Background: I have not seen the original 1990s animated show this new series is a successor of, though I have seen its praises sung a lot in X-Men fandom, not least by andraste, and since had watched and liked this new series, I decided to use the circumstance that I'm paying the Mouse anyway and watch this, too. I can therefore certify that it's absolutely comprehensible if you, like me, came to the X-Men via the movies and then branched out to reading a few of the comics in trade collections, though not that many. Also? It's much more emotionally satisfying and fun than any movie effort since Days of Future Past.

( To me, my X-Men! )

In conclusion, I'm definitely there for the next season.

I'm reading the summerofhorror stories at a leisurely pace in between work, and so far I very much liked:

Star Wars:

Dark Water: Obi-Wan and Anakin on a creepy planet. No, not that one.


X-Men Movieverse (original timeline):

Breadcrumbs: Logan's dreams are trying to tell him something between X2 and X3, but does he listen?

Also, in anticipation of the impending release of Sandman, here's a new Neil Gaiman interview.

Given it's only a few days more till Sandman, the tv series, is released on Netflix, I wonder about the inevitable changes the new medium and incarnations will provide for fanfic, as it always happens when a literary property is (successfully) filmed. Which characters who didn't use to get paired or woobified will suddenly be discovered by fanfic writers? Which old favorites will get a new creative boost? Personally, I'm hoping for both Johanna Constantine and Lyta Hall stories, of which there's still a lamentable lack online. In terms of what definitely will get written: I'm pretty sure there will be lots of Corinthian dark fic (and Corinthian/Reader stories). Depending on what kind of chemistry Gwendolin Christie's Lucifer has with Tom Sturridge's Morpheus, there might be a boost in Dream/Lucifer tales (though those exist already). There will definitely be all kind of Endless incest pairings. And there will be mighty fandom battles about the correct tagging to differentiate comics based fanfic from tv based fanfic, not to mention battles around the Lucifer Morningstar (Sandman) vs Lucifer Morningstar (tv) problem. Will there be Mervin Pumpkinhead fanfic due to Mark Hamil voicing him? Only a few days more to find out...

It all depends, of course, on the execution. I.e. none of these tropes might work for me if they're used in a way that at least to me feels wrong/clumsy/badly done, which can be a real turn-off to the overall story, and conversely, I might overlook a great deal of flaws in the overall narrative if the tropes I favour are done in a way that really works for me

With this caveat, and some illustrations, here are a few favourites:

1.) Enemies to friends (and/or lovers). Obviously, with me being a Londo/G'Kar fan. But this needs to be done right. To wit: the reasons for the original hostility have to be real ones, not just comic misunderstandings (that's another trope, and I'm okay with that one as well, but it's not what I'm aiming at here). Also, while it's possible that one party is more in the wrong than the other one (definitely the case here; while G'Kar has his own shadiness and ill deeds in s1, the Centauri are the ones occupying and enslaving other people), I prefer it if neither of them is entirely wrong or right all the time. And once they have become friends - or lovers, or both - it shouldn't magically solve all problems between them, or entirely change who they used to be.

2) Loyalty combined with retaining your own perspective. Not sure there's a shorthand phrase for this; what I mean isn't "my country/cause/person to be loyal to, right or wrong". Another B5 example comes to mind, to wit: Vir. Who loves Londo, and definitely cares a great deal for his people, the Centauri. He still entirely disagrees with Centauri politics for the majority of the show, and with most of Londo's decisions from the s1 finale to the start of s4. Vir's solution to this isn't to call it quits with Londo or to just stand by; he argues with Londo and post-refused apology to G'Kar starts the whole Narn rescue operation, but he also is there for Londo when Londo needs him either emotionally or for a good cause (i.e. anti Cartagia conspiracy).

