much blather about RPF follows

[snick_backup]

So, RPF. Not actually a new thing around here; I've read bits here and there for years and in earnest since last summer. (The latter is all longsufferingly's fault. Also lexicale's.)

As previously discussed, I'm pretty much in RPF for the crack. However, it turns out that it has to be crack featuring the right people, preferably ones I find attractive. For example, Star Trek reboot RPF does nothing for me, because Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto do nothing for me. (OTOH, this epic Zoe Saldana non-AU genfic is amazingpants, and everyone in the world should read it.) In fact, the crack pretty much needs to involve Jensen, Jared, Misha, and/or various ladies. It turns out I am supremely not picky about the ladies, so long as they're SPN folk whom I actual recognize.

Then there's this shipping thing. We're not even talking about J2 tinhatting with whatever degree of seriousness; we're talking Jared/JDM (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) vs Jensen/JDM. There's wank and everything! I read this, and I'm like, "But every fic about them ever is AU! They're OCs anyway!" (This is not actually true; non-AU Jensen/JDM fics exist. Without any superheroes or knotting, even. But the ratio of non-AU to AU is much, much lower than for, say, J2.) So what does that even mean? How do you have preferences for ships between original characters that are largely unrelated from one iteration to the next except by appearance?

Except appearance is important, as noted above.

Also, I totally have preferences. I like Gen and I like Misha (which, again: what does that even mean in this context? except that Misha is very peculiar in ALL contexts), but I feel no pleasant little flutter when I think about Gen/Misha. This does not mean I won't probably eventually write some for ghostyouknow and thoroughly enjoy the experience, nor does it mean that I will not happily read every Gen/Misha fic I get my hands on (which, so far, has consisted of two connected fics by ghostyouknow and a few appearances as a background pairing) because I am all RAH RAH when it comes to het in this fandom. I AM NOT PICKY.

That said, when I get starry-eyed daydreams about interspecies romances between dragon and human or werebat and human or whatever, Gen/Jared is the pairing that I default to. He's tall and pretty and she's short and dark and pretty and, oh hey, sometimes my reasons are just that shallow. Also in my world she is awesome in all possible fic incarnations, and he's often a big adorable goof. So, some things do carry over from fic to fic. Also there's the fact that they're married IRL, except I can't even decide whether that makes me more creepy or less creepy for shipping them as dragons. (When I was loading new icons last night, I was trying to decide if I was okay now with using an icon of the married couple being adorable together while talking about my silly het crack. Answer: still not.)

(Oddly, I have basically no shippy feelings about Jensen. He's around and I enjoy him in fic, and if Danneel's in the fic I want her to be cool, and if they're together, yay! Or if it's J2 or Jensen/Misha or whatever, that's fine too! But I don't stan for any of the Jensen pairings the way I do Gen/Jared. I think possibly I'd feel stronger about Danneel/Jensen if I'd actually seen Danneel act in anything; I've only seen stills.

Speaking of which, however stupid Ten Inch Hero probably is, I think I need to see it eventually, because it has Danneel and also Jensen looks like this and does things like this.)

Conclusion: my new fandom is so weird, y'all. Even the things I do in it don't make any sense to me. BUT WE HAVE DRAGONS.

Original entry posted at Dreamwidth. Feel free to reply here or there. ( DW replies)

Comments

[ghostyouknow27.livejournal.com]

I think my Gen/Misha feelings are basically your Jared/Gen feelings (also my ears are all perked on this you writing them thing :D). It's completely shallow and silly on my end, but it has the bonus of giving me 1) More Misha (because the peculiar character is so often my favorite) and 2) More Gen (because somehow she is my favorite RPF lady even though I probably preferred Alona or Julie On Show). I think it's probably longsufferingly's fault. And yours.

I would also be happy with a number of Misha pairings though, because he gets to be peculiar, and I like that. Likewise, I'll read Jared/Gen because it's Gen. For some reason, Gen/Jensen seems like it would be totally weird, though.

RPF shipping = totally arbitrary and strange.

Also, werebat? You read my prompt, eh?

[snickfic]

Oh, we know I will write you Gen/Misha someday. How could that not happen? :D

I think it's probably longsufferingly's fault. And yours.

That is excellent company to keep, and also I am fully prepared to accept the weight of this responsibility.

