citrusjava

I started watching the show from season 4, After School Special, though I've tried watching random episodes before, and seriously tried to watch it from the start in reruns (Wendigo) - and seriously did not connect to it. I chose After School Special cause it sounded like it might remind me of Buffy, the whole "who we were in highs school vs. who we are now", and I was really trying to find something about the show that'd make me care at all, would make me want to watch more.


Pretty early on I found myself wanting to describe Dean as 'chibi', and found it amusing that I'd want to describe the show's rough, tough male lead like that. Honestly, in my early days of watching, I believed Dean was intentionally and officially characterized as "a delicate flower" with a flimsy macho shell no one ever was supposed to take seriously. This probably has something to do with me starting from season 4 rather than 1. I was certain Jensen played him that way knowingly and just - that that was his characterization. I was pretty surprised when I came across a con vid in which Jensen was talking about how much of a tough guy Dean is.


I'd decided not to get into fandom or read fic at all till I finish watching the whole show and have my own opinions (that took a few weeks, perhaps? Season 8 was just starting to air). I was going a bit crazy, wondering about the subtext between Dean and Sam. I knew there was fic out there, so *someone* saw *something* - but, could I be imagining it all? Me, and perhaps that random fic writer out there - or maybe not, maybe it was one of those 'made in fandom ships'? Was I seeing what I thought I was seeing, was I just imagining this? I tried to catch it in screencaps, but it seemed to be more about the movement. I kept taking notes about where scenes were slashy. I remember telling myself that 'even' something like that scene in Playthings was pretty slashy, though probably no one really paid much attention to that. I noticed the Destiel subtextiness, but it didn't shake my world much- I just, you know, smiled for the people out there who must be adoring it. I was not expecting ship wars.

I also watched a few con vids (J2 in sports shirts, linking arms and skipping around on stage?) and the guys seemed so sweet, happy, nice towards fans, and way too clean cut, and I was telling myself - no. I am not getting into another RPS fandom. Leave that for One Direction fans, I am not. And then Misha was cute too, and I grumbled and stood my ground.

Oh, and I also considered Jensen way way too much of a WB/ CW pretty boy, and I didn't get why anyone would find Misha attractive at all, and it took me time to realize people do, and Jared I was just vaguely loyal towards cause he was Dean on Gilmore Girls and was cute there.

The first J2 fic I read was an AU, but I wasn't used to this convention. It wasn't very well written, and there wasn't much of an exposition, so I spent the first half of the fic going - why the fuck would Jensen try to pick up guys online, give them his real name, just meet them randomly with no thought about his celebrity status?


Do you also feel like season 4 is in a somewhat different genre?
I loved season 4. I still feel season 4-5 are very different from seasons 1-3 in vibe and style, not just in storylines. It feels like a different genre somehow. More like Buffy, yes. Less... manly desolate isolated "the world burned down, and ground is salted" "there is nothing in the world but you" more... fluffy, relatable, er, saturated filters? For all they have so many problems, it's just - it feels. Softer? I wanna say more feminine, somehow? Season 4 more than season 5.

A thing about Cas and Wincest
A while back I was hurt by some cruel stuff some people on Tumblr wrote about Wincest, went looking for anti-Destiel stuff, cause I wanted to see what could have fueled that sort of attitude (besides being anti incest), and couldn't find any (found a little since). I asked people what might fuel that, what I'm not seeing that Wincest fans do, and balder12 made the very good point that in most Wincest, Cas and the boys' relationship with him are just ignored, while Destiel and Sassy fans constantly have to deal with and acknowledge the other brother. I agree. even of the very little Destiel I've read, I've read some Sam-bashing fic and meta (*sadface*), but I've also read some fic that developed and explored Dean and Sam's reelationship alongside Cas and Dean's, in a way that I found satisfying (as a shipper, for me, the sex and romance aspects of Dean and Sam's relationship are not as important as the rest). I'd like to read more Wincest in which the boys' relationships with Cas are explored. I've hardly ever read any at all. Perhaps it's because we're used to the boys being alone, and it's part of the ship and its epicness. But do we really need them to literally be alone, no other relationship, for themto be together? I've hardly even found Wincestiel in which the different relationships were explored, really.

( Fic and podfic recs )
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*I seriously need someone to talk to about how incredibly close On the Road is to SPN, and Dean is Dean and are you kidding me about Sam and OMG slashy and OMG Kripke must have reread the first chapter before he sat down to write the pilot of something!

