And now, back to the rest of the fandom.
Morning, Noon and Night (Droog (Aradia, Deuce, Boxcars, Slick))
He certainly does not lift the knife from where it sits and puts out his daughters eyes.
It’s put and daughter’s.
It really doesn’t work to include the crack daddy-Droog thing in a story that has nothing to do with that. It’s not canon and it really doesn’t make sense as a additional side detail, so it really shouldn’t be showing up in stories where it’s not the point.
This is interestingly written, and it is creepy to imagine, but this feels overstated. There really isn’t much to suggest that Droog is constantly fantasizing about murdering everyone every second of the day (we do see him losing his temper in canon and not going for anyone’s eyes, after all), and as an alternative take on canon this is lacking in that you don’t really explore why he’s spending all this time not acting on his impulses. A more moderate version where whenever he’s irritated at all it takes the form of sudden murderous rage he needs to check would fit better with canon and need less explanation for why he usually doesn’t act on the feelings, as well as having more of a connection to what’s going on around him than this just being a constant background noise regardless.
Droog is really flanderized in fic, isn’t he? He’s become a barely functioning sociopath who’s obsessively perfect and restrained about killing and has a tea obsession. Also that fucking daddy-Droog thing.
This one predates the porn wall. I must have missed it.
Green Badge (Snowman (Scratch, Itchy, Fin, Trace, Eggs, Biscuits, Crowbar, Die))
Hm. I like what you have of this story, but I can’t really see them as having anything to do with the canon characters. Snowman really shares nothing with her original self but a love of smoking and the fact she’s hanging around the rest of the alt-Felt. She doesn’t even retain her original connection with the alt-Midnight Crew, given that you’re saying Your teeth are immediately on edge at the mention of the Company, as thoughts of Scout’s sneer pop into your mind. The commissioner’s casual request is really a demand to find out what they know, and that means you’ll probably have to talk to the tiny shark in a hat. and that’s basically the reverse of their canon dynamic. And her history doesn’t seem to parallel anything either.
But hey, no sign of the shitty bit about her being a lazy idiot who just steals Slick’s hard work! I wish that all OOC stuff in fandom was just straight up writing OCs instead of flanderizing and/or bashing related.
Have You Kissed Him Yet? (Slick (Karkat))
Drabble is the term for a writing exercise where you try to make a story of exactly a hundred words. It’s the polar opposite of something of indeterminate length that you threw together in a hurry.
You stare at hmi.
Spellcheck is a good idea.
This is really, really bland. None of the characters sound much like themselves.
…Well, I suppose it’s hard to say if I’d prefer things boring or irritating, so not sure where I stand on bad OC replacements.
Also hey, yet another Sollux/Karkat fic that just starts with them already together. Is there a single fic for this pairing that actually shows them hooking up?
I Said Kiss Him. (Karkat (Sollux, Slick))
Hm. This seems better fleshed out than the last one. Karkat seems like himself, Sollux isn’t doing anything unSolluxy. Slick…has a character, but it seems to be Boxcars’ (“You should kiss him,” your dad continues. He’s not even fucking listening to you. “In fact, you will kiss that boy. You’re going to kiss the goddamn boy and there will be no arguments. really?) Given that it’s not like the stabdad thing is official anything, I don’t see why you didn’t just say Karkat’s being raised by Boxcars instead of trying to use Slick for all this.
And he has actually pulled out his fucking gun and is actually pointing it at you.
“Dad! This is a public place! Put that away or they’re going to take you to jail!”
Also, while pointing a gun at him as a threat is both funny and something I can see any of the group thinking was a good way to handle things, I really can’t see Karkat trying to argue him down on the basis of jail when he’s a criminal who does things that get you put in jail all the time.
Beacon In This City (Sleuth (Slick, Boxcars, Droog))
Maybe the Crew just realize that something else entirely would happen if you were both alone and you passed on the street. Maybe they’ve finally clued in that they’re the only thing stopping you from pulling him into your life entirely.
I didn’t believe you could be so OOC in so many varied ways before the crossover fandom. It’s hard, being a super powerful murderer who gets everything he wants. It’s hard, and only Problem Sleuth understands and knows he’s secretly a woobie baby.
Droog (Aradia, Deuce, Boxcars, Slick)
Snowman (Scratch, Itchy, Fin, Trace, Eggs, Biscuits, Crowbar, Die)
Slick (Karkat)
Karkat (Sollux, Slick)
Sleuth (Slick, Boxcars, Droog)
One of five.
just a question, really, but why do you assume that writing Slick – or any antagonistic character, really – sympathetically means the author is trying to make them an innocent-baby-woobie? Do you think that’s impossible, or do you just view fanfiction authors that poorly? In some cases, the stories are from Slick’s point of view and -of course- he’s going to assume he’s the one who was wronged and that Snowman was a useless bitch and so on.
