#would have linked it but tumblr is hating the link. just look up “A Steampunk Carol”

[shinyzango]

Man I'm discovering all things now…

now I discovered there was a kickstarter for a steampunk adaptation of the nutcracker story, and it's been long fulfilled, and I'm not seeing any info about them selling it outside the kickstarter.

ueh…

[gumnut-logic]

Fanfiction 21 Q&A Tag Game

Many thanks to @cg29  and @onereyofstarlight for the tags ::hugs::

1. What fandoms have you written for?

According to FF.net: Stargate SG-1, Knight Rider, Farscape, Stargate Atlantis, Supernatural, Star Trek: The Original Series, Angel and Thunderbirds.

2. How many works do you have on Ao3 &/or FFNet?

Ao3: 214 (210 Thunderbirds)

FF.net: 235­­­­­ (178 Thunderbirds)

3. What are your top 3 fics by kudos on A03 &/or favs on FFNet?

Ao3 Kudos:

Gumnut’s Thunderbirds Ficlet Collection (161)

Who do You Save, John? (107)

Dirt (106)

FFNet Favs:

The Asgard Sequence (SG-1) (150) – this fic is 17 years old

Spectator (ST:TOS) (73)

The Empty Chessboard (ST:TOS) (50)

Highest Thunderbirds fic is A Good Day (36)

4.  Which 3 fics have the least kudos & favs?

Ao3:

Tactics (4)

To Raise Havoc (5)

Gumnut’s were!Virgil AU ficlets (6)

FFNet:

Gumnut’s Angel Ficlet collection (0)

Gumnut’s Supernatural Ficlet Collection (0)

Stars (SG-1) (0)

Lowest Thunderbirds fic is Gumnut’s wereVirgil AU ficlets (1)

5. Which Fic has the most comments and which has the least?

This stat will always be skewed by the multi-chapter fics and wonderful peeps comment on each of the chapters.

Ao3 Comment Threads:

Gumnut’s Thunderbirds Ficlet Collection (164) followed by We’ll Be Home For Christmas (79) both of which have more comments than kudos, apparently.

12 fics have 0 comments

FFNet:

The Asgard Sequence (SG-1)(133) followed by Tales of Warm Rain (105)

11 fics have 1 review, 0 have none (wow).

6. Which complete fic do you wish had gotten more attention?

I am grateful for any and all kind interaction with my fics. One thing I did eye was the difference between Callisto and Where There Be Dragons. Callisto is an experiment on my part and has received some amazing support from Thunderfam. However, I feel my writing hasn’t been as inspired (or crazy) or posted fast enough to garner and keep attention. The Steampunk AU grabbed much more attention, had zero planning, was written fast and on the fly and grabbed almost the same amount of attention. The Promotions Coordinator in me is curious about these things :D

7. Have you written any crossovers?

Only one. I wanted to put Virgil behind the wheel of Kitt from Knight Rider. Eos and Kitt were having very interesting interactions as well :D  I really Need Saving

8. What is the craziest fic you’ve written?

Um…there have been a few. From Tracy brothers dancing to Tom Jones, the time a drunk Scott and Virgil tried to save a cat from a tree, hospitalising Virgil because of Grandma’s chilli, and the time I jammed Thunderbird One in the pool, but my favourite has to be Prank War. It was so much fun. I’ve linked all the nutty fics together in a series on Ao3.

9. What’s the fic you’ve written with the saddest ending?

The saddest endings are all my WiPs! I don’t tend to do much in the way of sad endings. Sad fics, yes, endings, not so much. Having said that, I’m blaming @godsliltippy  for Leaf on the Wind.

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

I don’t have a clue, but I am partial to the end of Dirt. I got to flex Tracy money muscle…a lot :D

11. What is your smuttiest fic?

I experimented in this arena during my Virgil/Kayo writing spree with varying success. There is about five I think in total, including the novel length Gentle Rain (which can be read without it, wasn’t planned and just happened), but I think the most successful was To Hurt Us (aka Veggie’s Shower Fic).

12. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Very, very rarely. I did receive one review once that complained about how many unfinished fics I had – that more were unfinished than finished. This triggered me a bit as this is an ongoing problem of mine and I struggle to focus long enough to complete works. Having said that I have completed several, for me, long fics, my longest being 68,000 words. Also, as a result of that and my distressed post about it (yeah, triggered, what can I say?) I received some amazing support both on and off Tumblr. Thunderfam rocks!

13. What is the nicest comment you’ve received?

I am seriously spoilt by Thunderfam on a regular basis, there have been many comments that have lifted my spirits, inspired me and just made my day so much better. Again, Thunderfam rock!

14. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I’m jaded, so I wouldn’t be surprised. But one thing I actually like is when some random thing I threw into a fic pops up in fanon :D

15.  How many fics do you have marked as incomplete?

I’m not counting. I refuse :P

16. Which of the WIPS will most likely be finished first?

Not looking. I can’t hear you. Lalalalalalala!

