Top SGA Online Fic 2006

[icarus]

Just out of curiosity, if one were to compile a list of the top/best/most influential/memorable slash and/or gen fics of this year --

-- which ones would you include?

I have in mind to start with synecdochic's "Freedom's Just Another Name For Nothing Left To Lose." That one's easy, it's amazing and powerful and swept the fandom like a tidal wave.

But what other tidal waves have hit this year? The Post Secret challenge? I mean, if I were collecting the most influential/top fics characterizing 2005 I'd have an entire section devoted to the sga_flashfic's Harlequin challenge.


ETA: Okay, skimming the mega-reviewed fics on sga_flashfic gives us a start. Now on to the Fan Awards.

ETA2: Ah. The tricky part is when the story was written. About two thirds of the Stargatefanawards stories are from 2005. Hmm. Perhaps run backwards through the sga_newsletter for familiar names. Also, might need to stick to slash.

ETA3: Okay, picking through stories, using a baseline number of reviews as an indicator of fandom interest, then appearances on rec-lists, and on del.icio.us, the story discussion such as the immense amount of discussion spawned by "Freedom's Just...". I'll probably do a poll at some point, something open-ended to gather opinions.

A couple of interesting flavors that have turned up this year:

1) western AUs and the influence of "Brokeback Mountain,"
2) curling,
3) the final carryover from last year's penguins, unicorns, dolphins,
4) reel_sga,
5) some controversies, "Will the real John please stand up?" and "Has McShep taken over the fandom?" and BDSM fic, though I want point to a story.
6) it seems silly crack!fics have given way to careful, world-building AUs.

Not sure how this'll be put together. A rec-list of sorts? With a contextualized commentary?

ETA4: "Okay, picking through stories, using a baseline number of reviews as an indicator of fandom interest, then appearances on rec-lists, and on del.icio.us, the story discussion such as the immense amount of discussion..."-?? When did I change my name to McKay? This is the fault of reading your McKay fics, all of you.

ETA5: Trends pointed out by toft_froggy -

7) DADT fics
8) Darker fics in general
9) Darker, more fucked-up John

Almost forgot bruinsfan's point -

10) John/Mitchell SGA/SG1 crossovers

Comments

[gurrier.livejournal.com]

Other than FJANFNLTL? I'd nominate sheafrotherdon's "A Farm in Iowa" universe (http://sheafrotherdon.livejournal.com/tag/iowa+universe), auburnnotlisa's Ardhanarishvara (http://www.eternalvox.net/~auburn/Ardhanarishvara.html) (aka the one I can't spell) and tzi and zaganthi's
Do I Know You From a Frat Mixer, or Another Galaxy? (http://community.livejournal.com/sga_flashfic/434243.html#cutid1). I don't know if any count as influential, but they're my current picks for the top/best/most memorable category!

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm not sure what I mean by influential either, but I'm trying to capture... hmm... the flavor of the year.

I'm thinking of resonant8's "Interface" as opening up the year, and cesperanza's dolphin story. I haven't decided if we can include unfinished WIPs or not, or else I'd also include Auburn's "In The City Of Seven Walls." Do we include "String Theory"? The main body of the story is okay, but that concert, oh my god wow.

Icarus

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

The "A Farm In Iowa" series is perfect. And it's an ideal illustration of the influence of Brokeback Mountain on the fandom, yes.

[sheafrotherdon.livejournal.com]

That's a fascinating take! I'm curious - how do you see it demonstrating the influence of BBM? :)

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

There was an upwelling of "farm/western AUs" after "Brokeback Mountain" came out, infused with the silence and yearning of that film (if not with the sense of tragedy). This is an excellent example because you even have the impact of death and that sense of searching, of finding one's way, that pervaded Brokeback.

Icarus

[sheafrotherdon.livejournal.com]

Ahhh - so you think it resonated with fandom at large because of that? (I know it had nothing to do with how I wrote it - I'd simply moved away from Iowa, and missed it a great deal, so channeled that into a story about the place I loved).

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Whereas before Brokeback people would have tipped their heads in confusion at this idea... why Iowa? ... Brokeback gave it layers of tension and meaning (and sadness) for the reader, even if they've never been interested in Iowa. There are several stories written this year that have a similar "flavor" if you will.

Icarus

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I think "String Theory" is in. It's so recent that it's hard to see its impact, but it was recced everywhere and it's characteristic of a particular type of AU.

