X Never Marks the Spot

Have seen the first 6 eps of Tiger & Bunny with the bro - mucho enjoyment but then we're both weak to superheroes. It's not really a superhero parody so much as a straight superhero show that happens to fall on the sillier end of the spectrum, though it seems to be slowly sliding to the more serious side, as they do. And may answer the age-old question: if Bruce Wayne and Darkwing Duck were forced by their corporate sponsors to become partners, who would snap and kill the other first? Seiyuu bonus: +30 in sexiness for Hirata Hiroaki (mmmm) and +42 in brain breakage for my beloved Tsuda Kenjirou as the flaming-in-every-meaning-of-the-word Fire Emblem (?!!?!?!?111!!?!)

In other superhero news, Peter David wrote the last ep of Ben 10, which was a not-really-disguised-at-all anti-Gitmo ep. No really. (Apparently it was mostly Dwayne McDuffie's idea, though he wasn't the writer. Not at all surprising, but damn, it makes his loss hurt that much more.) (Also it aired on Friday 4/29, interesting timing to say the least). Torn between OMGLOLWHUT at political soapboxing on a ridiculous kid's cartoon and crying honest tears of rage because seriously, if you can reduce the moral complexity of a situation to the black&white ethics of a superhero world in 20 minutes, it's not that fucking complex.

Am up to Skypiea in One Piece reread (or not re- in this case because for various reasons I've never read or watched about half of Skypiea) and love this series so, so much. I think my only real criticism of it (other than the lack of nakama-hugs, siiigh) is that the shounen fights sometimes get a little long - which is an aberration for me because I love fight shounen battles (though more animated than in manga, where sometimes I have trouble following the action), but with OP I'm always so anxious to get back to the plots and characters that sometimes I'll start tapping my foot. Still is my favorite manga ever.

Also I've said it before but I love Odacchi's female chars THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIxa million-IIIS much. ( squeeing about the lovely ladies of OP, a little spoilery through Arabasta )


In non-animated news, regarding the latest ep of NCIS (8x23) - haven't been watching most of this season but gnine recced this ep to me for a specific reason, namely OT4 FOREVER AND ALWAYS ZOMG: a 4-way hug!!!! <3333 That's it, the show could end now and I'd be happy~... (also in the previous ep, Ziva calling McGee "not just any partner" AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.

Also, mostly for my own reference, I have still been watching SPN (AHAHAHAHAH the only thing right about this show is HOW WRONG IN EVERY WAY it is. Not content with having killed off almost every recurring female char they've ever had, now they're going back and rekilling women they've killed before, and bringing back cool one-shot female chars to kill - oh, Amber Benson, whyyyyy?)

...That being said, I would so watch the Castiel &Crowley show. It's like the Odd Couple! With more blood and sex! (Okay, that last might be wishful thinking, but then again, with this show's crack count, who knows?)

And gnine & I will be watching SV's finale this Friday...Lex is back, we have no choice. Pity us!

Thanks to urania_2006, there's now a podfic of my McShep flashfic "Speech Deprived," the one where Rodney loses his voice, and John's not as happy as might be expected - check it out here! And be sure to mention to urania_2006 that she is awesome.

And the lovely hils did a DVD commentary for my little Smallville dark-fic "Promises to Keep" - nifty, and terribly flattering, thank you! (Anyone else find it odd that we call them DVD commentaries, with no discs in sight? ...No? Carry on, then!)

On season 3 of Traders - the show's getting dark(er) - that's the problem with these kinds of dramas, they always have to keep pushing the envelope, do increasingly worse things to the chars, or have the chars do increasingly worse things, to keep the stories interesting. This is why I tend to fan more avidly on the status quo shows - no, there's not a lot of character development in SGA, but they started out pretty good guys, and they've stayed that way (give or take the occasional and soon-forgotten moral hiccup), and I like it like that. Though the unspooling dramas do have their train-wreck appeal. ...Also I am getting the urge to do a pic-spam of all the Grant hugs. Because there are a lot of them, and where else are you going to get a younger DH glomping people, and guys stroking his hair? (Stroking his hair! So jealous!)

Just watched 7x13, "Hero," posted this mini-rant on bagheera_san's post and thought why not repeat it here, share the love. Or intense pain, in this case.

