First!

[greygerbil]

It's been a while since I was on LJ, so it feels funny to be back on a blogging site like this. I've always liked the format, though. Watch this space for talk of all my faves and ships from video games, book, and TV. When it comes to fanfic and fanart, you'll find mostly slash here, mixed with some femslash and a bit of het, and a lot of WIPs I'm trying to juggle.

Current fandoms: Vampyr, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, FFXV, Assassin's Creed (especially 1, 2, 3, 4 and Odyssey), Overwatch, BBC Sherlock, Star Wars: Rogue One, Pacific Rim, Yuri!!! on Ice, Rivers of London, Warhammer 40k books, generally literature, anime, video games, fanfic exchanges

Comments

[disloyalcrows]

Hello again! I'm afraid I'm not familiar with a number of the fandoms that you listed, but it's nice to see a fellow BioWare fan! (Also, I do admit that Yuri!!! on Ice is a guilty pleasure of mine.)

[greygerbil]

Yey for BioWare! What are your thoughts on Anthem? I'm still not sure if I want to give it a try. I mean, it'll obviously not be an RPG, but on the other hand, maybe there are some cool NPCs...

Yuri on Ice is so fluffy compared to most of my other fandoms, haha. It's like fandom candy.

[disloyalcrows]

What are your thoughts on Anthem?

On one hand I'm kind of pissed because ME:A didn't get anything aside from a flawed base game, and I would have loved to see some concepts fleshed out more. So because of that alone I kind of want to ignore that it exists. That being said, it does look pretty. I likely won't play it though because I don't enjoy playing games that involve interaction with other people. I like BioWare games precisely because I can be lost in the world they create without having to deal with human interaction. I might as well join my partner's Dota2 games if I wanted that sort of experience, you know?

What about yourself?

It's like fandom candy.

Hahaha! A very adequate description. I definitely reach for YoI fanfics when I'm in the mood for something fluffy and romantic, and it never disappoints. It's nice to read after delving into heavy angst or watching gruesome murder mysteries. While I generally don't want much anime, I am looking forward to what else is in store (although I was content with the television series ending just fine).

[greygerbil]

Same. I know "Anthem killed ME:A" is not the whole truth, apparently they where running down the idea of procedurally generated planets for a long while and then had to slap the game together in 18 months, if rumours are to be believed (procedural content generation in an ME game, which is just... who came up with that plan and how many No Man's Sky hype videos did they watch?). But it still feels sometimes that if focus had been on ME:A in the A-Team, it could have lived up to its potential more fully and gotten that teased Quarian DLC, at least. But yeah, I'm in the same boat. I play Overwatch and that's all the interaction with other gamers I need, tbh, lol. I might reconsider if Anthem has a strong single player campaign, but that's a big hurdle for a team shooter.

Yeah, YoI fandom has A LOT of fluff, lol. Since my latest obsession is basically all about vampires weighing questions of death and murder, and I'm reading WH 40k novels again, which is the edgiest thing on the planet, it's a nice contrast. You're right, the show had a good ending on its own, though!

[disloyalcrows]

apparently they where running down the idea of procedurally generated planets for a long while and then had to slap the game together in 18 months, if rumours are to be believed

I'm not quite sure how much truth is in that, but I have definitely heard it before. I know that when I went in for alpha-testing (the perks of living close to a BioWare compound), it was very rough and a lot of the ideas/concepts that we were asked about didn't make it into the final product. A lot of what they did say during our round-table at the end didn't either, so... *shrugs* From what I can gather it was a bit of a shit-show, and I am terribly sad to see how it worked out. When the trailer was released I was really hyped for it, and despite some of the negative feedback, I had friends who told me to play it. I'm still glad that I did. I love Scott Ryder, and I adore Reyes and a number of the NPCs. I don't regret the ridiculous amount of hours I spent in the game, both playing and researching for fanfiction. I just wish we were given more. To me, the most interesting bits were the Quarian arc, possibly saving Ryder's mom, and the threat of the kett returning.

I might reconsider if Anthem has a strong single player campaign, but that's a big hurdle for a team shooter.

Ditto. To be honest though, I'm wary about getting my hopes up over anything with BioWare's name attached to it. Right now I'm holding out for Cyberpunk 2077, but I know that's a long ways away.

Yeah, YoI fandom has A LOT of fluff, lol. Since my latest obsession is basically all about vampires weighing questions of death and murder, and I'm reading WH 40k novels again, which is the edgiest thing on the planet, it's a nice contrast.

Heh. On my end it's gritty crime television shows and novels, so I completely understand! Sometimes you just want something light and fluffy at the end of the day where you can turn your brain off.

[spookykingdomstarlight]

Ah! As well as BioWare, I really love Rogue One, too. I’m not super fannishly productive about it, but the Pacific Rim fandom is fun to dip toes into. I’ve been playing Assassin’s Creed Odyssey as well.

What are some of your favorite ships?

[greygerbil]

Oh man, I'm a multishipper so this could tAKE A WHILE and I'll restrict it to my faves, I basically ship A LOT, hah. For Rogue One, Spiritassassin is a big one, that one stole my heart. Pacific Rim I am a passionate Stacker/Herc shipper (wasn't a big fan of the second movie, though, but John Boyega proved he deserves to be a leading man in all the things, at least), and one day I will write that Stacker Is Heimdall fix-it fic that I just need. For Dragon Age, I ship Varric/MHawke, that's the big one, but there's so much you can do with all those characters, especially since you also have the different starters in DA:O/DA:I. Kasumi/FShep in Mass Effect, Evfra/Jaal in Mass Effect: Andromeda, Avitus/happiness (Ryder, or Evfra, or... look, his story is so sad). In Assassin's Creed Odyssey I'm not as far into as I want to be, but I haven't found a love interest yet that I don't ship with one of the siblings at the very least!