17. Which WIP are you looking forward to finishing?

All of them. Yes, I am deluded. But to start is fun, to finish is ecstasy.

18. Is there a WIP that you’re considering abandoning?

Several. I don’t have as much time as I would like. My muse is fickle and I have to learn to let go, or face muse crippling stress.

19. Which complete fic would you consider rewriting?

None. I don’t rewrite. Don’t have the patience or motivation.

20. Which complete fic is your favourite?

We’ll Be Home For Christmas for multiple reasons, but I also love V.T. Green (and want to write sequels for both)

21. What’s your total published word count?

Ao3: 1,079,768

FF.net: 1,392,681

If someone is brand new to your writing, what work would you want them to start with to get to know you, your style, what you’re all about?

My two favourite fics, maybe? Though admittedly my writing can be rather variable and inconsistent. Anyone got any suggestions which of my fics demonstrates my style?

Other answers to this tag game (because the post is massively long):

cg29, burningcowboyhoagietaco, gaviiadastra, the-original-sineater, myladykayo, janetm74, m-calculus, onereyofstarlight, godsliltippy

Tagging: @tsarinatorment @scribbles97 @the-lady-razorsharp @vegetacide

[meggannn]

(based on your previous ask) do you mind if I ask how you feel about lok? is there a general consensus if it's good or bad? youre really insightful and just wanted to know if there were any major issues you had with it

yeah sure, i’ll do my best. if you want a quick answer to your question, here is a link to some of my other korra posts where i say pretty much the same thing as i do here, just in fewer words. cause this post will be mostly an unhappy summary of my experience watching the show. this post will contain spoilers, and disclaimer, i am a really biased, disappointed asshole, so i’ll just admit that now. 

short answer: i liked the concept of lok more than the product we got. a lot of that is because you had a physically buff brown wlw protagonist written mostly by cishet white men and, as you can imagine, it wasn’t handled great. when i think of lok now i tend to fluctuate between bittersweet nostalgia and quiet, simmering rage.

if you don’t care about the show summary, skip at the middle paragraph break down to my tldr.

so for those who don’t know, LOK was really my first “big” fandom on tumblr. when it was announced, a bunch of ATLA purists were already hating on it because 1) brown woman, 2) it was unrealistic to go from ATLA’s technology to streampunk in 70 years, and 3) it wasn’t ATLA, basically. it was my first big interest that i got to participate in as it was airing, and i was really excited about it. i defended it, i wrote meta, i liveblogged, i wrote tons of fic and spammed theories/wants before the damn show even had a release date. all that is to say, i was Invested, and i believed in it before i even saw it. people called me a bnf, i’m not sure if that’s true, but i did gain a lot my followers in my first few years on tumblr by posting korra stuff. a lot of them – hello – i think are still around today (i’m not certain how all the video games hasn’t scared them off yet)

i should say at this point that my opinion of LOK the show has been really wrapped up in the ugly stain left by the fanbase. korra the character has been the subject of tons of racist, misogynistic criticism since the moment we saw her back; when she showed up on screen as a proud young woman who fought with authority and stood up for herself, that was the nail in the coffin for her reputation. i agreed that she had a bit of growing up to do, because ATLA/LOK have always been stories about coming of age and maturing, but i disagreed strongly with this notion that she deserved to be “humbled,” which is what a lot of fans were looking for.

the overall consensus on if it’s “good” depends on who you ask. most people agree that ATLA is better overall: it was better plotted because it benefited from more writers in the room and more episodes to flesh out the world. opinions on LOK specifically range based a lot on their opinions of the K/orra/sami pairing, if they were involved in or what side they were on in any of the fandom wank, and also just complete random chance.

i’ll go more in depth into my ‘history’ with the show below, but i just wanted to mention that all the while the show was airing, korra was being hit with waves of criticism by so-called fans for basically being a confident brown woman who were calling for her to learn her place, respect her elders, etc. another common theme was fandom’s brilliant fucking idea that asami, a light-skinned feminine non-bending woman who was more polite and reserved than korra, would’ve made a better avatar. because you know why. (korra was often described as brutal, rough, unsophisticated, next to pretty, perfect asami. and asami is a fine character, to be clear, but that’s what she was – fine. nothing really stands out about her, which is a fault of the writing, because she had a lot of potential too.) so anyway all of this did sour my mood toward engaging with other fans outside my friend circle.

