What we did on the weekend, Part I (fannish stuff)

[rachelmanija]

On Friday, the fabulous seshat visited branna and her husband in LA, and brought a ton of Gundam Wing doujinshi for me to ogle. I don't know who was sweeter, the former for dragging them all the way here, or the latter two for making me coffee and dinner in their home while I totally ignored them and read a stack of doujinshi. Thanks guys!

My favorite circles were 25ANS and Nattsu, though there were others that I liked quite a bit but neglected to write down. I love their art, and they actually draw the Gundams too! They draw the boys tinkering with their Gundams! They draw them on missions, with guns! They put in random extra drawings of the supporting characters! They have plot (much of which I couldn't follow!)

There was one side story of Heero and Duo (roommates at some boarding school) adopting a kitten in which the kitten was so cute and kitten-like that I totally forgot my usual aversion to cute domestic stories. I especially liked the page where Heero sees the stray kitten, looks around furtively to make sure no one will see what he's about to do, then guiltily picks it up and cuddles it.

I am now convinced that Duo/Quatre is the most adorable pairing ever. There should be more of it. Also, Quatre looks good in a burnoose, and Duo looks good with a gun in his hand. There should be more of that, too.

Note: If you comment on GW doujinshi, please do not spoil the canon plot in comments.

Then yesterday yhlee and I watched Avatar through 1.08. Fantastic detail and worldbuilding, likable characters, a fantastic array of weird animals (the flying bison never gets old), and dialogue which is funny without relying on the tired use of anachronistic humor. (I cannot see any animated American movies because every other joke is based on the hilarity of fish/fairy tale characters/cows seeing psychiatrists/having cell phones/making other modern pop culture references, and they're all basically the same joke, and it makes me want to self-detonate rather than hear another one.) Excellent! Spoil me for later episodes and I will drop a giant flying bison on your head.

Yoon reports on Avatar.

Yoon reports on Cain Saga volume 1.

Rilina reports on Gundam Wing 26-30, with pilot sanity rankings.

Rilina reports on Gundam Wing 31-35, with pilot sanity rankings.

Comments

[mattador.livejournal.com]

Hurrah! The world eneds more Avatar fans so they'll get renewed for a fourth season.

[spectralbovine.livejournal.com]

Honestly, as much as I want more Avatar, I also desperately want the story to end after Book 3, as intended. Mike and Bryan clearly have this entire damn thing planned out, and I don't want them to artificially extend the story.

Also, Avatar is not hurting for ratings, from what I know. Nickelodeon is in mad dirty love with the show and wants it to run for a million years. I read an article where they basically said it could be their Harry Potter.

[mattador.livejournal.com]

Actually, they've said in Q & A sessions as far back as Season One that S3 isn't supposed to be the end- that they have at least four seasons planned out, and have from the start.

[spectralbovine.livejournal.com]

Really? I've always heard they've had three seasons planned out. I mean, Book 3 is Fire. Book 4 would have to be Air, and, thematically, that would only work if the show changed its title to Avatar: One of the Last Few Airbenders.

Do you have any links? The only thing I know about a fourth season is that they've been made aware that Nick loves them, so they've had time to come up with a fourth season story if needed, but they were originally commissioned for three seasons, right?

[mattador.livejournal.com]

I don't remember- I know that I've read it in a couple interviews, but that would have been... maybe six months ago, and I don't really save links in any organized, predictable fashion. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I'm not.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I can hardly wait till you get to my favorite ep.

[octopedingenue]

It doesn't hurt the dialogue that Sokka is Cordelia Chase with a boomerang.

[spectralbovine.livejournal.com]

While I don't find that description wholly accurate (Sokka's much smarter than Cordy), I have never seen it before, and I commend it.

[octopedingenue]

Hey, man! Cordy does very well on standardized tests!

[cyberpilate.livejournal.com]

I am now convinced that Duo/Quatre is the most adorable pairing ever.

I am intrigued and would like to subscribe to your newsletter. =D

[seshat.livejournal.com]

^_^ I had fun! We should totally do that again sometime.

Sadly the American fanfic community has almost completely ignored the Duo/Quatre pairing. Not counting zero-system influence, I think the relative stability of both parties makes it less interesting than some of the other combinations to most fic writers. My favorite author out there for 2x4 is girl_starfish, archived at GW Addiction or Dacia's Raygunworks site, and even the best of her stuff is mostly AU.

[nekonexus.livejournal.com]

Avatar is awesome, and, unlike many series, gets better as it progresses. The character consistency and growth (yes! at the same time!) are for the most part awesome.

*refrains from using Avatar icons as they are spoilerish* ^_^

[spectralbovine.livejournal.com]

The character consistency and growth (yes! at the same time!) are for the most part awesome.
Abso-fucking-lutely. Zuko has one of the best character arcs I've ever seen.

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

Avatar does indeed get more awesome as it continues. I've fallen behind on S3 but the ending of season 2 is chills-down-the-spine good.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD YOU *NEED* TO CATCH UP. TRUST ME ON THIS.

S3 started out slow and awkward but the last two-parter that just ran? THERE IS NOT ENOUGH CAPSLOCK IN A MILLION INTERNETS TO CONVEY THE SHEER AWESOMENESS OF IT ALL.

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

Eeeeee!

[spectralbovine.livejournal.com]

AVATAR BASICALLY EXHAUSTS THE ENTIRE INTERNETS' SUPPLY OF CAPSLOCK ON A REGULAR BASIS.

THIS IS WHY WE KEEP IMPORTING MORE FROM CAPSLOCKDONIA.

[snarp]

Due to all this posting about Gundam Wing, I have started watching it and bought a doujinshi. The doujinka, MATO, clearly finds Trowa absolutely hilarious - most of the time he is juggling and doing magic tricks with a deeply meditative expression.

Also, there is a tiny shinigami!Duo who has been trouble finding souls to take, but sees Heero walk by and gets very excited - I haven't translated this part yet, but I think I can guess why he is so pleased. Heero self-destructs a few seconds later, but Duo is prevented from collecting his soul by a tiny angel!Heero, who produces a large gun and shoots Duo, allowing Heero to return to life. Thus is all explained.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Oh, please please please please please scan this! It sounds awesome!

[snarp]

I'm definitely going to - in a couple weeks, when I get home to where my scanner is. Though there are some scans from another story in there here - they're under "Merchant Quatre vs. Fishmonger Heero." Heero is a very intense fishmonger. (He is also a ninja. Wu Fei is his fishmonger boss, though possibly not a ninja, and Duo is a ninja but not a fishmonger. Trowa does magic tricks.)

[snarp]

(I have now found some scans from the shinigami!Duo one here, so I've posted my crappy translation of the first part here.)

[spectralbovine.livejournal.com]

So it appears you burned through two seasons of Avatar in about three days.

I salute you.

dialogue which is funny without relying on the tired use of anachronistic humor.
Yep. I made special note of that in my post (http://spectralbovine.livejournal.com/65902.html) as well. The show is fucking hilarious, and that is likely because the head writer is Aaron Ehasz, who comes from Futurama.