Uh, no. I quite like Slick and if I didn’t like antagonists I wouldn’t like any of the troll exiles. But, for example, the reason I’m happy that the Officer Snowman fic isn’t saying she’s an incompetent useless bitch stealing everything from Slick is because that’s what the original idea seriously was, and it’s related to the fact a huge chunk of carapace fandom has the idea that Jack was running the country and BQ’s only job was to take credit for what he did, fuck things up so he had more work to do, and prevent him from singlehandedly ending the war which he wanted to do because he cared so much about all the poor soldiers. And the reason I’m not happy with the Problem Sleuth thinks about how Slick would love to be a good guy is because it’s acting like he’s not a mass murderer who chose to do those things instead of being dragged into it and as if as long as he’s not currently stabbing someone to death he’s fine. Which sums up 90% of the writing by that author, really.
It’s entirely possible I might be wrong about how I’m interpreting things for a given story, because misreading happens. Do you disagree about a particular fic?
Aaand whoops, so much for going anon >< Ah well, that's why I shouldn't comment in the morning. Apologies in advance if this is disconnected, I'm multitasking right now, and I keep moving
I meant the woobie comment in general – because I've seen you call
woobie-Slick in other reviews when it might have been a bit of a
stretch, or at least less of an issue than your comments make it out to
be.
I can't recall anything specific offhand, though, because it's been some
time since I skimmed your reviews and honestly I'm too busy at the
moment to go through your posts.
Though, I recall you making that complaint over luckyspike's stuff, but I
never got that feel from her fics. I think it was the story of how
Slick lost his arm and eye (as it fit in her AU), and you I think you
made a comment to the effect of how it was made Slick look like an
innocent woobie? The story was told from Slick and Droog's point of
view, for starters, and just after she mutilated one of them, so some
bias over Snowman from them is expected. Otherwise, Snowman did more or
less what she did in canon, expanded a little to flesh out the scene and
show the two interacting, and I just really didn't see how Slick could have been called a woobie in that one? (of course watch me be wrong about this review and negate this whole exercise bleh)
Sometimes you seem far too rigid over characterization. I'm not saying every characterization ever is legit, but sometimes it seems you don’t give any leeway for slightly different interpretations. I guess this reviewset wasn’t really a good example for it – I just saw ‘woobie Slick’ and for some reason my seven am self had to say something this time.
There are other things about your reviews that bother me (and they aren’t ‘WAH YOU SAID SOMETHING MEAN ABOUT A FIC I LIKED’), but it’s not really any of my business, plus I feel like I’m devoting way too much time and words over fanfiction reviews (or reviewing fanfic reviews?). However if you’re really dying to hear more of my disconnected drivel, I could give you my e-mail address or something?
(holy wordcount and format fail, sorry about that o.o)
Ah, do you mean the Moray Eels one?
It wasn’t a woobie issue exactly, it was an innocent-Slick issue. There’s not perfect overlap between the two. My comment there was actually about guessing that was true in the context of the many other stories I’d seen, I said I like the story itself. (Droog’s UNIVERSE-KILLING RAGE over how dare Snowman hurt Slick after he charged into the Felt’s stronghold and murdered a bunch of them was a bit much, though. I can see him being upset but the story itself seemed to be forgetting that Slick was the aggressor.)
Sometimes you seem far too rigid over characterization. I’m not saying every characterization ever is legit, but sometimes it seems you don’t give any leeway for slightly different interpretations.
I don’t think I am, exactly. Or it’s more a matter of really not liking particular interpretations than disliking anything that isn’t my favored one. (Or, in the case of the first one here with Droog, it’s that the interpretation doesn’t seem to have any point…)
There are other things about your reviews that bother me (and they aren’t ‘WAH YOU SAID SOMETHING MEAN ABOUT A FIC I LIKED’), but it’s not really any of my business
Just as I bother people with my thoughts on their fiction, so too should others be free to bother me with their thoughts on my thoughts! Plus, it’s fun.
I think I have your email already, assuming it’s the same one you wrote in here. I’ll send you mine to that, I guess.
It seems like it’d be cleaner to comment on the pages with any reviews you disagree with – I’ll still be here if you’re too busy at the moment, and they’re all tagged so you won’t need to slog through the book stuff to get to them. Unless you want to argue about characterization in general, or it bugs you to do so in public, or something?