Day 1 of 5: Slash Meme
Dec. 12th, 2011 06:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stormkeeper_lovedorisI don’t know why I like slash. I do know that a lot of other women like it, so at least I know I’m not alone – which is very cool, because growing up I thought this was weird as all hell. Now I even find that there are other lesbians who are into two guys together for whatever reason. (By the way, thank you to the mainstream movie “The Kids Are All Right” for illustrating this!). My weirdness factor goes up even more when I realize that I’ve only slashed guys in one fandom, have really only been into three different fandoms in the past 11 years (!), and two of the male/male couples I love are in literature, not fandom.
So I decided to write a few odes to the male couples I have slashed. Starting today and for the next few days, I am going to post once per day on each pairing I like, along with four Q&As about them and my liking of them. Feel free to meme this and do your own too!
My first three pairings are from X-men. The last two are from novels.
I also need to add an odd note. I know a lot of fans like slash pairings for some of the prominent X-men: Wolverine, Gambit, Cyclops. I love slash and I love X-men, but in my head, these three guys are straight straight straight. I never see the three of them as anything but hetero, paired with a woman or not at all. Just my take on the characters.
DAY ONE: BOBBY/NORTHSTAR (X-MEN)
How did I first get into this pairing?
Saw the X-men movie in 2000 and fell head over heels for the characters and the premise. After watching several episodes of X-men: The Animated Series, felt I had to write an X-men fanfic. Wanted a gay male protagonist, heard that lots of fans thought Iceman was gay, and decided to make him the protagonist. I had also heard that there was a character in the comics who really was openly gay, so as my fanfic saga – which ultimately became a trilogy of over 733,000 words – unfolded, I decided to bring Northstar in and pair him up with Bobby.
Something very cool happened during the 2-3 years it took to write and post this tale. In the comics, Northstar joined the X-men and crushed out on Bobby. Sadly, the subplot ended quickly as the writers decided to keep Bobby straight, but I saw more than one fan comment in various sources with words to the effect of, ‘Northstar and Iceman together?? Just like in Stormkpr’s fic!’
Have I written about them?
I’ve basically paired them up in all my fanfic that is centered around XTAS, with one exception that I couldn’t resist: I did write a fic that paired Bobby/Hank. (I also have had a plot bunny for years of Hank/Northstar but alas have never put pen to paper on that one). Fics of mine with Bobby/Northstar are: the trilogy: X-men: Friends of Humanity, Freedom, and The Heavens Open; plus Parallels (a re-working of the trilogy – I think it’s better!), Captive Hearts (this and “Parallels” are my favorite of my long XTAS fics), Election Day, and a short one called Pride.
What I do like about them?
It’s hard to answer this because my head!cancon for Bobby is admittedly a bit hosed up. I really like movie-Bobby, so a gay version of movie-Bobby has always been my head!canon, which I know doesn’t align always with the snarky comic-Bobby. My Bobby can be snarky too but he’s also a bit gentle (like the guy in the films) and a bit lacking in confidence at times. I’ve done better with Northstar in terms of sticking to canon; I like his arrogant-but-with-a-compassionate-side personality.
So, what I get when I put Bobby and Northstar together is a bit different than what the next fan might get, but I definitely feel certain harmony, a yin/yang thing.
Where’s the fandom at nowadays?
They have an LJ comm,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
speedsicle. It’s not been too busy lately but I love this comm because reading it back in 2008 was what got me back into X-men overall. Over the years I’ve seen a few other websites and places for B/JP fans but I don’t know if any of them are still around. I hear that in at least one line of the comics, Northstar is (or was) paired with Colossus. I wonder if they have a following and, if so, is it bigger or smaller than Bobby and Northstar’s.
So I decided to write a few odes to the male couples I have slashed. Starting today and for the next few days, I am going to post once per day on each pairing I like, along with four Q&As about them and my liking of them. Feel free to meme this and do your own too!
My first three pairings are from X-men. The last two are from novels.
I also need to add an odd note. I know a lot of fans like slash pairings for some of the prominent X-men: Wolverine, Gambit, Cyclops. I love slash and I love X-men, but in my head, these three guys are straight straight straight. I never see the three of them as anything but hetero, paired with a woman or not at all. Just my take on the characters.
DAY ONE: BOBBY/NORTHSTAR (X-MEN)
How did I first get into this pairing?
Saw the X-men movie in 2000 and fell head over heels for the characters and the premise. After watching several episodes of X-men: The Animated Series, felt I had to write an X-men fanfic. Wanted a gay male protagonist, heard that lots of fans thought Iceman was gay, and decided to make him the protagonist. I had also heard that there was a character in the comics who really was openly gay, so as my fanfic saga – which ultimately became a trilogy of over 733,000 words – unfolded, I decided to bring Northstar in and pair him up with Bobby.
