Fanwork Recs - April 1, 2014
Apr. 1st, 2014 02:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
helloladies posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
ladybusinessFanwork is awesome and sharing fanwork is even more awesome. Join us as we keymash and squee over our favorite fanwork, from fic (both written and podfic) to art to vids and meta and back again.
Recommendations included:
- Final Fantasy VIII — fanfic (1)
- Final Fantasy X-2 — fanart (1)
- Final Fantasy XII — fanfic (1)
- Hannibal — meta (1)
- Pacific Rim — fanart (1), meta (1)
- Person of Interest — fanvid (1)
- Supernatural — fanfic (1), gifset (1)
- Teen Wolf — fanart (1)
- Thor: The Dark World — meta (1)
[FIC] [Final Fantasy VIII] Yes by
Final Fantasy VIII is an fascinating entry into the wide array of time travel stories out there. My favorite pet theory regarding the time travel in the game was apparently debunked by the game creators, but as per usual, I elected to ignore their decision because just imagining the horrific loop makes my heart break in the best way. Rinoa is a huge part of that. I love Rinoa, and fandom gives her a hard enough time as it is. I have no clue why I choose to imagine a bleak, horrible future where she loses her mind and traps the world in a time loop. Sorry, Rinoa! I love stories that take apart how Rinoa engages with the power she acquires through the game, especially those that tackle the issue of how early in the game she doesn't feel like a fighter or like she can keep up with the trained child soliders. This is a brilliant story that digs into the moments where Rinoa had a choice, and her choice was to be able to keep up, to fight, to have power and the ability to stand with her friends. It's about the implications of that choice, but also about the assumptions heaped upon her by the world, and how little the people she came to call friends understand her motivations and her decisions, too. There are alternate readings out there with different ways the magic comes to inhabit Rinoa, but I like this reading best; wild, determined Rinoa diving in head first into the unknown in order to make a difference.
[FIC] [Final Fantasy XII] These Unending Alchemies of Honour by
Final Fantasy XII was hit/miss for me. Some characters I loved and others I didn't give two flips about. Predictably, the ships I loved did not align with the shipsfandom loved, except for half of one, and I ship him with all the wrong people. And I will never get over that Balthier's VA was also the actor who made the the best, most over the top villain declaration. Ever. This story in particular, though, has characters I adore at the center: Vaan and Penelo, Basch and Noah, and Larsa, interestingly enough mirrored how he is in the game as emperor: solitary and alone. Although this story has a pairing tag it's not specifically a romance. Not to denigrate romance at all; I love romance! I would absolutely love a sequel to this with all the romance Ira could stuff into it, with bonus magical touching (NOTE TO IRA, GET ON THIS ASAP). But this specific story is both character study for Vaan and a redemption arc for Noah, examining the costs of war and the price we pay if we survive. At its center isn't forgiveness from others, but rather forgiveness from within and how much harder that can be to reach. It's also about stepping back and recognizing that your enemy has depth and motivations, and attempting to humanizing someone.
And also it's about reaching sexy makeouts. :D :D :D
[GIFSET] [Supernatural] AU: Dean and Cas meets an alternate version of themselves. by
I have a weakness, and that weakness is babies and Castiel. I love how tumblr has created so many new types of fanworks; AU gifsets remixing canon clips have to be one of my favorite (also awesome: tumblr tag stories). They're particularly effective against me in Supernatural, which is otherwise such a horrific source of pain and suffering and very little fluffy feel good pleasure. I also enjoy this trope about parallel worlds, period, and have since I watched my first SG-1 episode that employed it. Thank you for running so long, Supernatural, and providing fans with appropriate clips so they could inadvertently heal the pain you cause me with CAS HOLDING BABIES.