Icarus

[h-oserheidi.livejournal.com]

i just want to say, you should be incredibly jelous of me for getting to take this cyber culture class. if you were in my class, it would be you and me talking the entire class period and the rest of the class trying to claw their way into discussion. hahaha. but it's very interested in blogging and fanfic etc. and basically how technology, culture, economics, personal agency and identity are interlinked/influence eachother. so cool. i think i'm going to ask to sit in on my prof's grad level class. it's m + w @ 1:30 in the communications building, room 226. do you want to go with me?
-heidi

p.s. we could get coffee or go on a walk or something tommorow, friday between 10 30 and 3 30. . . my break between classes.

p.p.s. why do you think people are freaking out so much about the new live feed of people's activites on facebook? what do you think people find important about privacy and why is it such a fear surrounding the proliferation of networked technology. how do we currently present ourselves in public that makes privacy such and important aspect of our selves?

pppps. the government is scary.

[h-oserheidi.livejournal.com]

". . .find important about privacy and why is it such a fear surrounding the proliferation of networked technology. . ."

should read ". . .find important about privacy and why is there fear surrounding the proliferation and transparency of networked technology?"

my main question is, how does privacy function in our lifes right now.
i think it affords us the ability to have multiple interfaces with reality, or multiple personalities without having to alert the different spheres we interface with about the presence of other groups or different sides of ourselves. it's also where we do unsocial acts like rub dead skin off after showering. it's also where we do erotic things.

i love our society right now because we are such multitalented, multifacited beings who smoothly transition between gatdets like computers which allow access to the internet, and human interactions which feel ageless, like we could be living in 1856 or 1433 AD (like a dinner party, or sex, or going on walks and the library) basically humans have a huge network of information and interaction and communities avaiable that the "surf" now, it's is just suspended between digital and physical. whereas soon it will slip more to the digital medium. which will change us as humans i suppose.

i'm sorry my writing is so loose. i am sure my terms are hardly sensical and my sentances ambiguous. i'm sorry!

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

my main question is, how does privacy function in our lifes right now.

i think it affords us the ability to have multiple interfaces with reality, or multiple personalities without having to alert the different spheres we interface with about the presence of other groups or different sides of ourselves. it's also where we do unsocial acts like rub dead skin off after showering. it's also where we do erotic things.

Have I ever told you that you're brilliant? And also dead on? Let's talk about this tomorrow. :D

[h-oserheidi.livejournal.com]

ok 12 at suzzalo is good!
see you then

*thumbs up!*

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Cool! See you tomorrow at noon.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

My class tomorrow ends at 11:30, let's do that. 12 noon at the Suzallo coffee shop?

Oh, god, that cyberculture class sounds fantastic. I'd love to sit in on that grad class.

There's fascinating stuff going on at the David Hewlett's website (http://www.dgeek.com), I'll located the thread. Essentially, a popular actor from a popular TV show who used to be in cyberculture himself (long, long ago) started a forum in early September that crossed the boundary between "online fandom" and "real life" -- causing people to freak out, get angry, withdraw, and general pandemonium. They started spontaneously creating rules on how to keep the cyber culture separate from his site, while still participating.

I don't know much about facebook, do tell, but there's also an issue about mockery groups like Fandom Wank acting as a sort of internal police force and whether that's a positive, or a form of yellow journalism.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

What time is the cyberculture class, and can I switch? Because I really hate my creative writing class.

Icarus

[bruinsfan.livejournal.com]

I'd say Frostfire's "Here Is no Water" (http://frostfire.killerstar.net/stories/nowater.html) would be a good choice - it seemed to spark a Mitchell/Sheppard crossover trend.

I'd also list your "Last Port of Call" as a well-writen story that caused a lot of spirited discussion in fandom, though I can understand you might be reluctant to include it for various reasons.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

*snaps fingers* "Here Is No Water" -- absolutely. Thank you. Not only an excellent story but it was like a new color of dye added to the water.

I'm considering including all the Flashfic stories with 100-150+ reviews, but if I included "Last Port Of Call" I'd also include seperis' story, whatsit, the one written in response that has a much more positive spin on John. That way we'd get the whole conversation in story form. Then, since that would mean I'd add a controversy category (which makes sense), I'd need to include "The General & Doctor Sheppard" and the discussion surrounding BDSM.

Actually, do you know of any other stories that were written in response to "Last Port Of Call"?

