RatCreature's Journal

goss drew me a picture of SuperGrover for my drawble request, and it turned out absolutely awesome, with SuperGrover as part of a Green Lantern like Corps.

I have read a lot of X-Men: First Class fanfic recently, and thought I'd share some recs outside of my regular AU and crossover recs (though there are still going to be AU recs here):

Fix-its

never too late to be who you might have been, by acetamide. Slash, Charles/Erik. (ca. 19,600 words)
This is a fix-it via time travel, i.e. Charles and Erik from shortly before Cuba are transported into the future to the time X2, see how things turn out between them and then do better.

Try, Try Again by and_backagain. Slash, Charles/Erik. (ca. 5,680 words)
A Groundhog Day AU, in which Erik eventually manages to fix the outcome.

Faults for Fixing, by beren. Slash, Charles/Erik. (ca. 25,500 words)
In this Charles makes contact with a mutant with precognition via Cerebro and sees the possible canon future, and prevents it from coming true.

Not Half As Blinding, by keire_ke. Slash, Charles/Erik. (ca. 29,500 words)
In this AU Charles dies a comic book death from which he gets better eventually. But meanwhile Erik doesn't leave the others.

Puzzle Pieces, by lilacsigil. Gen. (ca. 15,000 words)
Here Darwin's death was of the comic book death variety, and Magneto & Co. realize that he can be put together again. Things go wrong and it's up to Mystique to organize a rescue, and to cooperate with Charles.

Brighter Path, by SisterMu. Slash and implied het, Charles/Erik, Erik/Raven. WIP
I had a bit of trouble getting into it, because the first chapter is a sex scene that didn't interest me much on its own merits. Though it made more sense to be there later on. In this AU Erik stays after Cuba, and they work out their ideological differences not through competing mutant teams but in strategy discussions while dealing with the practical concerns of the aftermath together, i.e. getting Charles care, dealing with the CIA and so on. I also enjoyed this take on Moira and the original character that appears.

Synthesis (Scenes from an AU), by starlady. Slash, Charles/Erik. (ca. 15,200 words)
The author claims this is not a fix-it for the ending, but it definitely is a reality where Charles and Erik are not on opposite sides in the future, and Erik stays rather than leaving, without any radical premise shifts (like the AUs below). So that counts as fixed in my book.

other AUs

Remedial Dragon Training 030, by Anon. WIP
I don't know the How to Train Your Dragon movie with which this is a fusion, but Dragon!Erik is quite awesome.

your head caught in a waking dream, by Anon. Slash, Charles/Erik. WIP
The scenario here is that Charles' parents had him committed to a mental hospital, which did not help much with his telepathy. Eventually Raven (whom he met like in canon) manages to break him out with Erik's help. This is great h/c and I'm really enjoying how much damage was done to Charles and how he's slowly healing, while hunting for Shaw with Erik and Raven and killing people with his brain.

Hellfire AU, by Cesare and helens78. Slash, Charles/Erik. (ca. 54,700 words so far in three finished stories, but the series is still a WIP)
This is a modern day period dystopia in which mutants are enslaved, but Charles and his group are part of a mutant resistance.

Skin Deep by manic_intent. Slash, Charles/Erik. (ca. 29,400 words)
A werewolf AU. It startled me a bit that Charles shifts into a female wolf despite being a male human, but it worked quite well, and I liked the worldbuilding.

Center of Balance, by soundslikej. Gen. (ca. 1,600 words)
This is a five things story with the theme "five mutants Charles Xavier never met at age 12, and one he did" and the snippets are a great mix from sweet to creepy.

Dead Man's Paradise, by Yahtzee. Slash, Charles/Erik. (ca. 24,000 words)
The setup is inspired by some anime series I don't know. Basically mutants who are imprisoned are used in gladiator fights for entertainment purposes, and one of those places is run by Shaw. Erik ended up there because he killed a Nazi, Charles got himself imprisoned looking for Raven. I liked that it started rather dark, but then ended more hopeful. I also liked that the dehumanizing setup twists people (sort of a Stanford prison experiment) but that Charles showing solidarity changes things for the better, so it's not completely bleak for all the dystopia.

other

Anthem for Doomed Youth, by Fahye. Slash and het, Charles/Erik, Erik/Raven. (ca. 12,800 words)
We see events of the movie from Raven's POV.

The Emperor's New Clothes, by ignipes. Gen. (ca. 3,100 words)
There are few humor stories that literally make me LOL, but this was one of them. It explores the consequences of Magneto's clothing choices.

The Fortress, by kindkit. Gen, Erik, Raven. (ca. 1,250 words)
As the long list of fix-its above shows, going with canon is a slightly tough sell for me in this fandom. That said, this is a great character study of Erik and Raven in immediate the aftermath.