Title: Afterparty (Aftermath)
Fandom: Avengers
Author: thingswithwings
Reader: nickelmountain
Rating: Teen & Up
Pairing: Bruce Banner/Tony Stark
Length: 00:07:18
Author's Summary: Tony's kissing everyone tonight, or at least everyone who'll let him.

Rec: Even if this isn't your fandom, I recommend fandom hopping for seven minutes for this touching, sweet podfic. Nickelmountain's beautiful, intimate reading makes the story sound all the more interesting and magical, as if every word is sacred and meaningful. The deep, lovely way she tells the story, like sharing something earnest late at night, complements this sweet, lighthearted, touching fic well.

Added bonus: It includes an Avengers trope I love - the base assumption that most of the team is having some sort of polyamorous relationship.

Today I'm reccing fic I would have written off based on the header - and am glad I didn't. A lot of this is "Dean/Cas recs for Dean/Sam shippers", if you will.

If On a Winter’s Night a Fangirl
What I loved about it: I adore meta fandom fic things. This one is funny and silly, just - fun. Becky, Chuck, slash, rps, inside jokes, fandom.
The reading is so much fun - the reader and a friend delighting in the fic and occasionally not being able to help laughing - it works well for me with this sort of fic, particularly since it's meta on meta on meta, it's only fitting that the readers be present in it in a more "official" way. Also, it's just fun - being read to by someone who loves what they read, and you can tell they're having fun too, sharing the jokes.
Header: Dean/Cas
Thoughts: in a way, it's a story about fandom (via Becky and other forces) switching from Wincest to Destiel. I would have maybe had a problem with that, but I was too busy laughing. Also, it made me realize another bit of how Destiel (used to be?) marginalized. They never got canon validation like that.
Wouldn't have read cause: there's Dean/Cas in there.


Absolution
Some of the things I loved about it: This fic is midseason 4, in a very good way. The characters and their relationships, the world, the vibe. A lot of it is about Sam and Dean's relationship, how they deal with the way they started to drift apart, Sam drinking demon blood in order to make amends, Dean defining himself by Sam, being ok vs. being honest with each other and everything that's going on around them. It looks at these things in a way I appreciated - I didn't feel it put anybody on a pedestal, and still it was compassionate. It's casefic, or rather - case arc fic, this could have been a third or so of season 4, and it's interesting. Castiel plays an important role in this, and is interesting in himself and what he goes through, without taking from the rest.
Why I would have ruled it out: Dean/Cas, ( spoiler ). I really don't go for those, but the fic didn't depend on them, they weren't the center of things, and they worked.


Start Quoting Shakespeare And We're Done
What I liked about it: Librarians, brothers being cute together, banter, Dean working on cars, Dean being fed, Sam being fed chocolate, things being simple and happy after all.
Thoughts: This is just cute shmoop, not too sappy, just mostly cute rom-com. Don't usually like rom-coms, usually I find them more disturbing on a social/personal level than some of the things considered angst. This fic had only a little of that, and was cute and fun.
Why I would have ruled it out: rom-com, AU, Dean/Cas, Sam/Gab.

Apocrypha, or: How Chuck Learned to Stop Worrying and Love His Red Pen
Liked about it: Chuck, funny, interesting, good season 4/5 characterization and vibe, outsider POV on the "war headquarters at Bobby's" scenario, writing and show meta.
Wouldn't have tried it cause: Dean/Cas, outsider pov.

In short, I'm running out of good Sam/Dean (and Sam/Cas!) non-triggery podfic.

Second part of my day 2 entry for the 8 Days of Wincest Challenge.
Was gonna rec this for day 1, then realized it actually took place in season 2, as well...

Title: Captured by the Game
Author: rivkat
Podfic: Link
Reader: the ever-fantastic reena_jenkins
Rating: nc-17
Author's Summary: AU. Azazel has given his favorite son a task: worm his way into the confidence of a hunter. It sounds simple, but Dean Winchester just might be more than Sam can handle.

Rec: This is the sort of AU I adore - same everything except for one important detail. It's written so well, and the characterization, particularly Sam's, is interesting. Despite its length, when I reached the ending I just wanted more of it, 'how come I didn't get to go on reading the whole series in that universe?' It's that sort of fic. And I often think of parts of it in relation to the episodes they reference. Also, I enjoyed following Sam obliviously falling for Dean <3