Oh, oh-- switching the subject, I know another fic that needs to be included: that one where John is a virgin, "Lost In Waiting." That's a very important story that made people see John in a completely different light.

Icarus

[bruinsfan.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid I wasn't even aware that seperis had written a story in response—I only knew of your Rodney POV follow-up. Was it just something that sort of rebutted with her tonal take on John, or did it specifically reference "Last Port of Call"?

Oh, I don't know how much fandom acclaim/response it got, but Linaerys's "The Call of the Traveler" (http://linaerys.com/fic/sga/call_traveler.php) for the darkfic challenge was easily one of the most memorable stories I've read in any fandom this year. After three decades of reading Blish, Lovecraft, and Barker, it is NOT easy to give me chills a few hundred words into a story.

Thinking out loud...

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

The Call Of The Traveler... I think I missed that one. I was off licking my wounds during most of that challenge.

Some stories don't get acclaim but they make an impact. I'm thinking of stories like the Jack/Ba'al story that everyone read and it still lingered, "oh yeah, you remember that-?"

I am using a base-line review statistic of 150+ to support the fact that one or another story had an impact on someone other than me. I have to view the stats with a jaundiced eye, however, because some people automatically get a lot of reviews -- like astolat -- simply because they have a lot of fans. But if a relative unknown has 150 reviews in sga_flashfic, I'm going to pay close attention to it.

Still, I am going to be forced to make some personal judgement calls about which stories I pick to illustrate this or that... oh... flavor. This is going to be biased and has to be my personal take (with as much input as I can get). There's just no way around that.

I can use the stats and make a fairly good guess that the story with 150 reviews is more influential than the one with only 5 reviews. But stats are just a symptom. Something is going on there, yet they don't tell what's going on. Recs also help point out that something about that story had an impact. A story that's recced in numerous locations -- something is going on. Then discussion of a story can help ferret out what that impact was.

I'm not decided how to approach this.

- As a lit project with some commentary?
- As a simple rec-list?
- As a fandom ethnography?
- Or perhaps a combination, a rec-list with a description as to why I picked this or that story to illustrate what.

The goal, however, is context. I'm coming out of the HP fandom where stories from 2002 and 2003 have lost their frame of reference due to the passage of time and the publishing of two books in the series. This vanishing context is even more true of a fandom where canon is changed every episode. I can provide only one perspective, but I hope I can make some connections.

As for rebuttal fics for Last Port...

I know there was a lot of discussion about John after Last Port of Call. There were several fairly important people in fandom who didn't like the story. cesperanza said, "a good story, but not exactly the feel-good hit of the summer" and was disturbed by John's behavior. amireal was very honest and flatly said she didn't like it, and she had specific reasons why not.

Then I think it was... was it eleveninches(?) who put up an informal poll about your preferred characterization of John in response to all the discussion, while... it was maybe frogspace(?)... talked about how we used different characters as points of entry, that people who viewed through Rodney felt shut out of Last Port Of Call.

So, based on the overall discussion of John, seperis (who didn't tell me if she read Last Port Of Call or not, though she had heard about it) wrote a post about her frustrations in John characterization, and then posted two stories as part of the discussion, one arising out of the other one (the second was more a story summary of John sleeping with someone for a ZPM).

Not a direct rebuttal, but a fandom trend, this one blowing in the opposite direction so-to-speak.

Icarus

[wordwitch.livejournal.com]

I wonder if looking at Those Stories Most Saved in del.icio.us would be of use in this regard?
- eh, as I check my own links, I find that the most-saved are not always the most-moving. Forex, The Body Holographic was saved by 27 other people as of this evening, but A Supermarket in California was saved by 99 and Hindsight by 133.

So maybe not so much.

Wordwitch's SGA Crack

[wordwitch.livejournal.com]

Anyway, here's this list to comb through, together with links. Gods, I love software!