Gen/Jensen would be weird. I ran across a Jared/Danneel fic once, and I didn't dislike it, but the whole fic I was going, "But why?"

I did not read your prompt! Was there a werebat prompt? I would have used were-echidna, except I couldn't remember the word echidna. (It is late.)

[ghostyouknow27.livejournal.com]

Oh, we know I will write you Gen/Misha someday. How could that not happen? :D

FLAIL.

Gen/Jensen would be weird. I ran across a Jared/Danneel fic once, and I didn't dislike it, but the whole fic I was going, "But why?"

Ha! Yeah, I think I would have a similar reaction. With Gen, you know, she was actually on the show, so shipping her with a number of other actors shouldn't be any weirder than shipping Mishalecki or J2 or whatever. But Gen/Jensen still strikes me as extra weird. IDEK.

I prompted werebat!Misha repeatedly flying into Jared's hair. Of course I did.

[snickfic]

I went and looked up your werebat prompt. That is ridiculous and adorable. (Personally, I think that, embarrassed or no, werebat!Misha is fliiiirting.)

In other news, if I end up shipping Mishalecki it will be at least half because it has absolutely the best portmanteau name ever..

[ghostyouknow27.livejournal.com]

Misha!bat is probably flirting, but it's still a little embarrassing that Misha cannot stop his bat!self from divebombing-->snuggling Jared's head. He prefers calculated madness, thanks. :D

The portmanteau is incredible, and it immediately makes me think of funny, weird crack fic. Even Mishavieve doesn't sound so inherently adorable.

[crackers4jenn.livejournal.com]

Oh mannnn, Mishalecki is pretty perfect, but is it more perfect than the super fated portmanteau of Cockles?

Oddly, I have basically no shippy feelings about Jensen. He's around and I enjoy him in fic, and if Danneel's in the fic I want her to be cool, and if they're together, yay! Or if it's J2 or Jensen/Misha or whatever, that's fine too! But I don't stan for any of the Jensen pairings the way I do Gen/Jared.

I am fairly new around your journal, but from what I've seen, you seem to be a big Ruby fan, right? Because I'm sure character preferences plays into what kind of RPF you seek out. Like for me, Dean is my favorite character, so the occasional times that I'm feeling RPF-y, I tend to want to read J2 or Misha/Jensen. Mostly because I find Jared and Jensen's rl relationship, or at least the one they portray in front of the cameras, to be delightful and entertaining, and my interest in Misha/Jensen is an extension of my interest in Dean/Castiel.

And I seem to have your opposite problem, because I don't have any 'shippy feelings about Jared. Yeah, I'll read J2, but Jared/Gen or Jared/Misha? Does nothing for me. Probably because, even though I love Sam, I don't care for him the way that I care about Dean, and I never really got too into Ruby/Sam either.

[ghostyouknow27.livejournal.com]

I read Cockles, but don't particularly like the portmanteau. And for some reason, I consider it a more serious-minded ship than Mishalecki.

I don't think my interest in Misha/Jensen stems from Dean/Castiel (well, maaaybe it's why I originally read them, but I don't think it accounts for me liking Jensen/Misha), because it's hard to have two characters more different than Misha and Cas. Yet, Misha and Cas tend to be my bicycles in their respective fandoms. I have given up on understanding my feelings on RPF.

Like, Gen is my favorite, but I love Meg 2.0, Jo, Anna, etc. So why aren't I reading/writing Mishalona or Machel or Mishulie? (Er, all portmanteaus created on the spot.)

[crackers4jenn.livejournal.com]

I don't think my interest in Misha/Jensen stems from Dean/Castiel (well, maaaybe it's why I originally read them, but I don't think it accounts for me liking Jensen/Misha), because it's hard to have two characters more different than Misha and Cas.

Well, see, the kind of RPF I like to read is the creepy stalker kind, where we are supposed to believe that Misha is actually Misha, Jensen is actually Jensen, etc-etc. No one's a dragon or werewolf or car repairman. The fic is based in this reality, a reality where the actors are, presumably, themselves. So when I said that I like Jensen/Misha as an extension of Dean/Cas, I don't mean that I could basically take a Dean/Cas story and do a find/replace until I've turned it into a Jensen/Misha story, I mean that there are parts of Jensen and Misha's onscreen chemistry as Dean and Castiel that carry over into the kind of RPF I prefer. I don't think I'd be reading Misha/Jensen in the first place if I wasn't into Dean/Cas, because, like I said, there's a chemistry there with them, whether it's purely character-based or not, that pings at my brain's pleasure center.

