effervescible: (como estan)
Jaina ([personal profile] effervescible) wrote2005-10-20 09:54 am
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Trigun movie thoughts

Semi-randomly: Apparently by dint of being het, I am vanilla. Shit, I always preferred chocolate. Though how I can be vanilla and a dirty pervert at the same time kind of confuses me.

Already there's a tiny furor over the quality of the Trigun movie and what it'll mean for the fandom. I expected this; it's what I meant when I said some people would be happy and some would be sad. I maybe didn't think it would happen so fast, but I did see it coming.

Honestly? I can sympathize. There are many ways they might be approaching this thing, and while some of them would be easy to ignore if we don't like it, a sequel or in-canon side story are harder. It can suck to have your fics and ideas trounced. Just ask every Jossfan that ever drew breath. It doesn't make previously written things bad--just pre-Cow Thing--but it can change how you look at things, especially if you draw inspiration from canon events.

So I get the apprehension. I do. I feel a little of it myself--for all that I'd be curious to see their take on a post-series movie, I worry that it couldn't measure up to what we imagine. For all that I would enjoy a mid-series adventure with all of our heroes together again, I worry that it could include some interesting characterization choices that doesn't fit in with the series it's suppose to be inside. So yeah, there are ways it could suck.

But. For me personally, and this is a very subjective thing that varies from person to person, I think it's worth it. It appears that the same or most of the original creative team is on it, so if you liked the anime, there's a decent shot you'll like the movie, too. If you didn't, well, nothing's changed then, has it? And I feel confident that I can erase from my brain anything bad. After the wretched finales of X-Files and any number of bad anime series, I've done the "WTF were they thinking?!" thing enough that I know it's still possible to enjoy the decent part of a series without letting awful additions ruin it. Embrace the personal canon, people, it's a great concept. And you know, even if absolutely everything else sucks (and I doubt that), we should still get some pretty slick animation. That's not a bad thing.

Oh, pairings? Fuck pairings. Every time I see someone get all het up--pardon the expression--over who will end up boinking who, I have to ask: were they watching the same anime I was? I would be surprised if we got any serious emphasis on a pairing in the movie, or the manga, because I hear the same fretting about that--and I mean from BOTH sides, het and slash, and I think they're both...kind of stupid, really, because that is utterly missing the frelling point. Fandom is way too focused on pairings. I don't think there's anything wrong with that; I enjoy that kind of stuff. But in many fandoms but especially in Trigun, pairings have very little to do with what drew us to the series in the first place.

Yes, I like Vash/Meryl. (Among other couples.) Yes, I will grin and think it's fun if there's anything in the movie that can be taken as some kind of subtext. Doesn't matter to me if it's intentional on the part of the animators or not. In a non-romantic series, very little is, and anyone who thinks the animators care as much about pairings of any sort as we do is deluding themselves. So yes, I admit these things, but they are not why I'm excited about the movie. All the things I love about Trigun are things that will still exist even if Nightow takes out a two-page ad in Newtype that says "HAY GUYS VASH AND MERYL SUX0R HAHAHA KTHXDIE." It wouldn't be fun, but I'd deal, and I'd still enjoy Trigun because what I enjoy has not changed.

Honestly, I think people worried about pairings, and I include het fans in this because I have yet to see a guarantee that Vash and Meryl will be making BABIES EVERYWHERE, and that'd actually be kind of ick if they were, are stressing over nothing. I doubt there will be much that changes any pairings, because as much as we care about them, the animators just don't. Our priorities are not their priorities. This is another reason why I think everyone should have started out with X-Files as their first fandom, in MSRville specifically--getting exactly the pairing you want and watching as it CRASHES AND BURNS tends to make you cautious about what you really want to see. After a shitfest like that, you've built up some scar tissue to fandom disappointments.

Me? I just want some deep space planet future gun action. That's all I need.

