The Anonymous Perfectionist
Hey everyone!!! My pen name already kinda describes me...anyways, I'm a girl and my muse's name is Shamu...and that's all you need to know. :P I just wanna let you know that anything relating to my stories will be mentioned here!! Hope you like them!! Oh, and they are most probably just going to be Teen Titans fics...about Rob/Rae because I absolutely love them, however, I have nothing against people who like other pairings since everyone is entitled to their own opinions...speaking of which, I would truly appreciate it if you read my...diatribe...please and thank you!! :D Personal Oath: I, 'The Anonymous Perfectionist' (A.K.A. 'T.A.P.'), hereby vow that I will always complete any fanfiction that I begin to write. T.A.P.: Bahahaha, my initials spell 'tap'!! :P My Teen Titans ...Diatribe... Shamu: In other words: "T.A.P.'s Teen Titans RANT" Well, there are a few things that I have to get off my chest, so I hope you all bare with me through this...I had a hard time making sure that nothing was too confusing… I want people to take note of a few things because this is slightly important: 1) I am a die-hard Rob/Rae shipper Okay, first things first, CHARACTER BASHING!! Oh. My. God. I CAN NOT describe how greatly this annoys me!! I know that people do not take a liking to certain characters and I completely and ONE HUNDRED PERCENT understand because evenIdon't like all characters in a show. However, this DOES NOT give ANYONE permission to bash said disliked character(s) (except maybe the creators, but I don't think that they would do that). When I'm reading a fanfiction, I sometimes come across fictions that bash characters (specifically Starfire and Terra) and this upsets me greatly. Why? Because I actually LIKE Starfire and Terra. Yes, I support Rob/Rae, but that doesn't mean that other characters become the enemy, especially if the characters are all friends. This leads me to pairings… In my opinion, I would have Robin and Starfire date first because there is obviously something going on between them. However, I would have them break up after a few months because in my mind I can't see them together forever (but that's just me). Similarly, I would have Beast Boy and Raven get together because, again, there is obviously something going on between them, but they would get together a week or two after Robin and Starfire and break up roughly a month or two before Robin and Starfire. This is mostly because I see their relationship as slightly abusive (with Beast Boy’s antics and Raven’s lack of patience with those antics). I know that love can express a whole new side of a person, but I see Rob/Star and BB/Rae relationships where one of them is almost always dominant (namely Robin and Raven, respectively) and not as two equals going out. (NOTE: These opinions were formed purely on observations from the cartoon. e.g. Robin locking himself in the evidence room and ignoring everyone, including Starfire (I don’t remember the episode’s name, but Starfire came and tried to get him to come out of the evidence room, but he kind of ignored her and shut the door in her face). Plus, since she’s new to Earth’s culture, she relies on Robin to help her understand the culture and slang. Then there’s Beast Boy doing something that annoys Raven and Raven hitting Beast Boy. Additionally, Beast Boy and Starfire are both social and publically expressive people, whereas Robin and Raven are both private people who prefer keeping secrets (e.g. Raven’s prophecy and Robin’s Red X stunt) which means that they are the ones who will set most of the boundaries in a relationship). On the other hand, if I were to completely ignore the fact that Robin and Starfire and Beast Boy and Raven became a couple, and make Robin and Raven a couple instead, Starfire and Beast Boy would not be treated like enemies. In my opinion, Starfire would be hurt, but she would not be jealous nor would she want attack Raven or assume that Raven put a spell/curse on Robin. My reasons for that is because Starfire and Raven are best friends (especially after ‘Switched’) and as best friends, Starfire would understand and get over the heart break after some time. As for Beast Boy…people HARDLY EVER include Beast Boy’s reaction…it’s almost as if he never even had feelings for Raven!! Anyways, Beast Boy’s reaction would be similar to Starfire’s reaction; however, I think that Beast Boy would be hurt less because he still has feelings for Terra. E.g. In the ‘The End’ trilogy, the ‘evil’ Beast Boy was taunting Beast Boy and he mentioned Terra which caused a reaction out of Beast Boy. And in my opinion, it seemed as though he still has feelings for her. I don’t think there is any more for me to say here so… The next thing I’d like to focus on is SHIP WARS and since I’ve covered most things I want to say in the previous section, I just have a few more things to add. First of all, ship wars SOULD NOT exist!! Why? Because (as Raven would say) they are POINTLESS!! Seriously, I see no point in them. The only thing they result in are arguments and rude words