mistressofmuses | (no subject)

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I need a new fandom, lol.

Really, I just want some variety in what I get ideas for, and yet... the ideas all come for the same ship in the same fandom.

Well, that's not 100% true: sometimes I also get ideas for a DIFFERENT mostly outdated video game franchise that was formative to teenage me but suffered a decline in coherence and quality in later years and is well past its glory days of active fandom. :D

Some of the struggle is that while I've been *into* other movies/shows/games/books/etc. I'm more satisfied with most of those, so I don't really feel the need to wade into producing fanworks for them. I often consume fanworks in those fandoms, but don't really get the urge to make my own.

But Kingdom Hearts is INFAMOUSLY a mess in canon, so I enjoy throwing all of that out and not even pretending to understand it, and writing about the characters I loved and cared about in various AUs.

Alternately, I want to write horror stuff set in Silent Hill, utilizing the broader lore to explore the parts of it I find most interesting. But I also feel like very few people are interested in reading that, which makes it harder to want to write it, lol. (And there is that one Silent Hill fic I wrote way back in 2016 but never posted... that was about a mystery illness... which felt like Very Bad Taste to share once Covid happened, even though I'd written it years before. Maybe in another year or two it'll seem less tacky to post.)

This isn't to make it sound like I don't want to keep writing the stuff I'm working on, and I wouldn't say I'm exactly burned out on it... But it does feel like I've kinda explored the same dynamic as many times as I feel the need to right now... I just wish I felt like I had some well of inspiration to move onto after!

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Huh, that's a good point. There is a LOT of stuff out there that's locked behind various paywalls, and even if you HAVE access, it makes the fandom aspect a lot more disparate, maybe, because not everyone has the roughly equivalent access to everything.
And I've never really been interested in the MEGA fandoms like MCU... so the fact that so many of the it-thing shows or movies are all... just part of the MCU (or the Star Wars universe), it feels like there's just less out there otherwise.

My brain is just fixated on the fandoms that mattered to me a decade (or two) ago, and I can't quite get it to hyperfixate on something NEW to the same degree. (And while I DO get fixations on some newer things: books, podcasts, etc., those all fall more into the "but I'm satisfied with the canon, so feel no need to produce fanwork" category.)

Here's to us hopefully finding something worthwhile to pour creative energy into!

Heh, I think I resent Disney a lot because most of the fandoms I was into were NOT Disney until Disney bought them in the last five years. I've been a fan of all three Star Wars trilogies, having gone to see A New Hope when it first came out in the seventies. Then I entered the world of fandom when The Phantom Menace came out in 1999, and after cycling through a few other fandoms, I came back to SW when The Force Awakens came out. So I feel like Star Wars has been mine a lot longer than it has been Disney's.

Likewise Marvel - I was a The Mighty Thor comics fan before the MCU existed, and now THAT'S behind a forking Disney paywall too :(

So yeah, it does seem like all of the different sources of inspiration are being gathered together by one big conglomerate that doesn't even remember how to tell a good story with them.

I hope they keep their hands off The Murderbot Diaries and The Goblin Emperor, but sadly - as you say - those are canons which are so good they don't really need fanwriters. Excellent canons are very far from being a bad thing, but here's to something which is that perfect blend of fascinating and terribly flawed. It must be out there somewhere :)

Agreed. I've gotten very resentful of the monopoly that Disney has over the big entertainment franchises. (And TBH, the idea OF the mega-franchises in general.) I want good stories out of my media... Fun sandbox-y worldbuilding to play around in is also fantastic, but ultimately, I want a good story about interesting characters. The current "ideology" for the big now-Disney-owned properties like MCU and SW just seems to be about quantity of content rather than true quality of any individual piece. Throw enough shit out there, and something will get popular! There's nothing wrong with popcorn/brain candy big-fun-don't-think-too-hard action movies, and by all accounts, there ARE some good shows being made! I have friends near and dear to me who love some of them! But it still makes me angry that they're behind the Disney paywall, and that they're part of the whole all-consuming more-more-more franchise culture.

The stuff that came out about directors and writers admitting they had no real plans for the most recent SW movies was just *insulting* frankly. As is the general "we have to be Surprising, so we'll ignore any of the plot hooks and character development or build up from previous installments, because now someone new is in control, and there's no overarching plan!" I'm certainly not the only one to say it, but it feels like they want to punish people who DO care about the broader stories or characters, and that's just bullshit. I feel *betrayed* by the way they've treated the properties, and that feeling has soured me on them in general, despite my love for parts of them in the past. And even if there are shows that I would objectively enjoy now, I just don't even care at this point.

I VERY much hope that they keep their hands off of the things that I do love. (And am angry about things like the Nimona adaptation that was cancelled basically just so they can squat on the rights.)

Also, I'm aware of the irony, because Kingdom Hearts is my main fandom (though the one I'd like to branch out from) and that's in part a Disney property, so...

