Wherein Cam Talks Too Much About X-Men: First Class

[cammeh]

So. My obsession with X-Men: First Class is reaching critical levels. I thought that the giddy infatuation would fade after a week or so (as so often happens for me with shiny new (sort of) fandoms), but it's been two weeks now and it's only getting worse. D:

I honestly expected next to nothing from this movie. While I liked X1 and X2 a lot, I was never in love with them, and Last Stand and Wolverine were just—I don't even want to remember them, okay, and then the trailers and clips for First Class were horrendous, and out of everyone in the X-franchise I've never even been all that interested in Professor X and Magneto. So I basically just saw this because I randomly had time to kill and I was already by the movie theater.

AND THEN IT WAS LIKE GETTING HIT IN THE BACK OF THE HEAD BY A TWO-BY-FOUR, AND I HAVE YET TO SHAKE THE LITTLE STARS AND TWEETY-BIRDS OUT OF MY EYES. ♥_♥ I CAN'T EVEN REGRET IT, GAWD.

It's a wonderful comic book movie.

I mean, it's not like there aren't plenty of flaws, I'm not saying that. There are race and gender issues, some of which are on purpose because it's set in the 60's, and others which could have been avoided. There are some pacing issues, the woman playing Emma Frost is...not good, I found it hard at times to see Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw instead of, y'know, Kevin Bacon, the supporting characters could have used more development though on the whole they were well done, there were some huge continuity breaks (both in diverging from the comics and also diverging from the other movies, none of which I minded because whatev, whatev, I conceptualize it as a reboot and anything that retcons X3 gets my okay), and they try to cram a lot of events into a pretty short time frame. As much as I loved the ending, as effective as it was for ripping out my heart and stomping it into tiny bitty pieces, as painfully, horribly perfect a way it was to (SPOILERS:) [paralyze Charles], the development of Charles and Erik's friendship and their conflicts and clashes and eventual break (along with Raven's shift) is something that probably should have spanned years in canon time, and thus would have been better handled over multiple movies.

ALL THAT BEING SAID, now that I'm through with my objective-viewer caveats, lol—I loved this movie pretty damn unreservedly. Like. I came out of the theater already making grabby-hands for FIC and FANDOM and META and SQUEE and HEART-EYES, cackled madly when I discovered there was already a kinkmeme and people writing amazing fills, and I've barely surfaced for air since. I have about 40 different tabs open at the moment, and almost all of them are First Class related. ...Yup. 8|a

Why the obsession, you ask? What is the draw? Well, like I said, it's a great comic book movie. The scale is epic, the musical score is epic, the effects—though somewhat rushed in places by the production schedule—worked great for me (with a few exceptions), the plot was pretty interesting and neither convoluted nor particularly dumbed-down, the Holocaust scenes were chilling and fairly accurate, the mix of BADASS and humor and drama and angst was well-balanced, the way powers were downplayed so that they became a natural part of the characters and the world allowed for the EPIC moments to pop even more than in some of the other movies where every single instance of power-usage was played up for the 'ooooo! aaaaa!' factor, the way it paralleled minority issues and echoed the Civil Rights movement and toyed with self-acceptance and pride versus hiding and assimilating, and with discrimination and hate and fear, and basically addressed a whole host of ideological issues that actually had roots and believable depth and thus allowed you to get invested and understand both sides—all that was wonderful.

….

And.

More.

Importantly.

CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK CHARLES AND ERIK AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@_@

Like.

I can't even.

They were amazing. The movie is about them, make no mistake, the whole thing hinges on their chemistry and connection and the development of their friendship and the believability of their importance to each other, and it. Is. Beautiful. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender knocked it out of the fucking park—in all honesty they, as actors, are way too good for this kind of herpaderp comic-book-blockbuster genre, but that's wonderful, because just as Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan elevated the other X movies through their quality, McAvoy and Fassbender elevated First Class through the goddamn roof. Like. In interviews they clearly knew it was a la-dee-da blockbuster and that a great deal of why they took the parts was because they wanted to work with each other, they wanted to work with this specific director, and hey, they were prepared to have a great deal of fun making the movies...But they played it beautifully straight, owned the roles, gave them so much heart and life and sat around reworking the script for days because adding a bonding scene here would make the progression of the relationship more real, and oh, oh, it worked.

I don't even usually ship things on first view; unless it's an explicitly romantic, well-done relationship my shipping goggles don't come into play until I've engaged the canon more closely and wandered around through the fandom twanging my fingernail against other people's opinions and seeing which ones resonate for me. For example, with two of my strongest ships, Zoro/Sanji from One Piece and Tim/Kon from DCU, I didn't come out of reading their comics shipping it, much less actually seeing it in the canon. The love for them together came out of an exploration of dynamics that appealed to me.

With Charles and Erik? I was sitting in the theater with my heart in my throat going OH GOD, KISS HIM YOU FOOL! KISS! HIM! and for a moment actually thinking he would.

THAT NEVER HAPPENS TO ME.

