"AGH! He/She fucked up my OTP!"

[Guest Alien Pirate Pixagi]

This is something I noticed a LOT on FF.net, and very rarely hear unless going into certain, far over populated fandoms: Love interest hate.

Now, I usually see it in slash/yaoi writers, but then, that's the type of story I'm usually looking for, and I can easily imagining it happening with Het and F/F as well. That said, I'm really getting sick of character bashing for no reason other then they get in the way of what the author decides is a good pairing romantically. Just the idea that character A is an utter douche because the original author decided they fit better with B rather then C, who you think is totally awesome, is absolutely retarded.

There are so many better reasons to hate a frikkin character.

A good example is the canon Ginny/Harry pairing. IMMEDIATELY after Harry reciprocated Ginny's feelings in HBP, slash fangirls around the the world hopped on their computers and started all kinds of fun Ginny Hate junk. Why? All because she's with Harry, who they want to be with Draco/Ron/Snape/Dumbledore/Whoever. They don't mention anything of any worth about her personality or how good of a character she is, just that she sucks for getting in between Harry and whatever other guy they want him to sleep with/make little ass babies with.

They essentially flame the character.

And this isn't even limited to canon work, either!

How often have you gotten the "You're a good writer, but write this pairing instead please!" review? And that's being polite! People have gotten into three page diatribes on how much a story sucks all because it didn't pair off Sirius and Remus, or, because it did, which is worse. If the story is not properly marked, that's one thing, if it is, that means you went in knowing what it was about. What's the fucking point?

That is, by far, the most obnoxious thing ever! It's like the "This is a Shame" thread that gets reanimated every few months. Why, knowing this site caters to EVERY fetish imaginable, come and complain about something on the site you don't like content-wise? At the bottom of the site it says if you don't agree with ANY CONTENT on the site, leave. Do we need to start putting that disclaimer in all our stories as well?

[NightScribe]

This is something I noticed a LOT on FF.net, and very rarely hear unless going into certain, far over populated fandoms: Love interest hate.

If the story is not properly marked, that's one thing, if it is, that means you went in knowing what it was about. What's the fucking point?

A good example is the canon Ginny/Harry pairing. IMMEDIATELY after Harry reciprocated Ginny's feelings in HBP, slash fangirls around the the world hopped on their computers and started all kinds of fun Ginny Hate junk. Why? All because she's with Harry, who they want to be with Draco/Ron/Snape/Dumbledore/Whoever. They don't mention anything of any worth about her personality or how good of a character she is, just that she sucks for getting in between Harry and whatever other guy they want him to sleep with/make little ass babies with.

That is, by far, the most obnoxious thing ever! It's like the "This is a Shame" thread that gets reanimated every few months. Why, knowing this site caters to EVERY fetish imaginable, come and complain about something on the site you don't like content-wise? At the bottom of the site it says if you don't agree with ANY CONTENT on the site, leave. Do we need to start putting that disclaimer in all our stories as well?

I know what you mean Pix. There's a HP story on FF.net that Ginny bashes for no good reason, other than to make it possible for Harry to get screwed by both Draco and his true love Snape (and the story is one messed up SI piece of crap, btw). Several reviewers have pointed out the needless Ginny bashing, not because they don't mind slash, but because everything is so grossly OOC and there's no reason given as to why everyone suddenly hates Ginny.

You're absolutely right; if a story is properly marked, you know damn good and well what the pairing is; if it's not, there's always the back out button. Example; the pairing I can do without in the HP fandom is Snape/Hermione, so I have a very simple solution; I don't read any stories with that pairing. Of course, a lot of times these things sneak in. The story I mentioned above is tagged as a Snape/Harry story, but the Ginny stuff appears as "subtext" or "subplot". I love when authors' profiles state "I HATE GINNY/HARRY! THEY SUCK! I KNOW BETTER!" type of statements. And if you are going to paint a character(s) in an unfavorable light, how hard is it to mention it in the summary or AN before the first chapter. "Not (fill in the blank) friendly."

[cu-kid9]

There's a lot of this in the Inuyasha fandom as well that has to do with Kikyou bashing. It gets tiring and annoying after a point. I received a review once that said something along the lines of, "Will there be Kikyou bashing? I hate her!" I told the reviewer no, no "bashing" in my story, sorry (I'm not sure they read any more after that...).

