seperis: (Default)
seperis ([personal profile] seperis) wrote2011-06-19 09:30 pm

the mutant registration act was highly inspiring

I'm always fairly relieved when I write under thirty thousand words, as I'm less likely to overthink it and I don't know if you know this, but the dividing line between 30K and 150K is what we call when I stop to think about what I'm writing. The core, what I actually meant to write, is usually about ten thousand words in there. Call it an executive summary. In my fandom career above the 30K line, there are precisely two exceptions to that, where I needed every word; the second was And All the World Beneath. The first was Jus Ad Bellum, which I'm currently bracing myself to re-read in lieu of X-Men First Class, since this movie completely--and I do mean completely--changed my view of Xavier.

I didn't like him then, and whoo, checking one of my first X-Men fic featuring him using Rogue as a stand-in for Erik---I would say it's not like that, but really, it kind of is--I really, really, really didn't like him, and I forgot that, which is why I'm currently having severe cognitive dissonance. I remember not really caring for him, but apparently, there's a period of time in there that I was ready to kill him, and then finally I did.

Now I feel bad about it, because with First Class canon, he totally could have led a mutant revolt against the humans when mutants were enslaved. He could have kicked great amounts of ass in the camps. He could have made them all kick their own asses. It's upsetting; I killed him because to get a world where the mutants fought back after beign confined to camps, I couldn't have him there, I needed him to catalyze Erik and Scott with his death; I couldn't see him able to take the step they needed that Erik would run with to create a new mutant oligarchy on earth. I couldn't see Scott and Jean and Logan letting themselves be corrupted by the new world order if Xavier could pull them back. I didn't think if he was there, they could do what they had to do to survive.

Do comic fans feel like this when you get a new writer for the series (or hey, Ultimate)? I never was into teh Batman movies enough to feel the dissonance, but I am officially getting a headache from a.) guilt (I--know, leave me alone, I've been McAvoy's since Children of Dune and all that time without a shirt; way to go God!) and also b.) interpretation failure on a massive scale. I don't mind making leaps, but either they are that different in character or I missed something important in the first movie (and later, somewhat, in the second and various cartoons over the years).

I'm not sure I so much got better about writing out my character dislike (see, Smallville; it was a lesson), but I'm not sure I was ever so naked about before X-Men or after.

Also, for the record, I just realized I wrote Erik/Toad and I have no memory of why. I didn't even write slash back then. I didn't even write anything Logan/Rogue! And now I am all confused because ten years ago I didn't like Xavier and I'm pretty sure I didn't care for Erik and now I am in some kind of fugue state when I think of Charles (I think of him as Charles okay?) and realized I've really missed writing the apocalypse. And that I wrote Erik/Toad, and somewhere I have to have some notes on where the hell that came from.

Sometimes I think fanfic writers' problems are kind of unsettling. Feel free to share your own! That's kind of a plea, in case I need to be more transparent here.

[identity profile] winterlive.livejournal.com 2011-06-20 05:02 am (UTC)(link)
no, i meant those first two things, but the thing you said can be logically extrapolated. :)

[identity profile] 20thcenturyvole.livejournal.com 2011-06-20 06:15 am (UTC)(link)
Someone, I can't remember who, pointed out that in the first three X-Men movies Xavier spends the climax incapacitated in some way - comatose in the first one, mind-controlled in the second, and dead in the third - because, from a storytelling point of view, that's pretty much the only way to get around the problem question of "So why doesn't Xavier just wheel in there, freeze everybody, have his X-Men concentrate on taking down Magneto who would now be their only problem, and basically just save the day with his scary telepathy?" Because seriously, that thing he did at the museum in the beginning of X-Men 2? That is the most frighteningly casual display of power ever. Stryker, and then Magneto, try to use his telepathy to commit global genocide, because with him that shit is totally just a slip in sanity away. I think making Xavier into a near-saint is pretty much the only way to have him as a protagonist; I can't see a way to wield mind-control powers like his and get much of a moral grey area.

TL;DR I'm pretty sure if Erik had Charles' powers he would have taken over the world by teatime.

[identity profile] casspeach.livejournal.com 2011-06-20 06:16 am (UTC)(link)
So much this. Put much better than I could have.

Although I would say not only more fuckable - which sorry Sir Patrick but yes, McAvoy edges ahead of you there - but more likeable.

I do think it's a shame they didn't leave the becoming enemies on opposing sides thing for another movie, bot because another movie, and also because yes, they went to that beach too close together in ideology to buy the sudden shift easily.

[identity profile] seperis.livejournal.com 2011-06-20 06:18 am (UTC)(link)
Stryker, and then Magneto, try to use his telepathy to commit global genocide, because with him that shit is totally just a slip in sanity away.

That is the greatest quote in history. I just keep reading it and going "Oh hell yes."

...was that the wrong reaction? I'll happily take "mind controlled world of willing followers in a cult-like religion" which--oh God, why am I thinking this?

[identity profile] ellixis.livejournal.com 2011-06-20 06:20 am (UTC)(link)
I'd happily and interestedly read it.

[identity profile] casspeach.livejournal.com 2011-06-20 07:20 am (UTC)(link)
Me too!

[identity profile] 20thcenturyvole.livejournal.com 2011-06-20 08:40 am (UTC)(link)
Me three!

[identity profile] meine-liebe.livejournal.com 2011-06-20 01:23 pm (UTC)(link)
god, i read a fic almost like this when mutants killed left and right. and totally totally, charles can go bat shit crazy even erik /fear/ him
ext_1310: (!!!!)

[identity profile] musesfool.livejournal.com 2011-06-20 01:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Because you haven't reread X-Manson recently?

