Does the fandom have anniversary coins or something?

[kaigou]

I posted the first chapter of Drums on July 21st, 2003.

And today, a short review arrived, on the second chapter. (Don't you just adore ff.net's message forwarding, no matter how long it's been since posting?) Normally I wouldn't snark on reviews -- and this isn't truly meant to have the tone of snark, honestly -- but still. The reviewer noted, the heero once being in love with relena thing kinda made me laugh. there's just ZERO sign of it in the anime, that's all.

Sometimes I wonder if I watched the same GW episodes as everyone else.

Or there's a simpler explanation. Perhaps the fangirl contingent sent out warning notes that Milliardo's Decision (ep45) wasn't worth watching. New flash: Heero goes to Libra, talks to Relena, tries to threaten Zechs but it turns out to be a hologram, and then Heero leaves. No reason to watch, nothing to see here, move along, now. No, you really don't need to see the obvious shift from tension and uncertainty at episode start, to the affectionate, hopeful, even warm, tete-a-tete at episode end... y'know, just before Heero shoves Relena back and then tells her not see you later but fare well. Thanks for the moon eyes, I'm off to die!

Suicide boy.

Or maybe it's just something in fandoms that's all-or-nothing. Either you meet the love of your life at 15 and that's it -- with addendum to fanfic author, don't you dare break them up or ever even hint they could love another -- or the people you met at 15 and/or in the course of the story are all friends, only friends, and never breathe a hint of anything more. I can't be the only fanfic writer who would beat myself -- or anyone else -- senseless if forced to live the rest of my life with anyone I liked at 15. Oh, holy hells, no, please. Sometimes we crush on the absolute worst choices, but that's part of being 15...

Besides, in the series? Relena spends a lot of the time crushing on Heero, in her own idealistic/confused way, but he spends even more time stalking her. Tthen again, Quatre does the same to/for Trowa, as do Duo and Heero for each other, and even those can't come close to the investment Trowa makes in Heero.

Hell, at that, Noin's worship of Zechs comes in second to the blatant level of Trowa's worship of Heero. Hell, if there's any sort of truly obvious crushing going on in the series, I'd say it's Trowa for Heero -- and I don't mean automatically in the sexual sense, so much as the pure form of a crush: utter infatuation and a whole heaping of worship. Even Relena doesn't have stars quite that big in her eyes, when it comes to Heero.



So, about that anniversary. Maybe a special four-year cookie. Or better yet, a stiff drink, because if it's going to be four years from now and I'm still getting reviews on Drums, I'm going to need all the alcohol I can get.

Comments

[penship.livejournal.com]

I used to boggle when fics described Heero or Duo falling in love the moment they met. The same moment where Duo shoots Heero not once, but twice! It's not just meeting the love of your life at fifteen, it's love at first shot sight! It's more about OTP than canon. If you went by canon, you'd be admitting Heero stalked Relena quite a bit too. I mean, the evidence is right there. It's part of the plot. Maybe people's eyes glazed over once the characters started spouting off philosophy and politics. Maybe they don't want to admit it. Admitting Heero stalked Relena would mean accepting Relena has importance in Heero's life. This is quite threatening to fans that want Heero with someone else (Duo). So put in about a thousand fics where Heero is downright apathetic toward Relena and you've got yourself fanon. Which sounds close enough to canon for some.

Right on with Trowa. He definitely goes out of his way where Heero's concerned. As a slash fan, I wandered into fandom rather surprised there wasn't more 3+1 action going on (or at least unrequited love). Even Hilde gets pegged as the unfortunate unrequited friend more than Trowa. Of course, he has Quatre. *sigh* I suppose it's more about convenience and the whole Everyone Must Be A Couple syndrome. It wraps up everything in a tight little bow. The all or nothing approach also keeps things clean. We wouldn't want messy relationships to screw up our neat little OTPs. If you think finding your One True Wuv at fifteen is bad, try eleven or nine. *shudders*

On a sidenote, was it (dub) Trowa that pegged Heero as the Perfect Soldier? Or is PS completely fanon?

I'm feeling badly now that I've realized I haven't left a single review for your stories. Especially considering how much I enjoyed them. I suppose you won't mind an e-mail with reviews for some of your stories? Or would that make your stiff drink craving worse? =P

[solitude1056.livejournal.com]

the whole Everyone Must Be A Couple syndrome

Oh, no, let's so not go there -- because if there's any relationship in the series that does NOT make me think, even remotely, of a sexual relationship, it's Sally and Wufei. (Cathy and Trowa, and Quatre and Dorothy, being tied for second.) Sally and Wufei spend the most time together, after the Heero/Relena interaction, and not once is Sally anything other than big-sister. Not once did I even get a hint that her teasing might be a form of flirtation.

Bad enough in the het side of the fandom, where a few tenacious souls are bound and determined to throw make Trowa/Cathy an item, and somehow justify the absolute unlikeliness of Dorothy/Quatre as an item. (Though I've always found it amusing that even in 1+R and 2+H stories, just as often you'll find it's a 3x4x3 as a 3+C/4+D. It's like the entire Quatre/Trowa thang is so accepted by such a broad swath of the fandom, het and yaoi and even otherwise-gen, that they've become a couple just taken for granted.)

But Sally and Wufei... sigh. I see that pairing on a header, and I think: oh, look, yet another poor soul who knows, vaguely, that for romance to work, Everyone Ends Up With Someone, but why does Wufei have to always default to Sally?

(This is why I adore writing 5+R... and someday -- hahahaha as I write this -- I just might write that short get-together fic where Wufei and Relena meet for the first time. Y'know, after Trowa admonishes Wufei that he should be nicer to girls, like Relena, because their feelings can get hurt easier or whatnot.)

