Not that I demand this. Everyone is free to write what they want to write, and I don't care much about WHAT other people do. I just won't read any fics that fall outside of my preferences. ^_^

That said, there are some authors/stories I like, though if you've been around the YYH fandom very long, you've probably read their work by now. ^_^

I'm not sure what made me jump back into this series after so long away from it. I think it was that it was one of those nights where I was browsing the anime catagory at FFNET and the Greenwood link caught my eye. So I went through it to catch up on saving all the fic into my Greenwood folder. (Yes, I save EVERY fic I like, because I'll never know when I want to read it again. I've already burned one CD full of over 600MB of fic. Like I said, I save EVERY fic I like.)(No, I haven't read all of them. I save them Just In Case.)

I'm a BIG ShinobuxMitsuru fan, and it looked like most of the fics there were just that, so while I was saving and thinking about how much I liked the OAVs, I randomly read on of Hoshiko's shorter ones and that just sucked me right back in. I quickly started going through my Greenwood folder and reading as much as I could.

And thus my waxing Greenwood fascination has blossomed. (How was that for pretenious wording? ;) )

Ahh, Koko wa Greenwood, how I love thee. How I wish thee were longer than six OAVs or how I wish I had thee manga and translations thereof. How I wish for more fic to assuade my hunger for my beloved Shinobu.

As you can see, my fascination has gotten a little... odd. Okay. I love KwG. It's GOOD stuff. The OAVs are *hysterical* (I wasn't as pleased with the way they spiraled into so much DRAMA with the last episode of the OAVs, but it was still more than enjoyable to watch) and just... just... just FUN to watch. I don't think there's a single character I don't like. Hasukawa is... well, he's just himself. So adorable. I *love* it when Kazuhiro teases him, too. That scene where he's laughing evilly in the infirmary while Kazuya spazzes out, and he laughs and laughs and laughs until Suka-chan leaves and is suddenly perfectly serious again, "God, he's fun to tease." He was wonderful in the sixth OAV, too.

We also have Shun, who's also nigh-impossible to properly describe. Sweet-natured (unless you get him mad) and it's great fun to watch him get Suka-chan all riled up. (Well, hell, who ISN'T fun watching them get Suka-chan all riled up?) Mitsuru is priceless. I cannot express how much I love him, how insanely funny he can be sometimes, and how utterly angsty the next. He is the *perfect* compliment to Shinobu as well.

And then we have my beloved Shinobu. How could you not love him? Calm, cool, rational, logical, and perfect Shinobu. The master manipulator, brilliant in his schemes. You don't know whether to fear him or respect him or worship him or hate him or all four. *Nothing* rattles this guy--NOTHING. You can try to kill him, and he won't even blink. And don't even THINK of trying to out-manipulate him, because it'll only make you suffer more.

Can you guess yet who's my favorite?

Though, to be fair, a signifigant portion of that is due to Seki Toshihiko, who plays the part to perfection. At the moment, this is my favorite role of his--there apparently IS a burnout point with Duo Maxwell Obession. -_- (I still love Duo, but, wow, do I need a break.) Legato was cool and all, but Shinobu is just... to borrow a trite phrase, DA MAN. Seki-san walks the fine line of cool distance and amusement wonderfully. Shinobu never loses his cool, but isn't an ice bitch (ice bastard?), either. Plus, Seki-san's voice is too damn sexy to listen to.

Mitsuru and Shun's seiyuu were wonderful, fitting their characters wonderfull (I'm especially fond of them), but my other favorite is Sasaki Nozomu as Hasukawa Kazuya. Mm-mm-mm, I love Sasaki's acting. (Not to mention he's gorgeous. *_*) Given how Suka-chan flips out about every other scene, Sasaki-san's acting makes it so much fun to watch/listen to, whereas it might have gotten repitive without someone else. (One of my favorite scenes in KwG EVER is where Shun gets caught in the bathroom, and the ruse is up. He acts like nothing is out of the ordinary, calmly saying he'll meet with Suka-chan later for homework. He gets about twenty feet down the fall, when Suka-chan comes skidding out of the bathroom screaming, "TEME...!!!" I NEVER get tired of that.)

