(no subject)

[nano_moose]

I'm bored. Time for meme!

Stolen from thebaconfat, who used it approximately a jillion years ago.

1. Comment with any pairing (or character, or threesome, or platonic relationship, or theory, or whatever. Multiple suggestions are also fine) from a fandom (or fandoms, crossovers are fine) that you know I like, or at least have some knowledge about.
2. I will ramble for about 100 words (I may [read: probably will] go over a bit) about the aforementioned relationship/character/theory. This may be incoherent gushing or exclamations of disgust, depending on what it is.
3. Put this on your LJ, if you are so inclined.

Comments

[whitetigah.livejournal.com]

Thief, Garrett/Viktoria :D

[nano_moose]

He's a near supernaturally gifted thief containing enough cynicism to kill an elephant! She's a plant woman with a disturbingly large spy network! Together, they fight commit crime!

In all seriousness, no matter what Garrett may say, or what the fandom may claim, I think he cared. You don't scream like that about people you don't care about. Viktoria too, I say. "My good thief." Cry.

As a pairing, though, I'm a bit less certain, since I suck at shipping and find it difficult to picture Garrett in a relationship anyway. I really like that Viktoria's the more physically threatening one while Garrett is all agility and cleverness and sucking at combat - it puts them on equal footing so they can snark. Which I find awesome. XD I tend to wonder about when, precisely, they stopped hating each other - which they did, quite justifiably on both sides! - and if it was because of mutual respect, or mutual gain. I don't think he ever quite figured out how he felt about her, because Garrett is bad at feeling anything other than annoyance/anger/disdain/wry amusement. I blame the Keepers.

Frankly I think that if, in some distant AU, they ever got it off the ground, it would be very confusing and hilarious and involve superhuman resolve on my part to avoid making 'wood' jokes.

[whitetigah.livejournal.com]

~♥
One of the first fanfics I ever wrote was a Garrett/Viktoria "what if Viktoria hadn't died at the end of Thief II" thing. It was awful, full of clichés, and I'm ashamed about the writing (I was fourteen after all, that was nearly seven years ago!) - and yet it has the merit of having started me on the road to perdition fanfic writing.
I wonder if I can still find it, since I'd written it by hand - it's probably lying in a drawer somewhere in my room :p

[squeemu.livejournal.com]

Am I allowed to read this? Does it have any spoilers I don't already know about?

[nano_moose]

There are no spoilers. Well, none that you do not already know.

[rionaleonhart]

Silent Hill 2, James/Mary. HOORAY, DISTURBINGNESS.

[nano_moose]

Man oh man oh man. What can I say about this that hasn't already been said?

My view of the Mary/James pairing is a combination of 'Awwww' and 'AAAUUGH'. Because...looking at it one way, if you believe (as I do) that James put himself through Silent Hill to earn the right to see Mary again, that's about the saddest, most terrifyingly devoted thing I could imagine. Looking at it another way, James is one seriously crazed up fruitloop with truly twisted desires and a sadomasochist streak a mile wide.

Poor Mary - out of all the characters in Silent Hill 2, more so than Eddie or Angela or Maria, she was the most innocent, and she suffered terribly anyway. Not just from the disease, but also watching herself strike out at her husband and him slipping away because of it. I think James' crime was this horrible instant when he finally hated her and loved her too much to let it continue, and I'm not at all surprised that it broke him apart.

The most tragic thing about it all was that they were so ordinary before she got sick. Just this loving, slightly boring young couple.

Sometimes, I kind of wish I could see fic of them in happier times? Or of James after the Leave ending that is not awful NUDGE NUDGE HINT HINT? It is all so full of tragedy and leaves me profoundly depressed, and I probably shouldn't have thought so hard about it right before going to bed. IF I HAVE SUFFOCATION NIGHTMARES, I AM BLAMING YOU HARDCORE.

...I totally forgot I no longer have a Silent Hill 2 icon. OH WELL NEXT BEST THING.

[rionaleonhart]

I have tried to write fanfiction in which James did not colour everything miserable and insane! It is not possible.

But yes, these are pretty much exactly my thoughts. James is amazingly devoted and at the same time utterly twistedly batshit insane, and the relationship between the two of them is sort of adorable but manages at the same time to be completely terrifying.

[squeemu.livejournal.com]

I think James' crime was this horrible instant when he finally hated her and loved her too much to let it continue, and I'm not at all surprised that it broke him apart.

THAT WAS AN AWESOME WAY OF PUTTING IT. Excuse me while I take five minutes to flail about the game. FDAJSKLDAAUGH. And the two ways of looking at James and his reasons for putting himself through all of this is pretty awesome too. WHY DON'T YOU WRITE FIC FOR THIS GAME.

Sometimes, I kind of wish I could see fic of them in happier times?