I'm glad you brought this up, because it's always made me curious. Why hate a character just because of who they pair up with? It makes no sense to me. Also, I've noticed too, that it seems to be only female characters that this hatred is geared toward...hm.

[dazzledfirestar]

Character bashing in general drives me loopy! If you don't like a character, don't read a fic about them... or don't write about them yourself! There are a few characters that (canon wise) I'm not the biggest fan of, so I don't write about them. If, canon wise, they screw up a pairing I like, well, I don't follow canon on that then, do I! If I wanted to write a, oh, lets say, Harry/Draco fic, I wouldn't even bring Ginny into the picture! Or, if I felt the need to, pass her off on someone else!

[Iggy_lovechild]

The Ginny albotross is precicely why I can't write for the HP fandom. I mean, I have a few issues with her characterization after GOF. I mean, imho she seems to be written as Potter's-Perfect-Dream-Girl, but whatever. Point is, I can't find any pockets of grey within their relationship, no loopholes to slip without it sounding lame. Granted, I could write a lot of divergence fics, ignoring most of DH, but I don't want to do that.

Anyway, I see this character bashing nonsense in every fandom I'm written for.

Is your OTP SerasxAlucard?...well then Integra must be an evil, bossy, overtly demanding shrill harpy.

Is your OTP KagomexInuYasha?...well then Kikyou is EBIL INCARNATE (unfortuantly, a lot of these fanbrats get to point to canon just a bit since Kikyou did try to kill both Kagome and InuYasha on several occassions...but she's over that last I checked).

Is your OTP RenoXCloud?...well then Tifa must be a clingy, whiny, possessive bitch.

It's tiresome, and I think a lot of it is the fanbrat's anger at what they see. They don't like complications standing in the way of their TWU WUB couples so they take that frustration out on poor unsuspecting characters/love interests.

[Guest Agaib]

Sometimes I wonder if immature fanfiction authors ruin a series of books for themselves simply because they decided that they didn't like how the author ended up pairing the romances. I heard someone criticize the later Harry Potter books as feeling too much like fanfiction. I can sort of see where they're coming from, but I also feel like when you've read so much fanfiction and the author hasn't established any cannon pairings, once the author DOES establish romance between characters a reader can feel like romance belonged in the realm of fanfiction rather than cannon thus making the book seem like fanfiction simply because it included romance between major characters.

[Guest Alien Pirate Pixagi]

I heard someone criticize the later Harry Potter books as feeling too much like fanfiction. I can sort of see where they're coming from, but I also feel like when you've read so much fanfiction and the author hasn't established any cannon pairings, once the author DOES establish romance between characters a reader can feel like romance belonged in the realm of fanfiction rather than cannon thus making the book seem like fanfiction simply because it included romance between major characters.

It's not the romance itself, it's how it was handled. A lot of things in HBP for me seemed to come out of left field, like she wanted to cram all this stuff into the book and then didn't have enough time to edit everything, leaving a shit load of typos and a few sentences that made no sense.

So, yeah, fanfiction.

As for character bashing, there has to be a better way to do it! The one time I bashed a character I don't like, I then made him have a whole revelation as to WHY he sucks (and had his life threatened...) and then started paving thr road for major character improvement. Of course, this is a character that actually does suck, it wasn't simply for the sake of getting him out of the way.

[redsliver]

When I was writing in Naruto I hated Sasuke, not much has changed, still I had no problem getting him laid or even using him in my fics because he's a very integral character and a lot of other characters personalities were defined by how they responded to him.

I didn't feel the need to hate him with my writing, to bash his character or make others hate him the way I dislike him. I just gave him a small penis.

[madlodger]

There is a lot of this in HP Slash Fandom:

Ginny bashing, portraying her as a whore is a favorite theme.

Ron and Hermione turned evil.

Ron and Hermione being good but acting as sidekicks with bad lines.

Pansy bashing, making her to be damb and clingy.

Most of that staff is supposed to make lonely Harry Potter even more lonely. People seem to like extremes, looks like.

How about the opposite trend? As in Draco, or worst yet Malfoy-Senior being nice to Harry and resqueing him from abuse. (That comes after him being raped by Dursleys and having every bone in his body broken by them for a good measure). That is just wrong.

Just thinking that most of this staff is written by teen girls and young adults boggles my mind.

[Iggy_lovechild]

Just thinking that most of this staff is written by teen girls and young adults boggles my mind.