1. No Good Very Bad Aliens Made Them Do It; saved by 3 other people
2. An SGA Fairy-Tale; saved by 7 other people
3. Rodney McKay and the Hot-Blooded Pilot;
4. Backs To The Walls, Boys!
5. Bell Curve, or, Ladies Night at the Boom Boom Room; saved by 146 other people
6. Them Other Boys Don't Know How to Act; saved by 43 other people
7. Cleave; saved by 46 other people
8. Three John/Rodney AUs I'm Totally Not Writing; saved by 1 other person
9. Playing With Matches; saved by 30 other people
10. The Upside of Having Wraith DNA; saved by 11 other people
11. Temp Ama McKay-Sheppard; saved by 7 other people
12. And They Lived Happily Ever After; saved by 33 other people
13. Once Upon a Furry Octopus; saved by 64 other people
14. An Aesthetic Solitary Thing; saved by 31 other people
15. Liberty; saved by 44 other people
16. Free Trade; saved by 28 other people
17. Oo-De-Lally; saved by 28 other people
18. Stupid;
19. Quality Time;
20. Textbook Example; saved by 7 other people
21. Absurdity Theory; saved by 73 other people
22. The Wheel, Atlantis, Wars, And So On;
23. When In Haldoria; saved by 37 other people
24. A Regency SGA Tale; saved by 13 other people
25. Last Will and Testament; saved by 67 other people
26. The Scientific Method; saved by 60 other people
27. Mostly Harmless; saved by 40 other people
28. Advantage; saved by 136 other people

Re: Wordwitch's SGA Crack

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow. That is helpful. Thank you so much. Stats have meaning, it's just what they mean that's the question. :)

Oh yeah! I have to include something about reel_sga, yes.

This project's going to take some time since obviously it's not going to be finished until the end of the year.

Icarus

Re: Wordwitch's SGA Crack

[lim.livejournal.com]

*pokes head in*

It's important to remember that all the LiveJournal clusters are fractured by arguments. (hah)

So /1234.html and /1234.html?style=mine and /1234.html?style=mine&mode=reply etc

all show up on del.icio.us as separate clusters. So if, you're using those stats it's probably wise to do a quick keyword search and sum the clusters.

Re: Wordwitch's SGA Crack

[wordwitch.livejournal.com]

Right, plus off-Livejournal, it matters whether you link from the index or from the first story.

But it's something.

Re: Wordwitch's SGA Crack

[lim.livejournal.com]

Oh! Absolutely!

It's something good/em>! *resists saying 'something delicious' but omg resists with GREAT FORTITUDE*

[adri-n.livejournal.com]

Apologies for being random, but I have to ask. Curling? I missed curling in fic? Really?

Yes, curling. Hee.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Why, it looks like you did. *grins*

[Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<a [...] http://notpoetry.livejournal.com/131301.html>') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]

Why, it looks like you did. *grins*

<a href=""http://notpoetry.livejournal.com/131301.html>Broomstacking</i> by <lj site="livejournal.com" user="notpoetry">.

[rike-tikki-tavi.livejournal.com]

What about ltlj's Retrograde series (http://www.ltljverse.com/watergate/seriesindex.htm)?

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Ahhhh, yes, good suggestion. Is that complete at this point? I'm still juggling whether or not to include WIPs.

Icarus

[amireal.livejournal.com]

Well each story is complete and doesn't leave any real dangling plot threads. i.e. there's no overall arc other than the whole 'surviving this shit' going on.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Okay, that might work then.

(And it looks like I've been avoiding this series for no reason, as I assumed it was a WIP.)

I've decided to include WIPs in the year that they were finished rather than the year they began. Partially because many people don't read WIPs until they're complete. Then also because the events in canon and fandom will probably influence the growing WIP, so while they'll overlap years, by the end they'll belong to the year they're completed.

Ideally I'd break this up by season rather than by year, as canon radically changes the flavor of fanon. But as human beings we group events naturally, or habitually, by year. So year it is.

Hmm. *thinks aloud* Now do I read through reactions to past episodes to guage the feeling of fandom and perhaps use those comments to tie fics as-reactions-to-canon? Or is that overkill? This is already a pretty big project.

*thinks* It depends on how I decide to approach it. If it's a fandom ethnography than the episode reviews are essential.

Icarus

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Darn. If you have a time machine could you move the publish date for Retrograde from November 2005 to post-January 1, 2006? *sighs* I've just read it, and it's brilliant, and perfect for this project, and it's published a month and a half too soon.

Icarus

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Damn. It turns out Retrograde was written November 22, 2005. I was all excited about including it, too. Shit, shit, shit.

Icarus

[hack-benjamin22.livejournal.com]

You've got yourself quite a project here. ^^

Things I Would Include:
Biggest Ever Sky (http://jchalo.livejournal.com/1721601.html) by jchalo and lilysaid

Scenes From A Lesser War (http://amific.livejournal.com/4455.html) by amireal

Basura (http://www.caffiends.net/viewstory.php?sid=390) by Kat Reitz and Tzigane

A Fortress In Colorado (http://cottontail73.livejournal.com/3360.html) by cottontail73

(I'm pretty sure these were all published in 2006.) While some of these may not have the 110+ reviews that you're looking for I think they should be considered. Another way to pick out memorable stories, for the fandom, might be to see what got made into audio fics. You would probably have to ignore things done by the authors themselves, but ones done by outside sources might give you interesting statistics.

