#ANYWAY...... hrgh... still trying to write when I can....

[icewindandboringhorror]

Recent game related things .. hrmm...

[incomingalbatross]

I chose to half-watch 1.04 Emancipation, write up notes, and post them all at once, this time. Partly because I am Not Really Invested in this ep and didn’t think I’d have as much to say... But there are early team dynamics!

Daniel starts to introduce Jack but stops dead as he visibly realizes he doesn't know whether he should use his name or his title. I like that.

Kssh, Daniel is still referring to Sam as "Doctor Carter." He also addresses her as “Doctor” later... I’m going to be pondering Daniel and Names at some point, I think.

Daniel called Jack "COLONEL" in direct address  in a Tense Situation that's SO WEIRD, BUDDY. THAT’S WEIRD. It’s not like he DOESN’T call him Jack normally... but I think he’s Deferring To His Authority here?? Again, WEIRD to hear on multiple levels.

Ooh, no, not the Scary Culture That Thinks Women Can't Exist Outside The House!! Mongolians deserve better.

Jack's so pleased with himself for having a Gun.

Today in "Daniel does NOT know everything": him nerding out about this tribe showing "a way of life that's been extinct for 900 years" when there are still nomadic Mongolian peoples out there TODAY who've retained a lot of traditional continuity. Buddyyyy. I know it’s the writers who didn’t know this, but I’m still holding you partly responsible here.

…Not sure where I stand on the "Sam dressing like the other women" thing. On the one hand obviously it IS a good idea to not give offense to your new diplomatic/trading contacts, and there's nothing morally WRONG in adhering to their standards of dress. On the other hand, it's sending the message that the Tau'ri agree with this tribe's view of women, and do we want to compromise ourselves like that?

Anyway. They dressed Sam up to the NINES. I refuse to believe that's normal attire for the tribe.

I DO like the guys being apparently Stunned Into Silence By Her Makeover because A) they’re not going to actually change the dynamic because of it and B) it means they’re arguably more off-balance than Sam, who’s really just grumpy about the whole thing.

I would like Jack and Daniel's teasing better (mild though it is) if this were a later episode, though, where they had stronger team camaraderie. Here it comes off as potentially more rude because I don't know that they're FRIENDS as opposed to colleagues. In a later season it would be absolutely fine.

SIDE NOTE. The team: *talking about this tribe and how they treat women while, themselves, ignoring the OTHER NATIVE WOMAN IN THE TENT as if she's furniture* ???????? Guys???? SAM????

Aw, Jack hangs back to make sure Carter IS okay. And to clarify that her "looking great" wasn't just teasing, it was genuine. Good CO. (This is not a ship comment, it is a “Jack making sure his team’s okay” comment.)

DANIEL, stop arguing and GO FIND SAM. (Or "Captain Doctor Carter.")

Jack is in "MY OFFICER is ABDUCTED" mode and I like that, among other things, he's insisting on respect for her a lot more now. No one gets to even unintentionally or indirectly insult her if she’s actually vulnerable somewhere.

Annnd the "Sam is a magnet for questionable aliens" trend begins, sadly. I mean, she IS lovely, obviously, but why is it a given that this guy will think so? (Especially when he hasn't seen her SMILE.)

Hrgh. This isn't a Space Whale Aesop but it isn't much of a NORMAL Aesop either. What's the message? "Women aren't property?" GROUNDBREAKING.

Aw, Daniel. Dropping the cultural relativity when put on the spot AND trying to sneakily promote other, better Mongolian traditions re: women. ("We don't own our women." "Truly?" "YES. --Um… and we heard…stories, about the Shavadai women, that once they were free. Some might even have been warriors, that fought alongside their men.") THERE'S my guy.

Okay, I can get behind their culture being negatively affected by trying to survive and protect their people from the Goa'uld. Even things that had a reason can get twisted into abuses very very easily, and surviving the Goa'uld SHOULD leave marks on these cultures!

…Not sure I buy this particular justification was ever fully honest, but that's a different point.

Daniel, finding Common Ground with the relatively-decent chief: "Wait, you love your wife? :D I love MY wife! We're friends now" (he didn’t SAY that but I can tell he was THINKING it. Buddy)

Sam can't cook or spin or weave (though I bet she’d like some fiber crafts, they have math!!), but she CAN ride a horse! Nice.

Oh, sure, Evil Chieftain, just rip someone's clothing when you're going to beat them. Clothing is VALUABLE and that's one of your tribe that will have to keep wearing it later, are you cruel AND wasteful??

Oh boy, Sam's first sexual assault!! *glares* It was ""only"" a forced kiss, but it was still unnecessary.

TEAL'C is the first one to say "If we wait until morning to rescue her, what will happen to Captain Carter tonight?" Given this is Teal'c still at his most stoic-and-silent stage, I'm proud he was so quick to speak up here.

Raising my eyebrow at the fact that Sam called herself a "scholar" and Daniel described her as a "shaman"... Again, I think, we see the difference between Sam's desire to just express HERSELF and Daniel's desire to meet strangers where they're at. As general approaches, they both have their points. (Of course, since you don't KNOW where a stranger's at, you risk making a fool of yourself by talking down. I think Daniel's word choice here is unnecessarily… exoticized? And his assumption that they believe in "spirits" could have gotten him lauged at in a different ep. But whatever.)