I suppose you won't mind an e-mail with reviews for some of your stories? Or would that make your stiff drink craving worse?

Hah! I have a bottle of wine with me. I am READY. Bring it on.

*runs around with bottleopener*

[kracken.livejournal.com]

I agree about Trowa. He really did worship Heero.I did see a lot of signs that Heero idolized Relena, because of what she stood for as well as for the person she was. It all seemed wrapped up in his mind. I do remember when she asked him if he had come to save her and he said something about not wanting to owe Zechs, though. He seemed very concerned about not wanting to be in any ones debt in the series.As for Heero and Duo, Duo always seemed fixated on Heero, while Heero seemed to at least consider him a friend that he could count on.

Getting reviews for old fics always makes me wince. Especially, since I wrote some of them before I watched GW.The cliches in them are criminal.^_^'

[solitude1056.livejournal.com]

That's a good point -- I know I'd recognized that Heero's big on not-owing Duo, and even seems to assume it works in the opposite direction. Like the fact that he asks Duo to punch him, simply so that when he punches Duo in turn, it's making them even. And he doesn't even explain this to Duo! (Again with the no-explain, no-ask, Heero-boy.)

As for Heero and Duo, Duo always seemed fixated on Heero, while Heero seemed to at least consider him a friend that he could count on.

I got the sense when watching that Trowa and Duo were reacting to the same intensity that keeps Dorothy hanging around Relena -- the knowledge that here is a person willing and able to make things happen. A catalyst, and if you can't be one yourself, be with one.

By the end of the series, though, I did like the Heero/Duo interaction a great deal; it's far more comfortable and revealing than most people get, though, I think. It's subtle, but come on, it says to me huge amounts about how much Duo and Heero have grown comfortable and reliant on each other.

Best example off the top of my head is when Heero tells Duo -- which given his closemouthedness the rest of the time, about everything else, is in itself a mild break from his starting characterization -- that he's going to fight with the Zero system turned on. Duo, unsurprisingly, goes off. Arm-waving, exaggerated yelping/berating; that scene is also the closest the series gets to drawing super-deformed. Meanwhile, Heero's standing there with his arms crossed, head down a little, and we see Duo just going on and on and ON. Then, a shot from over Duo's shoulder, arms waving in the foreground, all this noise and nonsense -- and Heero looks over at Duo, with the tiniest smirk on his face.

I admit, it took my friend Duo to point that out -- that the real key in their friendship is that Heero is the one really yanking the chain, but that Duo's aware and in going along with it, reaffirms their friendship. Heero had no reason to even bring up the Zero-issue, for instance, knowing that Duo would go apeshit in reaction. But he does, and Duo predictably goes into all the reasons Heero's being an idiot, while Heero's both amused at the effort Duo puts into protesting and, just a little, pleased with himself that he could get that sort of reaction.

Contrast that with when Heero tells Trowa his plans, and Trowa solemnly takes this as Gospel Truth -- and as Trowa patently states his admiration for Heero's dedication, Heero's response is discomfort. He's not sure what's so admirable about having screwed up, which is the entire reason he's on his current course; but Duo's snarking on Heero from the get-go, and he never stops. He has no problem pointing out entire Duo-sized holes in Heero's plans; he's also the only one of the five to speak of Heero making mistakes, too.

(Which, come to think of it, might be one more reason Trowa is quietly tense with Duo, even during EW. Argh, he dared to question the Sainted Perfect Soldier!)

What gets me worst about old stories is rereading and seeing how long it took me to get to each major plot-point. I meandered quite happily (mostly because I was writing as I went along). That really makes me cringe.

[flamesword.livejournal.com]

Heh. I know that feeling. But actually, there are ways to make sure you don't get any more reviews from ff.net.

I think Heero and Relena were pretty confused about each other, but if you've paid attention, it's hard to deny that something was there on both sides. I like the pairing, I think it could work with a little effort. Not my favorite by any means, but I like it. I read quite a bit of 1xR fic back in the day, before I got into slash. Damn that was a long time ago.

[solitude1056.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know I could turn the notifies off, but then I'd be turning off the rather amusing notifies that in the past two months, a large rash of folks have added me for 'The Perils of Coffee' in the FMA fandom. I can only guess someone must've rec'ed it somewhere, and the most recent slew of fans consider it new-to-them.

I like the 1xR pairing, well. I liked it during the series (while at the same time liking the 01/02 interaction) -- but I don't like it when either friendship with Heero must suffer so the other one can take place - whether we're talking Psycho Relena or the het fandom corollary of "Duo the Bad Influence Boy".

[flamesword.livejournal.com]

Oh god, yeah. Characters getting screwed for the sake of someone's favorite pairing just pisses me the hell off. It's perfectly acceptable to like them both, you know?

Quickly, before running off to work

[crazy-toffee.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I wonder if I watched the same GW episodes as everyone else.

Maybe the fanfics we enjoy are the ones written by the people who watched 'the same episodes' as ourselves.

Either you meet the love of your life at 15 and that's it

HELL NO! ... but it does kind of account for fandom-reactions to 'non-canon' pairings.

I recently started reading Drums and I have liked it so far. Does this mean I shouldn't even consider reviewing, to preserve you from alcoholism? XD

[solitude1056.livejournal.com]

Haha, review all you like. I'm already drinking wine. I'm ready for you, BABY.

(Although reading the ff.net version is scary; the author's notes at the end make me roll my eyes at myself. I've no problem with general thank-yous to reviewers & ongoing conversations over questions they raised in their reviews, but it's the unrelenting number of exclamation points and fanfic-slang that make me want to repost just to remove those from the remotest risk of posterity. Yipes. Talk about a manic point in my life...)