Something very cool happened during the 2-3 years it took to write and post this tale. In the comics, Northstar joined the X-men and crushed out on Bobby. Sadly, the subplot ended quickly as the writers decided to keep Bobby straight, but I saw more than one fan comment in various sources with words to the effect of, ‘Northstar and Iceman together?? Just like in Stormkpr’s fic!’
Have I written about them?
I’ve basically paired them up in all my fanfic that is centered around XTAS, with one exception that I couldn’t resist: I did write a fic that paired Bobby/Hank. (I also have had a plot bunny for years of Hank/Northstar but alas have never put pen to paper on that one). Fics of mine with Bobby/Northstar are: the trilogy: X-men: Friends of Humanity, Freedom, and The Heavens Open; plus Parallels (a re-working of the trilogy – I think it’s better!), Captive Hearts (this and “Parallels” are my favorite of my long XTAS fics), Election Day, and a short one called Pride.
What I do like about them?
It’s hard to answer this because my head!cancon for Bobby is admittedly a bit hosed up. I really like movie-Bobby, so a gay version of movie-Bobby has always been my head!canon, which I know doesn’t align always with the snarky comic-Bobby. My Bobby can be snarky too but he’s also a bit gentle (like the guy in the films) and a bit lacking in confidence at times. I’ve done better with Northstar in terms of sticking to canon; I like his arrogant-but-with-a-compassionate-side personality.
So, what I get when I put Bobby and Northstar together is a bit different than what the next fan might get, but I definitely feel certain harmony, a yin/yang thing.
Where’s the fandom at nowadays?
They have an LJ comm,
speedsicle. It’s not been too busy lately but I love this comm because reading it back in 2008 was what got me back into X-men overall. Over the years I’ve seen a few other websites and places for B/JP fans but I don’t know if any of them are still around. I hear that in at least one line of the comics, Northstar is (or was) paired with Colossus. I wonder if they have a following and, if so, is it bigger or smaller than Bobby and Northstar’s. 
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 02:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 02:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 02:20 am (UTC)And yeah, I was at first so thrilled that the comic writers showed us that B/JP was at least a possibility that it took me a little while for the disappointment to kick in over the fact that they took it nowhere.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 07:22 am (UTC)Wow, only five days? I think I'd need more an 30 to write about all of the slash pairings I like *lol*
no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 10:57 am (UTC)LOL! I don't know why, but me I've always had a low number of fandoms, a low number of OTPs. I think it's an energy thing - I like I only have enough energy to get into a few things.
So, I know you're a fan of Colossus/Northstar. Do they have a good-sized fan following?
no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 07:37 pm (UTC)Well, they are a popular couple, but more when it comes to the visibility of LGBT characters and couples in comic books - because X-Men universe doesn't have many of these, people hear about Colossus and Northstar as a image of "a canon gay couple" along with Rictor and Shatterstar, Apollo and Midnighter or Hulkling and Wiccan.
When it comes to the fandom itself, they're not very popular unfortunately. But there are some pretty nice pictures for them on devianART. I've seen only one fanfic for this pairing, I think. And it was very short. But nice.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 08:59 pm (UTC)When it comes to the fandom itself, they're not very popular unfortunately. But there are some pretty nice pictures for them on devianART. I've seen only one fanfic for this pairing, I think. And it was very short. But nice.
Why is that? Is it because they're not in the movies and there are just too many characters and pairings to get into from the comic books?
no subject
Date: 2011-12-15 08:46 pm (UTC)I think the fact that Northstar doesn't appear in the movies may be one of the reasons. But also, he's not a very popular character in general and he doesn't appear in the comic books all that much until you know where to look. A lot of X-Men fans (even those who are into comic books for a long time) don't even know that he exists or that there are any gay couples in the series. He gets attention mostly in LGBT circles.
And well, there are lots of pairings to choose from. A lot of people just ship them with somebody else.
But I'm pretty sure they always will have be my number 1 on the list of all X-Men pairings :D
no subject
Date: 2011-12-15 09:18 pm (UTC)I can see with all the other pairings and characters who are more focused on, he wouldn't get that much attention.
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Date: 2011-12-16 07:59 pm (UTC)At least Azazel got some attention now.
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Date: 2011-12-16 11:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-17 07:54 pm (UTC)Duh, but that's just the talking of my part of brain that wishes for more popularity for non-popular characters - like Morph, Scarlet Witch, Northstar, Avalanche, Anole...
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Date: 2011-12-13 04:23 pm (UTC)Movie-verse Bobby was just so adorable. Especially hiding behind the table, poor kid...
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Date: 2011-12-13 05:14 pm (UTC)I will have pairing #2 tomorrow.
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Date: 2011-12-13 05:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 05:16 pm (UTC)I look forward to it. Maybe I should try this out.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-13 06:07 pm (UTC)