And I'm not the only one! I keep running across endless accounts from fans about their friends/parents/brothers/boyfriends who never see slash in anything coming out of that movie either, like, 'oh yeah, those two were in love', or even shipping it and vigorously defending the pairing's validity. And one of the reasons it appeals to me, when, for example, the recent Sherlock Holmes movie didn't particularly make me ship Holmes/Watson despite being slashy as hell, was that it wasn't something that was played for laughs. It wasn't this sly, overplayed, nudge-nudge-wink-wink nod to fangirls or whatever that the actors and directors and everyone can have a field day with but never actual intend to go anywhere with it. It was just this. Amazingly obvious, intense, well-acted and believable connection and mutual fascination and draw between two characters almost before they even properly meet, what with Charles's telepathy and how he sensed Erik like a bolt out of the blue. I reacted to it as if it were an actualfax canonic romantic tragedy playing out on the screen, and it could have been.

When the actor who plays Charles Xavier says things like: “It's kind of a love story, like “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” which, really, was a love story between two men. This is the first time in their lives they’ve met someone who is an equal of sorts, someone who understands them and can connect and push them too. Especially Charles, he’s fascinated with Erik and his potential. For Erik, Charles is the first person he’s trusted to really tell about his past and the first person to understand the horrible things he’s been through.” I can't even. I have no defense jesus christ, I'm done. That kind of dynamic, of strong equals who push each other in the midst of mutual fascination and admiration and conflict, that is my Kryptonite, my absolute Achilles heel when it comes to shipping, and these two hit it harder than anything. I can ship other dynamics, but this one utterly slays me.

And as much as I can rhapsodize about these two and their dynamic as a pair, they're equally fascinating as individuals. I love how sympathetic Erik is even as he's misguided, I love his intensity, his hypocrisy and lack of apology, his experience and his pain and his conviction, his determination and lack of hesitation or doubt and his protectiveness and his vision for the world and his ruthlessness in pursuing it and how he's so much more than he believes himself to be and the way it's like he cracks open and spills over his own edges when Charles gets him to laugh. I love Charles's unrelenting optimism and the way he empathizes hopelessly and sees the good in everyone and wants to help them and better the world, I love that at the same time as all that he's also clearly so much younger and more imperfect than the Professor Xavier that we usually see, a little fast and loose with the ethics of mindreading, a dork and an absolutely rubbish flirt, kind of harmfully, sometimes willfully blind towards people and ideas in some cases, which is so ironic with a telepath; I love his enthusiasm and his generosity and his loneliness and his hair. :D I love how they interact with the kids and with outsiders and with each other. I love the chess.

It's just ridiculous, okay. I want to write them all the words ever, but then I get impossibly sidetracked reading the thousands and thousands of beautiful words that other people are already writing for them. (OH GOD I CAN'T DO THEM JUSTICE.) There are so many ideas, so many fics I would love to write, but all my musings inevitably turn prompts toward epic length, and pssshhhh I have no idea how to sustain something like that.

I am crushed by the unbelievable amount of gorgeous, heartrending angst being written—it's hard to escape angst with these two, really—and I love it, but fffffff I'm a happy-ending girl at heart, really. D: MOAR AUs and FIX-IT FIC, PLZ. Although there are a healthy number of those as well, some of them amazingly good. I want to see Scott and Jean and Storm incorporated into the 'verse, I want to see Erik and Charles found Genosha, I want them to conquer the world, I want to see Erik stay at the school and help Charles teach and oversee the advent of a new species, I want so many things. And I already have so many epic WIPs tracked on the kinkmemes, it's idiotic. *__*

While I've been waffling about wishing I could just sit down and write endless fic for them and instead despairing at my own inadequacy, I've also been poking about dear_mun. Because trying to get a handle on the characters via RP is easier than just jumping in off the deep end, maybe. Except not, and wow there are some really good people floating about already, SO INTIMIDATING, and unlike in fic where you can orchestrate things yourself, with RP you have to get the dynamic down with another person, and that's hard to do when there's so much room for personal interpretation in the canon, and endless assumptions to be made about what kinds of things went on off-screen, during downtime, etc. And also with a telepath in the mix. 8|a

I also feel like I need to set down an entire headcanon to get a firm grasp on how to play people who really have so little screentime, so it's hard to play without doing so, even if just derping about is easy enough to do. Like. How long did Shaw have Erik, really? When and how did he escape? What did he do in the intervening years, was it all Nazi hunting? Was he a soldier? Where did he go, who are the people he met? And with Charles, did his stepfather and Cain exist in this 'verse? How did Raven fit in as they were growing up? What was the development of his powers like, how did he get such good control? There are so many gaps to fill, and even though they have decades of comics canon, I'm not really comfortable pulling from it wholesale.

Not to mention I'm not looking to jump into any actual multifandom games with a new character. Too much to deal with, I think. (Although *sob*, why is luceti

….This~ entry~ is~ too~ long~~~ This is why I update so rarely, I always ramble for hours. 8|a And I have like five other things I wanted to ramble about, like the new Young Justice episode, and the DCU reboot, and Zoro and Reepicheep and dropping from Luceti, and my ridiculous crush on James McAvoy (WHYYY IS HE SO CHARMING, his features shouldn't even go together particularly well in theory, but then he walks around all smiling and saying words and breathing air and I am like hnnnnng and then go watch three of his movies in 24 hours), and etc. etc. etc.

...S-some other time for all that, I guess. orz



PS - Hi everybody from the erik_charles Friending Meme! *waves frantically* Welcome!

Comments

[therandomgirlie.livejournal.com]

I AGREE WITH EVERYTHING IN THIS POST *flails with you*
I saw it again for the second time yesterday with a friend, and godDAMN, it was ten times more obvious the second time around how canon their love is! I mean, the scene after Erik is about to leave in the night, and Charles is all, "You stayed?!" with his big blue eyes and eletric smile, you just KNOW that something happened over that night! XD

[dametokillfor.livejournal.com]

*waves frantically back*

Everything here, just... everything! I'm going to see it again at some point this week for the fourth time just because I can't get enough of it.