(As an example for the trope I don't> mean - what we call "Nibelungentreue" in German, named after everyone rather dying - and have all their entourage die who don't have a choice - than hand over Hagen in the last third of the Nibelulngenlied. Sure, everyone's a jerk in the Nibelungenlied, but the reason why Kriemhild wants Hagen handed over is a valid one - he did murder her husband.) (Mind you, in the Nibelungenlied, this is a feature, not a bug. No one is the good guy there, intentionally so.)

To use another, more recent example: Philip and Elizabeth in The Americans are intensely loyal to each other through most of the show, but in the last season, there comes a point where ( something spoilery happens ) That's also the kind of loyalty I'm talking about.

3) Unlikely Friends. Can be because they're from very different backgrounds, or because they have very different tempers/ideas/life goals, and yet, there is something that not just draws them together but keeps them together. Not to be confused with enemies turning friends; it's a trope of its own. Various Doctor and Companion combinations. Seven of Nine and Naomi Wildman. Boswell and Dr. Johnson in real life.

4.) Complicated family relationships. These can be dysfunctional or just somewhat on the stressed side, but it's one of the easier tropes to get wrong (for me, as always, mileage will vary), because if it's so toxic and dysfunctional that I can't see what the family members get out of it that's positive, not even, say, intellectual sparring on each other's level, or the occasional moment of understanding that's not possible with anyone else, then it's not a favored trope, it's a major turn-off. (Case in point: Bill and Lee Adama post s2 of BSG.) But if done well, I'm really into it.

5.) Temporary alliance against a common foe. Can go with one of the other tropes or stand on its own as a one time thing. But it's often very enjoyable, especially if the writers manage to neither forget why these people usually fight each other, not someone else, nor neglet to let them discover things about each other that they otherwise wouldn't have, so it also comes with character development. (American Gothic's episode where everyone gets taken hostage in the hospital is a good case in point.) (And of course Delgado!Master specialized in this, i.e. he usually showed up in tandem with some other villain he thought he could control, other villain gets out of hand, Master and Doctor had to team up but backstabbing once the immediate threat was past was always given.

6.) Villains in love. With each other, that is, not with the hero(ine). (Not that I'm against the later, if well done, but it's a different trope.) My golden standard here are still Lucretia and Batiatus from Spartacus. Neither of them gets anywhere near redemption through their love for each other, and it doesn't change the fact they're both awful people in a myriad of ways, but it's real, compelling and oddly endearing nonetheless.

7.) Worthy Opponents. Can come with "we used to be friends" a la Magneto and Xavier or between people who never were friends (nor will they ever become friends) but nonetheless learn to respect each other's abilities (see this year's Yuletide story about Maria Theresia and Friedrich II). Both parties need to be competent at what they do for this to work for me, of course, and not self deluded about their own skills.

The other days

To be frank, I’m not keen on them being integrated all. For a variety of reasons.

Now, if the X-Men hadn’t been split from the MCU from the get go due to earlier deals, this would be different for. I like some of the cross connections in the comics, i.e. Jean Grey having been instrumental in Jessica Jones‘ recovery from Killgrave, for example, and the lengths both movies and tv shows had to go through in order to avoid the word „mutant“ along as there was no Disney/Fox deal was ridiculous.

Then again: sometimes it worked out well thematically. Since the MCU Maximoff twins could not be Magneto’s kids, the MCU had to provide another explanation for their powers, and Steve identifying with them, making that connection about volunteering for being experimented on by German scientists, was one of my favourite scenes of his in Age of Ultron. (It’s also what made me believe he’d recruit Wanda later. Now, the fact the MCU thereafter treated Wanda as a blameless waif with no blood on her hands until the not intended by her deaths from the opening of Civil War, instead of someone who had been a voluntary Hydra experiment/member and who had at the very least the responsibility for any deaths and injuries caused by her releasing the Hulk in Johannesburg, which hadn’t been Ultron’s orders but her choice – that’s another matter.) (This is why I’m into fanfiction in which Wanda talks with either Tony or Natasha about the blood in both their ledgers respectively.) (Otoh I avoid stories which go into the other extreme of making Wanda an evil madwoman, usually in order to woobify Tony. Do not want, and I’m speaking as a fan.)

