nothing more than traveling
Jun. 17th, 2012 07:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reflectedeveOh man, so I think I'm doing that thing where I don't post because I'm waiting to have something to "give" (ie artwork) ... but I just finished some art I'm totally excited about and I still can't share it. Because, you know, BBB. I should stop hiding from DW, though.
Speaking of "places ..." neglectful as I've been in general (I know, I suck, these posts are like missives from the moon), I actually keep forgetting that LJ exists lately. It's not that I don't love you guys who are still primarily/entirely there. :( But I'm so fed up with the way it constantly signs me out (and redirects me to a login page when I try to view even unlocked posts, and doesn't redirect back to whatever it was I was actually trying to view afterwards) ... and the fact that unless you use custom comment pages, I still can't comment on your posts using Firefox. Rrragh. Seriously, LJ, I could still love you if only you'd let me.
On a more pleasant topic, I watched Avengers again a few days ago, and there was some random musing.
So first of all, I just. NATASHA. I love her more every time, and right now my greatest fannish desire is to read all the fic about her. I like epics--and these days, epic podfic in particular--so I've mostly been experiencing a lot of pre-movie Steve/Tony-centric work (albeit with plenty of great ensemble interaction). And that's grand (I enjoy Steve/Tony, though this is a no-OTP fandom for me, for sure), but. I just want more focus on the Widow, please. Ever since I finally watched Iron Man 2, I've really been dying to find a story about her relationship with Tony and how they deal with the that whole thing where she snuck around in his life, professionally (and coldly) assessed him, and recommended his exclusion from the team! You know, now that they're awesome teammates and all. I mean, there's a lot to develop there! It's totally not just my desire to read stories focusing on my two favorite characters in the franchise or anything.
I mean, generally stories about team-building and development are kind of my favorite; I also want stories about Natasha and Bruce learning to work together and value each other, given how the Hulk is ... difficult for her. (I read some fantastic meta on tumblr about him representing her own personal boogeyman, total loss of self-control. While I don't have the comicsverse context that I think might have been referred to, I found this very intriguing.) And of course I want Pepper/Natasha, because I see all kinds of fascinating potential there and they are both characters I want to read so much more about. (I've read a few good stories where Tony and Pepper are beautifully, functionally poly, and there's a focus on Tony building a relationship with another Avenger ... but it'd be cool to read one which focuses a bit on another relationship for Pepper. And Tony/Pepper/Natasha could also be interesting!) And yeah, I totally want the epic, epic tale of her and Clint's shared history and relationship up to and beyond the movie. Of course.
Ha, okay, "thoughts" are turning into "wishlist" again, but on a completely different note ... I wonder how I would have felt about Coulson if I hadn't watched the movies all out of order and peripherally picked up on the fannish squee before I even "met" him. Because he is a delightful supporting character and definitely someone I want in my fic? And I'd have liked to see more of him in the films, too, because he's great. But there's a level of enthusiasm for the character (and for Clint/Phil, a boat I have completely missed) that is a little beyond me.
I have a reason for bringing this up beyond the whole irritating "I don't get why people like this thing so much" thing (seriously, I try not to say that shit just to say it), which is that ... I'm puzzled by the way Coulson's death(?) is used in the film. It occurs to me that if I had been pulled into this particular bit of fannish enthusiasm, Coulson's apparent demise might be a lot more effective for me on a narrative level; as it is, the galvanizing effect it has on the team feels remarkably unearned to me. We know that Coulson has a relationship with some of our heroes, but we've really seen very little of it, and while the film does a good job of hinting at more with Tony and Pepper in particular ... he's (as far as I can tell) nobody's best friend or lover or years'-long trusted partner. He's a contact and a handler of some sort for Natasha (and Clint, maybe; you can extrapolate that from Thor ... but that's little and not even the same movie), but we don't see a close working relationship even, not really. And not to be callous, but quite a few random SHIELD people presumably died as a result of Loki's attack. I don't know; the film just doesn't sell that emotional beat to me. It's not enough to really knock me out of the story for long (I love the overall movie so much, and I love Coulson during his "death" scene), but it throws me for a small loop every time. I know that fannish enthusiasm for the character was known to the filmmakers; it's almost like they were relying on that to sell the story.
I mean, so much about that whole sequence is weird, really ... because as I've seen said, the fact that Coulson (apparently) even dies is a strange choice, too; it would have been a great deal more interesting to show us Fury blatantly lying about it (as well as faking the bloodstained trading cards) in order to inspire that galvanization (that I still don't quite buy). And that's my headcanon until absolutely proven otherwise. ;)
Wow, jeez, okay. I'm going to stop here, even though I haven't even ranted about how Loki's not a top yet. Mostly? This fandom has eaten my brain. I need to go find a good screencap resource so I can put together character reference sheets ... um.
I leave you with a couple of very random quick recs: if you somehow haven't seen this fanartist's work, get over there ... she could totally singlehandedly talk me into Clint/Natasha, and every time I see her post I want to draw more. Gah, gorgeous. And also, these threads of speculation, discussion and commentfic about the Avengers' kinks (in various circumstances and combinations) from several weeks ago are really not to be missed. So many feelings.