For example, A Supermarket In California (http://cottontail73.livejournal.com/3360.html) by taffetablue made such a huge impact on me that I got permission to make a podfic out of it.

You might also want to make note of the trend with titles like A Supermarket, fortess, farm, etc. In Iowa, California, Colorado, etc. I've seen that being used a lot.

[hack-benjamin22.livejournal.com]

http://www.perchance-to-dream.net/luna/failsafes.htm This one too.:)

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much, this is very helpful.

I'll look at the minimum number of reviews. I'm noticing a trend that if it's written by astolat, cesperanza, or resonant8, the review number is astronomically high.

On the other hand, I need some statistic that proves that a story has impacted a number of fans, not just one individual, because this isn't exactly a rec-list. No matter what stories I select someone's going to argue with them. Heck, probably there's a fan somewhere who loathes "Freedom..."

Icarus

[hack-benjamin22.livejournal.com]

Oh I'm sure there someone who hates "Freedoms Just..." but shame on them. The really big authors always get a lot of reviews, whether the story had an impact or not, but then there's the little stories like A Fortress In Colorado that only got about 60 reviews. I don't envy your task (well, maybe a little *g*) I'm really looking forward to seeing the list you put together.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Today I am feeling Daunted (with a capital D) as well as Grateful that there is no way this can be posted before December 31st anyway.

Icarus

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Oh, I have a question for you. Setting aside a story's impact on you personally, what do you feel was the impact of "A Supermarket In California" on fandom? Or what did it respond to? I'm curious why you would pick these fics to represent 2006. :)

Icarus

[hack-benjamin22.livejournal.com]

A Supermarket In California (A Fortress In Colorado/A Farm In Iowa)are those world building AU's. It inspired a lot of people to write Alternate Universe fic that didn't revolve around crack. They are slow and beautiful and just make you go 'wow' because you feel like you could be there. There wasn't a whole lot of that kind of fiction before that, at least not that I read.

Scenes From A Lesser War, while still an AU, is set in the Stargate Universe. It builds a world thats different, but it still keeps the same characters in their positions. This story came before the ones like 'Supermarket...' and I think it was the very start of those sweeping stories that take you on a journey and refuse to let you go. Also I think this might have one of the stories that sparked the whole 'DADT has been repealed' trend.

Basura is on my list purely because it was a shock to me and a lot of other people. It takes the things and people, you know and love, and twists them into something dark, different, and yet you still identify with these character, despite what they are doing. There were alot of reactions on both ends of the spectrum from "I love it. :) *g*" to "That's some crazy stuff...I hate it." Another reason I incuded it was because it took an episode and completely rebuilt it, while keeping it recogizable.

Hey, I hope that helps. If you need anything else, just let me know. I'd be glad to be of assistance. :)

[toft-froggy.livejournal.com]

In terms of the world-building AU's, don't forget rageprufrock's Hindsight and Ladies' Night At the Boom Boom Room. I have a feeling that at least Hindsight was quite an early AU, and it was very popular.

Good luck! I'm interested to see the results of this project.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Thank you, yes, Boom Boom Room is on the long-list (prior to the short list, heh), but do you happen to know if Hindsight was written in 2005 or 2006?

Icarus

[blackpapertiger.livejournal.com]

Ladies Night was finished in Feb. of this year (the last chunk came out as part of Pru's 14 Valentines thing she does), so that one would definitely count. Hindsight, however, was definitely 2005.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

You've got yourself quite a project here. ^^

Ohhh yeah. That's why I'm starting in October. That gives me a good three months to assemble stories, and some time to see some WIPs finished. Working out when they were published has turned out to be a little tricky.

There are trends in titles but I'm not sure what that trend would mean, so I'm not sure I could comment on it.