Back to the Maximoffs: X-Men movies have the superior Quicksilver, imo as always. In fact, this take on Pietro/Peter might be my overall favourite in any medium, and if in an intended integration of the movieverse X-Men with the MCU, he were to be for the axe, I’d hate that. And yet I cannot see how MCU Wanda Maximoff and her dead brother can co-exist with X-Men Movieverse Peter Maximoff who may or may not have a female twin in addition to the younger sister we see him with in the same ´verse. One of them would have to go, and this makes me fear for the one who wasn’t until recently owned by the Mouse.

Another issue, which andraste recently mentioned in a comment: the Maximoffs aren’t the only characters which in the comics go back and forth between X-Men and Avengers comics (and teams), and the way this happens always brings up a premise problem. When Hank McCoy/Beast in the comics is a part of the Avengers, he’s a popular member in a popular team. When he’s an X-Men, he’s part of a team which, to quote the famous tagline „defends a world which hates and fears them“. Now, mutants being treated as tolerated outsiders at best and far more often persecuted and discriminated against is so much part of the central X-Men premise that I don’t see how they’ll ever give it up, in any depiction. And you can fanwank that superheroes who weren’t born with special abilities but aquired them artificially are easier for the general population to accept. But since any line up of the Avengers usually includes a mutant or two, that doesn’t really work.

So, if, like the comics, the MCU and the X-Men movies take place in the same universe again, you’re not just left with the usual problems even within the MCU logic – aka a Watsonian explanation for „why doesn’t superhero X faced with problem Y ask superhero Z for assistance? - , but with additional ones like: why would the public see a difference between Spider-man (identity unknown, and thus also whether or not he’s a mutant), Thor (alien with superpowers, extremely popular on earth, all the more so for not having been involved in Civil War), and whichever X-Men will be around in future movies? Yes, prejudice is irrational, and the popularity of the Avengers in general took a dive post-Ultron and even more of one through and after Civil War, but Homecoming is set post Civil War and there the Avengers and superheroes in general are still treated as pop culture heroes by most of the characters. How that should square with a society where two thirds are wary or all „ew, mutants!“ is beyond me, even if the movies unlike the comics avoid letting characters like Beast swap teams now and then.

In conclusion: my hope is the X-Men movieverse continues to be treated as separate from the MCU, though the MCU is welcome to call mutants mutants now instead of „people with enhanced abilities“. My fear is that this won’t happen, and the result will be a mess.

…then again: what do I know? I also thought we really didn’t need another version of Spider-man (Peter Parker edition), and certainly not in the MCU, and changed my mind about this as soon as Tom Holland! Peter had his first scene in Civil War, loving him like no screen Spidey before him. So maybe TPTB will pleasantly surprise me again.

The other days

Many of the vividcon vids have been posted, which is great for this Overseas fan who could never attend one. I've only begun to check them out, but here are three:

X-Men:

Bodies: covering all the eras of the X-Men movies, this is a wonderful love declaration to mutants.

Doctor Who:

Cups(When I’m Gone): speaking of love declarations, this is one to the one and only River Song.

Star Trek: The Next Generation:

Pompeji: Jean-Luc Picard, navigating alternate realities and saving galaxy, with the occasional going through hell. My Captain!

Dear Brits, I would say you have my sympathy for the Orange Menace landing on your shores in a few days, except that you actually just had his spiritual twin resigning, whereas in our current political grotesque the German equivalent of Johnson in selfishness and destroying-the-country-for-career-purposes resigned from his resignation and wasn’t fired from the cabinet to much of Germany’s regret, either. Also, World Cup. So really, go you! But do make every second of the Orange Menace’s stay as hellish for him as possible.

