My Corner of Buffyverse Fandom and Welcome To It

[red_satin_doll]

Click on all images below to view full-size (They don't look at all right downsized. 'tis most distressing.) All artwork by me unless otherwise noted.






Gift from my amazing friend and a jewel of this fandom spikesredqueen for my birthday (Feb 2015, not snaggable)




       

"Winged Buffy" banner, a gift from the fantastically talented and generous comlodge, (June 2013, not snaggable)

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*My LJ is Hugs Central (mostly.)  Appropriate and consensual ones, of course. Safety and fun are at a premium here, so play nice with one another. Leave the weapons at the door, wipe your feet on the mat, and help yourself to some tea and homemade cookies.

...by any other name. (June 2014)

* Buffy is my Big Damn Hero and my #1 HBIC - because she's flawed and human and real. Because she loves deeply; she falls down but still fights, she grieves and endures, again and again. Because she breaks the rules and finds another way; because of her intelligence, intuition and wit. Because in watching her I identify with my own issues and strengths, and have a renewed appreciation for my mom as well.

* Because in talking about her with other fans, in telling my story through her, in voicing my truth, I discover that I'm not alone in my challenges, faults, and grief; that I don't have to be imprisoned by secrets and shame; and in sharing this, I can bring comfort to others. And because at the end of the day, Buffy gives me hope; and sometimes that's enough to make getting out of bed in the morning worthwhile. And because she is just so freakin' adorable, y'all.

 

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Keep Her Safe (alt 1) (March 2015)

* I love intelligent discussion of , and appreciation for , the ladies of the verse and their complex interrelationships  at the core of the 'verse: mothers, sisters, mentors, students, friends, lovers, enemies, allies. The Buffyverse without it's women would be a cold, barren place:  ("that bright optimism that becomes a great, raw wound-red in The Body" - the_royal_anna ). They bear witness to one another, the hurt one another when they don't mean to, they love even when it's difficult and painful to do so.

* And yes, this also includes Kennedy. No vitriol. No joke.  (Tara would not approve of the hate. A lot of the complaints I've seen about her are suspicously close to those lobbed at Buffy, btw.) Entitled? Yes. Arrogant? Uh-huh - and also loyal, courageous, stubborn and gentle. She's a "queer woman of color..that is allowed to be the hero."

* The Buffy & Tara friendship/connection is one of the most underappreciated aspects of the 'verse IMO. This WILL be rectified. I don't ship Buffy/Tara, but if that's what it takes to get fandom talking about them? A fangirl's gotta do what a fangirl's gotta do. (ETA 2014: I have seen the light of the true religion: Buffy/Tara shipping. I ship those girls so freakin' hard. Now say amen, somebody.)

My OTF/P (August 2014)

*In fact, let's just say "No bashing female characters, period." There's plenty of other places to do that, if that's your thing. The show's failures in terms of the depictions of women, of female sexuality, the lack of mature female characters, the massive fail in terms of race and class? Always up for intelligent, civil discussion and examination.

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* OTOH, I do reserve the right to bitch about call out their shit criticize objectively analyze and take issue with certain whiny, self-absorbed males on the series and their collective patronizing jackassery. Don't get me wrong, I can understand them, sympathize with them, and so forth. Xander trying to be a "better man" than his father? Even when he gets it wrong? I heartily approve. (I'll still call him out on his shit, though.) It's simple math: Grow up, get real or go home. Also I welcome any and every opportunity to make fun of Angel.  Particularly when penguins are involved.  As well they should be.

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I Walk Alone, another beautiful gift from comlodge based on her FFL picspam series for Round 18 of seasonal_spuffy.


 

* I 'ship Buffy&Spike S7 . Love in action is the hardest, most painful and most worthwhile work we can ever do - and IMO it trumps "true love" romantic fantasies every time. (That said, I fully support the right to ship Buffy with anyone you damn well please.) But he is not my central focus here. Nor are any of the men of the 'verse, except in terms of how they serve Buffy's story.  It turns out the protagonist of the "Buffyverse" is some gal named Buffy.  Weird, huh?

Comments

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

See, stuff like this is why you're awesome. I just hope to have a chance to dig into all the links I haven't already read (or written - thanks!)

I loved your Tara post, btw. I should probably add something more worthwhile than that, but I'm all brained out at the moment.

And the Dawn<->Riley (I wrote "Dawn/Riley" at first, which... yeeesh) parallels should definitely be explored. In a season about identity, Riley flunks out - goes from Reliable Cowboy Guy (always putting on an act) to nothing - and Dawn goes from nothing to Real.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

See, stuff like this is why you're awesome

Aww, hon, I am verklempt! *blushes* Just - that means a lot, seriously, coming from one of my fandom role models. (It's absolutely true.) I'm curious now as to how many of these links you haven't read - I suspect you're familiar with most if not all.

I loved your Tara post, btw. I should probably add something more worthwhile than that, but I'm all brained out at the moment.

THANK YOU. I've got notes for an entire meta series about her but just doing that very first one took me weeks and about 5 drafts. I had no idea if there was any interest, how "political" should I get blah blah. The tone was really hard. And I don't really do "drafts" per se, like I do with fic, so I can't hand it off to a beta and say "help".

Congrats on the SunnyD nomination! I rec'd "not in the brochure" today, even if I am biased:
http://red-satin-doll.livejournal.com/18670.html I kind of feel like Tracy Ullman when she said she was so proud that the Simpsons spun off her show, so she felt like a grandmother. And then a few years later she sued Matt Groenig...ok, not the best comparison there.

In a season about identity, Riley flunks out - goes from Reliable Cowboy Guy (always putting on an act) to nothing - and Dawn goes from nothing to Real.

Oh hell to the yes! Exactly this. And the parallels really didn't occur to me admittedly until I was looking at screencaps for ITW/BT the other day and noticed the way they both wound themselves in an identical place on their arms .If you're interested in Dawn & Riley lanoyee and I have a pretty interesting conversation about the parallels that will probably be the basis of another meta post. She's really thought about Dawn a lot more than I have, so some of her ideas are brilliant IMO. http://red-satin-doll.livejournal.com/17490.html (We're also talking about Robin Wood and how problematic LMPTM is; which is something else I've been dying to talk about.)

I'm still really surprised by how much hate Dawn gets vs how much fandom is willing to "overlook" Riley's transgressions, I guess because he's a guy and we shouldn't expect any better? (Or is it the larger dislike of "bitchy women" - Buffy, Dawn, Kennedy, etc?) Dawn's problems are so much bigger than his, that the more I think about him in S5 the more pathetic he becomes to me. And usually I'm all about compassion and reconsidering characters and seeing the layers, but he's the one who just absolutely - dwindles.