[cymbalism219.livejournal.com]

I am SO ON BOARD THIS SHIP. (As you well know!)

I love your observation that they, as actors, are way too good for this kind of herpaderp comic-book-blockbuster genre, but that's wonderful. YES TIMES A MILLION. We are so lucky to have them and it is absolutely their work on character development that made me ship them *immediately* -- like, before they even shared a scene together. Their love is instantaneous and SO HOT.

Were you in the theater praying Raven was going to shift into Charles while in Erik's bed, too? I was biting my lip and grippin gmy seat hoping so hard for it -- even the second time when I knew it wouldn't happen! Haha.

That paragraph of yours about their dynamic and their strengths of individuals? Oh man, yes. perfect. I'm intimidated and convinced I can't do them justice just listening to you! In order to lock down my headcanon I stayed away from reading a ton of fic over the past two weeks and now that I'm done, I've been absolutely gorging myself on fic this weekend. I'm simultaneously *delighted* by this fandom's output and scared to death I'm doing it all wrong! Hahaha. Oh, new fandom insecurities. We'll get our sea legs sooner or later, bb. The movie's only been out two weeks! (And I want it on DVD, like, now.)

Hey, so, long comment. Heh. Your excitement was infectious, what can I say? :DD

*high fives*

[mf_luder_xf]

I loved this movie pretty damn unreservedly. Like. I came out of the theater already making grabby-hands for FIC and FANDOM and META and SQUEE and HEART-EYES, cackled madly when I discovered there was already a kinkmeme and people writing amazing fills, and I've barely surfaced for air since.

MTE. ♥

With Charles and Erik? I was sitting in the theater with my heart in my throat going OH GOD, KISS HIM YOU FOOL! KISS! HIM! and for a moment actually thinking he would.

Haha, again, me, too. Only that happens all the time with me. I shipped Dean/Cas within the first 30 seconds (and after being a diehard Wincester for 3 years), Aziraphale/Crowley within about 10 pages of Good Omens, and Kirk/Spock pre-movie (when I had never really been a Trekkie until the press run for the Reboot).

It wasn't this sly, overplayed, nudge-nudge-wink-wink nod to fangirls or whatever that the actors and directors and everyone can have a field day with but never actual intend to go anywhere with it. It was just this.

This however, is SO true. I both love and hate the nods writers are constantly putting in for the fangirls (ugh, see every meta ep of SPN). Charles and Erik was utterly organic. While I'm a shipper, I had no preconceptions going in, never even having seen a X-Men movie before much less comics and hadn't heard of Michael or been into James McAvoy much. So yes, I'm inclined to slash, but with these two characters, it was all the script, the acting, the true connection that rolled off the screen.

fffffff I'm a happy-ending girl at heart, really. D: MOAR AUs and FIX-IT FIC, PLZ.

LOL, I'm amused at myself because I'm usually 'oh blech, curtain!fic and why all the sappy happy endings?' in most fandoms (even some which can be truly depressing like SPN), and so XMFC is a godsend...yet I'm finding so many fics that have me BAWLING by the end because it's so TRAGIC and UNFAIR and OMGCAN'TTHEYJUSTBETOGETHER?!!? that, despite being an angst!whore, this fandom is making me go 'where is the happy fic?!'

Also, feel free to ramble on forever about this pairing. CLEARLY I HAVE.lol

[sasha-b.livejournal.com]

I was going to wax poetic about my own feelings on this film and the fact that is sucked me in from the get go (I'm an old school X-men comic reader too) but you said ALL THE WORDS I WAS THINKING. Brilliant. ;)))))) My favorite thing you said and the thing that fascinates me most about E/C:
the way it's like he cracks open and spills over his own edges when Charles gets him to laugh. That is a great way to put it, and I wish wish wish we could have seen more of this.

I am a huge angst dork and therefore love that part of the story (god, the look in both of their eyes that passes after Charles gives his last killer blow when Erik's holding on to him on the beach O_________O I about wet my shirt tearing up) but I also want someone to fix these guys and their perfect complementing of each other. It's a true tragedy that they can only become what they do become because of the other. *sob*

McAvoy is precious. He looks really good now that he's gotten older; I love that he has a neck and shoulders. And Fassy??? GUH. WHY DID I NEVER REALLY PAY MUCH ATTENTION TO HIM BEYOND JANE EYRE. Which btw is amazing.

*waves* Hi new friend. Love this post! <3333

[auctorial.livejournal.com]

OMG, THIS. ALL OF THIS. I enjoy the hell out of any slashy moment a movie wants to throw at me, but this movie transcends that. It really is an actualfax romance, jfc. I was sitting there during the beach scene and was like, OMG, WHAT, IS THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENING??! the entire time. Because I always dream about these things playing out that beautifully and with so much feeling, and it so rarely happens, but it's like this movie has read my mind.

