(no subject)

[moonsheen]

Stealing this from, well, everybody. But mostly canis_m since she's the latest one to do it on my f-list.

Quote at me a passage--five words, minimum--from one of my fics. I will guess which fic the passage is from without cheating. If you stump me, I owe you a ficbit featuring a character from the fic you stumped me with.

ALTERNATELY: I FEEL LIKE BEING UNPOPULAR. ASK ME ABOUT A FANDOM AND I WILL GIVE YOU MY WEIRD UNPOPULAR OPINIONS ABOUT IT. Or just opinions in general, as I may not know enough about the fandom part of things to be quite 'with it', as you children say. But I will do my best to be surly and unpopular about it.

Comments

[akatonbo.livejournal.com]

Phoenix Wright?

[moonsheen.livejournal.com]

- I think that Game 4 is better than Game 2 or Game 3 and I think rebooting the series with a new main character was the best move they could make.

THERE. I SAID IT.

It's not really anyone's fault. I loved Game 2 and Game 3. But it suffered from the unfortunate case of game mechanics. It needed to stretch narrative plausibility in order to keep upping the ante, gameplay wise. Which resulted in the simple, relatively well put together murder cases of the first game becoming RIDICULOUSLY CONVOLUTED AND KINDA STUPID BY THE TIME WE GET AROUND TO THE FINAL CASE OF THE THIRD. I mean, no really. So. Ridiculous. Fun to play through, and engaging, but absolutely mixed up and stocked with so many characters it kinda began teetering a fine line that I'm grateful they backed away from before it could fall over it.

In comparison I think the fourth game was a nice step back to basics. It was good clean fun and, besides the silliness of the third case in that game, for the most part everything held together really well. (and even when it didn't there, the character antics more than made up for it)

- along those lines... I thought the Don Tigre case was actually really stupid! I know people love that one but. My god! Words do not describe how stupid that case was! PW I actually am willing to give the benefit of the doubt when it comes to plausibility, because after cross-examining that parrot in the first game, I'll accept anything... but that was just dumb even by the game's own internal standards. The who done it was overcomplicated and nonsensical even I went "...why the hell did you BOTHER?" the whole 'fake Phoenix!!! lol!!" thing was funny for all of never. And I found Furio to be rather boring. His motivations were petty and the crazy stuff he went through to accomplish it was so... past the point of unnecessarily convoluted I just have to shake my head.

- I love Maya! I love her a lot! But sometimes I find her really annoying! It's not always her fault, poor dear. I aprpeciate the fact that she's the one who gets Nick most of his cases, and when she's translated well she's COMEDY GOLD. But the trouble is after three games of her she started to really grate, especially when her other relatives kept being more helpful than her. When an eight year old girl is more valuable to your case than the 19 year old there is something strange going on here. I'm all in favor of her becoming an awesome sexy psychic leader. I think she'll in fact become that some day! I just sort of wish there'd been more of that during the course of the actual game, since for the most part she spends more time being sad over her failing psychic abilities than actually working on them. (and I know, I know there's pretty good in-character reasons for this. But still! Come on Maya! Try your best! GO LOOKING FOR WATERFALLS AGAIN)

Also Phoenix/Maya is really really gross.

-I'm really confused by people who think AJ!Nick is completely unrecognizable from who he used to be. For the simple fact that. Uh. Anyone remember that the guy always had a really black sense of humor? Anyone remember that he could do some skeevy things in court? Anyone remember the time he threatened to hit someone for bringing up Edgeworth in the second game? Nick's always had a side of him that's gonna stop shaving and put on a parka, folks.

-Godot is really friggin' weird. Interesting. And, yes, kinda hot. BUT MOSTLY REALLY FRIGGIN' WEIRD.

[pocky_slash.livejournal.com]

Snapple Fandom? (Right now I am mostly shipping Plumagranate Tea/Iced Tea Lemonade, and that pairing is SO under appreciated.)

[saturnoolaa.livejournal.com]

Talk about FFXII!

[moonsheen.livejournal.com]

- I do not really ship for this game. I dabble in things. But canonically no one in this game is banging. Except for Gabranth and Drace, Ashe/Rasler past tense, and Vaan/Penelo in the FUTURE TENSE. Presently they've got other worries! Like saving the kingdom and the whatnot.

BUT I'LL GO DOWN THE LIST OF WHAT I DON'T SHIP!

-tickled as I am by Larsa and Penelo. It will not happen. She's a pirate. He's an emperor. They live in entirely different worlds! ... well, more to the point. She'll never be his empress or his mistress. Let us remember, she wants to be a sky pirate as much as Vaan. She's just more sensible about it. There's no way she could ever be tied down by the obligation that'd come with that station in life.