Negotiations: *go poorly* Jack: time to bring out my Gun again. (He’s fired his handgun for effect THREE TIMES this ep and he’s Smug about it. Can’t blame him, though.)

Wait, they're saying they've had other missions offscreen? Interesting? I’m not sure I can reconcile that in my head, but... it’s superior, I think, to shows that insist for no reason that NOTHING worth seeing has EVER happened to the characters offscreen, eliminating time jumps completely.

...Idk, I think literally calling romantic love "the madness" is a little… on the nose. A little YA Dystopia Worldbuilding. Yanno??

We see a little more Daniel Mediation. Good stuff. I appreciate it. Didn’t get a chance for that in the Children or Enemy. 

Pfft, Sam challenges the guy to a fight and we get the Moving Stargate Theme.

Sam, internally: I get to fight I get to fight I get to FIGHT THIS GUY HECK YEAH LET'S GO

A) of course it's a fight to the death, Jack, did you think these people were likely to go with anything less?? B) ASK THE RULES FIRST. YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS. HAVE YOU EVER WATCHED STAR TREK OR NOT.

Except apparently it’s NOT, really, because Sam’s not urged or expected to kill her opponent once SHE’S defeated HIM. Hmph. Some hyperbole there.

Yay, we brought about lasting cultural change in an apparently-stable system in just a few days! How lucky we just HAPPENED to meet up with a local leader who already secretly really wanted those same changes! This isn't contrived!

...Anyway. Worldbuilding was heavy-handed, Sam could have been a Strong Female Character a lot more easily if she’d just been allowed to, you know, be herself and do her job without all this fuss (which the show largely lets her do after this, so great!), and I’m not terribly pleased with Daniel here even if he got his head on straight when it mattered. Also Teal’c wasn’t nearly enough of a presence, but. Again. Early days for him, he’d mostly rather just loom.

(Oh! And this is the source of Teal’c’s classic line, “What is an ‘Oprah’?” So I can’t complain too much.)

Sam worked through the plot okay, though, and escaped feeling like a mouthpiece or like somebody’s idea of someone else’s mouthpiece. It felt like she was just genuinely trying to do her job and responded to these stupid situation like a human being—even better, she didn’t feel like any human being other than Sam to me, even though this is Early Days. Also, the costumes were pretty, and we established that the SGC is establishing trade relations with extraterrestrial cultures! Which is good worldbuilding I’m happy to have.

In conclusion: not great, not horrible. Kinda just there.

Next ep is Caveman Time! Also not quite top-tier Stargate, but I’m looking forward to some elements of it a lot more, and it is good old-fashioned corny sci-fi.

[sergeantsporks]

Ohoho, thanks very much! Okay, kiddos, let’s play a fun game called “how little of a social life does sporks have!”

How many works on Ao3 do you have?

Gonna take my old Ao3 with all of my vld fics out of the equation, on the one I’m using as of now, I have 37 fics

What’s your total Ao3 word count?

Alright, let’s get out the calculator.

269,038

...

...

Christ. I want you guys to shove this number in my face if I ever mope about how many words writing a novel is

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Voltron, Tales of Arcadia, The Owl House, my main ones. I dabbled (very badly) in Fullmetal Alchemist, Avatar the Last Airbender, and Avengers at some point, which takes us to 6 fandoms

What are your top five fics by kudos?

Do You Want the Knife You Left in My Back, or Can I Keep It?

Another Shot at Life

Whatever It Takes

How Long Has It Been

Adoption Papers

Sorry, Tales of Arcadia fandom, the owl house fandom has you beat in sheer numbers, I’m afraid.

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I... try. I feel pretentious saying “you’re welcome” when someone says “thanks for writing this” and saying “thanks” feels impersonal when someone keyboard smashed for me (because not responding is so much more personal, I know). I DO respond if a question is asked, or if something funny is said because that’s easy. Short answer: I’m too awkward to respond like a normal person

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Nowhere Else to Go, for sure, killed off a literal child and then didn’t even give his grieving mother figure proper closure, just left her with her grief, have fun with that.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Christmas Spirit, for sure, that fic was nothing but fluff

Do you write crossovers? If yes, what’s the craziest thing you’ve written?

Not in general, no, but I DID do a voltron and avatar crossover, never finished it, though.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Nah, not that I remember anyway.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

AbsoLUTELY not. Blech. (not to hate on anyone who does, you do you, I just do not like.)

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of, nope. I think I’d be flattered more than anything else.

I’d still murder anyone who tried, though.

Have you ever co-written a fic?

Nope. I don’t really play well with others, not that I’m totally unwilling, but no one’s ever asked, and it’s not something I’ve ever really sought out. I’ve helped people edit/beta read before, though

What’s your favorite all time ship?

*leans into mic* none of them

Uhhhhhhh I’m not a big shipper, so, kinda hard to say.

I was pretty big into Zutara for a while I guess.