between people who don’t even know each other!! Now, I don’t know about you, but I just think that that is poor behavior on everyone’s part. I’m pretty sure that everyone has at least heard of the sayings: “If you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all” and “If you want others to respect you, then respect others”. If people actually followed these sayings, ship wars could be prevented. Personally, (as you are all already aware) I am a die-hard Rob/Rae shipper, however, I respect other people’s opinions if they choose to ship a different pairing. Additionally, I only read Rob/Rae fics because this pairing is the one I support and I have no business in reading other pairings unless I feel that I want to try and appreciate the hard work of other authors/authoresses. It is one of my pet peeves to see people say to each other that so and so ‘are created for each other’, ‘meant to be together’, ‘do not belong together because of this and that’, etc. These happen to be the main arguments between Rob/Rae and Rob/Star + BB/Rae shippers, however, these arguments are only going to create a bad image for Rob/Rae, Rob/Star and BB/Rae shippers everywhere. Personally, I never judge an entire group on the misbehavior of the (proverbial) bad eggs of the bunch. I like to get to know the individual person I am interacting with before I make a judgment and so far I have seen the bad side of Rob/Rae shippers (bashing Starfire in fics), Rob/Star and BB/Rae shippers (flames) and the good side of Rob/Rae shippers (keeping everyone in character, including Starfire’s reaction and also Beast Boy’s reaction in some cases + writing a good/trying to write a good Rob/Star or BB/Rae fic), Rob/Star and BB/Rae shippers (writing a good/trying to write a good Rob/Rae fic + leaving positive reviews in Rob/Rae stories that they have read). I know that this section doesn’t really apply to everyone because in some of the fics that I have read, there are author’s notes that mention that a Rob/Star or BB/Rae shipper is friends with a Rob/Rae shipper. Those kinds of things help me remember that there are other shippers out there that are also against ship wars and that (like Raven and Starfire) people of different interests and opinions CAN still be friends. Another thing I’d like to mention in this section is that there are people out there that are (what I like to call anyway) ‘multi-shippers’. This means that they support and ship more than one pairing. I’ve actually read some of the work of these types of authors and I have to say that they do a heck of a job, especially since some of them are Rob/Rae, Rob/Star and BB/Rae shippers. These type of people are open to different pairings and are able to show that in their writing. Anyways, moving on… *Sigh* This is another pet peeve that sometimes makes me the angriest thing on Earth…FLAMES. God, some people have no shame and are just cruel and unfeeling!! Constructive criticism is one thing, but flaming is another. I’ve seen lots of authors/authoresses feel discouraged about their writing due to flames and that just makes me want to knock some sense into the flamer(s). Mostly, it’s due to the pairing and other times it’s the plot and grammar…and sometimes it’s everything. I mean it’s clear enough that if you don’t like the pairing that you shouldn’t read the story at all. If it has to do with plot and grammar, then it would be best to provide constructive criticism and help the author/authoress to improve, not flame the poor person. It takes a lot of courage for some people to publically post something for the world to see under their name and to have someone anonymously flame their work is not only cruel, but cowardly as well. There have been rare cases where flamers have actually flamed using their account and while I congratulate them for having the courage to use their account, I am disappointed in them for sometimes being absolutely uncaring to other people’s feelings. Flames can be seen as cyber-bullying and I’m pretty sure everyone is against bullying. Although, there are some people who welcome flames because they could care less about the flamer’s opinion and I think that all authors/authoresses should ignore flamers if they ever some across them. Flamers are not worth anyone’s time. And now I will move on to the last section of my…diatribe… Okay, this bit is more of a two parted thing that kind of repeats a few points, but it is something I feel the need to get across…OOC-NESS and DISCLAIMERS. I don’t blame people for making characters seem OOC (out of character) unless they are purposely making the character(s) OOC (e.g. character bashing). It’s a fact that we can’t always get characters to be in-character. I KNOW that this has to do with the way people interpret the character. For example, I know that some reasons that people think Robin and Raven go together is because they are both dark and would understand each other best. I agree that they both seem to have the best understanding for dark things, (as observed in the cartoon. e.g. Robin’s Slade obsession and Raven’s