Yeah, it's really disturbing. I mean, I remember when I was writing cringe-inducing fanfiction at that age, but I never went about ruining characters or ships just to make my stories work.

"Velvet Goldmine" ramble ahead:

I mean, I hated Brian Slade with a firey passion for what he did to Curt. Seriously. Hated even more what became of him by the Eighties. Tommy Stone...ugh. So what did I do? I ignored his fucking presense for the most part and focused soley on my CurtxArthur shippy obsession. Maybe I snarked a little, but I was never like: OMG! BRIAN SLADE SUX AND NEEDS 2 DIES!!!!!!!!!!!!1111 CURTXARTHUR=TRU LUV 4EVEH! (wow that hurt to write)

Am I just getting old or are these writers getting dumber and less talented? Maybe I was more easily pleased way back when, but I remember it being less a chore to find well-written fanfiction....

[Leonhart29]

I have to agree with you there Iggy - it used to be that you could find really well written fan fiction just by logging on - and now you have junk that's got so many misspellings and hatefulness that it hurts the brain. I think that's why I started writing it to tell you the truth - so that I'd have something to read.

As far as bashing one character because you don't like them. I really hate one character in my chosen fandom of FF VIII - but I still use Rinoa. Granted most of the time she's just a plot piece and I have killed her once - but it's always to further the story - never because I can't stand her. If I could ignore her I would, but because she's Squall's cannon - I have to do something with her to get her out of the way. Unfortunately she usually turns out to be a bitch, but I thought she was in the game. Sometimes weak equals bitch to me I guess.

Lord knows I try to be good, and I try not to bash the characters I don't like, but it's hard sometimes. Especially when you can't seem to get away from them. I just don't go out and intentionally write a fic in the I hate so and so vein. Maybe I should write a Squall/Rinoa fic and just get it out of my system.

[EveKnight75]

Certain Characters "Sacred"?

I think that topic complements this one nicely, and there's a lot of responses there that tie in to this topic. Not merge-worthy, mind you, but still a nice pair the two make.

LONG POST AHEAD!

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Let's start off with a popular fandom so that people know what I'm talking about.

I'm sick of Ron-bashing and Ginny-bashing when it comes to Harmonians. It's possible to get them together without attacking the Weasleys. If Hermione prefers Harry, Ron would step aside no matter how much it hurt him because he wants both of his best friends to have happiness in their lives. Ginny managed to get over Harry relatively well the first time around - she can do it again.

I've never liked Harry's character myself. I consider him a Stu. He's speshul, narrow-minded, prejudiced in his own way, foolish, and stubborn. And I'm not sure he's as disappointed about his fame as he makes himself out to be. Frankly, I was glad when they revealed what I had suspected all along - Dumbledore planned every little detail so that Harry would survive and win during the earlier years.

Am I going to bash him if I choose to write a R/Hr fic? Hell no. I may hate him, but Ron and Hermione love him (platonic!) and Harry loves them. If anything, I'd concentrate less on writing Harry and make sure that I'm neutral about him in my writing whenever he show up.

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Now we can move into my fandoms.

I'll start off with Martin Mystery. The most popular pairing is Martin/Diana. I think there's only one Martin/Marvin, two or three Diana/Marvin, and a bunch of CC/OC.

The only character I've ever seen bashed in this fandom is Marvin. Marvin is a somewhat stu-ed version of Martin. Marvin's looks, clothes, and interests mirror Martin's. The difference is that Marvin is cooler. He's popular at school. He's smart. He's more athletic. He's had his own comics published professionally. He travels frequently. Girls drool over him. Guys wanna be him. He's perfect. The only person who doesn't like him is Martin. Diana, on the other hand, is crazy about him.

They use this scenario to have Marvin become Diana's abusive boyfriend and then Martin rescues Diana and it's twu wub. First of all, Marvin has never displayed a romantic interest in Diana, or any girl for that matter. Second of all, he starts off being nice to everyone, including Martin. After about 10 fics are written bashing him, we see an episode where Marvin becomes less stellar. The first time, he messes up a mission. The second time, he's an asshole because he's stuck in the Arctic thanks to Martin and he hates the cold. The third time, he acts slightly insane because he's possessed. It turns out that Marvin's not so perfect after all, but he's nowhere near evil. The incidences of Marvin-bashing had died down at that point, but made a re-appearance for the sake of the pairing. This despite the fact that Diana's crush had died in the third episode featuring Marvin.