[identity profile] xerne.livejournal.com 2005-10-20 02:59 pm (UTC)(link)
After all the wanking over Advent Children and the six million other sequels to FF7 and Square Jossing themselves on the backstory, I think I can take anything Trigun throws at me. =P

[identity profile] jaina.livejournal.com 2005-10-20 03:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Don't forget the Harmonians fapping away madly. That's what pairing wank reminds me of the most.

[identity profile] xerne.livejournal.com 2005-10-20 03:04 pm (UTC)(link)
CloudxTifa vs CloudxAeris is still the One True Pairing Wank, IMO. =P It's taken the Harmonians years to reach the level of batshit FF7 fans were hitting in the late nineties. (Novelizations of the game that were blatently pro-Tifa or pro-Aeris, hate sites, massive and massively stupid flame wars, and so on.) We'll see whether the Harmonians can keep it up for another five years.

[identity profile] arafel.livejournal.com 2005-10-20 03:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Wordity Word Word. Just because a pairing makes you go omgsquee! does not make it canon. Interpretation of a line can mean one thing to one person who's inclined to see it one particular way, and it can mean the exact opposite to a person who's inclined to disbelieve the same. Fighting over whose interpretation is correct is just... stupid.

I'm looking forward to the movie, but I share your apprehension of Explodinating Fandoms. Happily, many of the sane people in the Trigun fandom are already on my friendslist, so that should make the movie fun rather than one big Fandom Wank.

[identity profile] fadingembers.livejournal.com 2005-10-20 03:41 pm (UTC)(link)
I just got off the phone with Nightow and he said it's going to feature hot MidvalleyxMerylxKuroneko(who is really Knives Sohma) smut.
octopedingenue: (akito/dilandau OTP of CRACK)

[personal profile] octopedingenue 2005-10-20 03:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Knives Sohma.

Okay, that's hot.

[identity profile] jaina.livejournal.com 2005-10-20 03:51 pm (UTC)(link)
And it explains a lot about Kuroneko, dontcha think?
octopedingenue: (kyou loves your brain)

[personal profile] octopedingenue 2005-10-20 03:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Now I want a Knives/Akito bitchy deathmatch.

[identity profile] jaina.livejournal.com 2005-10-20 03:56 pm (UTC)(link)
I can't grant you that, but I CAN give you a link to a Fruits Basket/House crossover fic.
octopedingenue: (kyou loves your brain)

[personal profile] octopedingenue 2005-10-20 04:33 pm (UTC)(link)
HOMYGOD. RITSU FIC. EEEE! That is so cute and well done and it has RITSU, who does not get the fanfic love he should.

My response (which for some reason contains HBP spoilers...)

[identity profile] yma2.livejournal.com 2005-10-20 04:35 pm (UTC)(link)
::claps::
I utterly, utterly agree with what you've just said! To be fair the pairing thing isn't just Trigun, it can be found in most fandoms. Fandoms as a whole tend to get very into the pairing thing and for no good reason, IMO. Especially in Trigun where, as you said, Romance very much takes a back seat to the action. Yeah, it's there, but it's by no means all of hte plot.
To be honest if this is anything like the series then I do expect some Vash/Meryl subtext but I doubt anything will actually happen. Apart from anything, look and Nightow! See how that guy manages to tease us all without giving us anything AND he concentrates on the plot! Besides, one of the major features in most anime I've seen is that the hero and heroine very RARELY get it together! If anything one of them (or both!) is more likely to die at the end! So the chances of it ending as 'And Vash and Meryl lived happily ever after!' is remote at best!
As for the other side... well to be honest it's almost impossible to crash ANY pairing so long as you're imaginative enough.
For example, I could manage write a fic abou Milly/Midvalley. Yeah, it'd be shit, but I'm sure I could manage it. With enough imagination and characterisation it's not difficult to fit almost any pairing together. Sure, some work better than others, (because of the cannon text/subtext) but it can be done. So even if Meryl/Vash became cannon, who's to say that he didn't have relationship with Wolfwood/Midvalley/Knives/Insert-person-here. It's all arguable.
To be honest, as a member of the HP fandom I very much understand where people come from. My favorite pairing (was, and still is!) Remus/Sirius (a slash pairing, which is unusual for me but... meh.) Now, Sirius... isn't around any more. But that's OK, because like all those Vash/Wolfwood fans, just 'cos he ain't aroiund. Now don't mean I can't write reserection fics or stories about before he died. But when HBP prince came out then it turned out that Lupin was going (or was going to go) out with someone else, a woman (I won't give her name unless you havn't read the series or HPB, sorry if I'm spoiling you at all here...) which pretty much crashed my pairing cannicaly wise, yeah?
Not really, 'cos I can still write about the idea that Remus is Bi and went out with Sirius in the past. I can still consider what effect that might have on the character now and... well... yeah. You get the picture?
People should just chill. Trigun is cool not because of the pairings but because of the wonderful characters and the cool stories. To be honest, just seeing Vash again is gonna make me happy. (But OOooooh! I wonder what they'll do with Knives? :bounces:)