What about you?

[disloyalcrows]

(Please excuse me jumping in...)

It always disappointed me so much that Varric wasn't a romance option. I get it - the whole Bianca thing - but c'mon! Do you have any fic recs for Varric/MHawke?

[greygerbil]

I mean, I'm totally biased because I wanted the Varric romance, but I thought the Bianca story was pretty underwhelming. After all that song and dance about the crossbow in DA2, the best you can give us is Romeo and Juliet with dwarves? That's... weak, some sort of lost/tragic love is what everyone expects it to be when you hear Varric called his crossbow a woman's name, where's the twist in that?

Sadly not, I've been a bit out of the fandom for a while and just getting back into the real fannish side. Maybe I can, uh, provide a temptative one soon though, haha. I've always wanted to write that Grumpy!MHawke/Varric longfic that I've never found (grumpy meaning aggressive dialogue but friendlier choices... basically the Renegon/Paragade of ME, heh).

[disloyalcrows]

I mean, I'm totally biased because I wanted the Varric romance, but I thought the Bianca story was pretty underwhelming.

It was extremely underwhelming. Maybe I would have liked it more if I actually liked Bianca's character, but mostly I just felt bitter when I first played through that section in Inquisition. Varric deserves so much better, goddamn it.

Sadly not, I've been a bit out of the fandom for a while and just getting back into the real fannish side.

Ah fair enough! I tend to ah... avoid the fandom for the most part, but I'm hoping that with this whole switch up perhaps I'll be tempted to explore it a bit more. Reading fics are still a comfort, and I still find myself reaching for my favourites for bi-annual re-reads, but the passion to discuss/debate/go into headcanons isn't quite there anymore.

Maybe I can, uh, provide a temptative one soon though, haha. I've always wanted to write that Grumpy!MHawke/Varric longfic that I've never found (grumpy meaning aggressive dialogue but friendlier choices... basically the Renegon/Paragade of ME, heh).

Oooooooh! If you do write it, I would love to read it!! I've only read a few pieces that are Varric x f!Hawke, and I am really curious to see the different takes on the relationship. :)

[spookykingdomstarlight]

Aaaaah good ships and taste! I'm a huge multishipper, too, so I know that feeling. I could go on and on forever about them. There are so many and I only seem to get more each day.

For Rogue One I'm mostly into Cassian ships. Spiritassassin is definitely canon as far as I'm concerned though. Stacker/Herc is a great ship! Stacker is my favorite character in PacRim, so I'm totally on board with all of that. (And agreed, Uprising isn't perfect, but it was more fun than I expected and John Boyega was very charismatic.) I'm super into Varric/F!Shep, so I'm super happy that you're into giving Varric some love, too. I have a lot of F!Inquisitor ships and I'm also super fond of F!Surana/Morrigan. Kasumiiiiiiiiiii/F!Shep! That's a pleasant surprise. I love that ship so much, too! T_T Avitus/Scott is one of my very favorite Andromeda ship and I also like Reyes for both Scott and Sara as well as SAM/Scott or Sara. I happily ship Kassandra with every woman, but I haven't had a chance to play enough to see Alexios.

[greygerbil]

Hehe, thank you. Yeah, for me there's maybe a couple NOTPs here and there, but most of the time I'm very intrigued by... everything. Maybe that's why I like fanfic exchanges so much. All Varric/Hawke ships are extremely valid, so much support for that (I Varric/FHawke best with a warrior wielding a huge eff-off two-hander... I love big warrior women, I guess I read too much She-Hulk in my formative years). Man, I ship the Inquisitors in so many directions. All of the directions. F!Surana/Morrigan sounds super intriguing (and I just imagine one could draw the prettiest fanart for that, hah), and Morrigan is maybe my favourite Origins companion. What kind of personality do you give the Surana in that? Oh man, I forgot about SAM! I love SAM/Ryder, and I also really like considering how he... she... it would play into Ryder's other relationships, since SAM does think about them, as we know from conversation, and is basically a person of sorts. I started with Alexios, but I'm already seeing myself replaying everything as Kassandra because I know it'll be functionally identical, but... I just wanna see it both ways.

[spookykingdomstarlight]

Can't win them all on the NOTP front, that's for sure. But I'm the same. I can think of... four ships total in all my fandoms that are genuine recoil-y NOTPs for me. I can pretty much be talked around to lots of ships in general though. And that does make exchanges easier (and harder, in some ways, such long sign-ups).

Buff warrior F!Hawke is great! I always end up playing mages for narrative reasons, but I am absolutely pro-buff lady Hawke. I can totally see Varric/M!Hawke being fun as hell as well.

It's stupid how shippable the Inquisitor, both M and F, is for me.

Morrigan is my favorite, too. I'm so sad she wasn't a canonically romance-able option for lady Wardens in Origins. It's been a while since I've played a Surana, but I always kind of went with a kind Warden until it was time to not be kind anymore. I think I like Surana/Morrigan for the fact that she's a mage, but she has that extra potential layer of outcast from being an elf, too, so I'd think Morrigan living her life and doing her own thing would be incredibly intriguing and refreshing for her.

Back when I was writing a lot of Andromeda fic, I wished I'd integrated SAM in more. I did write one fic for an exchange that was SAM/Scott/Reyes and it was a lot of fun and adds a whole lot of interesting possibilities even if SAM isn't involved in a romantic capacity. And I always love AI characters in canons, so now I'm like whyyyy didn't I take more advantage.

Odyssey is a lot of fun even just on a mechanics level for me and it's so beautiful, so I'm thinking I may do a playthrough with Alexios once I finish my main playthrough. All I know right now is Kassandra's VA is a delight.