[FIC] [Supernatural] okay, cupid by
Ah, Supernatural AU fics. This fandom, it's so full of feelings, serious feelings, and when I last viewed canon, I left it so angry at Dean I probably wouldn't spit on him if he were aflame at my feet. Really liking a character is hard when they're suck a dick, so AU scenarios in this fandom will always be my favorite forever and always. Sometimes I like to pretend there's an alternate reality out there where Dean's dumb about emotions, but just normal-dumb, not abuse-my-brother-and-everyone-around-me dumb. Therefore, this fic is perfect and was my happy place for a few days. I love cute fics like this that make Dean adorably clueless, super in love with Cas, where I can imagine he has a healthy relationship with Sam, and ends with super sweet online flirting. A+
[ART] [Final Fantasy X-2] Return to Macalania by Abigail-Scott (Yuna)
I've been seeing more Final Fantasy X/X-2 art with the remastered FFX/X-2 release. I'm particularly excited because I love FFX-2 fanart, because the world itself is so colorful and atmospheric. The texture on this piece is awesome. I'm continually amazed at the magic people can make with colored pencils.
[ART] [Teen Wolf] Safe and sound, all the way through the night… by
samjohnsson linked this to me in order to completely distract me from work. He succeeded; I was officially distracted and then spent the next hour trawling through Derek/Stiles art. I honestly can't decide which version of this I love best, but so many of the tiny details are wonderful: the tension in the fingers, the dip of the cushion where their hips are resting, and the atmosphere of a peaceful room. MY FEELINGS. ;__; [ART] [Pacific Rim] Mako & Raleigh and color-matching by
Predictably, the other day I started talking about Pacific Rim with
[META] [Hannibal] Will’s glasses serve the purpose of obscuring his eyes. by
I have genuinely never loved meta quite as much as "Hannibal" meta. I love how this design conscious show has inspired a deep fan desire to delve into the tiniest detail and come up with multitudes. In this piece of short meta, Hello Tailor talks about how Will uses his glasses to deal with his social anxiety; referencing the scene in the pilot episode where Jack moves his glasses (which is one of my favourite small moments between them). She also talks about the function of Will's glasses (to what extent does he need them for practical reasons) and how Hugh Dancy uses these glasses to create a character.
Hello Tailor always writes so thoughtfully about the use of costume and props in visual media, but my own connection with the glasses scene made me especially happy that she'd written this short piece. It's the best when you're favourite writers get on things you love.
[META] [Pacific Rim] can you imagine how much the Jaeger Program meant to the poor and weak of the world? by
This is Tumblr comment thread meta so I hope I'm attributing it correctly. Basically, it's a short piece about the wall project from "Pacific Rim". The thread takes out all the logical problems of that project and examines them as if they were the kind of built in capitalist shortcomings we encounter in our own working world. It's pretty brilliant and made me love the film (and jaeger pilots) even more.
I am a big fan of pieces that focus on the wall project because that is such a disturbing and idiotic idea — it seems exactly like something the government would think of. And all the scenes of regular people at the wall and later, of people doing more effective work against the kaiju, present this really interesting snapshot of ordinary working life transfigured by SFF circumstances (an area I'd like to see explored more). So, finding a new piece analysing the way the wall represents capitalist thought was wonderful.
[VID] [Person of Interest] Hey Big Spender by
I’m mostly leaving this here so Amy can see that my POI shipping has reached maximum capacity. We just watched the "Batman and Alfred get a baby for reasons" episode of series one and I now think that should be every fan’s introduction to this show. They're so shippable.
Ahem — anyway... This vid is such a fun ride. You’ve got the essence of John being the suited force of machismo/weird ass professional stalker that he genuinely is in the show. Finch is totally digging it because under those dapper suits he’s the guy who commissions John to break into people’s houses for “the greater good”. They’re made for each other and drastically unsuited for others so this vid puts them together for everyone else’s safety.
It also makes great use of some of the more over the top action shots (John, the sunglasses and the truck) and milks them for all the hotness they’ve got. And the unusual version of the song (is there some kind of house thing going on in the beat of this version?) amps up the violence and sex theme that John Reese, panther in a suit, seems very into in this incarnation. Good work sexing up POI — I approve!
[META] [Thor: The Dark World] Jane, you have their ball by
Again this is a Tumblr comment thread so let me know if I've attributed it incorrectly. I loved the tag story because it resonates so much with my own feelings about the wonder that can be found in everything and it sets Thor up as the all powerful puppy dog he is when Jane's around. I love that it’s attached to a gif which reminds us how amazing and overwhelming it must have been for scientist Jane to find herself on Asgard — OMG study everything! And then there is much commentary about how great Jane is, which = love.