Speaking of "places ..." neglectful as I've been in general (I know, I suck, these posts are like missives from the moon), I actually keep forgetting that LJ exists lately. It's not that I don't love you guys who are still primarily/entirely there. :( But I'm so fed up with the way it constantly signs me out (and redirects me to a login page when I try to view even unlocked posts, and doesn't redirect back to whatever it was I was actually trying to view afterwards) ... and the fact that unless you use custom comment pages, I still can't comment on your posts using Firefox. Rrragh. Seriously, LJ, I could still love you if only you'd let me.
On a more pleasant topic, I watched Avengers again a few days ago, and there was some random musing.
So first of all, I just. NATASHA. I love her more every time, and right now my greatest fannish desire is to read all the fic about her. I like epics--and these days, epic podfic in particular--so I've mostly been experiencing a lot of pre-movie Steve/Tony-centric work (albeit with plenty of great ensemble interaction). And that's grand (I enjoy Steve/Tony, though this is a no-OTP fandom for me, for sure), but. I just want more focus on the Widow, please. Ever since I finally watched Iron Man 2, I've really been dying to find a story about her relationship with Tony and how they deal with the that whole thing where she snuck around in his life, professionally (and coldly) assessed him, and recommended his exclusion from the team! You know, now that they're awesome teammates and all. I mean, there's a lot to develop there! It's totally not just my desire to read stories focusing on my two favorite characters in the franchise or anything.
I mean, generally stories about team-building and development are kind of my favorite; I also want stories about Natasha and Bruce learning to work together and value each other, given how the Hulk is ... difficult for her. (I read some fantastic meta on tumblr about him representing her own personal boogeyman, total loss of self-control. While I don't have the comicsverse context that I think might have been referred to, I found this very intriguing.) And of course I want Pepper/Natasha, because I see all kinds of fascinating potential there and they are both characters I want to read so much more about. (I've read a few good stories where Tony and Pepper are beautifully, functionally poly, and there's a focus on Tony building a relationship with another Avenger ... but it'd be cool to read one which focuses a bit on another relationship for Pepper. And Tony/Pepper/Natasha could also be interesting!) And yeah, I totally want the epic, epic tale of her and Clint's shared history and relationship up to and beyond the movie. Of course.
Ha, okay, "thoughts" are turning into "wishlist" again, but on a completely different note ... I wonder how I would have felt about Coulson if I hadn't watched the movies all out of order and peripherally picked up on the fannish squee before I even "met" him. Because he is a delightful supporting character and definitely someone I want in my fic? And I'd have liked to see more of him in the films, too, because he's great. But there's a level of enthusiasm for the character (and for Clint/Phil, a boat I have completely missed) that is a little beyond me.
I have a reason for bringing this up beyond the whole irritating "I don't get why people like this thing so much" thing (seriously, I try not to say that shit just to say it), which is that ... I'm puzzled by the way Coulson's death(?) is used in the film. It occurs to me that if I had been pulled into this particular bit of fannish enthusiasm, Coulson's apparent demise might be a lot more effective for me on a narrative level; as it is, the galvanizing effect it has on the team feels remarkably unearned to me. We know that Coulson has a relationship with some of our heroes, but we've really seen very little of it, and while the film does a good job of hinting at more with Tony and Pepper in particular ... he's (as far as I can tell) nobody's best friend or lover or years'-long trusted partner. He's a contact and a handler of some sort for Natasha (and Clint, maybe; you can extrapolate that from Thor ... but that's little and not even the same movie), but we don't see a close working relationship even, not really. And not to be callous, but quite a few random SHIELD people presumably died as a result of Loki's attack. I don't know; the film just doesn't sell that emotional beat to me. It's not enough to really knock me out of the story for long (I love the overall movie so much, and I love Coulson during his "death" scene), but it throws me for a small loop every time. I know that fannish enthusiasm for the character was known to the filmmakers; it's almost like they were relying on that to sell the story.
I mean, so much about that whole sequence is weird, really ... because as I've seen said, the fact that Coulson (apparently) even dies is a strange choice, too; it would have been a great deal more interesting to show us Fury blatantly lying about it (as well as faking the bloodstained trading cards) in order to inspire that galvanization (that I still don't quite buy). And that's my headcanon until absolutely proven otherwise. ;)
Wow, jeez, okay. I'm going to stop here, even though I haven't even ranted about how Loki's not a top yet. Mostly? This fandom has eaten my brain. I need to go find a good screencap resource so I can put together character reference sheets ... um.
I leave you with a couple of very random quick recs: if you somehow haven't seen this fanartist's work, get over there ... she could totally singlehandedly talk me into Clint/Natasha, and every time I see her post I want to draw more. Gah, gorgeous. And also, these threads of speculation, discussion and commentfic about the Avengers' kinks (in various circumstances and combinations) from several weeks ago are really not to be missed. So many feelings.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-18 01:56 am (UTC)I have lots of Natasha feels too. They go along with my Clint feels. I really need to start writing things.
I am going to go disappear into the Avengers kink meta now ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-18 02:07 am (UTC)So far my Clint feels are all via Natasha, but it's all remarkably effective that way. And yes, yes you should.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-18 06:04 am (UTC)I want SO MUCH FIC about Natasha and Tony's relationship and them learning to like and trust each other. Ultimately culminating in them accidentally having a weird bros/siblings kind of relationship happening.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-06-18 04:44 pm (UTC)