I feel you on wanting to write and read ALLLLLL the words. It's been so long since I've been really involved in a non-rpf fandom, and now it's all this characterisation and history and time period stuff and I feel like I'll never get a handle on it all. /o\ So, mostly just reading (omg, yes, MOAR HAPPYFIC) and loving it. :D

[zhadra-ahni.livejournal.com]

I've been trying to maneuver any of my friends to see it with me again, but they're not going for it. ;A; Guess I'll just have to make do with watching this crappy torrent over...and over...and over...and over...*cough*

It is ridiculously canon, I couldn't even believe it when I was sitting there in the theater the first time. *_* And lolol, the amazing part is you can take any moment and go 'ohohhhh, something totally happened there :Da', which is making for an amazing variety of fic. XD

[zhadra-ahni.livejournal.com]

\o/ HI! HI!

I'm so jealoussssss!! I totally want to see them on the big screen again, but my friends have already seen it and my family wouldn't be interested. ;A;

[zhadra-ahni.livejournal.com]

God, can you imagine what kind of flop this movie could have been without McAvoy and Fassbender making Charles and Erik and their chemistry so unbelievably amazing?? D: I DON'T EVEN WANT TO THINK ABOUT IT, FFFFFF WHAT CLOSE CALL, THANK GOD. And yes, it was like, you could see the shape of what they could be together before they even met, and then they did, and it was like KABOOOOOOM! /DED.

That didn't occur to me, actually! Although I love seeing fanart and fic about it in retrospect, lemme tell ya. :Da It was the beach scene when Erik was cradling Charles in his arms like an impossibly precious thing that I was like OMG. O.M.G. KISSSSSSSSS! They're going to, right?! DO EEEEET!!

Ugh, I could throw around all the gushing and effusive description and the rambling on and on about them and still never write anything that did them justice, I think. ;_; ...Has it only been two weeks? D: Good lord, I feel like I'm stepping out of a dark cave and blinking/hissing at the sunlight after months—and then retreating back to the cave because the Charles/Erik cave is made of love and beauty and who would want to leave, anyway? 8| ...But yeah, I feel the same way, haha, I love all the things fandom is doing, and it's intimidating as hell when I want to write. XD

*high fives back!* ...*and then expands it into an elaborate Charles/Erik handshake that incorporates hand-to-temple, Magnetic Jazz Hands, and something about a Handsome Shark*

[zhadra-ahni.livejournal.com]

Okay, well, Castiel only had one of the most ridiculously amazing intros of all time, (I must've watched it 20 times or so immediately after the episode aired), so I'm actually with you on having shipped that instantaneously, too, hahaha! But! That still doesn't usually happen to me! XD

Yeeeahh, the growing tendency in media toward meta commentary on ~bromance~ and the tacit acknowledgement both that it sells and we'll play with it but never legitimize it gets to me sometimes. It makes me uncomfortable on SPN (it doesn't help that I have a massive embarrassment squick, and those eps are kind of all about being embarrassing for fangirls), and that's definitely part of why I love Charles and Erik so hard. Utterly organic is right. I never shipped Xavier/Magneto before First Class, myself, so all the convincing happened in that movie. It was so natural.

Hahaha, I'm usually one of those curtain!fic people (ducks tomatoes!). Well. Sort of; epic plots that incorporate angst and drama and character and adventure and humor and then end happily are my favorites. Rip my heart out all you like and I'll thank you for it, but I can only take so much of it without the characters I love getting to be happy, too. >.>a And ffff, yes: so many fics that have me BAWLING by the end because it's so TRAGIC and UNFAIR and OMGCAN'TTHEYJUSTBETOGETHER?!!? -- just the other day I was reading through a whole batch of fic by amazing authors and I had to save the last few for another day because, though I knew they were going to be really quality fic, it was just like unrelenting heartbreak and I couldn't take it. ;A;

/RAMBLES RAMBLES RAMBLES

[zhadra-ahni.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I really wish we could've gotten more of that in the movie proper, too, because the moments where it happened, where Charles was pulling things from Erik that he didn't even know he was capable of—those were so much love. It was so real. :) I GUESS PEOPLE WILL JUST HAVE TO KEEP WRITING THOSE MOMENTS, lol!

I usually have a pretty low tolerance for emotional pain in fiction, so it boggled me a bit to come stumbling out of this movie clutching at the pieces of my shattered heart and only wanting moooore! Like you say, that they can only become what they do because of each other, and also the fact that if they really do stay true to themselves—and they're both far too strong in their convictions not to—then that tragic break is just inevitable because of the shape of the world they live in. So you can see it coming, and the heartbreak just builds and builds because even though their worldviews clash so violently, they are SO COMPATIBLE AND PERFECT FOR EACH OTHER, jesus christ. ;A;

My crush on McAvoy is a little bit ridiculous these days. And lol, I immediately grabbed some of his other movies after First Class because, being me, I wanted to see him in a romance with a happy ending, and what do I watch? Becoming Jane. ;-; And I hear that Atonement is even worse, lmao. At least Penelope ended well, orz. --Fassbender is stupidly attractive in Jane Eyre, and I agree, great movie. :D

<33333!!

[zhadra-ahni.livejournal.com]

EXACTLY. The beach scene, for me, was like—...no, no way, it can't be going the way it seems to be, any second now, it's a mainstream superhero blockbuster, of course they're going to pull back and not go as far as they really should to complete the emotional arc and do justice to the OH MY GODDDD IT IS ALL THINGS BEAUTIFUL AND PERFECT ;A;!!! I was really, really not expecting the romance aspect to hit me as hard as it did, but yeeeeah.

