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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.
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.
no subject
And honestly speaking, my feelings toward Charles (like you, I have NOT being able to call him anything but Charles since the film) was pretty much DISLIKE and WHY HIM?! And just, I was all TEAM!MAGNETO! And then this film, oh, glorious, I NOW I JUST LOVE him and ADORE him, and I admit not filled with much guilt because this is comics, and with comics you pick and choose what you like and ignore the rest. Hell, the writers do it themselves.
I admit, every time he mindwhammied, I loved him more. Just love.
no subject
EXACTLY! Just EVERY TIME! And I know he's breaking ALL sort of ethical issues here, but like, telepathy, it is part of him, it is who he is, it is like telling me to IGNORE people talking next to me when there's something really interesting going on. And I just adored the ways he used his powers. That yes, I loved it every time he used his powers - when he was picking up girls (not to make them go out with him, but obviously reading minds to figure out whether he's on the right tracks), how he FREEZES people, how he told the Russian soldier to forget him (WHILE making sure he was OK!), how he HELD Shaw still while Erik forced a coin THROUGH his brain. (I just finished reading your 7-page meta, and it is like the most amazing thing, ever. And yes, that scene, that scene when Erik is killing his mother's murderer, when he is killing Charles. Just that whole scene.)
Just - I didn't expect to love Charles Xavier, ever. This film made me LOVE him the best. And OK, I like Erik, I sympathise with him, hell, his line on the beach about being at the mercy of men who followed orders, that, ok, that had me at visceral level. HOWEVER, at the same time, I can't condone what he wanted to do on that beach, killing all of those men when there was no real reason to, not at that point anymore. They were no longer a threat.
This Charles is real to me, this beer-guzzling, bad pick-line sprouting professor of genetics who find mutation to be groovy (with no hint of irony), his sheer love of genetics - it is all there for me to adore. But man, that streak of ruthlessness, that inner core of steel (I really want to make a bad pun here), just gods, he went to face off with Magneto right AFTER he had a COIN FORCED ALL THE WAY THROUGH HIS BRAIN. He erased Moira's memories because she was a threat, and he nullified the threat without deaths. And he believes, he truly believes that there can be integration, that their differences can be resolved without a blood bath. But he doesn't trust. If Charles Xavier believes you to be a threat, he will remove that threat. He beleives every one deserves a chance, but he will not have anyone put what is his under danger. Just - GODS, I LOVE HIM SO VERY MUCH!
no subject
And he believes, he truly believes that there can be integration, that their differences can be resolved without a blood bath. But he doesn't trust. If Charles Xavier believes you to be a threat, he will remove that threat. He beleives every one deserves a chance, but he will not have anyone put what is his under danger. Just - GODS, I LOVE HIM SO VERY MUCH!
You just summed up what I love about him. I want to love the good guys, but they're mostly irritating and stupid and idealistic and they win by sheer fucking accident. Charles is idealist and realistic (sometimes) and smart and not afraid to do what's necessary. It's freaking catnip.