Tsunami of Polls #1 : Any interest in a comm devoted to Buffy and the women of the Buffyverse?

[red_satin_doll]

#1 - Thank you to whomever gifted me with a temporary paid account last month. Now I can create polls! Oh wonderful Anonymous Benefactor, you have no idea what you have unleashed upon this fandom.

#2 - Thanks also the the lovely velvetwhip for coming up with the insanely awesome title/tag phrase "tsunami of polls" and allowing me to snag it.

***************

The other day I was having a conversation with wickedbish in which I may have mentioned that most fandoms and fandom activity, in my experience, are focused primarily on the male characters. I assumed this was common knowledge. Except that he didn't know that. Because, you see, Ryan's favorite character is Willow (see #2 in his list of "13 Witches I Fucking Love"); he still mourns Tara (as do I; shared grief is comforting) and Buffy is one of his heros. The Gift has convinced him to not commit suicide "so many times". He's all about the ladies, bless.

You know what they say about "assuming".

Oops.

 Then clockwork_hart1 (Lucy) popped into the conversation and in her brilliant, enthusiastic way suggested the idea of a comm dedicated to Buffy, the other women in the 'verse and their interrelationships - complete with a name (Summers Blood) and a banner (she's working on it - is there no end to the young woman's talents?) and three-part harmony. What that might actually look like or what interest there would actually be in such a thing was a matter of conjecture. So I'm channeling my inner Willow (Research Gal) for my very first poll.

What say you, Gentle Reader? Based just on the title of this post, you probably know who you are and how you stand.

(And as this is my first poll, please let me know if it functions ok. And I apologize for the wonky formatting. The LJ instructions for poll-making are vague and confusing at best. So says I.)

[Poll #1955410][Poll #1955410]

Comments

[endeni]

Yay, what a wonderful idea! Count me in!
Also, Illyria! Illyria is my favorite! Come on, just because she's a God-King of the Primordium doesn't mean she doesn't count... :D
There's this wonderful meta by paratti that perfectly describes her as "Queen Elizabeth meets The Terminator". I mean, what's not to love? :D

[ruuger]

I'm more of a lurker in the Buffy fandom these days, but I might be persuaded to unlurk for Buffyverse ladies ;)

Speaking of ladies, I think that halfamoon might be relevant to your interests ;)

Buffy comm pimp.

[livejournal.livejournal.com]

User elisi referenced to your post from Buffy comm pimp. (http://elisi.livejournal.com/840703.html) saying: [...] Tsunami of Polls #1 : Any interest in a comm devoted to Buffy and the women of the Buffyverse? [...]

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Meta pretty! This looks excellent because the issue of "pronoun" is exactly what bedeviled me here - I thought about putting lllyria, hesistated then forgot. I haven't watched AtS which also accounts for the blindspot, I don't have an emotional connection whereas I always think of the Buffybot as "she" just out of habit.

Thank you for your thoughts on this!

[il_mio_capitano]

I'm in. I have no idea what I'll do when I'm in, but it sounds fun.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the rec! I'm sure there is a lot of good stuff out there I have no idea exists.

And "lurkers" and "unlurkers" are both always welcome!

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Coolness! I'll sign you up! (I have no idea what it's going to look like yet either, to be honest.)

[endeni]

Eh, no problem! I think this sort of gender debacle only adds more flavour and interest to a character, doesn'it? ;)

Oh wait, and what do you mean you didn't watch Ats? Like at all? T_T

[kikimay]

I don't know what can I do to partecipate. I went for "I have to see the goods" because I really don't know what I can bring to the fandom, but I'm totally for it. BUFFYVERSE WOMEN FTW!

Also, you put there Maggie Walsh! And Buffybot! And the Chinese slayer and all the potentials! And Anya and Halfrek! I LOVE YOU! <3 <3 <3 All these interesting and unexplored women.

Oh, and I forgot Illyria. (I LOVE Illyria. I'm kinda meh about Fred, but Illyria <3 <3 <3 ... Even though, is she a female? Whatevs. Illyria rules.)

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Oh wait, and what do you mean you didn't watch Ats? Like at all? T_T

I actually have reasons. Last year (or before the apartment fire in August) I felt that I didn't want to watch potentially interesting female characters die and end up with a series dominated by men, I'd grown up with that my entire life so...I wanted to spend more time with Buffy and Co and put it off.