To wrap this up, you don't have to watch KwG for the fangirly reasons I watched it. Watch it because it's just damn GOOD.

As for the Yuki/Yue thing.... I've ranted about this before, so I'll just link that (as soon as I find it) and keep the rest of this short. I ran into another story the other night that treated Yukito and Yue like they were two seperate creatures that shared one "body" (not really, but you know what I mean). I don't know where people get this--especially given Nakuru. S/he's one person, despite the two different forms. She's Yue's "replacement", created in exactly the same way Yue was.

Yue was clearly very, very devoted to Clow Read, there was very little chance he'd grow to care for anyone else with those memories, so there had to be a way to "start over" with him, so to speak. So, Yukito was brought into the picture. But what would be the point if Yuki wasn't Yue? It would just be someone else and Yue would still never accept anyone else beyond Clow. That just... bothers me. Pet peeve, I guess. ^_^;;

Well, since Amanda isn't around for me to bitch at, I'm going to make yet another friggin' entry before I go to bed. One of the things that really bothers the crap out of me when I see it in fic is when a character exclaims, "Oh, gods!" There are always exceptions, of course, but the vast majority of people say "Oh my god!" (Capitalization optional, imo.) I realize this is a really petty bitch, but it bothers me. Speech patterns are an important part of understanding a character, and every time I see an "Oh, gods!" it makes me think you haven't ever bothered to really listen to the way a character speaks.

Okay, once upon a time I really loved Chuck Dixon's writing. I do still think he has a gift for funny dialogue and building up of really interesting plotlines. His writing faulters, though, when he has to go through with that buildup and just in the way he makes Dick far less intelligent than he really is. Dick also routinely gets the crap knocked out of him in his own damn book, and is constantly running to Oracle rather than using his own damn detective skills. For this reason alone, people are immensely looking forward to Devin Grayson taking over the book.

I am also looking forward to Ms. Grayson taking over the book because I am in utter love with her work on Gotham Knights. I can't help it, I like the psychological stuff she does, getting into the thick of the Bat-clan's relationships with each other. And I refuse to apologize for revelling in that kind of thing.

However, I did laugh quite loudly at Jim Greeno's summation of her style: ~I just hope that giving Dick Grayson his goddamn brain back is somewhere near the top of DKG's list of NIGHTWING priorities (you know, right after all of the touchy-feely-whiny "By golly I sure do love Bruce Wayne, the daddiest daddy in the world" stories).~

Excuse me while I go laugh hysterically.

So I'm getting ready to sit down and watch XTV 22 when I start thinking. Which, ha ha, is never a good thing. Anyway.

At first it was neat seeing X all animated and not done like it was in the movie. (While, yes, the movie was pretty, a) Seishirou and Subaru were in it for all of three minutes, b) the characters barely looked like themselves, and c) there was hardly any gay in it. And, really, what is X without the gay?) But after awhile... it just started to fall flat. It doesn't have the same depth the manga has, it's just so much more shallow.

A lot of things are missing as well; even though my beloved Seishirou/Subaru interaction was basically kept intact, it moved way too fast. One minute Subaru's getting his eye gouged out, the next he's off to face Seishirou on Rainbow Bridge all healed already. (As much as the eye is going to 'heal', that is.) Subaru's history with Seishirou was severely cut short, and I had trouble figuring out why anime Subaru was even Withdrawn after Seishirou revealed that he was the Sakurazukamori. (Well, I did black out from boredom a few times, so maybe I missed some stuff. I dunno, maybe it was enough to have Setsuka say that Seishirou would be killed by the one he loved most and Hokuto-chan's last speech to Seishirou.)

And where the hell is Keiichi? What about The Eye scene? Subaru in another coma rather than running off to be Sakurazukamori!Subaru?