Oh man, yes, I don't know how I could possibly write the things I want to write without devoting way too much time and effort and peace of mind to getting it right, and I haven't properly written fic in ages, so it's all so intimidating. On the other hand, I want to be actively involved in the fandom, so I'm making do with trying to comment and everything I can and thus cheerlead for the folks who are up to it at this point. XD Hopefully, someday, we can join their ranks!

[nickelodeon.livejournal.com]

I'll just agree with this post in a short and sweet comment! I ALSO think they should have saved the dramatic ending for a SECOND movie. Oh god, it was so good. I've seen it twice already and I hate myself for wanting to RP it and read fanfiction about it and love it forever.

[zhadra-ahni.livejournal.com]

I've been reading so much fic, it's ludicrous. I must have more than a dozen WIPs tracked and every time they update I'm like *POUNCE FOR GREAT JUSTICE*!! It's unhealthy, man, goddamn this movie for ruining lives. (ExceptnotreallyIwanttohugitandloveitandnameitGeorge)

And yeah, I've been reading a lot of meta about the ending and aside from cutting short the Epic Bromance and Strife development, it doesn't even really make sense from a character point of view, either, I think—why would Erik and Raven, Charles's sister, just leave him there on the beach bleeding out with the CIA closing in? They could at least have teleported him to a hospital first. 8|a ...Sadly, this plothole in no way diminishes my love for the movie orz

I WANT TO RP IT SO BAD, god. I'm just intimidated by the good players already on dear_mun and feel like I need a lot of work on my muse(s). And also I don't really want to be in a game right now, lol. Who are you wanting to play? I've fiddled about with Erik a bit, but I've been considering trying out Charles. THEY'RE BOTH SO INTERESTING.

[nickelodeon.livejournal.com]

I've only been vaguely exploring the kink meme because my computer's been broken until last night and going beyond there on the family computer seems a little weird. Haha. You'll have to hook a bruthah up now that I'm back on the internet!!! (No, it didn't ruin our lives. It enhanced it.)

Yeah. I was unhappy about the ending but I stand where you stand. Still love the movie endlessly. I just think that they should have spread out the things that happened. Like the movie already had a lot, they should have spaced out the paralyzing and Erik becoming Magneto for another movie. Also just to make me happy.

I haven't looked at dear_mun yet, are they good?! I was thinking of going there once my computer was back up and now it is so I shall be on that like a fat kid on cake!! I definitely don't want to be in a game right now. I'd only dick around in a musebox or dear_mun. I think I'd be able to pull Charles off better than Erik but I'd be willing to try them both. I KNOW, RIGHT?! Gawd. I'm jealous of your icon. Now that I have my computer back, I'm going to completely submerge myself in this movie. :D :D :D

[zhadra-ahni.livejournal.com]

I'm still working on adding things, because I've saved a ton of great fics to my hard drive that I haven't bookmarked on Delicious yet, but here, have the recs I have so far! :D I think most of them here are from the kink meme, but I'll be adding the others. erik_charles and oldfriends are also good communities to look through, although there are plenty of dud fics since it's so popular. :|a

Yeah, I agree with everything here. Now I'm like, what are they going to do for the next movie? D: Are Charles and Erik going to be enemies already?

There are a lot of good people, actually!! I get all FFFFFFF because there are some great ones and I get self-conscious. >.>a JOIN ME IN SUBMERSION, YAAAAAY! I can't wait until the DVD comes out, then people can make more high quality icons and fanvids.

And oooo, you have a Charles, eh? :Da .../moseys over to your post

[nickelodeon.livejournal.com]

Sorry about this wicked fast reply, I'm kind of abusing the fact that my computer is back among the living and haven't allowed it to leave my side all day.

Thanks for the recs!!!!!! I've been reading fic a lot today so I hope there are some new ones there. (I also added those communities, oh my god how fast do we fall?) I always find the dud fics. I've read a couple of them and I'm just like: "Mmmmm...kkaaaaay. You just had Charles my 'my friend' twice in one sentence. Did that not ring any bells to you?!"

I have faith in their ability to make the next movie amazing.

Yessssss! I will buy that DVD like a BOSS. And I will also snipe the icons. When is it coming out? Is it that time yet?

I do......but I haven't done anything with him yet. For as confident as I'm pretending to be right now, I'm also nervous!! I MIGHT NOT BE SMART ENOUGH TO PULL HIM OFF!!! BUT YES. I WILL JOIN YOU OMG.

[zhadra-ahni.livejournal.com]

LOL, totally understandable XDD

You're welcome!! I seriously have a bunch more I need to add, I just went through and added all of the kink_meme WIPs I had tracked before I commented to you because I hadn't been bookmarking things to Delicious, just saving them on my comp. >.>a And ffff, yeah, as the fandom explodes we're undoubtedly getting a lot more of that. *__* What are people thinking, really? ...But also, more great authors are getting interested as they see the movie, so. :Da TRADE-OFF I CAN LIVE WITH.

*crosses fingers* Failure was never an option. /shot

Oh lord no, the movie only came out on June 3rd. XD I'm just overeager, because people are already making cool fanvids and stuff but the video is from this godawful cam torrent, so it's like--;_; /WANT PRETTIES NAO. That DVD is so mine when it comes out, omg. I'm finally going to be able to see it in the theaters again sometime this week. :D /drags all her friends

Oh man, don't worry about that, I am so nervous about my Erik, lol, for some of the reasons above (backstory holes, waaaaaat ;A;) and just. CAN I EVEN DO HIM JUSTICE, NO WAY ORZ. But I totally want to try! 8D

[charlesfxavier.livejournal.com]

Commenting with this account because I'm motivated to upload icons now! (Since I...hadn't...please excuse his lack FOR NOW.) My phone makes the Zelda treasure chest noise every time I get an email and LJ is stupid and emails me whenever I upload an icon. (Because I didn't know what I JUST did.) So every time I upload an icon, my phone loudly goes: DUH DUH DUH DUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! (If you don't know Zelda, sorry for the long story.)