*shudders*
ext_6533: (Comic: Jean free)

[identity profile] greenet.livejournal.com 2011-06-20 01:43 pm (UTC)(link)
See, this is why Jean Grey keeps dying. Much, much too powerful and due to the Phoenix force, she has an edge of inhuman that Charles has never had, to me.

Although she's really awesome in New X-Men! :D

[identity profile] crabby-lioness.livejournal.com 2011-06-20 01:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, Charles could consume the world if he were pushed far enough. That's what "Omega Class" means. The question is, what could push him that far?

You need to read Mike Carey's X-Men Legacy. Xavier is one of the main protagonists in that book, along with Rogue and Magneto. Carey breaks Xavier and rebuilds him along more pro-active lines. He's still reluctant to hurt anyone, but he's got no compunction against using his mind control abilities to create elaborate mental restraints that will allow him to walk among entire teams of violent mutants who hate him and try to persuade them to join him. His recent "conversation" with the Juggernaut and recruitment of the Accolytes involved immense displays of telepathic power and control. I've written an introduction to it here: http://crabby-lioness.livejournal.com/70706.html

[identity profile] seperis.livejournal.com 2011-06-20 01:46 pm (UTC)(link)
I was thinking of doing so, but--and I say this with respect for Benway--I always come out just feeling ick. It's an awesome story, but I have to have a weekend and some fluff ready for after.

Man, that story....

[identity profile] crabby-lioness.livejournal.com 2011-06-20 03:25 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm currently trying to work out a plot where Charles merrily mindfucks entire armies

X-Men Legacy 225: "The Retreat"

summary here: http://www.uncannyxmen.net/db/issues/showquestion.asp?fldAuto=4975

[identity profile] crabby-lioness.livejournal.com 2011-06-20 03:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, and if you really want to see Erik and Charles take over the world, that's House of M: Civil War: http://www.amazon.com/House-M-Civil-Christos-Gage/dp/0785133801/
ext_6533: (Comic: Remy and Ororo are BFF)

[identity profile] greenet.livejournal.com 2011-06-20 05:45 pm (UTC)(link)
I just ordered Divided He Stands entirely due to the movie. I have high hopes!

Also, do you happen to know the Omega Class mutants on the top of your head? I know Jean Grey, Bobby Drake, and Remy was at one point when Nicieza was writing him.... Ororo? The Nates and Rachel?

[identity profile] crabby-lioness.livejournal.com 2011-06-20 06:03 pm (UTC)(link)
That story doesn't end until the end of Salvage though, which I love for the great look it provides into Rogue's head. It's where she finally gets her power under her deliberate control. Charles' personal exploration of his past continues in Sins of the Father and Original Sin. Then he takes a back seat to help David until Age of X and the current storyline.

Originally "Omega Class" meant "power to take over/destroy the world all by yourself". It started with Franklin and Jean, that was it. Wanda, obviously. I know Emma, Charles, and Magneto are on the current lists, but I'm not sure about the rest. (Bobby scares intelligent people more from his potential than anything he's done, although Carey came up with some unusual ways to use his power.) Rogue and Remy were both described by Charles in the recent issue as "very powerful".

[identity profile] crabby-lioness.livejournal.com 2011-06-20 06:15 pm (UTC)(link)
I will say that DHS may well be the greatest Erik/Charles slash Marvel's ever written. Even the Accolytes must bow down in homage to their love!
ext_6533: (Comic: Rictor and Star kiss)

[identity profile] greenet.livejournal.com 2011-06-21 01:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I'm not sure exactly how much 616 Bobby has done, but I believe Emma showed some of his potential at one point, and he's very powerful in X-Men Forever (the miniseries).

AU!Remy is the New Son/Sun, so yeah, I'd expect him to be.

Ooooh, I didn't know Rogue had her power under control! This is going to get interesting to read!

(the only book I've kept up with is X-Factor, which is fantastic, but doesn't really relate to the main x-books so much)
ext_6533: (Comic: Harley thumbs up)

[identity profile] greenet.livejournal.com 2011-06-21 01:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Hee! I thought that was the Exaclibur series!

[identity profile] crabby-lioness.livejournal.com 2011-06-21 01:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Have you read Jeff Parker's X-Men First Class series that was put out as part of the Marvel Adventures line? Thor's keeping an eye on Bobby there because he's afraid Bobby's going to grow up and become a Frost Giant.

Ooooh, I didn't know Rogue had her power under control! This is going to get interesting to read!

You need to read X-Men Legacy. Mike Carey's a veteran Vertigo writer and it shows.

Rogue's got her power under control and is able to do all sorts of different things with it now, like power up with a little bit of a lot of people's powers without draining any of them. She's been working as the coach for the New X-Men, since she can take a little bit of their power while they are watching her and show them things they didn't realize they could do with it. She's recently been working on taking and recovering memories as well.

And yes, she can kiss people now. After sitting back and pondering it for a while, she's decided to go ahead and do something about her oldest crush -- and it's not Remy.

[identity profile] kityye.livejournal.com 2011-06-21 08:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, I was 16 so I didn't even know what pairings were... but I had 3 stories about OC characters (children of Remy and Rogue), 1 random story about mutants playing with super-soakers, and 2 stories about a child-Storm running around.
ext_6533: (Comic: Remy has cake)

[identity profile] greenet.livejournal.com 2011-06-21 10:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Have you read Jeff Parker's X-Men First Class series that was put out as part of the Marvel Adventures line?

Sort of! I have the first trade and keep intending to get more, because the first one was, frankly, adorable.

Hee, I ship Remy/Jake (the Courier), so that's good news to me. ;)

[identity profile] crabby-lioness.livejournal.com 2011-06-22 03:44 am (UTC)(link)
Thor keeps checking in on Bobby over time.

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