Once upon a time...

I'm pissed off at Spike. Like really pissed off. *glares at said fictional vampire*

( The Most Horrible Fictional Conversation Ever! Spoilers for S9. )

OH MY GOD! Why do I do this to myself?! I haven't even been reading the comics! I've stayed away like the plague, but I just can't stop my morbid fascination with canon's anti-climactic downfall.

Everyone's got their own flounce issue (maybe not for BtVS, but even for other fandoms). You know what I mean- that one thing that you always said that if the creators/writers did, you'd leave everything behind and move on? Well, S9 is reaching for one of mine. Since I've given up on canon all together, I can't really flounce, but still, the S9 writers are poking at my EPIC FLOUNCE button, which means RANTY-RANT RAGE if they actually go through with it.

Leave. Spike. Alone. I want him away from the main story. Far away. Unliving a fulfilled, happy unlife. Maybe finding someone completely unconnected with Angel and Buffy and his old unlife. Maybe just learning to love himself. Maybe finding some close, good, supportive friends... who he doesn't ever sleep with. You know what? I'm going to pretend that Spike's story ended with Spike: Asylum and Shadow Puppets. He's living in Primm, Nevada with his friends, sometimes traveling protecting the world, and being a contented, adjusted adult.

I'll just stick with my own Alternate Universes and with lilithbint's Second Time Around'verse. I give up!

Title: Ode to the Family Pratt
Author: fenderlove
Rating: G.
Warnings: None.
Summary: Spike writes a (bloody awful) poem to honor his father's side of the family.

( Onwards to the poem... )

Title: Ampwish
Author: fenderlove
Rating: PG-13.
Warnings: Mentions of major characters deaths. I'm going somewhat dark with this one.
Summary: At the end of the Spike series, our heroic blonde vampire left Drusilla at the Mosaic Wellness Center in the care of Dr. Thilbault and Malposo in Primm, Nevada. Several months later, Spike has returned with a new patient for the asylum.
Notes: The title for this ficlet was inspired by a misheard lyric in Carbon Leaf's "Life Less Ordinary." Also, I think that writing this has effectively reconciled Season Eight for me. Read on to see why and how and whatever.

( Onwards to the ficlet... )

x-posted on nekid_spike.

It's another "2AM and Fender Has Had Too Much Caffeine!" post about the Dark Horse comics.

First off, this post is not meant to offend anyone. I just noticed a topic of conversation and felt the need to point out some stylistic choices surrounding that topic of conversation about the new Jane E. Spike web-comic. Mostly I did it to sate my own curiosity to see if my remembrance of the artwork from the series was correct and to see if I could visually prove what was rattling around in my head... In the end, I make my own fun, so please no one hit me with virtual hammers or anything.

Question: ( Cut for spoilers )

You see, I notice the art... a lot. Like more than I should. When I first saw that panel, I did not think anyone was crying. Why, you may ask? Because that person does not have "Jeanty Tears." What are "Jeanty Tears?" They are the big fat greasy-looking glycerine tears that Jeanty draws a good 98% of the time (the colouring is not his fault). There is a lot of crying going on in Season Eight. A lot. So once again let's have some fun comparisons!

Here there be spoilers for all of Season Eight, just in case.

( Warning: Extremely Image Heavy. )

My brain will not let me be, so I had to do this... William and Spike, MLP: FiM style. XD I sorta want to do a bunch of these. It's really fun to do vector artwork again.



( Click here to see full-sized. )

I hope this posts because LJ has been really wonky for me for days...

It's no secret that I hate updating 70s/80s cartoon characters . From Rainbow Brite to Strawberry Shortcake to Care Bears to My Little Ponies, toy companies have been updating their designs like mad in the past decade. I even made a post with image comparisons to express my rage a while back. My Little Ponies have definitely seen some bad days and some badder days. However, their latest incarnation- MLP: Friendship is Magic- is actually adorable. It's obviously made by people who enjoyed the original 80s cartoons and movies. Plus, they have somehow managed to make a toy/TV series that not only appeals to females but to males as well. Believe it or not, Hasbro finally bridged the gender gap with a show... probably completely by accident. MLPs were created to be the "girl" toys to the "boy" toys to the Transformers in the 80s. I played with both, but forever I was reminded that MLPs were only "girl" toys. Now, there are BRONIES (portmanteau of "bro" and "ponies"), male fans of MLP: FIM usually between the ages of 16-32.

The creators of the show are Internet junkies and nerds. An example, in the original MLP show in the 80s, there was a baby dragon named Spike (he was voiced by the same guy who did Buster Bunny and the Crypt Keeper's voices). In the new show, Spike has been included in the cast again... only now he sometimes gets tormented by a male baby bunny named Angel. XD Now, it's unconfirmed if this was done because of vampiric Spike and Angel, but I like to think that it was. :D

Here's a confirmed example. This is Doctor Whooves. That is literally one of his official names. He has spiky David Tennant hair and his "cutie mark" is a timey wimey hourglass.