Yeah, I can live with that trade off. It really happens everywhere you go, that's why rec lists are the best! Or asking friends, haha. I would rec you some but you've probably read the ones I liked. You're a little ahead of me, I'd say.

HAHAHA!! Love it.

I know I know. I saw it that day because X-Men movies have been my love since the first one. *nerd* You haven't seen it in the theater yet?! The camera quality on the top one is HORRIBLE. Every time they cut to an outdoor scene, it spasms! YOU NEED TO SEE THE FILM IN ITS TRUE NATURE.

New muses are always like that! Especially since this one seems to really bring out some really GOOD writers. It's not every day you happen upon a fandom that does that!!

[mutocracy.livejournal.com]

Hahaha! You can turn that off, you know? XD It always drives me bonkers when I make a new account and forget to, and end up with 15 emails about new userpics. 8| But yaaaay, HI CHARLES HI. I mean. Hel-lo.

Definitely. I've been considering putting together an actual recs list an posting it—some of the recs lists put up some far have been a little...undiscriminating, others have been good—but I'm always like, ugh, all that html coding. ;_; /camps out on Delicious

I say it in the theaters on the day it came out! That's why I'm a little ahead, I think, lol, aside from your computer previously being on the fritz. I'm finally going to be able to see it again in its true nature—the torrent really is awful, but that doesn't mean I haven't been watching my favorite scenes about a million times. >.> I've liked X-Men since the X-Men: Evolution cartoon, myself, but I was always partial to Gambit and Rogue and Scott never saw the light of CHARLES and ERIK until this movie. *dreamy*

VERY TRUE. I am both thrilled to see so many awesome people coming out of the woodwork, and intimidated as hell. XD

[mutocracy.livejournal.com]

...dude what the hell are all those typos, I'm so sorry. orz

...Also, WHEEE PRETTY CHARLES ICONS, and lmao, uh, great keywords? XD

[charlesfxavier.livejournal.com]

Yes, I know. I'm a little lazy sometimes, not gonna lie. HELLO ERIK, NICE TO--I mean. My friend, nice to see you, my friend. My friend.

Yeah, I wouldn't do it. Keep it to yourself so that they're more special that way. I bet most of the same ones are getting recced anyway. If people get desperate, they can always go to ff.net. That's ALWAYS a source of good stuff. One of the prompts on the kink meme got a link to ff.net and I made the mistake of giving it the benefit of the doubt. Never again. ;_;

I saw it the day it came out too! I was just not on a computer to really put my fandomy potential to good use! I've actually seen it twice in theaters and...have been invited by two more people to see it two more times. I'm wondering if I might be pushing it. :| Your favorite scenes? I bet I can guess! I loved X-Men: Evolution! I even had a website and wrote fanfiction that was horrible! I never saw the light to them either because they were old. I did write a fanfiction from the point of view of Professor Xavier but...he was old. And the fanfiction was crack.

It's intimidating but if you think about it...we're roleplaying. It's not like we're playing a competitive sport or anything! So it's not a contest and just FUN! That's what I like to tell myself anyway...

[charlesfxavier.livejournal.com]

...I upload first, keyword later. Don't mock me.

[mutocracy.livejournal.com]

Derp, sorry for disappearing, I've been massively busy. ...Also, the 'my friend', it burnssss /o\

...Oh you poor soul. Suckered into visiting the Pit. D: Yeah, I've pretty much decided that I'm only going to rec things that it feels absolutely necessary to, like if it isn't on the comms so people might miss something really good.

Aha, that's what I thought! LOL, I will be seeing it again tomorrow, finally. :)a With fandom-y friends, thank god, 2 out of 3 of which will also be seeing it for the second time, hahaha. ...My favorite scenes are very predictable. >.>a

I RPed as Gambit from Evo for a while, some months ago! I loved that series so much; I think it still forms the basis of how I think of some of the characters. Scott and Jean, particularly, since I never saw them much in the comics. And fff, yes, I never really consider shipping old people. >_>a

VERY TRUE.

[charlesfxavier.livejournal.com]

It's okay! My busy days are always at the END of the week so I totally understand randomly becoming extremely not around. And yes. The 'my friend' is something that sort of makes me cringe when I'm reading.

Like the one you recced the other day? I didn't read it because, at the moment, I really only have eyes for certain things. Perhaps when I've gotten over myself, I shall delve into it!

That's so awesome. The friend I saw it with the first time is the friend I went to see all the X-Men movies with. She's read some of my fanfiction too so we were pretty much just puddles of goo after that movie and she's been spamming my facebook wall and my email with pictures and youtube videos. I'm jealous of you seeing it again in the theater! I fear that, by the time I get back from Spain, I'll have to wait until DVD. :(

HAHA! AWESOME. I love Gambit. In Evo, he was a little not there. I totally see Scott the way he is in Evolution. Kurt too. When I saw X2, I was like: "HE'S OUT OF CHARACTER!!! HE'S NOT NEARLY HAPPY ENOUGH!!" I kind of shipped Professor X and Magneto but it was totally as a joke and like they were senile old men. But this. This is just beautiful.

