Fandom Archaeology
Mar. 22nd, 2012 05:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mark_asphodelSo. You love Fire Emblem, and you're particularly attached to a pairing. The happy couple doesn't technically have a paired ending, but it's obvious they feel for one another and the epilogue is hinting that one sweet day they'll be getting it on. And they evoke a canon couple from a previous game, so it must be destined. Yay.
Then the next game in the franchise comes out, and it's set on the same continent. And the way it handles your favorite characters makes you feel like IS made this game just to slam your beloved pairing into the ground. Boo, hiss, snarl. And write fanfiction to correct it.
Welcome to the melancholy of Arion/Altenna shippers circa Thracia 776. Thanks to the little miracles of Google Translate and the Wayback Machine, I've been dumpster-diving through Jugdral fandom. Japanese Jugdral fandom, that is. And while the translations are, uh, interesting (do I even want to know why the subject of "pet treats" came up in a thread about the merits of a princess/knight pairing?) the fanart and site layouts and such just brought up a wonderful wave of nostalgia. Japanese fandom from ten years ago looks like home to me-- the pastel texts, the shipper manifestos and headcanon dreams.
Things I have learned!
State of the het.
I dunno why Julia/Skasaher was so popular, but it was. Maybe they felt sorry for him, overshadowed by his twin and all? Sort of a "pair the spares," or rather "pair the leftovers" deal?
Leaf/Tinny (or "Artigny" as the translator renders her) and Leaf/Sara are popular alternatives to Leaf/Nanna, especially for the Aless/Nanna shippers. Poor Janne. Such a cute little Cecil expy and nobody loves her. Sara is the resident batshit cleric outta Thracia 776, and Manfroy's granddaughter to boot, so that's, uh, interesting.
I suspected there was a pretty solid Finn/Altenna following. You don't see much art of it by itself on Pixiv or whatever, but it sends to crop up in group artworks often enough. Holy shit, there is a crapton of it out there in Japanese fandom-- ship manifestos, headcanon justifications based on parallels with Nova and whoever that knight guy was she that marriedthe one she accidentally killed?, imaginary fan-created kids, and everything. Won't someone think of the imaginary fan-created kids? Why were you so cruel as to deny shippers their pairing, IS?
Did I download a bunch of "fin'aru" fanart last night? Reader, I did, and I feel no shame in it.
Speaking of imaginary headcanon kids, depicting the life and times of Gen 3 in loving detail was a popular pastime as well.
I dunno what word translates as "homo," but it sure gets applied to Cuan a lot. I don't really think of him as, y'know, Kyza.
Fanfic and fanart for Jugdral yaoi looks exactly like its Stateside counterpart for Gundam Wing and everything else. Male geishas. Modern AUs about johns and prostitutes. Adventures involving strawberries and whipped cream. Aaaaaaall the old sextastic standbys. Cheesy as hell, but I admit to a surge of nostalgic affection for it. I remember wasting many hours on such things back when it was all new and exciting.
I was afraid Archanea fandom might make me cry tears of blood and rage, so I didn't look into it deeply.
In summary: Japanese FE fandom for the SNES games looks like a perfectly normal fandom to me. It feels normal to me in many ways that English-speaking fandom feels aberrant. It's perfectly familiar territory, even if the fanfic is rendered into tenseless, genderless word salad most of the time.
PS: BeoLache vs FinnLache shipping wank is every bit as bad in Japanese fandom. Guess the translation wasn't entirely to blame.
Then the next game in the franchise comes out, and it's set on the same continent. And the way it handles your favorite characters makes you feel like IS made this game just to slam your beloved pairing into the ground. Boo, hiss, snarl. And write fanfiction to correct it.
Welcome to the melancholy of Arion/Altenna shippers circa Thracia 776. Thanks to the little miracles of Google Translate and the Wayback Machine, I've been dumpster-diving through Jugdral fandom. Japanese Jugdral fandom, that is. And while the translations are, uh, interesting (do I even want to know why the subject of "pet treats" came up in a thread about the merits of a princess/knight pairing?) the fanart and site layouts and such just brought up a wonderful wave of nostalgia. Japanese fandom from ten years ago looks like home to me-- the pastel texts, the shipper manifestos and headcanon dreams.
Things I have learned!
State of the het.
I dunno why Julia/Skasaher was so popular, but it was. Maybe they felt sorry for him, overshadowed by his twin and all? Sort of a "pair the spares," or rather "pair the leftovers" deal?
Leaf/Tinny (or "Artigny" as the translator renders her) and Leaf/Sara are popular alternatives to Leaf/Nanna, especially for the Aless/Nanna shippers. Poor Janne. Such a cute little Cecil expy and nobody loves her. Sara is the resident batshit cleric outta Thracia 776, and Manfroy's granddaughter to boot, so that's, uh, interesting.
I suspected there was a pretty solid Finn/Altenna following. You don't see much art of it by itself on Pixiv or whatever, but it sends to crop up in group artworks often enough. Holy shit, there is a crapton of it out there in Japanese fandom-- ship manifestos, headcanon justifications based on parallels with Nova and whoever that knight guy was she that married
I dunno what word translates as "homo," but it sure gets applied to Cuan a lot. I don't really think of him as, y'know, Kyza.
Fanfic and fanart for Jugdral yaoi looks exactly like its Stateside counterpart for Gundam Wing and everything else. Male geishas. Modern AUs about johns and prostitutes. Adventures involving strawberries and whipped cream. Aaaaaaall the old sextastic standbys. Cheesy as hell, but I admit to a surge of nostalgic affection for it. I remember wasting many hours on such things back when it was all new and exciting.
I was afraid Archanea fandom might make me cry tears of blood and rage, so I didn't look into it deeply.
In summary: Japanese FE fandom for the SNES games looks like a perfectly normal fandom to me. It feels normal to me in many ways that English-speaking fandom feels aberrant. It's perfectly familiar territory, even if the fanfic is rendered into tenseless, genderless word salad most of the time.
PS: BeoLache vs FinnLache shipping wank is every bit as bad in Japanese fandom. Guess the translation wasn't entirely to blame.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-22 10:30 pm (UTC)It warms my heart to see that anything exists for Jugdral, honestly. Especially for poor ol' misbegotten Thracia, which is otherwise just about invisible.
Seriously, I think only Valencia has it worse at this point, and that might be changing.Then again, I shouldn't be surprised; these are the games that Japan got, but we never did.no subject
Date: 2012-03-22 11:58 pm (UTC)And if you go back in time, the love for Archanea and Jugdral is massive. Even for Thracia. :)
no subject
Date: 2012-03-22 10:56 pm (UTC)For what it's worth I fucking love Sara.
Also I'm really amused at how our Japanese counterparts are so... normal.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-22 11:55 pm (UTC)OK. I saw "shemale" used in reference to Arthur, repeatedly.
For what it's worth I fucking love Sara.
As a character? Awesome. As a bride and mother of children? Yikes.
Also I'm really amused at how our Japanese counterparts are so... normal.
Me too!
no subject
Date: 2012-03-23 01:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-23 01:48 am (UTC)