The problem with an X anime is that more and more anime TV series these days are getting very limited runs. 13 episodes seems to be the norm, 24/26 for the more popular series, and anything beyond that has to be insanely popular. And while XTV is doing a better job than the movie, it's still not enough time to properly tell the story. Well, it might be if they weren't going about it in such a flat manner....

Enh. And, really, that's about all I have to say about the XTV series. It... kinda bores me. The main reason I like it is 'cause I can do screen captures and get more pretty pictures. I don't, like, take it seriously-seriously.

Which does bring me to how the fandom is going to change. I'm not that into the X fandom, I just read the fic, so I'm not really that into it, but I keep an eye on FFNET, and that's usually a semi-good measure of how a fandom is going. With a lot of other series (Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, Gundam Wing, etc.), their fandoms changed, so will X's? I just... don't get the feeling it will.

For one thing, the majority of those fandoms were already based on the anime, so when the anime was brought over and changed, there wasn't as much of a schism as there might have been. Both sides of the fandom ("old" vs. "new") were looking at the "same" material, just one was looking at an altered version.

With X, the fandom is based so strongly on the manga, that I think one of two things is going to happen--either there will be a huge rift (even Gundam Wing doesn't have a huge rift between dub fans and sub fans. A lot of people on both sides still like the same thing. The biggest rift is between the yaoi and non-yaoi fans.) between the "manga people" and the "anime people" or the new fans will get pulled over to the manga side of things because a) that story is much cooler and b) that's where all the fans are already.

X is also very, very unlikely to ever be on TV here in North America, so you've really got to be an anime fan to pick it up. And as for the gay... well, the only one I can really see making a huge surge is KamuixKotori, and, hell, she dies halfway through the series. But, for instance, take Subaru. There just isn't a girl for him. He doesn't interact with the other female Seals, and they've all got other traditional male partners--except Hinoto, and that is a scary-ass idea. Gyah. Never going to be clean again.

Or Fuuma? Who would you pair him with? Kotori? No, yaoi-phobes usually frown on incest, too. Kanoe? Ew. Yup, never going to be clean again. Satsuki? She's kinda-sorta with Yuuto. (I love Yuuto. I tolerate Satsuki. But I dislike the pairing. I want to see someone write a really freaky Subaru/Satsuki story. Just 'cause it'd be weird as hell. If people can write SeishirouxKamui stories....)

My guess is that Sorata and Arashi are going to be getting a lot more attention from newbie fans. Which is fine, they deserve it, they're an adorable couple. And probably the other straight couples, but, hell, they deserve it, too.

....yeah, I'm gonna shut up now. Just wanted to get that out of my system.

Gah. Must... rant... about... American... dubbing.... Let me first say that I find the whole concept of dubbing a series into another language to be a very weird concept. I mean... why? Why would you change something so integral (as a voice actor is in any animated movie/series) from how it was meant to be shown? To make it more easily understandable? That's what subtitles are for. Because English "sounds" better? Then why the hell are you watching a product from another country in the first place?

I just think it's weird, that's all.

That said, I'm not knocking dubs solely for their existance; I can admit when they're well-done (and anime dubs are getting better as the years go on... though, I'm afraid that we've hit a plateau in voice acting here in this country) and, no, they don't automatically suck just because they're a dub.

And, hell, it's not just dubs I bitch about. I bitch about "professional" subtitling as well. That is what really grates on my nerves; when someone who knows approximately 150 Japanese words and phrases can pick out errors in the translation, there's something very off about them. It irritates me that these companies seem to do almost nothing to present the story as it was meant to be, even in the subtitled form. They change things around, tone down what they don't feel is "appropriate", and seem to suck out as much of the culture as they're able to.

So it's not soley the dubs I'm annoyed by, it's the entire way anime is handled here in North America.

I'm also really getting tired of being accused of being a knee-jerk reactionary just because I don't like dubs and I say that I think they're inferior. (You don't? That's great for you, you'll have a much better experience with a lot of series than I will.) It's not mindless bashing. When I say a dub sucks, I say so because I've listened to it, nine times out of ten have compared it to the original series, and found the dub to be severely lacking.

