Dear Torchwood Fandom,

[rm]

Dear Torchwood Fandom,

I am as much about Jack/Ianto as many of the rest of you, BUT, perhaps you have not noticed, these are two really fucked up people in fucked up circumstances with a distinctive disinclination towards monogamy.

So, can we please stop writing fics that involve Jack cooing over how adorable Ianto is? or making him breakfast in bed? Or saying "I love you" every two seconds?

BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT THOSE GUYS. Even in happy ending fics (which I like), even when they are taking comfort from each other (which is probably how it evolved out of Ianto trying to get Lisa into the Hub) and even when they're in love with each other (which I can totally buy).

Ianto is both weirdly innocent and incredibly fucking devious and generally pretty at sea and FILLED WITH TRAUMA and also tough as nails. And Jack is actually out of his goddamn mind. And immortal (more or less). And a huge slut. And a very manly man. Mostly. And also, FILLED WITH TRAUMA, and I don't mean screaming girl trauma for either of them, okay?

So, please, pelase, please, people, let these characters be into each other on their own terms, not your unimaginative heteronormative romance novel crap.

Also, didn't we learn anything about sickeningly cute and character inappropriate nicknames from the Harry Potter fandom?

Thank you.

Gah. I hate new fandoms.

Comments

[ezust.livejournal.com]

I hate feeling as if I'm piling on, but... Also here through metafandom and just wanting to leave you a big heaping helping of WORD.

I've been really frustrated by trying to find fan fiction for this pairing (and in the fandom in general, as I'm also a big old plotty gen whore) more so than any fandom I've wanted to crack before. If it's not the "I just scribbled this down on my arm on the way home on the bus hope you like it!" type author notes, it's the complete lack of betas or the apologies for swearing, or the endless WIPs, or the eventual line where Jack falls to his knees and grasps Ianto's hand with desire burning in his eyes.

I'm getting wildly frustrated here and, though I know it's said by anyone who's been in fandom for more than a year about any new fandom that dawns on the horizon.... but MAN does TW fandom seem young!

With so much fiction being posted for the fandom, I guess I just assumed I was the only one who didn't know where to look for the superior writing.

If you have any J/I recs – or can vouch for the quality of anyone else who does recs in this fandom, please do me the great favor of sharing. I haven't wanted to read fan fic in years; I finally found a pairing that pushes my buttons and I'm left wondering who the hell is actually writing anything either adult or sophisticated enough to satisfy (elitist) me. *g*

[rm.livejournal.com]

sam_storyteller has many Torchwood fics, mostly Jack/Ianto but also mixing it up some, that are all competent and get the voices down. A few of them are truly great, in particular "Dresser" which moved the hell out of me and makes it very clear that the Jack/Ianto thing is very serious although way more twisty than just love.

[rm.livejournal.com]

but MAN does TW fandom seem young!

I've noticed that too, and nrmally I'm down with that, but it really throws me here. Not because Torchwood is s dirty/trashy but because the interpersonal stuff is so complicated.

I know a lot of people don't like Torchwood because they say "this is not how peopel are" and of course, that's true in teh sense of how out of this world the show is.

But the fact remains that my ex-gf is my writing partner who lives with the ex-fiance of my best friend. Most everyone I know i s at least slightly queer. Torchwood is the toxiic, angsty,, soap opera version of what my world looks like, and I like it that way. I'm not even sure I'd have given a shit about the show were I younger. So yeah, the vibe I get that TW fandom is like 15 and wants to "solve" the interpsonal stuff on the show freaks me out.

[lokifan]

So yeah, the vibe I get that TW fandom is like 15 and wants to "solve" the interpsonal stuff on the show freaks me out.

That hadn't occurred to me before but it certainly rings true. The sense of "happily ever after", instead of "then happiness interspersed with fights, death, cheating, fights, losing passion, more fights..." I wonder about where else these fans have come from; the natural fanbase for Torchwood is surely old Buffy fans, but they don't seem to have travelled over. Where's that sense that open, TV canon lends itself to relationships breaking down and new ones springing up?

...I'm really going away from the main rant, which I think was more of the oft-repeated "they are MEN, they are COMPLEX, stop it! And if I see Draco Malfoy referred to as Drake (edit for fandom) one more time I'm going to lose it" rant.