Like, Gen is my favorite, but I love Meg 2.0, Jo, Anna, etc. So why aren't I reading/writing Mishalona or Machel or Mishulie? (Er, all portmanteaus created on the spot.)

Yeah! That is interesting. I like Dean/Jo a lot, but I have no compulsion to read Jensen/Alona. Hm...

[ghostyouknow27.livejournal.com]

Well, see, the kind of RPF I like to read is the creepy stalker kind, where we are supposed to believe that Misha is actually Misha, Jensen is actually Jensen, etc-etc. No one's a dragon or werewolf or car repairman.

Ah. See, I'm the exact opposite there, in that I prefer AUs in RPF. Which makes the connections between character and actor a lot more superfluous, I think. I'm reading OCs that have little do with the actors public personas and nothing to do with the characters they play.

Yeah! That is interesting. I like Dean/Jo a lot, but I have no compulsion to read Jensen/Alona. Hm...

It's odd! I have no wish for Ruby and Cas to have ever hooked up, but I like Misha/Gen. I like Meg 2.0 and Castiel in canon (granted, probably not as a ship, even though I'll read Megstiel), but I'm not writing Misha/Rachel. IDEK.

[snickfic]

Well, I can tell you why you aren't reading Mishalona, Machel, or Mishulie. Why you aren't writing them is a mystery, however.

(Actually, I have seen a few fics with Misha/Julie as a secondary pairing. Lexicale's for instance, and some others. He's an oddball, and she's just trippy; they're weird together, and it's cute. I'm not invested, though.)

[ghostyouknow27.livejournal.com]

Ha, yeah, trufax. In the RPF het game, if you want your ship, you either have to write it or make other people write it for you by prompting the pairing in fic exchanges or begging lots. Unfortunately, I'm not seeing too many Mishalona or Machel stanners. *g*

(I have seen Misha/Julie occasionally as a background pairing, but never in a way that gave me real ~~feels~~).

[snickfic]

I do definitely think that there's bleed between my feelings about fictional characters and my feelings about RPF characters. Like, I seem to be in a largely Sam/Jared mindset right now. This is evidenced mostly by them being the characters I want to do cracky/unfortunate plot things to, whereas a year ago that was much more likely to be Dean. (Not Jensen, because I hadn't really gotten into RPF then.) And right now I have no shippy feelings about Dean, either; 6.21 killed all my Dean/Lisa love, and I haven't recovered yet. So that may be a lot of my disinterest in shipping Jensen.

Weirdly, though, I don't consider myself a Sam girl, and Jared isn't the one I find most attractive. Dean was my faaavorite from the very beginning, and in interviews and such, Jared looks fine and all, but Jensen is the one I go all swoony for.

And then there's the Ruby-Gen connection, which for me works in the direction opposite from what you're saying. I fell in love with RPF!Gen first, and that backwashed into my feelings for Ruby (and Ruby/Sam). I respond a whole lot more positively to Ruby 2.0 now than I did this time last year.

It occurs to me that there are at least three dimensions on which I/we judge an RPF character: their actual, RL personality/appearance; their SPN character; and the RPF fanon that develops around them (sometimes only in my head!). How I feel about a specific character in RPF probably depends on how those three qualities intersect.

[ladyofthelog.livejournal.com]

anyone who does not ship gen/jared as dragons, I worry about their soul.

[snickfic]

So, you better get on that, folks. Don't want to be worrying Verity about your soul.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I have nothing really to say about this post but I enjoyed the heck out of it!

[snickfic]

Well, hurrah. :)

It amuses me that we're both getting into RPF at roughly the same time, and we're at absolutely the opposite ends of the AU/non-AU spectrum.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

It amuses me loads, too!

Actually, there's a lot of crack in kpop--I've been reading Shinee fic in addition to Infinite, and there's a TON of randomness there, though not usually as extreme as what you're talking about. In my little Infinite fandom, though, it seems like the AUs are mostly of the "everybody's in high school/college" variety or the kind of sci-fi realism that reminds me of, like, Never Let Me Go. It's so strange what tropes develop in specific fandoms.