But yes. I love book series like Murderbot, and October Daye, and Newsflesh, and Shades of Magic, and Broken Earth, etc. Or games like Zero Escape. Or I really enjoyed the Good Omens miniseries and the resurgence in the fandom after... but all of those are *satisfying* enough that I don't have "what if..." plotbunnies.
We'll find our things. ;)

Heh, yeah, I share your feelings. I thought it was unbelievably disrespectful of a franchise which was a cultural phenomenon (Star Wars) (a) not to use George Lucas's ideas for the final trilogy, and (b) not even to bring in a new writer to make the final trilogy a cohesive vision. How do you go into writing the end of one of the most influential stories of science fiction's cinema history without even bothering to have a plan? The sheer disrespect does feel very much like a betrayal.

The same thing happened with the Loki show - they gave it to writers who had never even watched the MCU movies, with the result that longterm fans are now going 'I don't recognize any of this, and I'm not sure I care about it any more.'

These were things that billions of people cared about, and Disney bought them believing they were a cash cow and intending to squeeze as much out of them as they could until nobody cares any more, at which point they'll go on and cannibalize something else. It's soulless greed, over things that once gave people hope. Ugh. Meanwhile Disney tried to argue that it had bought the rights to the Star Wars EU books, but had not acquired the responsibility to pay the writers of those books their royalties! Disney are never getting a penny of my money again. I hope they fail. I hope they burn down so some actual storytellers who actually care can spring up in their ashes.

It was SO disrespectful! The idea of taking such a cultural GIANT and ending it in such a... mediocre way, without even an attempt to set it up for success? Such bullshit.

I have some friends who really love the Loki show, but I've definitely heard people on the other side of it, too, who feel like they just aren't able to keep up with caring about it.
TBH, as soon as I see that a trailer for something has "Marvel" anything, I instantly lose interest. And I sort of wish I didn't, because it IS something that people I care about care about, but it so much feels like just milking the brand name at this point, I just don't care.

Oh god, the bullshit about "we own your stuff, but it's not on us to pay you" was the goddamn worst, and absolutely made me want to stop supporting Disney at all. And it sucks, because they do own a lot of iconic stuff, and were certainly a part of my childhood (though not as much as some people's), but it's all been extremely soured for me. I know it's unlikely they'll ever truly fail, because they have such a stranglehold on the entertainment industry in general. (And like... I AM giving them money every month, because I have a Hulu subscription that I'm not quite ready to get rid of.)
But I still hope that the current jackwads running the company eventually fuck themselves hard enough to matter.

I'm sure that some of my lack of enthusiasm for the Loki show is down to having fallen out of love with the character in the intervening years. But really it didn't feel like the same character. There wasn't any backstabbing or plotting, and very little magic or shapeshifting. Most of the show's focus was on introducing characters and institutions who were going to be involved in the next Dr. Strange movie.

I did like the fifth episode though, where there were lots of Alternate Universe Lokis gathered together. That was surreal and like something from the comics - always a good thing. But altogether I was more bored than anything.

I did read recently that this year was the first time in its history that Disney had lost money. I felt very happy about that.

The people I know who are most into it are ones who love Loki, but tbh I'm not sure ANYTHING could have made them not love it, ha.

But: Most of the show's focus was on introducing characters and institutions who were going to be involved in the next Dr. Strange movie. I think you kind of hit on part of what really annoys me about the MCU stuff in general. SO much stuff seems to serve the purpose of like... being a trailer for something else. None of it can be a good, satisfying thing, or a closed plotline, because it's all about teasing the NEXT thing.
And it was maybe fun when there were post-credit hints about something back in the early movies, when teasing a new character or crossover was kind of novel... but now it's like whole series that are just trying to set up a movie. Or a whole subplot in a theatrical film that only has a payoff if you follow it to a different show. Or a character that you won't know jack shit about if you haven't watched some other show that aired on some other network. Oh, and this other film doesn't have much going for it, but don't you want to see it because fan-favorite character is in it for a few scenes?
It's like the worst, most inaccessible aspects of comics, where you have to read a fuckton of different series if you want to follow one character's whole arc (and suffer a bunch of different writers who may or may not keep up satisfying continuity) AND the worst aspects of 90s cartoons that were glorified toy commercials.

I'm delighted to hear they lost money. I hope they choke.

I certainly *used* to love Loki, but I think it depends on whether you love him as an amoral trickster or as a misguided young man who you want to see brought back into the field. I basically want to see him as a master manipulator who does cool magic and has the most insanely complicated plots which nobody sees coming, even though they know he's like that. Even 'good' Loki in the comics since Journey Into Mystery remains twisty and self-possessed and five steps ahead of everyone else. And the Loki series gave me none of that.