A Dash of Truth Spread Thinly, by Labingi. Het and implied slash, Erik/Raven, Charles/Erik. (ca. 5,700 words)
This is a great character study of Raven post-X2 that incorporates XMFC canon.

Lastly, unfrosted_cake is reccing XMFC fanart on fanart_recs this month and has been posting several recs already, so if you like pretty X-Men pictures you ought to check that out. (I'm all gleeful at the high frequency of getting X-Men art links -- meanwhile I'm reccing Merlin fanart there this month at a more sedate pace, with two recs so far.)

I brought Leo to the vet yesterday, and he gave him his usual shot (which he's been getting twice a week to help him fight the myco on his own, some kind of tarantula venom derived thing which apparently has inconclusive results in studies, but according to my vet is worth a try and Leo's held on for two months with it now after all) and in addition to that something to stimulate his appetite because Leo wasn't eating anymore, and an antibiotic they hadn't tried last time around with the antibiotics. I thought they went through all the antibiotic options two months ago when four different ones failed, but apparently there still was one that could be tried with injections.

Today he's been slightly better, not much, but he's been eating a little, and when I gave him something especially tasty he also showed enough interest that he grabbed it and went to eat in a corner away from his brother, so he wouldn't loose the treat. Also, while yesterday and the day before he hasn't come out of the cage at all, just now he's been out and taking a look around, and even climbing furniture. I think in part he showed interest because I had to tidy up and clean my place because the heating meters were read today, so he had to check things out.

Anyway, it still doesn't look great for him, and he has gotten pitifully thin, but he's not yet retreating into a hole, ready to give up and die either, as I had almost feared imminent last weekend. So I don't know, but I hope he'll be tenacious and fight a little while longer. His next vet appointment is Friday, and I'm crossing my fingers that the current slight upward trend in appetite and liveliness holds up, indicating that the current med cocktail is helping him.

In other news, I recced four pieces of DC fanart last month on fanart_recs and will probably rec Star Wars this month, because that came second in the poll I did last month. Others have signed up to rec DC Comics, Harry Potter, Inception, Naruto, Odin Sphere, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1, and Star Trek Reboot, which is an awesome increase in reccer numbers compared to last month. So even with the occasional drop out the comm ought to be busier this month than last.

To give myself incentive to draw something, and others incentive to rec over at fanart_recs I've decided to offer anyone who signs up to rec a fandom in May (just four recs as a minimum!) a sketch as a bribe. It would be more elaborate than the ultra-quick drawbles I do, but I won't promise a painting or anything like that (those can take me up to 100+ hours after all), just a pencil sketch (or rather a scan of a sketch) that fulfills a request. I'm offering any fandoms I've drawn before, i.e. DC, Marvel, SGA, Merlin, Star Trek, Harry Potter, Dresden Files, and Temeraire, and all other fandoms I'm into would also be possible, which is a long list, among them Sanctuary, LOTR, Sherlock Holmes, Terminator, Farscape, Murdoch Mysteries, Avatar the Last Airbender, Star Wars, X-Files, Sentinel...

I'm fairly flexible, however I don't do any kind of RPF, nor pornographic art. The limit for sex in my art is pretty much things like kissing, groping and cuddling, but I'm not particular wrt pairings. There are a couple of non-explicit kinks I don't think I could realize well, for example genderbending, crossdressing or mpreg art.

Anyway, if you are willing to be bribed, just comment here with a description of your request, and I'll say whether I think I could do a sketch like you have in mind. Then sign up the usual way on the rec comm, and I'll hopefully be able to finish your sketch before May is over. BTW, should you happen to be one of the three awesome volunteers already signed up for May, you can also ask for sketch, if you'd like.

ETA: If you don't have a DW account which you'd need to post recs in the comm, I have plenty of invite codes to share.

In February I recced DC fanart on fanart_recs, unsurprisingly quite Batverse heavy. You can browse and hopefully enjoy all six of them under the DC tag there. In March I volunteered myself for Marvel fanart recs. Others are going to rec Inception, Merlin, SGA and Supernatural. BTW, if anyone else was interested to post some recs, it is not too late to sign up for March (or any other month), as you see it's not very crowded yet.

I probably ought to have promoted the comm more to rouse interest to counter the volunteer drop off (still should), but as you've seen from the dearth of posts in my journal, February wasn't great. (Nothing particularly bad happened or anything, just mentally it wasn't a good month, with me feeling mostly like an inert lump in hibernation.)

I just posted my seventh and last Star Trek TOS fanart rec over at fanart_recs. You can browse them under the Star Trek TOS tag, and surprisingly I ended up reccing not a single K/S piece, but only gen and het stuff.