I just don't get it. They don't interact with Marvin often enough for Marvin to have much of an impact on their lives. If Marvin tried to attack Diana, Diana would kick his ass. She's smart, level-headed, and beats up Martin on a daily basis. That, and she's a paranormal investigator and a field agent to boot. Give her some credit.

The most ironic part is that if Martin and Diana got together, he'd be one of the only humans who'd have an open mind about it and give it a chance, because of his exotic travel background. The only other ones who'd accept it are their two friends, one a caveman, the other an alien. Their boss would find that it hinders their work and the rest of the world would be disturbed because they're step-siblings.

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Everyone's remotely familiar with the Brady Bunch, right? Everyone in that fandom gets bashed at one point or another for the sake of parody, so sorting out the worst of it is a true chore.

Marcia. Marcia. Marcia. (and that's the correct spelling folks!) I admit that I hate her too, but I keep it out of my fics and that's not easy considering that I have to work with her a lot. She's often turned into this stuck-up bitch who's either a prude or a slut. Pick one because either one will work to her character's disadvantage. She choses to deliberately humiliate Jan, lead Greg on, make things worse for Alice, and rub her perfection in everyone's face. In canon, I admit that she does need to tone her pride down a bit and she does need to think before she speaks. Still, she's never been deliberately evil, and she does care about Jan. Bash her in parodies all you like, but keep it out of the other genres unless it serves the plot well.

Jan gets bashed a lot too. She's ugly, whiny, insecure, doesn't fit in, and doesn't try to change the situation for herself. She's easy to pick on. She's one of my favorite characters, but sometimes I get fed up with her too (especially when she chose to alienate all of her siblings). But you have to look at the other side of her as well. She had to compete with Marcia constantly. She had to put up with freckles, braces, glasses, clumsiness, lack of talent, lack of friends, lack of perkiness, and lack of hope. You needed her to offset the rest of the family. Eventually, she grew into her own person, and you have to admit that every time she discovered just the tiniest bit about herself, she became a lot more pleasant because she was comfortable for a change. Not to mention that she ended up being hotter than Marcia.

Carol. She's often portrayed as a lazy ass who heaps all the work on Alice, doesn't care when it becomes too much for Alice, pays no attention to her kids, and does nothing but her hair and nails. Carol does need a few lessons when it comes to giving equal attention to the girls (she tends to neglect Jan and Cindy and she favors Greg over Marcia often). She could stand to do more around the house and get a job. (I think she published an article one time and that's it). But she's not a lazy ass who cares only for her looks. She's donned jeans and sweatpants several times, she's not afraid to get muck on herself, she helps with the cooking and cleaning, she organizes the kids, and she tries to be a good mom. It's not that easy when you have 6 kids. Cut her some slack. I don't think I'd be as forgiving about the paid job thing, but it was the 1970's, so I'll let her off the hook for that one.

And finally, Alice. I think the funniest thing about Alice-bashing is that the people who do it are her biggest fans and it's all done in an attempt to sympathize with her. People who don't like her do bash her, but it's mild. Those who don't like her portray her as a lazy old woman who doesn't do much and is there for the free room and board. Even then, they devote about a paragraph to that and leave her alone in the rest of the fic. The fan-bashers turn her into a psychopath who gets fed up with the Bradys and kills them off one by one in the most gruesome manner possible because they're all ungrateful brats who make her work too hard and don't pay her enough to put up with their shit.

OK. They can be ungrateful brats. She does get fed up with them. The first time someone made a parody of Alice the homicidal maid, it was hilarious. The second time, it was just annoying. Get some new ideas. If you want to write a fic portraying how much you love Alice and how bratty the Bradys are, stick with canon and have her walk out on them. It's simple.

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I read a lot of Life with Derek fics. Not here at AFF - the quality stinks. The majority of the fans are Derek/Casey shippers. There's a smattering of Derek/Sam shippers. There's maybe one or two Sam/Casey, Derek/Emily, and Sam/Emily shippers.

Let me clarify on the characters. Derek and Casey are two teenagers who have become stepsiblings recently. They're both the oldest, they're the same age, and they're complete opposites who constantly argue and get on each other's nerves. Despite all that, there is a definite tension and chemistry in the air, and you can tell that they do care for each other when push comes to shove. Sam is Derek's best friend, and he ends up dating Casey (to Derek's severe disapproval). Emily is the next-door neighbor who has a huge crush on Derek, and happens to be Casey's best friend.

