case: ([ Tommy; Cough gay cough. ])
Case ([personal profile] case) wrote in [community profile] fandomsecrets2008-09-30 05:02 pm

[ SECRET POST #634 ]


⌈ Secret Post #634 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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[ under a rock, much? ]


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Notes:

Rank 18! → http://lolbuttsex.myminicity.com/

Secrets Left to Post: 11 pages, 253 secrets from Secret Submission Post #091.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 2 3 - broken links ], [ 1 2 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 1 2 - repeat ], [ 1 2 - personal attack ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Re: lol tl;dr part 2

(Anonymous) 2008-10-01 03:49 pm (UTC)(link)
You are the one who brought up the bestiality thing. And overconfident is probably more correct, you're right. I don't think that changes my point.

The Shofixti Maidens are the only completely canonical example of sentient beings in his menagerie, I'll give you that. But the fact that he even has them, combined with the fact that he wants you, implies that he may have more, or at the very least shows that he doesn't particularly care.

Yes, he's obsessed with things the VUX find ugly. It's similar to a human being creepily fascinated with things humans find ugly.

Regarding endangering his planet because he doesn't want to stop banging the Captain, and doesn't think it's wrong... The issue I take with that is that the reader is inclined to feel sympathetic, that it's VUX society, and not ZEX, that is wrong. And granted, VUX society is wrong on a host of levels, but for example, the player should feel that ZEX was in the wrong for endangering his people in order to collect the Beauty. I don't know that I've read anything where the reader was supposed to think ZEX was definitely in the wrong.

I don't think I'd ever seen that comic. It didn't strike me as a particularly condescending attitude, is all I'm saying. Anyway, I don't think his flirting really shows he considers the Captain an equal. His use of "relationship" in this context doesn't really imply an actual romantic relationship between equals; it's used euphemistically.

It seems like he's considering capturing you from the beginning, given his intense interest in you. But he is a brilliant tactician, and so he sets things up to kill two birds with one stone -- he sends you off to get the Beauty, taking the risk that you won't manage it, but presumably he's analyzed your abilities and weaponry and deemed you fit enough to make the attempt. This gives him time to make preparations to capture you: checking his ship, preparing containment, etc. He's obsessed enough to get exiled for it, so yes, I view it as a much bigger flaw than you do.

I might write something down the line; I think it would have to be fairly long to capture this vision of him, and I don't do so well with long, but I may try. I enjoyed the Secret Theaters -- well, the early ones; I think the "ZEX is attacked" plotline sent things a little far into "noble, tragic ZEX" territory, but overall they're fun. It's just that the whole of LJ StarCon fandom is so heavily based on it... it doesn't seem like "Star Control II" fandom anymore, it seems like "Zarla's StarCon II Secret Theater" fandom, which, you know, would be alright, if it were a niche in a bigger fandom instead of the whole fandom (well, the whole fandom that acknowledges ZEX, anyway).

I haven't really been involved in StarCon II fandom for a while -- it was somebody talking elsewhere about an RP and hoping they were IC that prompted me to create the secret.

I'm in the Phoenix Wright fandom, and I've commented occasionally on your screencap adventures. Overall I think you're a pretty neat person, but I'm just craving a more middle-of-the-road interpretation of ZEX, because I think he's more interesting that way.

AND AGAIN!

[identity profile] zarla.livejournal.com 2008-10-02 12:57 am (UTC)(link)
I brought it up because a lot of the time people say I WANT ZEX TO BE MORE OF A PERVERT but they don't actually want him having sex with animals. With how implicit a lot of his activies are in the game, you can actually run a gamut of ZEX just being a bizarrely passionate auteur whose interest in his collection comes off to humans through translation as being sexual (and given that his menagerie is like, the only thing he has to do for twenty years, it may make sense that it becomes the dominating force in his life), to a guy who rapes sentients and animals and can't control his slavering lust at the expense of his own life. You could make a case for him at pretty much any point between those two, depending on what canon you use. I don't think there's a definite, rocksolid definition of him and exactly how perverted he is.

If the reader feels that the other VUX are in the wrong, that's their interpretation of the events. As for the Beast, I don't think ZEX was in the wrong for endangering his people because I don't think he knew that was going to happen. Given how extensive and how long ZEX has worked on his menagerie, I believe he would have the strongest containment units possible and, up to that point, have been able to safely contain any creature that he wanted, since he's still alive when we meet him. Since he's never had something break free before, he has no reason to think that it will this time. I don't think he was ever willfully, knowingly endangering anyone with the Beast, and I don't think he was in the wrong for wanting it.

There's also this one (http://www.ashido.com/sc2/ZEXCaptainbadtiming1.GIF). Why would he flirt euphemistically with the Captain if he didn't at the least consider him an equal? That seems pointless and random (if not just for unsettling straight male players). If he wanted the Captain, why not just take him like he takes everything else, instead of playing coy and flirting with you? Trying desperately to make you feel sympathetic towards him, appeal to you as an intelligent being, refer to the two of you as being the same?

I don't see the entire thing as being quite so premeditated... rather a decision he came to while you were gone getting the Beast, realizing that this might be his only chance to have a human and that he should take advantage of it, so he prepared accordingly. It's a slight difference, but it's still there, you know what I mean? I think we just fundamentally view him in a different way, which is fine, but I don't think I leatherpants him. I put a lot of thought into all of this.