prophecy) however, all five Titans have dark pasts even though only Robin and Raven’s darkness have been explored in the cartoon. (e.g. how Cyborg became half-robot, Beast Boy’s loss of his parents and how he became a shape-shifter , Starfire’s life before coming to Earth, like her sister and how she was a prisoner when she first met the others). Cyborg, Beast Boy and Starfire seem to have an almost childish nature, but can be serious when they need to be; whereas Robin and Raven are more reserved, secretive and private. People could take the ‘moments’ between two characters as friendly, something between siblings or something more. For example, the hug between Raven and Robin in ‘The End Part 3’ could have been seen as something between a brother and sister or as something more. People interpret things in different ways and the way people interpret these ‘moments’ helps them to decide what kind of relationship two characters have. Another interpretation that causes OOC-ness is Terra’s betrayal. Personally, I think that she was good all along, but she was just confused and afraid of what people (especially the Titans) would think of her if they knew that she couldn’t control her powers. The part where she helped them in the volcano proves that and it also proves that the Titans forgave her when they put that plaque near her statue (well, it proves it to me anyway). Other people think that she was just plain evil (and that’s alright), but because of this they BASH her character (which is NOT alright). Another thing about OOC-ness that bothers me is the reaction from Starfire when she finds out about Robin and Raven. She would NOT get jealous!! Hurt? Yes. Happy for her friends? Yes. Attack Raven? NO! Another thing that people keep relating to Starfire is that she thinks that she owns Robin and that she is stupid (not a lot of people do this, but some do). Starfire is actually a strong, independent, pretty and intelligent girl (intelligence has been proved on several occasions in the show as well as her other qualities). The only thing is that that Starfire has been thrown in a place and culture that she knows nothing about and of course that means that you need help from locals. Everyone would be in the same situation as Starfire if you guys were thrown in a different country that spoke a different language and had a different culture to your own. Another thing is that people keep making Robin say that he ‘thought he was in love with Starfire because of her body’. NO, that is not true. I suppose you could claim it was puppy love, or platonic love confused with ‘love love’ because he had inexperience in that department, but Robin is not the type of guy to like a girl because of her body ONLY. Now we move on to Raven…people describe her as a goth and although there are some qualities of a goth that fit her, she isn’t a goth because that is just stereotypical. I suppose that if you writing a high school fic, then it would be okay to refer to her as a goth since stereotypes and cliques are used in the high school environment. I think that I’ve covered everything that I needed to about OOC-ness, so now we move on to… The last part…DISCLAIMERS!! Okay people, I just want to say, we all have to write disclaimers when writing a story. Why? BECAUSE WE DO NOT OWN TEEN TITANS AND THE CHARACTERS IN IT!! We are only using/borrowing them to write our stories. Some people seem to forget that sometimes because they use/borrow the characters to BASH/start SHIP WARS/FLAME against other characters/write them OOC on purpose just because they don’t own like the character/pairing and also because they feel that they somehow have the right to do whatever they like with the characters just because it is their story. If people give a good and proper reason for the way they write the characters (e.g. exploring reactions to certain situations) then something that may seem out of character might start to make more sense to the readers. Hopefully, people will become more mature and start respecting the characters as well as other Teen Titans fans. However, there will always be someone that causes trouble. Unfortunately, we live in an imperfect world where there will always be problems, however ‘one person can make a difference’ and I hope that I have at least allowed some of you to realize that some characters should not get in the way of your love for Teen Titans. Even if you don’t get the pairing you want, you can still dream because in your world, you can always make your favorite pairing a reality. Wow, that was a lot to get through! I’m sorry if it seemed like I was repeating myself in places, but it was a bit difficult to get everything that I wanted to say out here and was even harder to make sure that everything made sense and somewhat flowed…If you have any questions or confusions, please feel free to PM me!! :D Shamu: *whistles* WOW…what a rant!! However, it made good points. Status of Fictions: Title: Jumping the Gun Title: Teen Titans Pairings (Grr...need to think of a better name!!) |
Tomorrow Never Yesterday by lankree reviews