(Once again, I point out the Mononoke and Ranma dubs. I like them. They were well-done. I've gotten to the point where I prefer Akane's dub voice to her original voice. If I automatically hated dubs, I wouldn't do that, ne?)

If the dub fans are allowed to have their opinion, why am I not allowed to have my opinion that I think the dub sucks? I think DigiCharat sucked, too, does that make me a knee-jerk bigot against hyper-cutesy, no-sense-whatsoever, let's-pack-as-much-weirdness-in-here-as-possible series, too?

Anyway, the reason I usually dislike dub fans is because they're the type of fan that I just hate. They're ignorant of possibilities beyond those which they choose to believe, refuse to listen to someone who doesn't agree with them but just might know what they're talking about, flame anyone who chooses to embrace something they don't like, and are usually just... well... retarded.

Not all dub fans are like that. Some are intelligent, cool, interesting people. But they tend to be quiet and are far, far outweighed by their retarded counterparts. It's like the 'good' Christians--they all get drowned out by the retarded, homophobic, bible-thumping, 'you're-all-going-hell-you-heathens' idiots.

Most people started out as dubbed fans. (I'm a strange case--I got pulled into anime through fanfiction. Fansubbed Yuu Yuu Hakusho was my first anime ever. ^_^v) Dubs being on TV bring us exposure to series we probably never would have seen otherwise and I think that can be a great thing.

That still doesn't mean most dubs don't suck.

-- and in a seperate rant --

Another rant... I see a lot of pro-subtitled anime fans often bitching about Cartoon Network. I will be the first to stand up and say that I don't like dubs, they grate on my nerves, yadda, yadda, yadda. But, dude, don't knock Cartoon Network. They kick ass.

It's not their fault that subtitled anime would never fly in today's market. It's not their fault that viewers like weird things. They just play what people want to see and do their best to treat the series right. I like most of their anime commercials and the little music videos they do are pretty cool from only working with dubs. And their Scooby-Doo Project (Blair Witch Project parody) spots were some of the funniest goddamned things I've ever seen. Oh, and their Super Bowl parodies are effing brilliant.

They also air some damn fine programming. They brought seasons three and four of ReBoot to the US. They air some neat '80s shows. (I want them to get Jem and the Holograms!) They air really good anime series (Cowboy Bebop, Gundam Wing, Tenchi Muyo, Outlaw Star, Pilot Candidate, Yuu Yuu Hakusho, even DBZ and Sailor Moon) and keep the editing down to as much of a minimum as they can. (When they edited Gundam Wing, they did show unedited versions later at night.)

They have good original programming (I really am quite fond of Samurai Jack and the Powerpuff Girls) and anyone who airs Freakazoid! episodes has my whole-hearted support.

The people over at Cartoon Network are good people. Just because they're doing what they have to do to make money, that's no reason to hate them. They're not the WB after all. (*sigh* Except for X-Men: Evolution. It's disturbingly non-annoying for a traditionalist such as myself.)

Warning: HUGE SPOILERS FOR WEISS KREUZ

More bitching about WK--this time spoiler-laden. Specifically my problem with the writing of the series, and how friggin' melodramatic it is. The point where I truly realized that WK was badly written was neart the end of the Takatori Mamoru storyline. I'd been growing steadily dissatisfied with it, but it could still have been saved. My problem with the storyline is that the Takatoris were all nothing but evil people, nasty, two-dimensional villains, and I'm surprised they didn't have handle-bar mustaches to twirl maliciously while they spouted hackneyed, trite prhases.

....uh, yeah. Little resentment towards a potentially good storyline there.