[mutocracy.livejournal.com]

o/ Awesome. And yeah, extremely occasionally, like once a fic, it's okay, but any more than that and it grates.

Yep, like that one. :)a It's really great all around, I hope you'll get back to it sometime! And I definitely get 'only having eyes for certain things', lol, I'm the same way. What are you looking for right now?

Heh, so cool! I don't know how into X-Men or this movie any of my friends are, but I'm hoping to be able to get at least some of that same kind of squee! \o/ Oooo, you're going to Spain? That's an okay trade-off for not being able to see XFC in theaters again! XD

LOL, yes, he requires a lot of headcanon playing from Evo, but luckily his episode with Rogue in New Orleans packed in a lot of character and backstory stuff. /o/ I was bummed he wasn't in it more, though. Haha, I loved Kurt in X2! He's kind of a dope in Evo, but he's fun.

Yeah, I was aware the ship existed, but it was kind of abstract. THIS IS SO NOT ABSTRACT.

[nickelodeon.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know. It's kind of like when I was into Hetalia, people would play England and he would bloody talk like a bloody freak! Right-o time for some bloody tea!

Man, how can you watch the movie and NOT get into it. I feel like this movie has the ability to turn normal people into slashers. Just sayin'. (Maybe I'll go see it in Spanish...)

I loved him in X2 too but Evo definitely ruined a lot of the characterizations for me. (Like I loved Pyro in the movie and the show but they were two completely different characters. He's also WAY different in the comic too.) I just downloaded X2 though so I plan on watching it on the plane. Hur hur.

YES. It was like: "Yeah, I see it but I'm not going to actually actively ship it......" But this is more like if you DON'T ship it, you're weird and hate puppies.

[mutocracy.livejournal.com]

>_< Ugh crappy voice overload.

I KNOW, RIGHT? I will occasionally come across people who didn't see the slash and kind of double-take in amazement. Like, okay, whatever floats your boat, no big...BUT TWO GENERATIONS OF THEIR ACTORS SHIP IT AND IT WAS PLAYED LIKE A ROMANCE AND OMG. If that relationship doesn't ping as even a little homoerotic, what does? 8|a

Haaaaha, yeeeah, I still don't know what the original Kitty is supposed to be like. ~o~ Just never encountered her outside Evo, really. And man, I downloaded X1 and X2 a while back too and I've been meaning to rewatch them...but on the other hand I'm kind of apprehensive about doing that because I don't necessarily think that First Class Charles and Erik grew up into Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan's versions (so many continuity discrepencies), so I'm a little wary that my view of their relationship in FC would be influenced. Also, their star-crossed angst would probably hit me much harder this time around. ;A;

EXACTLY.

[charlesfxavier.livejournal.com]

No. I refuse to believe that people didn't see the slash. They're just saying that to get to you or something. I went with my non-slashy friend and I was like: "Watch this movie like it was a romance." And at the end, she was trying VERY hard not to agree. She said: "Weellllll...maybe a really REALLY strong bromance?" She'll learn.

I can't imagine Kitty being too different. I mean, she's always kind of...THE KID. I'm going to watch X1 and X2 with my First Class goggles on and see just HOW strong their love is. >D It's gonna be fabulous. There are a lot of discrepancies but I can look past those for the sake of LURVE. And yes. They always had those little ~moments~ when they were old men that I just kind of brushed aside. So I'm going to totally just LOOK for them. :D :D :D :D

I see you doing bad things in that icon, Erik. Be the better man.

[mutocracy.livejournal.com]

It boggles me. I suspect them of purposely not seeing it. 8| Haha, I'm debating whether to give that viewing advice to my one friend who hasn't seen it yet. 8|a WILL SHE EVEN NEED IT, IS THE QUESTION. She's not exactly anti-slash, XD. And lol, 'really strong bromance'. JUST HACK OFF A 'B' THERE; okay, you're good.

The kid, yes, but I hear she's actually a computer prodigy nerd with a pet alien dragon instead of...a valley girl. XD Oh man, I know, I've been seeing little clips of X1-X3 Charles/Erik interspersed in XFC fanvids, and I'm like whoa. Hold up there now.

I already am, Charles. /KILLS PEOPLE. FOR JUSTICE.

[charlesfxavier.livejournal.com]

I was logged into my Hank account and actually had something typed up. However, it was not worth replying to you with the wrong account. In my heart. So I sacrificed it!

But yeah. I knew she was a computer prodigy. In Evo, they tried to make her smart but that lasted for like...four episodes. And I've seen the dragon and gone: "WTF?" I don't think we're missing much with that. Hahaha. I love how the entire world caught this bug. I mean, there are slash pairings in EVERY movie, what makes this one so much better?

YOU WILL NEVER FIND PEACE THIS WAY. /manly tear

[mf_luder_xf]

Meh, I do like curtain!fics from time to time. I tend either to prefer my domesticity a little fucked up, or a fucked up story with a general happy ending...just not all rainbows and kittens (though sometimes, kittens are involved). And yes, I totally do that with fics, especially some of these C/E fics of late! It's like, I don't feel like crying tonight, so I'll put that aside for another night...

[mikangirl.livejournal.com]

/RANDOMLY TURNS UP ON OLD POST

Actually, I finally saw it tonight and decided to come back and read this because I more or less skimmed it the first time round, having not watched the movie.

