I appreciate that the droid has bb right there in his name

[frith_in_thorns]

So I finally got to see Star Wars! Ellie and I went with her dad, now that we're up here in The North for Christmas. (There have been three hailstorms so far. The North is a scary place.)

It was WONDERFUL. I have super-enjoyed going back through my flist and reading everyone's reaction posts! As a result, however, I feel I don't have enough new to say to bother making a reaction post of my own :P



So first I read a lot of fic on AO3, and then I found the kink meme. Which is at http://tfa-kink.dreamwidth.org/1082.html. I was deeply amused by how I found myself accurately predicting during the film which the two breakout pairings would be -- normally I'm rubbish at this. And obviously Finn/Poe is absolutely everywhere on the meme, mostly with them being SUPER CUTE. I feel like I have some questions about how Poe's "voice" is generally written -- but I didn't really get too good a read on him from a fic-writing pov, and will have to watch it again for that. I was a bit worried that Finn would end up not getting much love from fandom, so I'm really relieved that's not the case.

And then there's the *other* pairing... Kylo/Rey. I was thinking while I watched it that I could see potential for it being a rivalship, but I wasn't expecting it to be quite so huge! And cracky. Omg, the emo and crack is hysterical. I love how NO ONE including the actual story really takes Kylo seriously. Like, the vast majority of the Reylo prompts and fic are Rey domming/pegging him. And I'm extremely happy all this exists, even though I don't actually read it myself XD Also you've all seen Emo Kylo Ren's twitter account, right? Fandom's general characterisation certainly converges towards it.

Other things: I'm suprised and pleased by how Phasma (Finn's female stormtrooper boss) keeps showing up in prompts and fic! And Jessika Pava, one of Poe's fellow fighters. (Rey/Jessika seems to be gaining a foothold...) And now there's a Darkside OT3 of Kylo/Hux/Phasma to mirror the Lightside OT3 of Rey/Finn/Poe.

Basically, I'd entirely forgotten how much fun it is to be in a big and UTTERLY RIDICULOUS fandom! And this one right now is so BOUNCY and EXCITED and everyone is just being nice and having fun. I know where I'm building my little bunker this year!

(I will make myself some icons when we eventually get back to Oxford.)

(Someone replied to a particularly ridiculous Reylo prompt on the meme with "TRASH FOR THE TRASH GODS! and it's still making me laugh.)

(Merry Christmas everyone!)

Comments

[sholio]

STAR WARS FEELS

I have a billion kinkmeme prompts open right now, IT'S GREAT. ....... Or it would be great if I wasn't trying to finish up Yuletide treats and write this holiday White Collar fic. XD

[frith_in_thorns]

STAR WARS FEELS EVERYWHERE

I HAVE NOT HAD THIS MANY FEELS SINCE I WAS 11 AND PHANTOM MENACE CAME OUT AND I SPENT THE NEXT TWO YEARS IMAGINING ADVENTURES WHERE I WAS QUI-GON'S APPRENTICE

[sebastienne]

Yes I love this fandom!

But I was struck by this take on Emo Kylo Ren: http://radfemburlesque.tumblr.com/post/135867630219/not-the-star-wars-character-i-wanted-to-care-about

[frith_in_thorns]

That's a good meta point! And that definitely is kind of what I'm hoping for in *canon*. (Have you read the YA fantasy book series that begins with Half Bad? It's amazingly powerful stuff from the POV of a teenage boy who's spent his whole life under expectations that he's going to turn out bad just like his father, and he's got all this rage and loathing he's carrying around with him. Highly recommended.)

I'm still going to keep enjoying the silly fandom fun, though -- in part because, I dunno, this is possibly me trying to be too coherent at nearly midnight on Christmas Eve, but... (all of this next para relates to fiction, right, NOT how I believe in treating people in real life) I sort of get annoyed generally sometimes by being told that in our fiction we still have to remember to be *socially conciensious* with the male villains and jump right to thinking about how we can redeem them when... maybe it's also fine to sometimes just laugh at the bad guys and ignore them and not spend endless time and fannish focus trying to puzzle them out and write them better instead of focusing on just being delighted and playing with the women who are right there. I know all the bullies have inner demons, but sometimes when it's for actual fun I just... don't care about them, and frankly it's pretty cathartic to just be able to laugh.

[sebastienne]

Thanks for taking the time to express all this rather than just thinking "wow, Emma's being a po-faced buzz kill today" or anybother completely legitimate response to me dumping that link & running last night!

(I think I was coming at this from the perspective of there being one "right" way to engage with things for Great Social Justice, which I do *know* is adolescent nonsense but in my defense I was very sleepy.)

[sebastienne]

And yes, this is Good Meta. I hope it'll let me get a bit back towards my first response to Emo Kylo Ren - which, yes, exactly as you say, is about "oh, sweetie" and "ugh, masculinity" and "omg it's sexy Snape" :-D

[frith_in_thorns]

Additional point, originally made by sholio somewhere else: I also feel that most of the things like Emo Kylo Ren are done in an affectionate, "awwww, sulky bb!" way, rather than a spiteful character-bashing sort of way. Which I feel is not how that linked meta is reading it, but definitely how I do -- like, there's already the empathising going on (lots of people remember how it feels to be a dramatic teenager, and look back on that stage in a fairly cringing way), he's not being written off as a human being by fandom. Or that's how I see it?

[schneefink]

Emo Kylo Ren is so much fun *g* I do hope they do good things with his character in the next two movies.
I'd like to write something but I've only seen the movie once and I'm not at all sure of the character voices. But one day!

Hailstorms o.o
Merry Christmas!

[frith_in_thorns]

Merry Christmas! Among other things, my lovely fiancee got me both a Jedi and a Wonder Woman teddy outfit from build-a-bear -- my Toothless dragon is now dressed as Wonder Woman :D (The Jedi outfit doesn't fit her, but will be going straight on my bear when I get home.)

I would be honestly shocked if Kylo's being set up for anything other than a Zuko/reverse Anakin arc. But it will be fun to see how it happens! Also, I am so full of Rey feels. Tiny angry Jedi!!

[schneefink]

I want him to survive his redemption arc, because they already did the "redemption + instant death" thing with Vader, but redemption + survival is much harder to pull off. Zuko is one of very few successful examples, and he had three seasons instead of three movies.

Wonder Woman Toothless :D I would love pics of that and your bear :)