Icarus

[toft-froggy.livejournal.com]

This is really interesting. Just some things I thought of, on first reading - the evolution of fanon!John over the year? I've been thinking about this recently, and it seems to me that on reading fics that were written a couple of years ago and very popular of the time, like, say, astolat's Transcendental or Time in a Bottle, the way John's being written now has changed so much so that many of those older fics seem OC to me, now, although at the time they didn't. Is that because the way his character's been rounded out in canon (although I'm not sure it has at all) or just stories like cesperanza's MVP taking centre stage, where John's a lot more fucked up? I think generally speaking the fandom has taken a turn for the darker, actually. trinityofone's 'Human Vacillation' and 'Misery to Man', were more darker and sci-fi-y than the fandom was used to, as far as I could see. Also there was a period where fics which dealt in some way with DADT seemed to become quite big, like trinityofone's DADT, Damyata, Dayadhvam and amireal's Scenes from a Lesser War.

Hope that's helpful!

Excellent points, thank you.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

1. DADT, excellent point. I think that once contact had been reestablished with Earth, the military uniform code had to be dealt with in slash fanfic (whereas Atlantis as a lost expedition in season one could ignore stricter military rules). This brought about a wash of stories on the question, answering previous late-2005 stories (like seperis' "Don't Tell," and reccea's "A Not-So-Modest Proposal") that brushed lightly over it -- not in opposition, but as part of the fanfic conversation. :) Thank you for the reminder of "DADT, Damyata, Dayadhvam" and the tie-in with "Scenes From A Lesser War." I just read the latter yesterday and yes, it's on the long-list.

2. Deepening SGA darkness. I agree with you, and I think the darkness of 2006 stems again from canon, in this case from episodes like "Michael" where the Atlantis team isn't on the moral high ground anymore. I think "Freedom's Just Another Name..." resonated with the fandom because it implied a question that popped up in episode reviews (such as amireal's, IIRC): does the Atlantis expedition (or Earth) even deserve Atlantis? I do need to find more examples of darker SGA fanfics for this point as trinityofone tends towards the darkness naturally. I'd include "In The City Of Seven Walls" as an example of this trend, though I'm still vacillating about including WIPs.

Oh. I have to read "Retrograde" but I bet that's a perfect example of the trend.

3. The darker, more fucked-up John. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that 2005 (the first year of SGA slash fanfic) largely focused on developing the new John/Rodney relationship. Rodney's such an overwhelming personality that he overwhelmed and sometimes even eclipsed John (just as he does on the show ;).

In 2006, slash writers spent more time developing John. Episodes like "The Tower" left fans with either mixed messages or a much more complex John than the laid-back California flyboy. The darker military side of John had been addressed in Genfic (like rivier's "Exigencies") but not much in early slash.

This is where the debates raged over "Last Port Of Call" and the AU BDSM top John in "The General & Dr. Sheppard." I think cesperanza's "MVP" actually mediated between the extreme end of a very dark John (capable of being either a) sadistic and out-of-control possessive or b) selfish and using someone for his own needs) and a John who's vulnerable and distant (and even virginal such as in laceymcbain's brilliant "Lost In Waiting"). I'm not sure the fandom reached a consensus beyond the fact that canon has left John underdeveloped as a character.
Oh, let's not ignore the "return for a visit to Earth" stories -- or is that a 2005 phenomenon?

Thank you very much, your insights are so helpful. I'd like to bounce some more of these ideas off of you later on down the road (November/December) if you're interested.

Icarus

Re: Excellent points, thank you.

[toft-froggy.livejournal.com]

I think you're right - people definitely started out with Rodney, and then moved on to John. I know I did. However, I think there's now being a bit of a Rodney renaissance, in the wake of eps like McKay and Mrs Miller! As for dark!John, you might want to look at trinityofone's Four Quarters AU series, which is another example of a John who's very hard to like. Also, what about helenish's Your Inevitable Unhappy Ending (although not sure about the date there, that may have been late 2005)? That was massively influential, certainly for me, in terms of the potential for John and Rodney to have a screwed up relationship - I remember at the time thinking, 'Yes, god, that's how it is.' She was the first one, I think, who really nailed the kind of relationship which has become much more mainstream fanon since then. (At the risk of sounding immodest, on the topic of darker/weirder John characterisation, my fic Second Skin fit your categorization for popular fics, and was definitely part of that trend).

I'd like to bounce some more of these ideas off of you later on down the road (November/December) if you're interested. Absolutely! I find this fascinating. I'm on AIM as yangtzu62, I'd be interested to chat anytime.

That "Flavor Of The Year" project

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Hi, it's definitely past December but I'm getting close to posting the "SGA Project: Flavor of the Year." Are you still interested in having a look-see? (I did end up including Second Skin.)

Icarus