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Snowflake Challenge Day 6
Day 1 is here.
Day 2 is here.
Days 3 and 4 were "go meet someone" or "go comment", so uh... things happened?
Day 5 is here.
Day 6
In your own space, rec at least 3 fanworks you thought you wouldn't like (because they weren't your fandom or they pushed against your boundaries or you thought you just wouldn't be interested) and that you ended up loving.
What No One Understands by Wyverngirl. I can no longer find this, and don't know if it's still up. Also, I haven't read it in a while so I'm not sure about the warnings, and I may misremember something in here, too. There's violence for certain, and abuse. The fic is about Starscream being left for dead by Megatron and saved by Optimus. They become lovers.
Normally I really don't like this pairing because it's often about redeeming or saving Starscream... and what I love about Starscream is that he's bad -- as I see him, sassy-evil to his core and totally unapologetic, no matter what. But people who pair him with Prime often see him differently -- as tragic and bitter, and very often as an abused victim of Megatron, who is often himself portrayed in a very one-dimensional way in these fics, so the h/c can hurry up and happen. (I also tend not to like h/c.)
Well, in this fic, Starscream is abused and bitter and Prime does rescue him. But it's so beautifully and heartbreakingly rendered that I can't help but feel invested even though it's everything I should dislike. Starscream is deeply wounded, but not pathetic, and his emotional responses to everything are rich, believable, and deep. And although Prime's love is magical in its way, it's no simple cure-all, and he doesn't always do or know what his new lover needs. That's complicated and thoughtful enough that it works for me.
Harmonic Progression by![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lyricality. Warning for incest between twins, though exactly what that means among mechanical beings I'm not even going to guess.
I don't like stories where the villain is the way he is because some Macguffin looks into his soul and finds it wanting. So reading the first few paragraphs of this -- though many of my assumptions about Optimus and Megatron alike turned out to be wrong -- had me all set not to like it. When Megatron turned out less angry about the slight and more invested in finding the true Chosen One, I was intrigued... but also kind of confused. And the twincest should have had me fleeing... and Megatron bottoming should have had me throwing things.
But somehow I found myself deeply drawn into the story and the characters' lives and rich, complex motivations. I don't think I'd ever write anything like this, but it's one of my very favorites. The worldbuilding and imagery are so magical it's worth reading for that alone. And the story is very much worthy of that beauty.
Any ofultharkitty's Combaticon stories. Not sure how to link to everything at once or to warn for everything at once, either, but: Vortex (and the others) are mean bastards. Violence and non-con are common, though not in everything. This is a link to at least some of her fic that involves Vortex specifically, though Vortex is not my point.
It's no shocker and no secret that her work is on my list of likes. So why is this here? Simply put, because I hated the Combaticons in canon. So much of what happened to create them was so poorly explained. Imprisonment in little boxes? Old Earth vehicles being perfectly fine as frames, with no modifications needed? Personality components being enough to fully activate them? A detention center, with no explanation of what lands a Decepticon in it when Megatron keeps a traitor around and uses physical punishments of short duration with him?
The inconsistencies were too much for even me. I didn't like them. Butultharkitty manages to take those things and make them central to everything that happens. Her Combaticons are misfits who know it, who struggle with who they are as Decepticons and even with who they are as a bonded team. They're not who I would ever have chosen to read about at all, and now I love several of them. I might have liked Vortex anyway because I like creepy amoral sadists, but I never would have appreciated the rest of them.
Honorable mention goes to the many brilliant fans of G1 Season 3 who have cured me of a violent allergy to Galvatron (and Rodimus.) (Once again, I can't really warn because it's a collection of things. Be on your guard. Galvatron's violent and crazy.)
I still seethe with the fury of a thousand suns at canon for doing that to Megatron and then piling crazy on top of it. But I actually, honestly like fanon Galvatron, and it is because those wonderfully creative fans made stuff awesome enough to reach through my RAGETIEMZ.
Day 2 is here.
