Snowflake Challenge 15: Squeeage

[author_by_night]

The 15th Snowflake Challenge is to come up with your own, possibly for others to do (as I understand it). One thing I really miss about fandom is the squee and the meta, as I've said before, so I tried to think of one way to incorporate that into a challenge. I had a few more specific ideas, then I decided to open it up just a little.

So in the comments, or on your own LJ, talk about a fandom, or several.. Here are some prompts:

- Theories and/or headcanons (whether silly or serious or a bit of both - and yes, you can totally do this for closed canons)

- Unpopular opinions (this doesn't need to be fandom specific)

- Characters you wish canon had done better by

- Characters you think the canon creators liked too much


I'd love to see what everyone comes up with!

Comments

Some of my own theories/headcanons (Part I)

[author_by_night]

I'll post a bit more later, just posting a few to kick off some discussion. :)
Firefly/The Hunger Games

This is totally headcanon because there is no reason to believe it's the intent of Suzanne Collins, but I totally see Firefly and THG sharing a universe, with The Alliance sharing DNA with Panem. Basically Panem's what is left of Earth That Was. Katniss and Mal are actually distantly related.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

- In the second season of Buffy, Joyce finds out Buffy is the Slayer, and reacts as though she's never heard of such a thing before. Yet in season six, we find out Joyce and Hank sent Buffy to the hospital when she told them she was a Slayer. This is probably just a retcon, but I actually theorize that it was a false memory, which makes it all that much darker. Essentially with Buffy having a younger sister, it might have been more noticeable that she was sneaking out at night - perhaps she was supposed to be babysitting Dawn and forgot because she was on patrol, or maybe Dawn followed her on patrol one night and told. Of course, the question is then why they didn't figure it out once Buffy moved to Sunnydale, but maybe they found out earlier in that timeline as well.


Honestly, I think Dawn's presence probably altered a lot of what we know. I'd love to see a fanfic exploring that.

(FWIW, I actually like Dawn, as I've talked about before.)

Harry Potter

Because there are people on my flist who are only just reading the books, I wanted to note that there are spoilers here.

- I sort of think the Weasleys are the "Heirs" of Gryffindor, because they seem like the ultimate Gryffindors. Even Percy, albeit in a very askew way.

- Speaking of which, I don't think that Gryffindor has to be the "good" house, which is why I don't think Percy was necessarily a "false" Gryffindor. Loyalty and bravery are not necessarily good traits - they're wonderful traits to have on the side of good, which is what makes the trio such outstanding heroes. I love the trio, even if some of their individual Gryffindor moments drive my inner Ravenclaw insane. (But good characters have flaws, right?) However, I imagine Gryffindors also make VERY dangerous enemies, because they believe they're doing what is right. Percy thought he was right to follow Fudge. Dumbledore, also a Gryffindor, was led to believe he was fighting for the Greater Good.


The Good Place

HUGE spoilers for the second to last episode.

I'm just here to say I agree with the theories stating that it's likely Team Cockroach will be going through that Door. Which will either make for an incredibly uplifting or incredibly depressing final episode.

I do wonder about the possibility of reincarnation, but I honestly don't know. Maybe.

Re: Some of my own theories/headcanons (Part I)

[resnullius_bells]

I was ambivalent at best towards Firefly, if I'm honest :P (that's my unpopular opinion LOL). That said, I can see this headcanon working really, really well for a crossover.

I honest to god loved Dawn and her inclusion in the series. I wish there was a lot more fic and meta exploring how the false memories altered the characters from s1-4 (and in Buffy's and Joyce's cases, even earlier), on how they affect Dawn herself; anything that deals with mind alterations is a favorite trope of mind, and I think Dawn's story has a lot to offer.

Percy is probably my favorite Weasley xD; along with Ginny, maybe, though admittedly I like her more in fanon/my own idea of her that strictly based on book canon. I don't know if I see the Weasleys as Ultimate Gryffindors in general, but to be fair I don't see almost any of the characters I know as purely from one house -it feels too reductive? For example, I see some Slytherin in Percy or Ron, and some Ravenclaw on the twins (which is probably another weird UO).