Then last year after the house fire it brought up some old trauma stuff which I'm dealing with ok, but I've gotten more sensitive about some things; then I saw some vids with clips from You're Welcome and A Hole in The World and could NOT stop crying. And I'm still mourning Tara (I've never mourned a fictional character before so I KNOW how weird that sounds) and I just - can't go through that process again. Not yet.

Excuses, I have 'em.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Whither Dana? :P

But yes, whatever enthusiasm I have left for fandom, I would gladly spend some of it on this.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Lurkers and silent supporters are the backbone of the internet! (Have you ever read Gabrielleabelle's meta in praise of lurkers? Best thing ever.)

Even though, is she a female?
Read endeni's comment at the top of this thread - she linked to a meta on that very subject
http://red-satin-doll.livejournal.com/31317.html?thread=765525#t765525
http://idol-reflection.livejournal.com/6272.html

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Dana, Dana, Dana....Oh THAT DANA! Oops

Ok, AtS is admittedly my big blind spot (as in I've only seen a couple of eps, I have my excuses read upthread I CAN'T TAKE THE TRAUMA AGGGGHHHH...) So I forgot about Dana. Really excellent catch.

[kikimay]

I'm so tired, but I will eventually read the meta. I adore Illyria.

I hope I will get the chance to write something anyway. I would be great to partecipate. And anyway GOOD STUFF TO LURK. *w*

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

Sign me up, ma'am! You know this is exactly my sort of place! Love the idea!


Gabrielle

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, sorry, I remembered that right after I posted.

But yay comm!

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Remembered Dana or remembered my trraaaaauuuuuummmmaaaaa? (I am apparently a delicate flower.)

But no joke, I watched Kaymickbee's fanvid "Brave new world" last year with a clip from You're Welcome and couldn't stop crying for two days. It was sort of ridiculous.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

YAYYYY!!!!!

[endeni]

Oh, my dear... Sorry, I didn't mean to sound judgemental! And I totally understand about mourning fictional characters, I'm still sad over... well, a character's death in Ats (Joss being Joss and all that it's hardly surprising...) but I just realized if you haven't watched the series the name counts as a spoiler LOL - Anyway, thank goodness for fanworks, fixing all kinds of troublesome canons! :)
And you're right, Ats is far too male-dominated compared to BtVS, but oh, it has such an epic scope! Bad VS evil, free will VS destiny, plus the tragedy is so delicious... What can I say, I'm such a sucker for it... *_*

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

Did heroinebigbang last year, so I think I am sufficiently prepped for the woman-centric comm participation.


Gabrielle

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

OMG NO, I didn't think you were judgemental at all! I didn't mean to imply that you were. I've just been asked so many times about it (ok, maybe a handful of times) and never had a really ready explanation until recently. I mean, the other day I saw tara in my head and started crying about her (there was a fic there, I'm sure it was the seed of a fic - or something) and I realized that no, I'm really not ready to watch Cordy get destroyed. (And then clockwork_hart1 told me the other day about how A Hole in the Word broke her heart and I was all, no no nooooo.....

But thank you for being so concerned, that's so sweet - it's all good really m'dear.

& I've actually read quite a bit of spoilers for the show inadventently, when I first started reading about btvs and found I really couldn't avoid them. Mostly I don't mind. And I've heard over and over what a great character wes is on their, and Angel gets more interesting, and Cordy becomes really awesome - and Lorne, I've written Lorne into fanfic already without watching the show, how crazy is that?

so - is there a way to skip over the heartbreaking shit altogether maybe to enjoy the good stuff? Because there does sound like some really good stuff in there that I'm sure I'd enjoy.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

I have to admit my brain read that as "heroinegangbang" at first (oops.) It looks like a really nifty community though - you don't have to write femmeslash as an excuse to express interest in the women or exclude the men entirely.

(Also your icon is gorgeous - ALY HAIRPORN FTW!)

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

*giggles at your brain*

Exactly! And I'm very proud of the story that community wrung out of me. I am thinking of a sequel...

Aly does great hairporn.


Gabrielle

[bogwitch.livejournal.com]

My soul belongs to Illyria, always.

I will join, but I'm not committing to doing much. We'll see if I get swept away with it all...

I would like to wish you very good luck in getting this going. In my experience even in the good old LJ days comms needed to be constantly feed by the mods with interesting goings on or they quickly die, People are generally passive until there is momentum, however much they say its a great idea at the start,

[endeni]

LOL, not crazy at all! Lorne is just a law unto himself! :)
Well, let me think, I could steer you towards the handful of really happy/funny eps. Or towards the perfect fics&metas the fix everything that ended up wrong...