If I had written that storyline, I would have made the Takatoris more three-dimensional; morally corrupt, but good to their own. They turned on Omi far too quickly and completely, there was never any real connection there. (And I would have vetoed that stupid Shuuichi-as-Mamoru's-real-father thing right off the bat. Gyah.) In my world, Omi would have formed tentative connections with his family, and they would have tried to bring him over to their side. Not just because he was Weiss, but because he was a Takatori. And they wouldn't have said, "Okay, turn in your friends and everything you've ever known, so we can systematically destroy all that. What? You're refusing? Okay, time to beat the crap out of you then."

Bah. Reiji would have cared about his son in the same way he cared for Ouka, and Mamoru's brothers would have been nicer to him. I probably would have gone with one of them making a real connection with Omi, much like Ouka did. Shown the softer sides of the Takatori family, rather than just making them purely evil.

That would have created real drama. Of course Omi would choose Weiss--and it mystifies me why Omi would even feel ambivalent and torn about it in the first place. (I would love to see someone write an AU series where Takatori Reiji was actually Mamoru's father and wanted to bring his son into the fold and where real connections were formed with the Takatori family.)

There are other examples of cliched writing, but that's the major one that's stuck in my craw. The other thing that bothers me about the WK writing, is the plot holes you could drive a freaking truck through--especially in regards to Schwarz. The example that stands out most in my mind is the final fight between the two assasin groups, before the building they're all in sinks into the sea.

Okay, let's start out with a few basics. Schwarz is not a nice group of people, downright ruthless. (Or so we're lead to believe.) They've got powers and they're not afraid to use them. Farfie is an excellent hand to hand combatant, and doesn't feel pain, so unless you make it so he can't move, he keeps on coming. Nagi is a telekinetic and at one point leveled the Takatori mansion in his fit of grief over Tot--and it didn't look like it took a whole lot of time to do, either. Schuldich is a telepath who can easily slip into people's minds, read their thoughts, and even to a degree controll them and force them to do what he wants. He didn't look particularily strained while he was forcing Sakura to hold a gun on Aya, either. And then we have Brad Crawford, the precog, who sees everything coming. In a fight against Aya, he can use his bare hands to predict where his katana is going to be, and hold out his hands to stop it. In the same fight with Yohji, he predicted where Yohji's wires were going to be and struck out with his fists to knock them away. That's a pretty damn specific application of his power, so it's not like he doesn't have control over it. Brad uses his power.

So tell me exactly how does Manx sneak up on him and shoot the gun out of his hand in that final fight? How did he not seeing that coming? How does Schuldich not turn Weiss members on each other using his telepathy? How does Nagi not fling them all across the room and keep them there? You also can't tell me Brad didn't see how the fight would come out.

There are only two options for this. One, the writing was supremely lazy for the situations they put the characters in and the writers just couldn't be bothered with getting out of the corner they'd written themselves into. I'm not really fond of that option, but I'm sure it's exactly what happened. The other is to fanwank the characters' actions and come up with some explanation that we weren't given on screen, some hidden agenda Schwarz had, and that everything that happened was according to plan. (Sidara's "Transcendance Arc" did a fantastic job of this, and it's the only explanation I find that really fits. That's part of the reason I love her series so much.) I'm just touchy that such a fanwank is so obviously needed in the first place.

RevolutionSF has a really cool article up right now: Cancelled: Five Unforgotten. It's about the five most 'unfairly cancelled before their time' SF shows in semi-recent history. I was pleasantly surprised to see GvsE make it onto the list--god damn was that a fun show and I miss it so, so much. It was brilliant, really. I was also surprised to see Brimstone on the list--time has healed that wound a little, but I am still pissed about it. It was the show that made me truly realize how fucking genius John Glover was.

With only five slots they obviously couldn't get them all in, but other shows that leave me with a tear-soaked keyboard over their untimely demise....

*American Gothic - Oh, how I loved thee, American Gothic. Brilliant acting, wonderful writing, fascinating characters, gorgeous settings, and this quality to it that I've never seen fully duplicated anywhere before. I lived and breathed American Gothic for a year, and it's the reason I still clutch my Les Moonves voodoo doll possessively.