Days 3 and 4 were "go meet someone" or "go comment", so uh... things happened?
Day 5 is here.
Day 6
In your own space, rec at least 3 fanworks you thought you wouldn't like (because they weren't your fandom or they pushed against your boundaries or you thought you just wouldn't be interested) and that you ended up loving.
What No One Understands by Wyverngirl. I can no longer find this, and don't know if it's still up. Also, I haven't read it in a while so I'm not sure about the warnings, and I may misremember something in here, too. There's violence for certain, and abuse. The fic is about Starscream being left for dead by Megatron and saved by Optimus. They become lovers.
Normally I really don't like this pairing because it's often about redeeming or saving Starscream... and what I love about Starscream is that he's bad -- as I see him, sassy-evil to his core and totally unapologetic, no matter what. But people who pair him with Prime often see him differently -- as tragic and bitter, and very often as an abused victim of Megatron, who is often himself portrayed in a very one-dimensional way in these fics, so the h/c can hurry up and happen. (I also tend not to like h/c.)
Well, in this fic, Starscream is abused and bitter and Prime does rescue him. But it's so beautifully and heartbreakingly rendered that I can't help but feel invested even though it's everything I should dislike. Starscream is deeply wounded, but not pathetic, and his emotional responses to everything are rich, believable, and deep. And although Prime's love is magical in its way, it's no simple cure-all, and he doesn't always do or know what his new lover needs. That's complicated and thoughtful enough that it works for me.
Harmonic Progression by
lyricality. Warning for incest between twins, though exactly what that means among mechanical beings I'm not even going to guess. I don't like stories where the villain is the way he is because some Macguffin looks into his soul and finds it wanting. So reading the first few paragraphs of this -- though many of my assumptions about Optimus and Megatron alike turned out to be wrong -- had me all set not to like it. When Megatron turned out less angry about the slight and more invested in finding the true Chosen One, I was intrigued... but also kind of confused. And the twincest should have had me fleeing... and Megatron bottoming should have had me throwing things.
But somehow I found myself deeply drawn into the story and the characters' lives and rich, complex motivations. I don't think I'd ever write anything like this, but it's one of my very favorites. The worldbuilding and imagery are so magical it's worth reading for that alone. And the story is very much worthy of that beauty.
Any of
ultharkitty's Combaticon stories. Not sure how to link to everything at once or to warn for everything at once, either, but: Vortex (and the others) are mean bastards. Violence and non-con are common, though not in everything. This is a link to at least some of her fic that involves Vortex specifically, though Vortex is not my point.It's no shocker and no secret that her work is on my list of likes. So why is this here? Simply put, because I hated the Combaticons in canon. So much of what happened to create them was so poorly explained. Imprisonment in little boxes? Old Earth vehicles being perfectly fine as frames, with no modifications needed? Personality components being enough to fully activate them? A detention center, with no explanation of what lands a Decepticon in it when Megatron keeps a traitor around and uses physical punishments of short duration with him?
The inconsistencies were too much for even me. I didn't like them. But
ultharkitty manages to take those things and make them central to everything that happens. Her Combaticons are misfits who know it, who struggle with who they are as Decepticons and even with who they are as a bonded team. They're not who I would ever have chosen to read about at all, and now I love several of them. I might have liked Vortex anyway because I like creepy amoral sadists, but I never would have appreciated the rest of them.Honorable mention goes to the many brilliant fans of G1 Season 3 who have cured me of a violent allergy to Galvatron (and Rodimus.) (Once again, I can't really warn because it's a collection of things. Be on your guard. Galvatron's violent and crazy.)
I still seethe with the fury of a thousand suns at canon for doing that to Megatron and then piling crazy on top of it. But I actually, honestly like fanon Galvatron, and it is because those wonderfully creative fans made stuff awesome enough to reach through my RAGETIEMZ.
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(Not sure how to link to everything at once or to warn for everything at once, either, I feel awful and self-promotional doing this, but they're all listed here, complete with warnings).
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