-that said, Basch/Larsa is sadly a big fat no for me. Mostly because I sit back, remember Basch happens to look an AWFUL LOT LIKE ONE OF THE GUYS WHO HAD A PART IN LARSA'S UPBRINGING. And uh, that sort of near-incestuous thing just don't do it for me. Also I just don't think of Basch as a sexual being, really. And at the moment NEITHER IS LARSA. EVEN IF HE IS DISTURBINGLY CHARMING.

-Ashe likewise will not marry Al-Cid. Finds him hot, because she's only human. But will not marry him. Woman might be a power hungry bitch but she has SOME sense, folks. Also, she has the neutrality of her own nation to think about. VIRGIN QUEEN.

-although she totally did her husband before he went off to war. I'm actually surprised by the number of people who think that she didn't. Um. People DO know that some time passed between the wedding and the troops departing in the opening FMV, right?

-Jury is still out on Fran and Balthier though.

-to get off of dumb pairing stuff-- I LOVE VAAN AND I VALUE HIS NARRATIVE IMPORTANCE TO THE STORY. He IS necessary for the player to buy Ivalice on a whole, and a fun character to boot. He is the main character, if not THE protagonist of the game (Who's Ashe, let's be honest here. SHE BECAME PARTY LEADER). Also? Not an idiot. Reckless, carefree, street rat who loves to stir up trouble? Sure. Stupid? No. Remember when he's the one pointing out all the flaws in Ashe's plans? BOY I SURE DO. He's a clever little snot who's just still got that youthful cocksure attitude that'll get him in trouble without Penelo to rein him in a bit.

-I think the characters in FFXII are actually deeper and more fleshed out than the average Nomura game! OH YES, I WENT THERE.

-also I think Vayne's character design is AWESOME.

-...the hot pink miniskirt grew on me, too.

[saturnoolaa.livejournal.com]

-I didn't care about Basch/Larsa until I put on my

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-I didn't care about Basch/Larsa until I put on my <ljuser="canis_m"> glasses. Then I was all like Oh wait, I can dig it!

-WHOA hold the phone? Who are these people who think Ashe and Rassler didn't have sex? THEY GOT MARRIED. THAT IS WHAT YOU DO WHEN YOU GET MARRIED. FOOLISH FOOLS.

-Vayne looks like, straight out of Flock of Seagulls, but I find that an excellent look, to be honest. I'm quite fond of Vayne. He probably had really bad acne and gross greasy hair in his tender years and it screwed him up for life.

[moonsheen.livejournal.com]

I just love Vayne for the fact his design is just such an obvious nod to Julius Caesar. One thing all roman art seems to agree on about Caesar is that he had THAT NOSE. Vayne also has THAT NOSE. I find this a little awesome.

[crysiana.livejournal.com]

Talk about FF Tactics.

[ningen-demonai.livejournal.com]

FMA?

[nekokoban]

Heat Guy J! o/

[moonsheen.livejournal.com]

THIS SERIES MAKES NO SENSE.

No, really. There are some episodes where the writing and pacing is so off the wall I'm left going "bwah?" the ending was a major case of "BWAAH?" with plot holes up the wazoo and a lot of smoothing over a ton of unanswered problems. Daisuke loves Judoh. So he skips town? What? What? Who's running the city now that uh the WHOLE CITY GOVERNMENT IS DEAD? Why did everyone just sit around laughing cheerfully at the end of that Daisuke gets drugged ep when um. CLAIR"D JUST KIDNAPPED HIM AND DRUGGED HIM UH?

It's also kinda sexist! All the women are either in some sort of secretarial position or prostitutes or probably-treacherous chicks of the week! Or all of the above! (shun/phia otp btw)

There's not enough J. A lot of the world building (the Siberbians!) reek of 'making it up as we go along'! Serial killers are apparently perfectly adoptable! As are vicious gang leaders!

but on the other hand, the music is great, the art is beautiful, and the characters are fun, and stuff blows up guud. SO SOMEHOW I FORGIVE IT FOR ALL OF THE ABOVE.

[flyingteapot.livejournal.com]

….and that was when the four year old Ramza charged through the room with a bucket on his head. He rounded the table twice, bumped an unoccupied chair in the corner of the room, and charged out again. One could hear him collide with one of the tapestries.

BECAUSE IT NEVER FAILS TO AMUSE ME.

Alternately: Because I am easy, Bleach!

[moonsheen.livejournal.com]

Oh! I think I know this one! That Brother's Beoulve fic I did with Dycedarg and Zalbag playing chess? I'd forgotten all about that fic, crap!