I don't know if you've read this, but thebaconfat wrote a drabble for the prompt "James/Mary, set before The Illness but still somehow disturbing, please?" It kind of deals with the whole "happier times" thing! Kind of. You should read it anyway, though. ...you know, if you want to. Eheh.

[squeemu.livejournal.com]

Naked Snake and EVA.

Garrett and Artemus.

Tom and Hester.

Enzo's transformation to Matrix.

Go! :D

[squeemu.livejournal.com]

PS The first three are open to interpretation about the slash. Well, except for Garrett and Artemus, but I trust that you don't slash them, so I figure I don't need to specifically point out that I meant PLATONIC RELATIONSHIP there. You can decide what you wanna babble about with the others, though. (Although, er, Tom and Hester is kind of canon. WHATEVER.)

Big Boss and EVA

[nano_moose]

My feelings about BBoss/EVA are...weird. I like that Kojima was parodying the Bond Girl thing with it a little bit, and that he made EVA all awesome and damaged and kickass (nothing beats her running over Ocelot's face and leaving skid marks). She's got about a million conflicting agendas and loyalties, and had a purpose in the game aside from boobies, which is more than I can say for a lot of female game characters. Half-zipped jumpsuits and independent jiggle physics aside. I don't hate her as a lot of players seemed to, because she proved that even if she was selling him out the whole time despite loving him and all, she had a shred of something decent left, and gave us that lovely image of holding a gun on Big Boss while he was sleeping, as Big Boss watches impassively.

But the Bond Girl thing also annoys me a lot, because if it were up to me, nobody would ever have sex in movies ever. XD I just find it so uninteresting! EVA is dreadfully unsubtle about it too.

Together, I kind of eh them, as I eh a lot of romances in general. I like very much that they were equals (you maaaaaaaay have realized this is important to me in these things) and, you know, she saved his butt once or twice.

[squeemu.livejournal.com]

I think I'm one of those people who hate her. Although... hate is kind of a strong weird. I just didn't like her that much. I couldn't get over her half-zipped jumpsuits and lack of regard for the laws of physics. I gotta admit, though, I loved the scene with the motorcycle, and I loved the fact that she gave Snake a modified M1911-A1. And food! Which yeah, kind of proves that she's not your typical Bond Girl. So, good points and next time I play this game, I'll probably end up liking her a bit better thanks ENTIRELY TO YOU.

Yeah, I -- I'm not really a big fan of sex in movies. I mean, if I really wanted to watch people having sex, I'd just go download some porn. And that was the thing that really made me go, "Blaaaaah" -- the fact that they ended up sexing it up at the end. SIGH. I didn't mind it so much when Snake was just ignoring all her unsubtleties.

THUMBS UP, EQUALS IN ROMANCE. (I deleted a bunch of me talking about slash here. Please assume that I sounded very intelligent about it, though!)

Garrett and Artemus (holy crap it got so long)

[nano_moose]

This is going to be so hard to write without spoiling the third game. D: Oh well, I'll do it anyway.

Artemus really only becomes a named character in Deadly Shadows. In the first, it's theorized that he's the one taking li'l Garrett off the streets, and the one who tries to warn Garrett about the Metal Age, and possibly one of the pair that cut him out of the vines (although I think those were acolytes, personally. Not for any real reason, just because it makes the delivery of one of their lines so much funnier). In the second, it's likely he gave Garrett the note - he argues with an 'Orland' about it and I am certain he's the one who defies the Council to tell Garrett about Viktoria.

As a character, I think Artemus is…hmmm. I tend to believe that the Keepers used to be less wanky than they are by the third game, less wrapped up in prophecy and tradition and bureaucracy. I like to think Artemus is more like those oldschool Keepers because in his younger days, he was a lot like Garrett. Reckless, arrogant, and talented. So partly his lingering feelings of responsibility are because, you know, he taught our boy his stealth awesome, and partly because it's "There but for whim of the gods go I." I also think he's got a bit of a sense of humour, but grown less cynical and more devious. Although he doesn't get to show it off much because he spends so much time worrying. I could cite one specific scene as an example, but, well. Spoilers.

WOW I'M RAMBLING AREN'T I? XD Anyway, Garrett probably doesn't think of Artemus as a mentor or anything – he's far too independent and loner-ly (if that's a word). In my personal view of him he's better at making contacts than friends, so Artemus gets designated 'contact', with no further 'attachment', even though that is completely wrong. Which leaves them in an odd place when they interact, because Artemus wants to help but is afraid of helping too much, and Garrett doesn't want anything to do with the Keepers, puts Artemus' face on their manipulation, but still sort-of-maybe-shut-up cares enough to listen. Meanwhile, Art still has his obligation to the Order and Garrett still dislikes them and just wants money and maybe some fame.

Dear god it's late. I will finish these when I get sleeps.

[squeemu.livejournal.com]

Clearly I'm going to have to come back to this after I've finished the game. Or I'll just, you know, make my post full of flailings and we can discuss from there. OR BOTH!