Thanks to their on-screen chemistry, the majority of the fans end up being Derek/Casey shippers. One popular method of getting them together is by bashing Sam. Sam happens to be quiet, sweet, and easy going. The most common method is turning him into an evil rapist. If not that, an abusive boyfriend. Turning him into merely a cheater is doing him a kindness. It's completely OOC for him. He tended to let Casey make the decisions and do the talking, and he later agreed to a mutual breakup and managed to remain friends with her. I get that he's a boring character and that he's in the way of our ship, but what the hell did he do to deserve this kind of attack? On top of bashing Sam, they make Emily ultra-jealous and have her attack Casey, either physically or through the rumor mill. Derek's popular so it wouldn't hurt him too much. Casey, on the other hand, is a nerd.

If the pairing is Derek/Sam, Casey-bashing can be found. Mercifully, it's not automatically found in every fic and even then only one of them was truly cruel to her. In the cruelest one, they turn her into a homophobic shrieking feminazi. Casey was a feminazi in one episode, but that's the main episode where Sam fell for her and she got over her nazi phase by the end of the episode. She is a drama queen, but a harpy she is not. She's also the type who stands up for equal rights constantly, so being homophobic doesn't fit. On the other end of the spectrum, she blames herself, turns emo, and becomes a stalker/voyeur. Casey's level-headed and strong-willed. I don't think so. Frankly, I can easily imagine both Derek and Sam being gay. Sam has full lips, curly blond hair, and blue eyes. Combine that with his personality and we have an effeminate man. Derek's character is not effeminate in the least, but the actor who plays him is. Derek also tends to have a new girlfriend each week, which can be an early sign of homosexuality. Still, if they turned out gay for each other, Casey would be upset then get over it.

Now for the third pairing where character bashing is often present: Sam/Emily. For some oddball reason, they have the two pair up by breaking up Sam/Casey and Derek/Emily first. Apparently, Derek and Casey were having an affair the whole time - with each other! So of course, the only reason Sam and Emily wound up together was for initial revenge, then discussing the moral repugnance of their exes, then finally just being happy together. Part of the revenge and repugnance is announcing the affair to the whole world, only to find out that the whole world approves, at which point both Derek and Casey start acting like true sluts and Sam and Emily end up hated by all. Voilà! Everybody has been bashed!

[Elvy]

How often have you gotten the "You're a good writer, but write this pairing instead please!" review? And that's being polite! People have gotten into three page diatribes on how much a story sucks all because it didn't pair off Sirius and Remus, or, because it did, which is worse. If the story is not properly marked, that's one thing, if it is, that means you went in knowing what it was about. What's the fucking point?

That is, by far, the most obnoxious thing ever! It's like the "This is a Shame" thread that gets reanimated every few months. Why, knowing this site caters to EVERY fetish imaginable, come and complain about something on the site you don't like content-wise? At the bottom of the site it says if you don't agree with ANY CONTENT on the site, leave. Do we need to start putting that disclaimer in all our stories as well?

First off, the Harry Potter slash fans scare the piss out of me sometimes. Fandom Wank's been reeling with some hilarious wankery since DH is done and over with. I'll leave my diatribe at the door on that whole ordeal. I like the HP series, and I appreciate fic-writers for that fandom.

I think I've only gotten one statement that was more like "Could you please do a ___ x ___?" so I don't take personal offense to those suggestions (of course, I won't oblige to them either). As far as the ruder methods of declaring their personal desire to slave-whip you into writing something that obliges to their OTP...I would just ignore it. Sure I'd get flustered about it, but ultimately it wouldn't help getting all upset over it. If the review is completely rude with no constructive commentary back then just delete it.

Currently a lot of the HP OTP/OT3 fans that rank in the level of "Downright Psychotic" shouldn't be worth your time or frustration. They need to seek counselling (or a reality check) if they're getting insanely upset from Internet fics (and the real book for that matter as well).

[midnightphoenix]

I know what you mean about the stories. A lot of times, they have the characters so OOC, that it's painful to even try and read the story, even though the plot may have sounded decent. You know how the canon works, and all of a sudden, you're being exposed to this WTF?! scenario.