... you've asked for a doozy. Let me give you the short version of my beefs with Bleach fandom.

-I have apparently read the wrong version of Bleach. Since the whole fandom seems to have read the version of Bleach that was released in, I don't know, Hana no Yume or one of those shoujo zines, where the plot mainly hinges on who ends up with who. I DON'T THINK BLEACH IS ABOUT ROMANCE. I DON'T READ BLEACH FOR THE ROMANCE. I read it for the awesome action scenes and character-antics. Romance is secondary, if not entirely nonexistant most of the time and I wouldn't be surprised if NO ONE ENDS UP TOGETHER, and I'd be fine with that.

-Which is to say GOD I HATE ICHIRUKI FANS WHO OPERATE ON THE NOTION THAT THEIR SHIP IS UTTERLY CANON AND THAT ANYONE WHO DOESN'T THINK SO IS CLEARLY WRONG AND NEEDS TO BE REEDUCATED ON THIS FACT. These days they're much fewer. Or at least I see less of them. The main source of annoyance here wasn't so much that I hated Ichiruki. I hated that Ichiruki came along with this weird bizarro Rukia characterization in which people seemed to think she was ACTUALLY a dewey eyed fifteen year old girl and not just playing one on TV. I read a fic where she didn't even know what orgasms were!

...

LOOK, SHE'S A SHINIGAMI OVER A HALF CENTURY OLD WHO READS AWFUL PORNY HORROR NOVELS IN HER SPARE TIME.

I THINK SHE HAS SOME IDEA ABOUT HOW THOSE WORK.

-I find Ishida a little boring and kinda useless to the plot overall. I don't love him or hate him. I just forget he exists. I think part of this is that KT conceived of him as being the stock shounen rival character, but then came up with the SS arc and created about ten other characters who served the role of pseudo-antagonist much better. He hasn't known what to do with the guy since. I like him when he's dealing with his father (I find his father really interesting), and I like him when other characters are taking the piss out of him. But overall he shows up and I'm surprised to remember he's still there!

A lot of fandom seems to view him as The Second Coming, though.

-fuck a duck byakuya and hisana TOTALLY GOT IT ON. I WILL GIVE THEM AT LEAST THAT. I do not believe Hisana was either a perfect holy angel or a horrible evil abandoning bitch. Likewise I also do not think she was the picture of WOE AND TRAGEDY during her marriage to Byakuya. I think when she told Byakuya she'd never been happier those five years she truly meant it. It was the first time in her life she didn't have to think solely about her own survival. She was finally allowed to go back and take action for the sake of other people and to right the long list of wrongs she'd committed in a dark, desperate period of her life. She loved him very much. She only regretted she'd been busy for much of their time together, and didn't show him this as much as she would've otherwise liked to.

- the Hueco Mundo arc doesn't suck! It was worth hanging through! It ended up being decently paced when taken in one go, and KT actually managed to pull it together in a way that not only made sense but was PRETTY DAMN COOL. It wasn't really a retread of the SS arc after all. Bleach is just one of those series that works best if you don't read it in weekly installments. I can't imagine how the middle of the SS arc would've been in tiny increments.

-Yumichika and Ikkaku are gay gay gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay and canon and the fact that not more fans acknowledge this is a crime against the world.

[ruffwriter.livejournal.com]

1. I have no illusions about stumping you, but I tried to find something without any names, anyway. The carvings on the back were nearly worn off, but the faint grooves suggested a craftsmanship of the highest caliber.

2. Uh. ERGO PROXY.

[moonsheen.livejournal.com]

Oh. Crap. Um. Okami? The Sun Also Rises? ...I think.

OKAY ERGO PROXY, BASED ON OPINIONS I CAN ONLY GLEAN FROM THE TEN FANFICS THAT EXIST ON THE INTERNET

-Vincent cannot have babies! As fun as it is to picture Ergo Proxy pulling the Magical Super Baby arc that all sci fi series seem to need to hit at some point during their run, by the rules of the series, it will not happen.

PROXIES ARE BY THEIR NATURE WITHOUT GENDER AND I THINK CANONICALLY STATED TO BE STERILE? Gender is just an aesthetic choice for them, and while Vincent identifies as male, and most definately has the parts in his human form, he'll be shooting blanks.

Not to mention Re-l is mostly likely canonically sterile, too. It's possible that the gene therapy she got at the beginning of the series fixed that, but even so.

IN SHORT: BABIES. THEY ARE NOT HAPPENING.