Fictional apocalyptic scenarios are so much easier to deal with than much of the globe being on a self-destruct as well as others-destruct course, of course, so to the safety of fiction I go and bring more recs:

Jessica Jones
(And also Daredevil and Avengers):

Hurt my knuckles punching the machines: what the tv Marvel crowd did after Infinity War happened, Jessica and Matt centric, but with roles for everyone. No Luke Cage s2 spoilers, since the story, which has just finished, was begun before LC s2 dropped.


So in my recent MCU ramblings I wished, among other things, for stories featuring Nick Fury and one or several of the Avengers that took into consideration how he actually interacts with them, and lo, here‘s this beauty of a vignette featuring Nick and Tony post Civil War:

Let the earth leave you for an hour

Buffy:

Better than being a hero Buffy and Dawn, in an achingly beautiful take on the relationship between the sisters.


X-Men:

Westchester, Redux

Erik and Charles post X-Men: Apocalypse, Erik‘s pov.

Bruce Banner themed Avengers recs:

Flavor Name Pending: takes a bit of amusing trivia from Infinity Wars - the ice cream flavors named after various Avengers - and uses it for a lovely character study of Tony Stark and his friendship with the absent Bruce Banner.

Examination of the Hippocratic Oath: one of my ongoing frustrations is that the post-Age of Ultron movies never deal with Wanda's actions, specifically, her mindmessing with Bruce that released the Hulk in Johannesburg (which was all Wanda, not Ultron). (Instead, Civil War gives her something to angst about that wasn't her fault. Which is narrative cheating.) I also doubt that subsequent movies will show us Bruce dealing with it, while a recent rewatching of Age of Ultron reminded me how deeply angry he was with Wanda about this in the one scene they shared ("I could kill you now without even turning a different shade"). So I was delighted to find this AU from the end of Age of Ultron which, with a small twist, gives Bruce and Wanda more interaction and Bruce the chance to work emotionally respond to Steve's decision of basically adopting Wanda into the team.


Gradual Lightness: A post-Thor Ragnarok , pre Infinity War look at Bruce on the ship. (Also on Valkyrie.)


And one rec from the X-Men verse. Logan made me realise that ever since Days of Future Past, I've become invested in the relationship between Logan and Charles Xavier. This story covers all the decades:

X marks the spot; X marks my home

The archive is open!


I had been delighted that Logan qualified for Yuletide, and my gift this year was a lovely, poetic and terse at the same time glimpse at the movie's immediate backstory, and a character portrait as well:

Unhitch and Crumble Down (1094 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Logan (2017 Movie)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Logan (X-Men), Charles Xavier, Caliban (Marvel), Raven | Mystique, Laura Kinney
Summary:

Tunis and Carthage were close but not the same city.
Not with a bang, but with a whimper.

Having heard nothing but praise for Legion, a series consisting of eight episodes based on X-Men comics, I watched it during the last week, and lo, this one really lives up to its hype. The hype being that it's completely unlike other superhero based tv and movie versions of recent years and takes a truly original approach to its subject while also being true to its comics origins.

Now, while I've heard via general osmosis of the central character, I have never read any of the X-Men comics in which he's featured, so I have no idea whether the last part is literally true, but it's certainly true in that this series/season (as it's now being greenlit for a second season, though I'm not sure a second will work as well) roughly follows the general superhero pattern of origin story, confrontation with main villain, defeat of main villain (sort of). How it approaches its narrative is where the big difference lies. Starting with the looks (and use of music). I've seen comparisons to David Lynch, and you could also throw in some Cronenberg and Del Torro for good measure. Which is to say: it's visually breathtaking and wildly inventive. It also takes considerable risks with its viewer comfort. Most of the early episodes are scrictly within the main character's pov, and since said main character is possibly schizophrenic and/or a powerful mutant, definitely drugged (he starts out in a mental hospital), and emotionally messed up, this means the viewers get constantly unsettled as to whether anything they see is real. Or just in David's head. David being the main character. Or whether any of the other characters are real, or manifestations within David's subconscious. (Or... something else.)