*Kindred: The Embraced - Sure, it was cheesy, sure, it was an Aaron Spelling production, and sure, it wasn't completely faithful to the White Wolf game. But I loved Julian and I loved the look of the show. It was a nice little show.

*Freaky Links - Okay, yes, this show was a complete waste of time as a science fiction show. Hell, just as a regular show, except for two things. One, Dennis Christopher was occasionally in it. And while his part was deeply retarded, it was still Dennis Christopher and I loved him. Two, Lan and Derek were incredible cute together and I miss them a lot. (Chloe could die painfully somehow involving rusty railroad spikes and I would not be unhappy.)

Uhh... shit. I know there are more, but I can't think of them right now. Hell, just coming up with those three was a headache all by itself.

*dancedancedance* XTV 22! *dancedance*

Watched the last four episodes of the Cardcaptor Sakura anime series last night. I cannot express how much I love this series, it's just so... so... so good. I'm a little frustrated that they kept the thing with Fujitaka out of the anime, but I already knew that, so it wasn't so bad. My favorite part, though? The way Yue was so concerned for Touya. If it had been anyone else who'd fallen over asleep like that, Yue would have just kept going. Or if he was feeling particularily nice, make sure they didn't whack their head when they fell down.

But he brought Touya along, carrying him when at that point he was just dead weight and without his powers he wouldn't be able to do a thing to help Sakura. But Yue picked him up and carried him along anyway. He even took an extra moment or two after he'd propped Touya up against the tree, just looking at him. And then when the fighting was over, Touya was the first one Yue went to see. ^______________^

Okay, I know I'm making a mountain out of a molehill here, but it was so sweet!

So was the scene in the kitchen between Touya and Yukito, where Yuki confessed that he was grateful to Clow because he created the form he was currently wearing (So Yuki, in the anime at least, is very aware that he's Yue and knows about Clow Reed and the magic.) and that meant he got to meet Touya. So, so sweet. *happyhappy*

I have affectionately dubbed this rant, "I (Ha Ha) Like Dick". *grin*

There has been recent speculation in a couple of haunts about, once Devin Grayson takes over the Nightwing title, she might try to 'make him gay'. Which, I assume, stems from that interview she did with... um... I don't remember the name, but one of those Gay and Lesbian in Comics organizations or something like that. Forgive me. -_-

In it, she said that she could see sexual tension between Dick and Bruce/Batman, especially on Dick's part. But she also said that it wouldn't go anywhere, and that if anything ever happened because of it, it would be over in literally seconds. And you know what? I don't think I entirely disagree with her.

I'm of the opinion that Bruce was the center of Dick's world when he was growing up, and Bruce is about as physically perfect as a person can get. Throw in a case of hero worship and something will be brewing in any kid's head. Bruce and Dick's relationship is far too complicated to simply pigeon-hole neatly away. Does that make Dick gay? I don't think so.

While not a traditional one, their relationship is very clearly a father/son one, and Grayson herself writes it as such. And I don't think I need to point out Dick's very clear devotion to and love for Barbara Gordon.

As for myself, personally.... You'll hardly find a more willing slash fan than myself. I love it, I seek it out, and I practically revel in it. I have a distinct weakness for Dick/Roy slash--it's a favorite of mine; it's so much fun!

But I honestly don't think he swings that way much. (Oh, under the right circumstances, anything is possible, and I don't discount the possibility. There's some very convincing Dick/Garth fiction out there.) I don't think his relationships with the various DCU women are covering up for anything or attempts to compensate for anything. Dick is merely a tactile person, that's how he relates to people.

And just 'cause I feel the need to say it... I like the idea of Nightwing/Huntress. It could never last because, as SKH/Sarah put it so succintly, "she's like Batman in a skirt", but it'd be a hell of a ride in the meantime. And, dammit, I like the idea of Nightwing/Catwoman, too.