-also the only way Ergo Proxy is getting any action is if he's not fully transformed, seeing as he's a ken doll in proxy form. (THIS IS CANON AND YOU CAN TELL FROM EP 1)

-...DAEDALUS AND RAUL CREED ARE NOT DOING IT. And if they were it would be AWFUL AWFUL NON-CON I WISH TO KNOW NOTHING ABOUT. Raul threatened to rape the guy. They take great joy in seeing the other suffer! And not in a hatesexy way at all!

-Vincent and Re-l are jumping eachothers bones like two seconds after the end of the series.

... well I THINK THEY SHOULD.

-I think Ergo Proxy's vengeance only extends so far as the Creators. The surviving humans earthside he'll look out for and protect against Them. At least, that's how I read it.

[canis-m.livejournal.com]

Odin Sphere!

[moonsheen.livejournal.com]

Oh, uh. Dang. Does Odin Sphere even have a fandom? Hm.

The most unpopular thing I can think of is that I think Velvet's a little dumb with how she goes about things. No! No! Wait! I love her! She's got the most messed up backstory in the game! She has every reason to be COMPLETELY CRAZY but isn't! (HER BROTHER SURE GOT EVERYTING THERE!) The soft spot she develops for Gwendolyn is fairly touching! As is her love for her ridiculously dopey bunny boyfriend! I appreciate that she's more of a frail magic user than a POWERHOUSE like Gwendolyn and Mercedes are!

But her mode of operation seems to be: 1) say cryptic things 2) get captured. 3) TRIP. AT THE MOST. INCONVENIENT TIMES. and 4) get rescued or captured again!

I just think of all the characters she's sort of the weakest conceptually. Her purpose is more as a plot device, unfortunately. So her story is just more wrapped up in other people's business than actually being a full narrative of her own.

Besides that. er.

... I like the english track more? (except for Velvet! Velvet's english voice is terrible!) Can't help it! I think Mercedes in the english localization is just a way more compelling character than the way Mamiko Noto plays her in japanese. I was actually surprised when I played it on the original track and discovered they went for SHRINKING VIOLET with her character!

Likewise, I sort of LOVE Liam O'Brien's Ingway. Nonsensical english accent that the character's TWIN SISTER DOESN'T HAVE and all. He goes from being more boyish and emotionally stunted to just being embittered and super jaded.

I think Oswald is COMEDY GOLD and him and Gwendolyn are at their best when they're being super loving while also killing people and screwing over whole nations with their loving ways.

also, Gwendolyn >>>>>> Velvet. ALWAYS.

but I do love everybody.

[canis-m.livejournal.com]

Does Odin Sphere even have a fandom?

A fandom of you and me.

3) TRIP. AT THE MOST. INCONVENIENT TIMES.

This is hilarious considering that I spent about 97% of my Mercedes playthrough screaming "GET UP, BITCH. GET UP." at the tv screen. But that was in the game part, not the cutscenes.

Hmm, I wonder if Velvet's story seems "more wrapped up in other people's business" in part just because hers is the last story, so its connections to all the other storylines are already apparent by the time the player gets to her book. Might be different if she came first and Gwendolyn last.

You make me want to give the English track a try! I totally haven't yet.

[moonsheen.livejournal.com]

Yea. That's definately it, I think. It's sort of the role Velvet was doomed to by virtue of being the seer character who knew a slight bit more than the rest of the cast about what was going down.

I actually like her a lot. (I've certainly written about her more than Gwendolyn XD XD XD) She's got an odd matchup of qualities (bastard child of Odin! Princess of a dead nation! Witch who knows the future! Love interest! CHAINS AND FANSERVICE!!!) that could've made her quite the clunker of a character if the writing weren't up to par. It didn't, so I'll chalk that up as a success on the part of the scenario writers. Also, her and Ingway have my favorite character-designs in the game. I am mostly dishing on her here because she is fan-darling of many people* who've played the game and I am trying to be UNPOPULAR IN MY OPINIONS. And Gwendolyn deserves love too.

Overall you have her and Mercedes as being the opposite narrative extremes: Velvet's story is reliant on the ones that came before. Mercedes is almost too detached from everyone else's.

(Mercedes I think has the strongest standalone story, but she's really...not that connected to the rest of the cast. Aside from picking fights with friggin' all of them. Which is I guess is why she got the end that she did. It had to be SOMEONE, but DANG...)

(* many people who are not japanese fanartists. who are in love with mercedes. which both brings me joy, since i like seeing happy fanart of her and her stupid frog. it also brings me pain. because i see what you're doing there, japan. you with your very underaged girls. agh.)

Sorry to be late...

[da-fox22.livejournal.com]

Avatar: The Last Airbender.

[rezhomina.livejournal.com]

Final Fantasy IX (or alternatively, Kingdom Heart II because I don't understand the worship...)

Btw, your Bleach Opinion gets a big beautiful hug