Also, it doesn't really surprise me, but it fills me with glee nonetheless that OMG CONTINUITY YAY! And everything you say makes sense to me! AND MAN, I'm really curious about your example --

-- and I am listening to "Mechanist" right now for the first time and it's putting me slightly on edge. I can almost feel the electricity in the air. Eeeee.

In conclusion, man I wanna finish the game. (Er. I mean, I know that "Mechanist" isn't from the third game. But talk about Garrett and Artemus and Events is making me want to go play more.)

[nano_moose]

Oh boy, this is going to be ranty, because Tom and Hester subvert some clichés I get really vocal about. Brace yourself.

LOVE. Love and adoration is what I have for these two. Because they are gloriously screwed up and sometimes SO NOT RIGHT but it's an 'opposites attract' relationship that doesn't make me want to bury my sneaker in the face of the first person to call it that. (I've never accepted that as a ship justification without a whole lotta caveats and never will. Or that 'hate and love are the same only different' thing. Please say I haven't horribly offended you?) They do have similarities, but they also genuinely compliment each other, Tom and Hester – he's her conscience and innocence and booksmart and wings, and she's his ruthlessness and experience and streetsmart and fists.

And Hester is so devoted – so devoted she will leap to the most awful conclusions and do the most horrible things to keep Tom to herself. I cannot express the joy this gives me, because if I could nominate one Deus Ex Machina to shoot until it dies and then burn and then scatter the ashes through an acidic sea, it would be the Power of True Fucking Love. Romantic love does not make you better. It won't heal your emotional problems (good lord, with Hester they actually seem to have gotten more destructive). If some writers maybe took a few lessons from Reeve I would never have to watch another badly-written unbalanced romance in any movie ever again.

...But I still do hope they end happily. Goddamnit A Darkling Plain get here goddamnit! Can't I just get the inevitable heart-shatter over with?

[squeemu.livejournal.com]

Man, yes. I love how this series handles the whole love issue with them. And yeah, how -- how their devotion to each other (especially Hester's to Tom, eheh) kind of is a very bad thing for the rest of the world, and sometimes even a very bad thing for their relationship. I love relationships that are screwed up like this.

(No worries! The "hate = love" thing generally pisses me off too! Especially when that's the only qualifier factoring into the equation. Um. I'm pretty sure you said that already, and better than I did. But yes! Agreement. Any pairings I've got that have that dynamic in them also have lots of other reasons. At least, there are lots of other reasons in my mind.)

Another thing I really loved about them? They turned the whole gender role clichés on their head. Tom was the soft, sensitive one, Hester was kickass and scarred and hard. And it's awesome.

Enzo to Matrix

[nano_moose]

Hah hah, well, I'll be completely honest and say that when I first realized what he'd turned into, my whole brain cried "OH DEAR GOD NO." I'm pretty sure you can guess why. (Seriously, one of these days I'm going to find those Ubisoft executives and beat them to death with my Watchmen trade, screaming about how this is how it's done, you asshats, why did you have to alienate the old fanbase?)

For a while there, I was certain I was right – the show had jumped the shark, I would never like any of the characters ever again. I don't think I'll ever be able to stop myself mentally redubbing Matrix's lines with the phrase "I smolder with generic rage!" But you and Baco seemed so gleeful about it, and around Number 7, I finally realized those mad Mainframe geniuses weren't actually completely portraying Enzo's switch as a good thing.

That was...new. It was actually rather...cool. It helped that the writers were pretty mature about it. Matrix is not uncomplicatedly badass, he just wants to be. AndrAIa is more than gratuitous cleavage, she is also awesome. Frisket continues to be the world's greatest dog. Then it all led up to that ridiculously neat fight-scene and some claw-breaking action and a fairly magnificent karmic fate for Megabyte.

And one of my favourite themes in any medium is loneliness, which endeared the big lug to me a lot. I guess Matrix eventually grew on me. Like a fungus. (I'm kidding, I really do like him as I like all the characters in the show, it just took a bit longer than normal.)

[squeemu.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was a little worried what you'd think of Matrix. And it really upset me when I first saw it, but I think I probably got over it faster than you. I think the whole yo-yo scene won me over and made me realize that he actually was still Enzo in there. And man, you can really see later on just how much of his badass attitude is an act to cover for how insecure he (still) is. And after thinking about it for awhile, it made sense to me that he'd shift to, "I have to be strong and tough," and end up going to an extreme with it. 'Cause seriously. Enzo's not really one for moderation.

And I was pretty upset by AndrAIa's gratuitous cleavage until I got that she was really kickass and -- and competent and much more level-headed and still completely devoted to Matrix. And that made it better.

Anyway! I'm glad that you eventually warmed up to him! I was kinda worried about it, what with the Prince and Ubisoft and everything. (ROFL, fungus.) Hooray!