Anyway, the point I was getting at is that if I got that kind of vibe from Dick Grayson, I wouldn't deny it, I'd be more than happy to accept it. If someone else does get that type of vibe, good for them. I freely admit that I haven't been reading the comics nearly as long as a lot of people out there (only a couple of years) and that I'm certainly not fanatical about it.

Uh, right, okay. I don't think Devin Grayson is going that way--I've never gotten those kinds of hints from her work, and it's not like the Bat-editors would ever let that happen. I do think she'll play around with the father/son relationship in the Nightwing title, but I suspect, after an initial 'field day', she'll 'settle down' and let it fade more into the background.

I have affectionately dubbed this rant, "I (Ha Ha) Like Dick". *grin*

You know... it bugs the shit out of me when people don't properly know how to use Japanese culture in their fics, especially the honorifics. Because even I, who knows almost nothing about the Japanese language, have the basic grasp of that. And let me tell you, two male friends--who are NOT in a romantic relationship, even if they both have feelings for each other--do NOT call each other "-chan". They just don't. (Hell, even in a romantic relationship, they probably wouldn't unless they were flamingly gay.)

It especially bothers me when in the series one character clearly uses another honorific for their 'friend'. In this case it's Tsukishiro Yukito and Kinomoto Touya--they do not call each other "Yuki-chan" or "To-ya-chan". My brain hurts just trying to conceptualize that. For one thing, Touya always calls Yukito "Yuki" or, occasionally, (I think, I'd have to double check) "Yukito". Yuki calls Touya "To-ya-kun" or occasionally just "To-ya".

In the story, this is before they ever had a relationship (and I'm not even getting into Yukito knowing that he's Yue but Touya not knowing -_-) and they're calling each other these horribly cutesy nicknames. It just screams to me that the person has never seen the original source material they're supposedly drawing from.

Which, in and of itself, is fine. You can learn a lot just by reading fanfic and hanging around message boards and mailing lists if you've got good instincts. But when you clearly haven't done much more research than reading a handful of fanfics and maybe surfed a few fansites....

Argh. I try not to impose my own standars on other people, but... but... how can people write for a series they don't know quite well? Doesn't it bother them that they could be getting everything horribly screwed around with even knowing it? That they're getting the characters completely wrong? That there are people like me out there bitching and moaning about it?

*sigh* I know, I know. I already know the answer to that one. Still... grr.

*rant mode on*

You know what annoys the shit out of me? Self-important people who are snotty when giving "feedback" (there is this one person who has THE talent to be annoying beyond belief, even when I mostly agree with their comments--even when they say nice things, I just want to tear my hair out) and when people don't take kindly to their tone, they get all huffy about how they're just trying to give constructive criticism and make fics better.

Oh, please. People like this annoy the shit out of me. Because it's so very clear that they're not thinking about what would actually help the writer, and only about their own rigid standards. If you really want to help someone get better, try being nicer, more friendly, being more gentle in your approach. People are much more apt to listen to you when you're not pissing them off.

I think, though, that some people are just too rigid to bend. Screw people if they can't develop a thicker skin, eh? And while I agree that people do need to develop thicker skins, I'm not stupid enough to think they're going to listen to a damn thing I say when I'm harsh.

It comes down to a choice. You can tailor your approach to the author and maybe get some results with a little work. You might get a better writer, you might just be wasting your time. There are no guarantees. Or you can refuse to bend, continue with your harsh tone and have 99% of the writers who need help not listen to you at all, and apparently not understand why those people--who, despite not being excellent writers, still have feelings--don't like you and want to avoid you at all costs.

It's a choice each person makes, and whatever choice you make is the choice you make. It's not like I think either should be run out of the fandom. But I'm going to take the approach that actually has a chance of working, thanks.

*rant mode off*

That was brought to you by a couple of different events in a couple of different fandoms. And was shorter than I'd intended.

Hmm, I wanted to do a more essay-ish type thing for Fanthropology, but I'm too clearly on one side of the argument to really present a balanced view. (I know, I know, that didn't stop me the last two times. ^_^;; )