( true rage never dies! )

Really, I have to hand it to Smallville, I've never watched a show that's so consistently able to inspire emotional reaction in me. Right now it's mostly shock and awe that it's still on the air. People watch this? Really? I mean, other than masochistic fangirls?

On the other hand, it makes the sweetly incompetent writing of SGA look like Shakespeare.

The winning show this week was Numb3rs, with Avatar coming in at a close second.

What can I say about Numb3rs except ( minor, shallow spoilers and shameless slashing )

Then, Avatar, which I haven't really mentioned much before, so a few words: ( more mild spoilers, and lots of love. )

Supernatural also premiered, of course! Liked the ep, generally; didn't think it as strong as last year's opener, but... ( a few more spoilers )

And last but not least...wait. Yes, least. Though it actually wasn't as bad as all that, all things considered. Anyway, a few random comments on Smallville! ( even more spoilers )

Regarding the last three chapters of Eyeshield 21, I just gotta say:

( spoilers )

In other news, we just showed a friend Princess Tutu. My second time watching it, and damn but I love that series. What it says about stories, the truth of fiction, and the life stories take on, is just beautiful.

Except now I'm wishing Smallville season 7 (starting next Thursday, dread and terror) would go like the end of Tutu, with all the chars rebelling against their creator and refusing their intended destinies. Man, that would be awesome.

A bit later than expected, mainly because of my aforementioned trouble with smut and the writing thereof. Even when it's quite light smut! Sigh. Don't expect much out of this; as I said before, it's fluff, really, albeit fluff with a superhero identity Agenda. Which promptly gets lost in the semi-smut but hey, what can you do? Hope you enjoy it in spite of itself!

Smallville: The Right of Truth (2/2) {17,598 words}
R, Clex, h/c; second season
Lex is kidnapped and it's Clark to the rescue as usual, but he might not be ready for all he finds.

Read it on AO3

[And now an important message from our sponsors: You've likely heard of this already, but if you haven't, fanarchive is something to check out for any fans, especially fans of fanfic of any variety, any fandom. Interesting stuff happening there.]

Elements of Lex's characterization here are inspired by the "Lex Luthor: Man of Steel" comic. Thanks again to gnine for the beta. Meanwhile, back with the other Lex...

Smallville: All the Difference, 10/? {4,094 words}
NC-17, Clark/Lex, futurefic, AU (in a manner of speaking)
Lex Luthor wakes up in his own bed in his own penthouse, infinitely far from all he knows. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor wakes up in his own bed in his own penthouse, just as far from home...

( Part 10: In which Lex has dinner, a conversation, and one chance against the alien. )

Everyone's already discussed this to death (or faux-death) but I'm still feeling the need to work it out to my satisfaction. 6th season was a terribly frustrating season, but the Rosemary's Lana's baby plot is arguably the worst of it, for being so darn nonsensical. So I'm outlining all the theories/fanwanked possibilities I've seen on the matter, in an attempt to sort out which are more possible. Draws on things mentioned in bagheera_san's post here and various other online discussions, and as always, late-night conversations with gnine, the latest of which meant that I went to work on 3 hours of sleep yesterday, go us!

( Spoilers through the end of season 6. Not for people with heart conditions or fake pregnancies. )

I'm recovering from a cold (*cough* *snort* *sniffle* *whiiiine*), wrote this sick from a fever-conceived idea. So it's pretty rough; I might polish it later, not sure I'm going to bother. Smallville, not really Clex, alien invasion futurefic AU. Sort of dark, sort of post-apocalyptic, plenty weird, and so Lex-apologist your head will spin.

...Almost everyone, raising their eyes to the skies, realized the world was ended either way.

Latest SV musing: is Clark's alien nature catching? Because Chloe seems to have picked up certain subtle inhuman traits.

( The 'heroes' have been awfully disappointing lately... )

But, for the record: frustrated as I am with Clark now, I don't blame Clark for Lex. I think there was a time he might have been able to save Lex, and he didn't; but that doesn't make him responsible for what Lex does, any more than he's responsible for what the people he saves do. And I agree that Clark was young for most of the series, too young to be held fully accountable for the mistakes he made. And Lex definitely made more than a few mistakes himself; Lex is really, really bad with relationships.

I honestly don't blame Clark for that.

( I blame Lionel! )