[identity profile] angstymcgoth.livejournal.com 2005-10-20 04:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Uh...would it be stupid of me to ask where all the wanking is going on at? Or has the knowledge of an actual MOVIE OMG hit the main Trigun fanboards?

[identity profile] jaina.livejournal.com 2005-10-20 04:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Dude, take a guess.

[identity profile] angstymcgoth.livejournal.com 2005-10-20 04:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeeeaaahhhh...I think I just found what you were talking about. Amusingly, the second place I checked.

[identity profile] jaina.livejournal.com 2005-10-20 04:49 pm (UTC)(link)
I meant it when I said I was ignoring their assholery from now on, but when I'm linked and called a vanilla fangirl in the same post, I think that deserves an exception.

[identity profile] angstymcgoth.livejournal.com 2005-10-20 04:52 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm...I'm quite amazed at how quickly that went to OMG MOVIE to THIS IS GOING TO FUCKING SUCK so fast.

[identity profile] jaina.livejournal.com 2005-10-20 04:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, you know. Once a pairing is established, you're not allowed to slash anyone in it anymore.

[identity profile] arafel.livejournal.com 2005-10-20 05:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah. Tell that to the legions of Remus/Sirius shippers.

[identity profile] jaina.livejournal.com 2005-10-20 05:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Sheesh, I'm kind of glad I never took much to FF7, then. It doesn't seem like a very romantic game anyway.

[identity profile] jaina.livejournal.com 2005-10-20 05:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Man, I need to steal the rest of Fruits Basket from Casey, cuz I only own the first DVD and am all "dur?" when people talk about the details beyond what I've gleaned from my flist.

Re: My response (which for some reason contains HBP spoilers...)

[identity profile] jaina.livejournal.com 2005-10-20 06:01 pm (UTC)(link)
People need to just chill about pairings in general. That doesn't mean you can't think a pairing is stupid or usually badly written, it just means don't freak out about it. I feel you on the Remus/Sirius--I like them a lot, too. But I just view Tonks/Remus as him moving on with his life. His boyfriend would've wanted him to be happy. XD And like I said in the post, sometimes actually getting your otp is no great shakes. If I knew what Mulder/Scully would be like, I'd have said Chris Carter can keep it.

And as for Midvalley/whoever, I'm a firm believer that any pairing fic with him can be fun, even if it's not entirely realistic. Hell, I wrote Mid/Meryl once. Thus is the awesome power of the Manwhore.

[identity profile] jaina.livejournal.com 2005-10-20 06:02 pm (UTC)(link)
No, don't. I think someone DID tell that to the H/Hr people and look at them.

[identity profile] arafel.livejournal.com 2005-10-20 06:11 pm (UTC)(link)
I hope there's no subtext at all in the Trigun movie. Just to avoid more screaming matches. -_-

[identity profile] jaina.livejournal.com 2005-10-20 06:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Now, now. Don't you know that collecting sane people for your flist is omg totallie the same thing as brainwashing them against other fans and the fact that they were totally freaked out by the other fans has nothing to do with it?

h0r!

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