–

it was around maybe the middle of book 1 that i realized the writing for the show was simpler than what i was expecting – not that it was childish, which it was (because it was written for children, i understood that), but i felt like the plot meandered and the twists came out of nowhere. it felt like they were making it up as they were going, and it opened threads it didn’t answer. one of the biggest threads was the equalist revolution, which was a very sensitive topic that got jettisoned when the leader was revealed to be a fraud, and that devalued the entire movement in an instant. really disappointing, because i was looking forward to seeing that addressed. for a lot of people, this was a dealbreaker, and they started walking. i stuck with it, but loosely.

book 2 aired, focusing on the spiritual world and some really cool history. it still suffered a lot from awkward b-plots and loose threads it didn’t know how to tackle. korra lost her memory and then regained it 2 episodes later with no consequences, mako flip-flopped between korra and asami because bryke don’t know how to write teenage romances without making it a love triangle, and at some point bolin kissed a girl against her will and they didnt acknowledge that at all? i honestly don’t remember. anyway at the end of book 2, even though korra saves the day and prevents the world from descending into darkness for ten thousand years, due to events beyond her control, korra loses the spiritual connection that ties her to all of the previous avatars – aang, roku, kyoshi, wan, everyone. and people hit the fucking ceiling. “korra’s not a real avatar if she lost her connection to the old ones! that’s the entire point of the cycle! this show is bullshit, it’s not canon anymore!” (the entire point that finale demonstrated that korra’s power alone was enough to save the world and she didn’t need anyone else. but people found that ~unrealistic~ i guess). as you can imagine, being a fan of LOK is starting to get a little tiring by now.

books 3-4 is where the korra haters got to love the show again, because they were both straight-up torture porn. after everything she did saving the world, this is the arc where korra got beat down, tortured, dragged into the dirt, swallowed and spat back out. book 3 is a lot of people’s favorites because it was the first book that felt fully plotted out before it was put on air, which is why i enjoyed it too. but for me it was difficult to see a girl, whose identity revolved around being the avatar after being raised and sheltered to think it was all she was good for, effectively abandon her life and even her name by the beginning of book 4 because the events of book 3 were that traumatizing for her. somehow this was character development. we were encouraged to stick with it because we hoped korra would find herself again. and she did, sorta.

but it makes me furious that people who had quit in books 1-2 came back during 3 because they heard these books were better – aka book 3, the book that featured korra the least, and books 3-4 in which korra got her ass handed to her in some of the hardest fights vs some of the cruelest villains of the series. (nevermind that the book 3 villains suffer from the anime villain curse: they quickly went from “cool character design” to “wait, how does this rando group of villains show up with powers literally no one in the universe has ever heard before?” – questions no one ever answers)

anyway book 4 is a mish-mash of… i’m not sure. i’ve rewatched all the books but i don’t know if i’ll ever touch this one again. the culturally appropriating airbender wannabe, zaheer (a complete rando who somehow masters airbending enough to fly, which was a huge middle finger to airbending masters aang and tenzin for no reason) a guy who literally tortured korra one season before and put her in a wheelchair, is the one who the writers send korra to for her spiritual awakening that lets her save the day. not tenzin or jinora, her spiritual teachers with whom she has positive, healthy relationships – they send her back to her abuser who terrifies and degrades her a bit more before deciding to help. this was a pattern: the writers made both korra and asami face their abusers (in asami’s case, her father) for catharsis instead of gaining peace over their trauma another, healthier way because…. i’m not sure why. there is no reason why. and then there’s the guilt tripping nonsense of asami feeling as if she had to forgive her father, who tried to kill her, because he said he was sorry and sacrificed himself for her in the finale. it’s angst galore, if you like that kind of thing, which i normally do, except this is less angst and more just the writers trying to hammer in torture porn, grimdark, and poor attempts at morally gray nonsense into their finale season.

anyway at the end of her journey, korra, our buff brown woc, learns that she had to suffer to learn how to be compassionate and relate to her enemy. i’m not exaggerating, she literally says that. which is lovely.

–

tldr: i wasted a lot of emotional time and energy into this show and was extremely disappointed when some of the ending’s notes were “you had to suffer to become a better person” and “forgive your abusers/villains because aren’t we all the same in the end?”

but also on a strictly narrative level, LOK also bit off way more than it could chew both emotionally and thematically. it had an amazing premise, but it was not committed to

utilizing the steampunk genre to its best potential in the bending world (after the creativity in the rest of the worldbuilding, the LOK series finale was literally fighting a giant robot – seriously?)

giving its hero the respect and character arc she deserved. and i don’t say that because i think korra had no growing up to do in b1, she did, but she didn’t deserve for it to happen like that.

so basically i realized that a lot of the writers that made ATLA great weren’t brought back for LOK, and it showed. i realized that the LOK writers, when they listened to fans, were listening to the fans that whined the loudest, or (more likely, since they plan seasons years before we see them) they thought from the beginning that it was a good idea for korra to go through years’ worth of pain just to be spat out a humbler, “better” person

the reason i told you all that about me defending LOK in the beginning is because i need you to understand that i believed in LOK longer than i probably should’ve. i wanted it to be everything i was expecting in a diverse children’s show with an unorthodox female protaganist. but just because they had a brown wlw heroine doesn’t mean that they deserved to be praised for it when they treated her like garbage.

and korra and asami walk into a beam of light together in the last second of the show and i’m supposed to applaud the writers for their bravery or something