[DodgeSuperBee]

There's no need to torture or kill any characters who stand in the way of your OTwhatever. Those loopholes do exist in many cases and with enough thought, you can probably think of a reason to split up the pairing you didn't like in the first place to get your characters together. Would the canon couple split up under pressure from society or other characters? Would one's personality leave him or her likely to cheat on the other? Would their very different personalities eventually drive them apart?

I'm quite grateful I've never found fanfics that involve bashing of either half of the main canon couple in my fandom. It's really not necessary since there are canon loopholes to split them up, should a writer choose to exploit them.

In Cars, if you don't like McQueen/Sally, there are ways to realistically split them up. There have been several fanfics where Lightning cheats on her and I've written that scenario myself. After all, this is a character who is young, attractive and used to unlimited attention from squeeing Miata fangirls, so he may not yet understand the dynamics of a committed relationship. There's also the possibility that he only fell for her and she for him because it was expected of them. She was the only young, single female in town for years until he arrived and everyone thought they'd wind up together. Maybe after some time they realized they didn't have as much in common as they thought. She could even have second thoughts about choosing him over one of the guys from town she knows much better. It's possible to break them up, thus freeing him up for a nice slashy relationship with Chick, Mater, King, whatever floats your boat.

[shinigamiinochi]

In livejournal fandoms: I'm part of a Supernatural fandom and everyone seems to hate Jo for loving Dean, and every time that I poke my head up and say that I really like her character, I get yelled at! I was also accused of being guilty of bashing Relena from Gundam Wing just because I didn't want to pair her up with heero. No, I bash her because of the ideals and actions she preaches in the series. i am also sick of all of the 'please write 2x1 in this fic' when I've said hundreds of times that I won't do it.

[Juno]

This post is more or less directed to EveKnight, and their talk of Martin Mystery.

I would just like to point out that the show is an UNOFFICIAL rip-off of the superb webcomic Zap! Now, nothing has ever been proven and everything is just speculation, but the webcomic was up a few years before the show came out, and the similarities between characters are uncanny.

I'm not attacking you or your liking of the show--I'm just letting you know an opinion of mine. If you want to call me a crazy quack, by all means, go for it! I just get a little passionate about seemingly unethical things like that.

Anyways, enough of being off-topic!

I think character-bashing is a little ridiculous, but I suppose the stories are called "fanfictions" for a reason. The fan can create whatever fiction they like because it's their story, not the real thing.

When I was into the Inuyasha fandom, I actually started my interest with fanfictions. I had only seen one episode, and wasn't able to see the show very often, so I gathered most of my information about the characters from fanfictions. In as such, I remember, very distinctly, a LOT of Kikyo bashing, or at least making her character a complete witch. However, since I didn't know much about the fandom, I went with it. It wasn't until later that I learned her character was completely different than what most girls were portraying her.

As for the Harry Potter fandom... I've lost interest. In the series itself, and the fanfictions. I stopped liking the HP books after the fourth one--the fifth one is the absolute worst, in my opinion. I just felt like all of the characters were very dry, and Harry became whiny. I no longer felt any connection with the characters, but I finished the series just to finish it. I personally don't like the Harry/Ginny pairing, but in my eyes, I don't really see Harry with anyone. I believe Harry should have died at the end because he was christ-like figure in the series--a symbol of hope and rebirth to everyone in that world, which meant he was a figure sort of... "unfit" for the physical world. Of course, that's my own interpretation of the series, so I could be completely wrong.

My point being: I think character-bashing is a little childish, but that's why they are called "fan fictions" after all.

[PretentiousArtWhore]

I think the whole fanwanky situation is utter bullshit. I get so sick of character bashing and just general whinging by stupid little teenage fangirls/boys ( mostly the yaoi fanatics and self-inserter's) who don't know shit from shit and can't write the characters they worship worth a damn (usually they are WAY OOC as if they are writing them as Mary Sue's/Marty Stu's) and expect the whole world to share their 'ship obsessions as if were canonical, never mind what the original authors intended. It's one of the main reasons I avoid popular movie and anime fic like the proverbial plague.

[Harley Quinn hyenaholic]

Whenever I see a loophole, baby I just have to use it.

Lately on FF.crap, there's been an awful lot of Barricade/Bumblebee. I really CANNOT stand it baby, when these things turn giant robots into humans - with bolts of lightning (geez that takes me back about 9 years) or just holograms. If you can't deal with them as robots what the hell are you doing turning them into humans?