If they were going to get deep into his personal issues, I would have wanted them to address the whole snarl of him being a war-prize adopted from a people the Asgardians think of as monsters. They seem to have completely forgotten that part :(

But yeah, I think you're right - the MCU is beginning to remind me of the comics, and I stopped reading the comics when they started with that nonsense.

It's sort of interesting to me how differently different people see the character. And how STRONGLY they can feel about their interpretation sometimes, hahaha.

I'm actually pretty glad I never really got into any of the MCU stuff. Way back, I did really like the first Iron Man movie. And then I managed to just keep putting off seeing anything else (minus a couple random movies here and there with friends), so I don't really have to deal with it being something I've *lost* interest in, or feel let down by. But it doesn't make me any less tired of half the trailers for movies or new shows I see being MCU stuff!

Yeah, at the risk of being dismissed as a complete loony, I think it's partly because Loki is a god in the real world. There are people in the fandom who genuinely worship him as a sort of creative/destructive demiurge.

One of the things the series did well was to label him 'God of Outcasts.' Outcasts get very upset if you try to take away the one thing they're allowed to keep.

But then you've got the opposing side of people who just lust after Tom Hiddleston in black and want him to turn into some kind of hero. So yeah, that's what they get for meddling with the affairs of gods :)

(And to be fair a lot of religious Lokeans are really annoyed that they can't find information on their god now because every search turns up the MCU character.)

I'm not really an MCU fan either. I enjoyed some of their films in the early days, but I was a myth Loki fan as a teenager, who then went on to read the Thor comics because he was in it, and who enjoyed the first two Thor movies for the same reason, but after that it felt like they didn't really care about who the characters were, and Avengers Assemble pretty much killed my affection for the MCU.

The friend of mine who adores Loki (the MCU character) is also a quite devoted religious Lokean, so that absolutely factors into the "protectiveness" over the character, I'm sure, as well as the specific interpretations of that character.

I know there will ALWAYS be tension in a sufficiently large fandom, but ESPECIALLY when there's a popular actor playing a character that DOES have religious aspects for some people. Whoo boy that's a lot.

As a whole, it seems like MCU really lost a sense of real continuity between works, especially with characters, but also their relationships to each other, and having those things feel weak or inconsistent is a real drawback imo.

It is very like the comics, I suppose! Those are also wildly inconsistent in characterization and in quality, and only the most devoted obsessive can really follow their favourite character through everything. But every so often they hit a wonderful peak and produce something fantastic that makes the whole mess feel worthwhile for a little bit. But I've stopped buying the comics because it's not worth waiting for those transcendent moments. It's better to keep an eye on fandom and wait until something comes along that puts fandom in an uproar, and go and check it out then.

I can't help feel that that must be making them less money, though, than they would have got if they'd made less stuff, but made it good enough so I bought all of it.

Yeah, I just can't put the energy into something that I *hope* will have those moments of brilliance. Though yes, I will admit to being swayed by fandom or by those near and dear to me when they tell me something was really great.

I suppose maybe it's just something of a numbers game, and they've decided that casting the widest net possible is the best thing to do. Some of it (with the MCU and Star Wars shows, at least) is probably just about keeping up streaming subscriptions. If they can draw you in enough that you want to see the show week to week, then you won't let the subscription lapse. And as long as we have something else starting up that you'll watch once a week, we can keep you that much longer! It doesn't have to be GREAT, as long as it's good enough you don't cancel! Because WHAT IF the next episode has one of those worthwhile moments where it comes together!

I recognize it's naive to think that big corporations will ever truly care about art for art's sake. But it's still sad to see iconic, classic properties turned into shallow cash-grabs. (As well as the bigger issues of risk-aversion and trying to appeal to the broadest base possible, which ultimately makes a lot of things feel same-y.)
(And I ALSO recognize that's reductive - I know people DO still find value and inspiration and meaning in these franchises. I just don't at this point, and it makes me sad.)

I strongly suspect that the big franchises are going to cash-grab themselves out of the market. Or at least, they're going to end up like last century's opera as an entertainment for the haves, while the have-nots end up creating their own lower cost (but not necessarily lower quality) entertainments elsewhere. Fanfic and self publishing and youtube videos and such are already picking up some of that slack. It could be interesting!

I HOPE they cash-grab themselves to oblivion. Or finally reach a point where the soulless content churn stops appealing to as broad a base. (And maybe that's a vain hope - kids will forever love easily merchandizeable characters, and people love blockbuster action stuff - but I still do hope.)

I do think that fanfic and self-pub and webcomics have created some really interesting new avenues for storytelling and entertainment. A lot of that is certainly considered "low" forms of entertainment in mainstream attitudes, but that's less and less the case by the year. And it certainly is easier than ever to find marginalized creators in all of those arenas telling stories that haven't been acceptable or desirable to the mainstream.

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Apparently I've got all kinds of feelings about this, sorry for the novella:

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