I'm not completely sure yet whether I'll rec in January or pause and do a set in February, but next on my list will likely be Lord of the Rings fanart. However in January others have signed up to rec Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Doctor Who, Final Fantasy VII, Harry Potter, Inception, Hellsing, OZ (HBO), Stargate Atlantis and Supernatural, so you should definitely subscribe, if you haven't already.

I posted my sixth and last Star Trek Reboot fanart rec over at fanart_recs (you can browse them under the Star Trek Reboot tag). In November I'm going to rec Merlin fanart there, and others have signed up to rec ATLA, Bandom, Dragon Age: Origins, Harry Potter, Hetalia, Marvel, Sailor Moon, Sherlock Holmes, and SGA, so you should definitely subscribe, if you haven't already. And maybe sign up to rec your fandom in December or January!

And happy Halloween, if you celebrate it. :)

A while ago I wondered about the lack of a Crack Van style community for fanart recs. After some dithering I've taken the plunge to create one myself after all, and there now exists fanart_recs. Still somewhat under construction, but there is a brief intro, and a sign-up post for people who would like to volunteer for some recs. The community is open for fanart recs from all fandoms (whether books, comics, cartoons, live action, anime, RPF...), genres, styles and ratings. (Please someone volunteer?) Membership is open, but posting is restricted to the reccers who have signed up to post recs.

I've decided to leave the number and selection of fandoms in any month to chance, because a more rigid scheme like the original Crack Van has seemed rather a lot of work to maintain long term -- I mean, I'm prepared to pimp the community in search of volunteers, but not dedicated enough to guarantee finding reccers for a list of fandoms every month.

Feedback and additional suggestions/questions for the intro/rules, helpful advice from experienced rec comm mods, and such are also welcome. Also especially suggestions where to best promote/announce this comm to find members/reccers would be welcome. And of course you can just join/watch to get the fanart recs that hopefully will happen there at some point in the near future. Did I mention that you can volunteer to rec? October slots for all fandoms are wide open right now. ;)

Are there any multifandom fanart recs communities? I know crack_van and its fandom-specific cousins sometimes feature fanart, but it's mostly fic. I've been wondering whether there was a similar thing for fanart, some community where reccers sign up to rec you fanart in their fandoms, which then conveniently show up on your reading list so you can find new artists without having to click through favorite galleries on dA or browse delicious bookmarks (which seem scarcer for fanart than for fic too).

I suspect all of Merlin fandom but me has seen these already because they were posted over a month ago, but in case you have missed them just as I did, shiyasim drew some brilliant Merlin strips in the style of Calvin and Hobbes, with them as kids: three strips here and four more here.

First, the sticksandsnark challenge entries have been posted. So there's lots of good Rodney and Teyla stuff. This year's masterlist is here. In particular I want to point you towards Your Mouth As Some Surprise by Siriaeve (Rodney/Teyla, 9,400 words), which is an awesome story with Rodney and Teyla stranded in a Pegasus monastery for a while. It's my favorite of the entries I've read so far. Also check out Astrid's gorgeous drawing.

Second, because compiling lists is a great way to procrastinate while still giving yourself the illusion of accomplishing something, I posted yet another SGA thematic list, this time of all SGA wingfic I could find. I also listed some art, but it's not yet nearly as comprehensive for that, because I don't bookmark fanart as much. As usual if you know of stuff I missed, please link me. I've also updated several of my other SGA thematic lists recently.

Third, I did not actually forget about the results of my previous "what should I draw" poll from a while ago. The results when I last checked were a three-way draw between the SGA/Avatar fusion option, the gothic/steampunkish SGA mad scientist AU, and the Dresden Files illustration. Of these I have the clearest idea about the SGA/Avatar fusion, so I've decided to go with that first, and draw Ronon as Firebender. I'm just (unsurprisingly) kind of slow making actual progress on this (and procrastinating via thematic list compilation, as seen above). Anyway, this is my public commitment to that project, still following my theory that public statements about WIPs might help in overcoming my lazy inertia.

I just finished reading Lovesrain44's Big Bang story, Phantom Load (gen, Sam and Dean, set present day and pre-series, ca. 54,000 words), and though it kind of gutted me, it's a great story. While the story is gen there are explicit scenes of sexual abuse of a young Dean by an original character, and I think it's one of the most harrowing child abuse stories I've read in fandom. Not because it is particularly extreme or bleak, but because the way the memories are narrated, the details, and the past and the present, and Dean and Sam's POVs are woven together made it very real to me.

Also, even if you don't think you can stomach the story, you should take a look at Xterm's drawing, which is lovely and can stand on it's own as a picture of their childhood, even though looking at it again after reading there are added layers to the artwork.