What’s a WIP you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

*grumbles*

Shattered. Freaking. Timelines. Good Lord. Could someone invent a thought-to-word machine?

What’s your writing strength?

a n g s t

I also think I’m pretty darn good at dialogue :)

What’s your writing weakness?

Setting. Who CARES what the trees look like, they’re in a forest, done. I need to work on it.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in fic?

I think it can work. I know I’ve done it for Voltron with Lance, and I’ve done it for Camila and Luz in Owl House fics. It can flow well, I don’t do a lot of it, mostly because I don’t SPEAK many other languages. I do know just a BIT of Spanish bc I hear it a lot, and that’s what I usually use. I think your readers should be able to follow the story whether they speak multiple languages or not, but also, different languages can spice things up!

What’s the first fandom you’ve written for?

Voltron

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Hrgh. For this particular ao3? Probably Can’t Make Me, but probably my favorite of all time was Blood and Genetics, a Voltron fic that I think was probably one of the best things I ever wrote.

No pressure, @honeyxmonkey​ @prismarts​ @gatelightingirlboss​ and anyone else

20 Questions: Writer’s Edition

I wasn’t really tagged for this, but I was tagged in this by @gabriel-agreste-has-no-rights and I thought it looked fun!

I’m sorry nothing is linked on here, I’m doing this on mobile and Struggling ™. My AO3 name is SunYiJie if you want to check me out!

How many works do you have on AO3?

20! And honestly even that number is a surprise. I feel like I never write ;;

What’s your total AO3 word count?

50,118 (25,000 of those comes from a fic where I only wrote a couple chapters)

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

9 ish? Detective Conan/Magic Kaito, Young Justice, Sanders Sides, Miraculous Ladybug, Megamind, Luca, Kingdom Hearts, How to Train Your Dragon, Danny Phantom, and a couple miscellaneous fics based off Bullet in the Brain and other short stories.

What are your top five fics by kudos?

Stuffed Pigs aren’t Good Therapy

Crying Akuma in Times of Crisis

The Element of Surprise

Encounters

Unexpected Phone Call

(The first three are MLB which is very active, and the second two are Detective Conan which very not)

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Absolutely, though sometimes it takes me a bit. Someone wrote two beautiful comments on my Luca fics and i haven’t been able to respond to them yet bc they’re so unbelievably nice. Also whenever I get responses to my comments on other fics I get this huge rush so I try to give that to other people too.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Probably Lights Go Out, considering everything, but I have several fics basically written to ponder on/result in death so (How to be an Inanimate Object, Cake in the Road, You Had a Feeling It Would End Today, From Below) all make that list too.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Maybe The Men at the Table? Or Villian Capri-tiaSUN? Encounters? I don’t tend to really write many multi-chartered fics, and most of mine aren’t really happy, but these make me some of the happiest to read?

Send me away? Is Hurt/Comfort so it probably fits both of those categories

Do you write crossovers? If yes, what’s the craziest thing you’ve written?

Yes! Though most of mine never make it out of my WIP idea docs. Villian Capri-tiaSUN is a Megamind/Kingdom Hearts fic and I love it.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not unless you count the, ‘are you ever gonna finish this?’ comments. Which are, rough

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Nope

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Don’t think so

Have you ever co-written a fic?

Yep, several. Phandom Phight Club 2020 and Villain Capri-tiaSUN were with @taliaxlatia .We have another crack fic crossover planned but idk when that will happen

Stuffed Pigs aren’t Good Therapy was with @tharkflark1 and we sometimes come up with other head canons and fic ideas together too

I’m actually working with @summershantees on a Sanders Sides fic right now, though I’ve had to take a break from it for school-related reasons. I’m excited for it!

What’s your all time favorite ship?

Do Not ask me this. Let’s just go with it’s a lot and leave it there. I’ve been getting really into The Untamed rn so maybe Wei Wuxian/Lan WangJi atm

What’s a WIP you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Ugh so many. Right now? Probably Stabbed Through the Heart (or Side as the Case May Be)

Love the concept I’m just lacking in motivation

Check out the ‘my unwritten aus’ tag for some of my other WIP concept ideas

What’s your writing strengths?

Ideas ideas ideas. Believe me I am never lacking in new ideas and headcanons to write about. It’s a problem

What’s your writing weaknesses?

Finishing my WIPs. Or fleshing them out. I write and plan out so much but I have a hard time just sitting down and writing them out in story form

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in fic?

Not a huge fan? I get it if it’s a meaning-laden nickname (like ‘aibou’) but it can be distracting, and if the reader happens to understand the language you write in, they get like, secret information and I feel bad leaving people out.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Young Justice, I actually started my first fanfiction in a magazine publishing/creative writing class back in like 9th? grade

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I think either The Men at the Table or Lights go out, which are Sanders Sides and Miraculous Ladybug, respectively,

Tagging (if you want to!):

I’ve already tagged a couple people above, but how about @starr-fall-knight-rise and @dragonfairy1231 too! And anyone else who wants to!

Also boosting my AO3/trope and fanfiction-related blog @recs-and-tropes , come say hi!