Anyway, I got to thinking "There's all this Barricade/Bumblebee, and it could have something to do with them being about the same size, but all the same, WHY would they shack up? Barricade wouldn't TRANSFORM into a NICE PERSON just because he's banging an Autobot. Nothing in the WORLD is going to prevent him from being an almighty Decepticon prat.

On the other hand, if he doesn't have much CHOICE, something might end up happening. That's what happens with these Impossible Relationships. They're pretty much forced.

[shinigamiinochi]

Whenever I see a loophole, baby I just have to use it.

Lately on FF.crap, there's been an awful lot of Barricade/Bumblebee. I really CANNOT stand it baby, when these things turn giant robots into humans - with bolts of lightning (geez that takes me back about 9 years) or just holograms. If you can't deal with them as robots what the hell are you doing turning them into humans?

That's right up there with something that happens in the yaoi community that drives me insane. An author will turn one of the boys into a chick and make them have sex. This makes me feel like the author is grossed out by two guys doing it and has to make it het in order to have the pairing. They're guys, leave them alone!

[DodgeSuperBee]

I dislike the humanizing trend too. There's so much creativity and perversion that can come from keeping the characters their non-human selves, be they robots or vehicles or whatever, that making them humans takes most of the fun out of it.

I haven't seen any gender-switching in my fandom but I can see why that would be pointless too. In the scenario shinimagiinochi described, the story would probably work better with a well-crafted female OC rather than a male-turned-female character if the author wanted to write het. The OC could even have some of the discarded male character's best characteristics as long as she didn't turn into no more than a female version of him.

[hanyou-elf]

unfortunately, i write in the naruto fandom the most at the moment, and that's also where i happen to do most of my reading, and the fangirls and boys in that fandom are insanely obsessive over their otp's. i don't know what it is about the series that makes fans so obsessive, why they can't open their minds to reading new things, but they are insane.

if you don't write something that somebody else wants, you're going to get flamed. a while ago, the ff vii fangirls and boys were so particular, they wouldn't give any author a break. if they didn't like something, the author was run out of town. in naruto, the reviewers are working on doing that as well, for the things that they don't like.

it's crazy. there's no need for a person who reviews to become a basher. there's no need for an author to become a basher either. there's no need for bashing in a story. there are blogs everywhere that you can use to express your opinion, that you can use to make your hatred of a character known and share it with other bashers.

but, no matter what, there's never really a call to bash in a fanfiction. ever. yes, you're writing fanfiction, but you're also sharing with the world at large what you perceive to be a talent you could possibly pursue. by bashing in a story, you invite bashing in a review. it's an endless cycle. and it's really stupid sometimes.

and if somebody chooses to read a story that's been tagged as a certain pairing, and they review with a bashing and a flame just because of the pairing, that person is called a troll, should be reported, and would be deleted for it. bashing is a childish, immature way of trying to attract attention. it's disgusting to see people who think they are a good author simply because they can incite enough otp's to rally behind them. a good author should be able to mold their least favorite character into their story without bashing them needlessly.

but, that's my opinion, if it counts for much.

[shinigamiinochi]

fortunately, the yaoi gundam wing fandom isn't too strict or obsessive with their OTPs. I mean, Heero and Duo are one of the most popular couples, but I have yet to see anyone get bashed for pairing Duo up with Wufei or even Trowa. I think bashing someone for trying something new is childish and is like any other warning for fanfiction, if you see a fic that is marked with something you might not like, just don't read it, it's not that hard, that's why we have back buttons!

[SkyaraSnow]

I have to agree with everything that's been said in here so far. It seems like in a lot of fandoms, if you don't write what people want to see, you get flamed. It's really crazy.

My personal perfered fandom is Yu Yu Hakusho. We have a love/hate relationship. I love the show, but sometimes, I absolutely cannot stand reading it. There's too much Yaoi, and god forbid you try to write Het between Kurama and a truly original OC. That's grounds for flames stating that Kurama belongs with Hiei and no one else, or bashing on your "Mary-Sue" character. I actually stopped writing for a while because I couldn't handle what was going on in the fandom.

[bitBlackmage]

Ah just keep writing what you love. If the fan brats bite, they'll soon bite off enough to choke themselves (by which I mean them stalking/harrassment/other that will lead to getting themselves bannated).