moffat.
Davies was not a perfect writer. But he gave us some of the best, bravest female characters on TV right now. Rose was not Spunky and Smart because the show said she was. She just was. Same with Martha! And Donna! Donna was my fave because she really felt like an "everywoman", and she was just fucking funny.
Then Moffat comes along. And I don't honestly have much of a problem with Amy and Rory, okay, and he did give us Vastra and Jenny (even if he has no idea what to do with them *grumble*). But what he did to River Song. It just. Adhjkjg f2f hjjv IT LITERALLY MAKES ME INCOHERENT. And I find it truly baffling that anyone can think that The Doctor/River Song is, is, is actually romantic??? I mean the narrative presents it as such but it is not. IT IS NOT. ROMANTIC. And I don't actually have a problem with the ship, just don't pretend that it's not completely fucked up that The Doctor marries/falls in love with the daughter of his friends who was kidnapped at birth and brainwashed into being The Doctor's assassin. But she grows up and realizes she doesn't want to kill him. She falls in love with him. She goes to college and becomes a professor of archeology just so she can stalk The Doctor throughout history. Her entire life she is quite literally obsessed with The Doctor. She is defined by The Doctor. And...that is romantic behavior, according to Steven Moffat. Honey, no. And that's not even touching on how disgusting and manpain-y The Doctor was in season 7. Because the pain us regular old humans feel when we lose a child or get betrayed is just NOT AS IMPORTANT as how lonely The Doctor is.
But then it got 100x better in season 8???!!! Like seriously, Capaldi's Doctor is my favorite. I thought I would always be a Ten girl but Twelve is killing it. And Clara, who before had the same amount of personality as a paperclip, suddenly became all the things I liked most about Rose and Donna. Clearly, Moffat has been replaced with a clone or something, idk. So, do I recommend it? Yes, overall. Just make sure you have a lot of liquor to get through season 7.
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