I wanted the ZEX-gets-attacked storyline to show that there would be consequences for what they were doing, and to get an outsider opinion on the entire thing, rather than tragic noble ZEX, so it's interesting that it came off that way to you. The problem with doing the caps is that you only tend to hear things from ZEX's viewpoint, and as a result you tend to sympathize with him while being completely unaware of what might be going on that he's not telling you, thus the sidefic exploring that where he's being completely irresponsible and selfish about it. It's hard in the context of a one-on-one conversation with someone to tell the reader something that ZEX would lie about or simply omit. That's part of why I had DAX come in to try and explain to you that the entire thing was dangerous and that ZEX was being shortsighted and selfish, and that he just views you as another member of his menagerie in a free-roaming kind of way.

god i can't shut up

[identity profile] zarla.livejournal.com 2008-10-02 12:58 am (UTC)(link)
There practically was no LJ Starcon2 fandom before my secret theaters, since Frungylovers was made way way after I started doing them, when I asked a bunch of friends if they thought it'd be a good idea. I loved ZEX, so most of the people I know that I tried to get into Starcon2 love ZEX, and frungylovers was primarily made up from people that I knew and friends I'd made, or people that I managed to convince to join or play the game. It wasn't like there was an existing LJ fandom for Starcon2 that I took over or something, it's more like it was me and a group of friends that are welcoming of new people and want to expand. There's that and Starcon2 fandom is small period. It was small when I came in (you can imagine how small it was before UQM), it's small now, and it'll never be big enough to allow for the kind of niches that you describe, except for frungylovers being a niche inside Starcon2 fandom as a whole. I'm frankly shocked that frungylovers ever got more than thirty members, that's how small this fandom is. Most of the people there never heard of Starcon2 until I told them about it and begged and pleaded for them to play, and most of them are my friends. That's just how things turned out, and if you want to help change things, it's really too small to start a separate community or something... you have to try and do things yourself.

An RP hmm? I'm assuming you're talking about Landel!ZEX, but that's something entirely different and probably better suited to email, if you'd prefer.

I think we really do just have a fundamental difference of opinion on ZEX, although I really don't think that calls for making a sweeping generalization. All you had to do was open a dialogue on frungylovers about it.

Re: god i can't shut up

(Anonymous) 2008-10-02 02:29 am (UTC)(link)
I'm kinda tired of arguing; it really is a fundamental difference of opinion, and I don't intend to change your mind, just try to present my view as valid. I wasn't trying to attack you -- you created your interpretation of the character, and while I personally find it somewhat uninteresting, you have every right to expand on that interpretation. I take issue more with the fact that so many others (well, so many in the scope of the fandom) just seem to follow your lead as far as ZEX is concerned. I just want some variety in interpretation.

I phrased the secret the way I did in an attempt to be succinct. Tl;dr secrets annoy me, and I'm trying to get away from apologetically explaining myself in every secret I make.

And it was the other person talking about whether they were in character, not whether you were in character. Also, that looks like a neat RP.

Honestly, I wasn't trying to attack you, and I'm sorry if you felt that way.

Re: god i can't shut up

[identity profile] zarla.livejournal.com 2008-10-02 05:32 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, me too. I really just think differences of opinion like this are just you know, opinions. Or interpretations, and I'm interested in other interpretations. Fascinated by them, actually! There's nothing I like more! But I don't like being attacked for my own interpretation when I feel like it's fairly grounded in canon, and that secret was phrased kind of as an attack so I wanted to defend myself. I do get a bit passionate about ZEX i must admit, he was an early favorite character of mine. /o\

I can't do anything about anyone else's interpretation, really, that's out of my hands. I just do my own thing, and people run with it sometimes. Not much you can do there. :O I can see how that can be frustrating for people, I totally understand that, but I just think you can you know, bring it up to the comm or something rather than make a secret about it is all. :O

Oh, I see. Sorry, I'm self-conscious a bit about landel!ZEX since it's such a unique situation to put him in and [cut tl;dr explanation here] so you know. :B It's a very fun RP though so I really enjoy playing there as a sidenote.

I didn't really feel attacked, I just thought it was an unfair generalization, you know? And I just wanted to explain why I see him the way I do sometimes. But I'm tired of arguing about it too, I mean, we really just see him in a different way and there's nothing wrong with that.

Re: god i can't shut up

(Anonymous) 2008-10-02 12:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, I do stand by my secret. The fangirling annoys the hell out of me. I just didn't want you to think I was attacking you specifically, since you're kind of the leader of the fandom.

I would also like to point out that you're kind of intimidating. Not because you're mean or demanding or not accepting of other viewpoints -- you're not like that -- but because of your BNF status. Which is why I'm staying anonymous.

Re: god i can't shut up

[identity profile] zarla.livejournal.com 2008-10-02 11:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Me, intimidating, really? :O It's not like I'll call out other people to attack you or something or ban you and be all THIS PERSON IS A JERK EVERYONE LET'S NOT LISTEN TO THEM or something like that. :O If I ever have a disagreement or argument with someone it's always just between me and that person, and no one else needs to be involved or know about it. Definitely not going to try and call an army about it. :O

Re: god i can't shut up

(Anonymous) 2008-10-03 12:35 am (UTC)(link)
It's less that I think you'd call an army, and more that I think an army might magically appear, whether you want one or not. XD

Re: god i can't shut up

[identity profile] zarla.livejournal.com 2008-10-03 03:18 am (UTC)(link)
I see, I see. :O