One possible drawback for this may be it prevents identification with any of the characters (because you don't know whether or not they exist), but to be honest, I usually don't "identify" with characters anyway, and I felt the doubts about the reality of said characters impending on my take on the story just in one case. (Though that one case was a major character: Syd(ney) Barrett, whom David falls in love with early in the pilot. For the longest time, I thought it would turn out he's made her up, not least because the show had them fall in love via montage very early on, but as the series went on, I concluded the reason for this was that they couldn't spend more time on the falling-in-love part given all else the show wanted to explore.)

The later half of the season makes it easier to identify the different layers of reality - i.e. what takes place in anyone's minds and what happens in a physical world -, but is no less unsettling for that. I also like the way it twists what tropes it does use. ( Spoilers ensue. )

I wasn't familiar (at least to my knowledge) with the various actors of the show except for Dan Stevens, who plays David, and used to be Cousin Matthew on Downton Abbey, so this very different role was one of those occasions when you go "oh, actor previously used as bland love interest can actually act!" (He's playing David as an American, though there's a hilarious sequence when he gets to use his own, i.e. English accent.) Of the various ensemble members, Aubrey Plaza and Jemaine Clement have the juiciest roles (and excell in them), but really, there isn't a bad player among them. You can watch the show without familiarity with the X-Men movies (let alone the rest of the Marvelverse), though I will say that after a certain revelation, trying to figure out just when all of this happens in relation to the X-saga is fun, and of course begs for crossovers, fanfiction-wise.

In conclusion: definitely a winner, and proves you can tackle a well-trod genre with verve and lots of inventiveness.

Speaking of creativity, I see the Yuletide 2017 Tag Set is up. Lots of entries there both for fandoms in which I hope someone else will write and for those I marked as possible offers to write in. (Sometimes they overlap, of course.) I'm boggled at the sheer amount of Karl May novels nominated. Also, someone put up "German Literature RPF" with two of the Brentano siblings, Clemens and Bettine, plus Achim von Armin and Goethe, which makes me wonder what they're hoping for - slash, incest or unabashed groupiness? All of the above? Looking forward to find that out.

Meanwhile, here are possible "I could write for this one without having to reread/rewatch the entire canon" fandoms for me:
Books:

Dickens, David Copperfield

Kästner, Das Fliegende Klassenzimmer (long live Erich Kästner)

Barbara Hambly, Bride of the Rat God

Matthew Shardlake Series by C.J. Sansom

Order of the Air series by Jo Graham and Melissa Scott

Plantagent Series by Sharon Penman


Movies:

Logan (this one surprised me, because of the X-movies, but I suppose as its own thing, it's a small enough fandom still. Having rewatched the movie recently, I checked out the fanfic and stumbled across endless reader inserts featuring Pierce, of all the people. So Yuletide to the rescue!)

TV:

Defenders (again, in despite the MCUness because it's recent enough so its own category is not above the limit, I suppose, which I'm grateful for)

Class

The Last Kingdom (definitely one I'll both request and offer for)

Borgia: Faith and Fear (aka the Other Borgias; will request)

Rome (enough characters nominated that I could offer without ending up with Vorenus/Pullo requests - nothing against that pairing, I just can't write it)

There's a scene in this movie where young Jean Grey, Scott Summers and Kurt Wagner have just watched Return of the Jedi and are discussing the Star Wars movies (I thought of penknife and amenirdis's old X-Men stories!), Kurt being pro Empire Strikes Back while Scott champions A New Hope, and Jean then concludes that at least they can agree that "the third one always is the worst". It's an obvious meta moment that just about gets away with it, and its charm embodies why despite this not really being a good movie I was entertained and glad as to where it left the characters.

( more spoilery talk beneath the cut )