Here is a fan animation of Dr. Whooves giving a message to Martha about pears.

Another fan animation: Allons-y!

Title: Once Upon a Spring Day
Author: fenderlove
Rating: PG/Worksafe.
Summary: There was a flashback in FFL that Spike didn't even know he could have.

For the "Fool for Love" episode prompt at nekid_spike.

( Onwards to the ficlet... )

x-posted on nekid_spike.

I posted the new chapter of my fic on nekid_spike and darker_spike. I feel better. :D

13 – Do you prefer canon or fanon when you write? Has writing fanfic for a fandom changed the way you see some or even all of the original source material?

Canon is a tricky thing. Canon is different to different people. From whether or not any of the comics are canon to the characters' motives at any given time to what happened in the "basement blackout" scene in Chosen, there are just gaps that are left open to be interpreted in many different ways with no definite answer. I always like to have a grounding in canon when I'm writing. My personal canon basically consists of both shows, the Tales of the Slayers andTales of the Vampires comics from DH, and any of the IDW comics written by Brian Lynch and John Byrne. I don't consider Season Eight, any of the BtVS/Ats books, any of the other DH comics, or any of the non-Brian Lynch or non-John Byrne comics from IDW to be canon.

When I wrote Automated Utopia, I used basic plot points as backstory and grafted them onto a steampunk universe (i.e. Sunnydale was near Lincolnshire in England rather than California, U.S. of A.). I used Brian Lynch's Asylum characters as well because they are awesome. Betta George, in particular, makes several appearances in my fics; I heart that big telepathic floaty fish. I also consider Spike's real name to be William H. Pratt (from Spike: Asylum, though it also appeared before that in one of Peter David's Old Times comic as a tribute to Boris Karloff). I used to say that Spike's surname was "Boarden" (a combination of Lizzie Borden and William Broad aka Billy Idol's real name), but I think that "Pratt" suits him much better.

However, I also have my own fanon that I don't waver from. Most of my fanon deals with Spike's backstory and his family. I've always had a view of his family tree that has not changed over the years. The only thing that has changed is Spike's surname (see above about his name). I also have a timeline of where the Fanged Four (and Fanged Three... and then down to Two) were over the years, which just helps me keep continuity in all my fics even the ones that don't go into one another. Also, my Spike is a "Brony" (a guy who watches "My Little Ponies: Friendship is Magic). XD

I think that writing fanfic has really solidified what I really enjoyed from the show and what I really didn't like, but I don't believe that it changed how I viewed the source material at all. :D

( Cut for the answer to Days 1-12 and the other 17 questions for the upcoming days... )

8 – Do you write OCs? And if so, what do you do to make certain they're not Mary Sues, and if not, explain your thoughts on OCs.

Yes, indeed, I do write a lot of OCs. I love all my OCs. My oldest and most written OC is Ursula Parthenos. She was in one of my first fics, and she was very much a Mary Sue. I've always paired her with Spike. She's evolved over time into a much more full-fledged, well-rounded character. She went from being a hypersexual mullo (a type of vampire) with a siren song voice to a pregnant video store clerk-and-pub-waitress/failed singer who is barely scrapping by in her London flat. She's matured, and I think she's become a perfect partner for Spike. In my unposted-on-LJ fic the River That Flows, in which she first appeared, Ursula was just... well, she was an insufferable Mary Sue, but by the time James revealed his Spike movie idea and I started to rework her character to be better in my unfinished comic London Calling, I think that she's become an endearing character. I hope that she is, at any rate.

My thoughts on OCs are that OCs are wonderful. Characters come in and out of the canon show all the time, providing a rich tapestry to the story even if we only hear from them once; I think that the same is true for fanfiction OCs. If a person wants to have a Mary Sue/Gary Stu specifically in their story, go right ahead. Let your freak flag fly because you never know what that Mary Sue might lead to storywise. Seriously, I rewrote the River That Flows about seven times, and each time I made Ursula a little less intolerable, but eventually I gave up on the fic all together because of some hatemail I got, but she shows up in some of the first ficlets/drabbles I posted on LJ in her still crazy Mary Sue form. I think she's less awful now, and I've gotten positive feedback about her inclusion as a character, and she's even appeared in someone else's fic! *waves to sistercuervo*

Here's a list of my OCs in order of oldest to newest and the fics in which they appear... I have A LOT of OCs...

( I didn't realize there were so many.... )

( Cut for the answer to Days 1-7 and the other 22 questions for the upcoming days... )