We've already talked about TGP ending ^^. IDK, the way I'd imagine the show approaching could be pretty uplifting, IMO? But I reiterate that I don't really want an answer about what's behind the door. I want the show to keep the mystery of the unknown, and all that jazz.

Re: Some of my own theories/headcanons (Part I)

[spikedluv]

The Firefly one sounds interesting, but I love the Buffy one!

[resnullius_bells]

Maybe not exactly "better", but I'll always wish The Good Place would've done more with Vicky. She was one of my favorite characters from very early on, since her fake!Eleanor days. I like to imagine in one of those gazillions reboots of Michael she got to play a good part, like one of the other members of Team Cockroach soulmates, and enjoyed messing around with them a little xD

[author_by_night]

Oh, good point! Especially as she plays an important role as Fake Eleanor. It's strange that she seems to have been demoted to a more Glen-esque role, although she did get a shining moment in getting to run the new Bad Place. Still, a little more might have been better. I think I would've liked to have seen all of the characters a little more, honestly? The 20 minute mark was perfect for the first season, but as the show became more complex it meant a lot of meat got left out.

[resnullius_bells]

Agree. I admit the 20-minute mark is really convenient for me (my brain is very reticent when it comes to watching new tv shows, and 20 minutes it's perfect to watch it on the train or in a short free time), but having longer episodes could've been good for the show. In particular, I would've liked to see more of some of the Bad Place characters, like Trevor or Bad Janet.

[resnullius_bells]

BTW, speaking of The Hunger Games: have you heard about the prequel? It's been announced that it'll center around Snow, and I've seen a lot of people up in arms about this. I can't say I agree -putting aside that I don't think there's anything wrong with writing from the POV of a villain, it feels waaaaaaay too early to criticise the book for being "apologist", you know? Besides, if I trust someone to give politically relevant commentary in YA, it's Suzanne Collins. Not to mention readers have enough critical thinking to recognize what Snow became, IMO.

[author_by_night]

I had heard that! I'm not a fan of preemptively judging something before you've read it, so I'm with you. We haven't read it yet. Besides, can't you argue that no one is simply born a villain? I think it might actually be interesting to see how he became that sort of person.

I think I would have preferred a prequel that delved into how Panem became, or maybe even a companion novel that focused on another side of the clearly Lost World (assuming Panem wasn't the only place left), admittedly. I'm not as intrigued by this. But I wouldn't assume it will be apologist, unless there's something major I don't know. (I'm not really in THG fandom, I've read the series and liked it a lot, but that's really it.)

[resnullius_bells]

I'm with you on having preferred other ideas (even among the villains, I was more interested in Coin. Though a prequel entirely about her would be limited to Distric 13 and Snow's offers a bigger scope). Responses about the backlash crossed my tumblr dashboard, and I ended up looking what it was all about. The result is that I was once again convinced it's a better idea to participate actively in fandom here in dreamwidth and leave tumblr for passively reblogging pretty edits LOL. There's too much vitriol over there, even about content people haven't even read yet.

[pauraque]

Have you seen marchmetamatterschallenge? It made me think of you since I know you're into meta.

[author_by_night]

Ooh, no I haven't! Thanks for the heads up!

[lunabee34]

I need to back to shitpollsting about star trek.

[muccamukk]

This is a great challenge because I often get stuck thinking I have to write a Whole Entire Post of deep thoughts on something, when like drunk posting that Spikes hair is dumb is actually more likely to generate discussion. Or you can do both.

...

I have trouble with short.

[independence1776]

I've kind of forgotten how to Do Fandom on Dreamwidth even though I never stopped using journal-based sites, but fandom on Tumblr taught me to keep my mouth shut for fear of getting yelled at and so I just stopped talking fannishly. Thank you for the reminder than I should get back to it even though I'm out of practice.

[narya_flame]

Tumblr has a lot to answer for <3 it's great for some things, but discussion, not so much.