...I will talk about it more with you in chat. 8Da But until then, this is where I ask you for fic recs. *_* Please.

[zhadra-ahni.livejournal.com]

8D

8D

8D

/immediately trolls through her folder of...250-odd saved fics >.>a

Try, Try Again
Summary: Groundhog Day AU. Erik is forced to repeat that final day until he stops being an asshole. ~5,700 words
Except that this has happened before, he thinks with a start, and something in his throat closes up as he revolves on the spot, already knowing what he's going to see. Charles' back is arching as he falls, his eyes wide, and the crumpled bullet falls to the sand beside him like a calling card.

Do Not Speak As Loud As My Heart
Summary: An Ending!AU where Erik doesn't leave. ~3,700 words
He wakes from a half-doze when someone shakes him by the shoulder, hard, and he tries frantically to wrench himself out of his dreams (Charles falling to the ground, his face twisted up with pain; surgeons' tools dripping with blood; a voice in his head, a voice he trusts, whispering blame into every corner and crevice).

How Deep the Bullet Lies
Summary: "This is drowning, their first meeting all over again, the natural conclusion of the moment Charles felt Erik in the water, fevered with anguish and history." Charles, from the beginning to the end. ~9000 words

Time to Grow
Summary: In which you'll find chess dates which aren't dates (or maybe Charles is wrong about that). -- Based on First Class, this turns (slightly) AU during the beach scene. Erik still leaves. (I don't deal well with tragedy, so this is my brain's desperate attempt to fix it.) ~21,000 words
The first time he wakes, he’s too weak to even open his eyes. His head is filled with the hum of people all around, but it's fuzzy, tiredness keeping anything concrete just out of his reach. He listens to a soft-spoken conversation, voices of strangers, and the only fragments that register are, “narrow save” and “good chance he’ll walk again.” Nearby, a machine beeps in regular intervals.

These are all absolutely top-notch, but OMG there is too much to rec! I haven't even looked through half my list yet, you'll have to tell me what kind of flavor of fic you're looking for! D: Angst, fluff, AU, fix-it, character-study, epic, whaaaat?

[flicker-flash.livejournal.com]

LMAO /immediately opens all of these on different tabs

ALSO I am interested in just about all of these, in order of: epic--->whaaaat? so JUST KEEP HITTING ME UP, I TRUST YOUR TASTE, CAM. But given that could, y'know, take you a while, how about I read these first and then come make 8D faces at you until you give me more >.>a

[zhadra-ahni.livejournal.com]

XDDD

Sounds good! /goes to compile more recs \o/

THE NEXT BATCH \o/

[zhadra-ahni.livejournal.com]

Anthem for Doomed Youth
Summary: Raven, all the way from her childhood with Charles through the end of the movie. Canon-compliant. ~12,900 words
When she was younger she watched people carefully in order to become them, but it was like memorising a song in another language: the imitation was perfect but she never bothered to learn what it meant.

A Summer Day So Late In Coming
Summary: Fifty years after they fell in love, Erik comes to Charles with a proposal that rocks Charles's world. ~2,800 words; I bawled and drew hearts all over this fic, to be embarrassingly honest >>a

How Much Should I Hope?
Summary:  After being shot, Charles Xavier must deal with his injury. At the same time, Erik struggles to make amends. ~9,800 words; FF.net, I know, but it's really pretty damn good; I think this fic has the most fantastic treatment of post-paralyzation fall-out to do with Charles dealing with becoming a parapalegic that I've seen.

Four Times Erik Tried To Make Charles Lose Control, and One Time He Had a Small Measure of Qualified Success
Summary: What the title says, except much more about the brilliant character insights and development moments than the porn. Although there's that too >.> ~6,300 words

surely shifted my way
Summary: The one where Erik and Charles get engaged, Raven is an x-treme wedding planner and the kids get way too involved. Oh, and there are doves everywhere. Modern slightly!AU, where everyone is together and alive and happy because it's weddingfic and weddingfic is allowed to do that.
For the prompt: Just got back from a friend's wedding, and I can stand it no longer. GIVE ME ERIK AND CHARLES' WEDDING. Throw whatever you'd like in there! Raven the wedding planner with psychotic pressure to make things go Just Right! Charles has an inordinate amount of eye for detail! Erik makes their rings! Alex cannot resist getting in the way of trying all the wedding cakes.
Have at it! Just give me schoomp!
So basically it is awesome hilarious fluff. :Db ~7,500 words

TAKE THIS! B|||

[zhadra-ahni.livejournal.com]

Limited Release
Summary: Epic modern AU loosely based on White Collar; Erik is a metallurge FBI agent with a grudge, Charles is kind of a stalker but still awesome and oh also btw an omega level telepath and the most famous and well-regarded advocate for mutant rights in the world, Raven is part of Erik's team, Hank is a fanboy, and Alex is a criminal consultant. Extremely plotty, lots of great world-building, hilariously silly bits mixed with heart-breaking bits, characterization and writing exploding with virve all over the place; one of my favorites. 45/? parts, very epic length, still very much WIP

and these, from atoms
Prompt: “Essentially, there's a severe lack of wheelchair for some reason or another, and someone has to carry Charles somewhere. Theoretically, Erik/Charles would be great, but it's kind of hard to manage that, what with how they've split apart.”

I don't even fucking know how the author turned this little prompt into this amazing, extremely plotty and original, tense, incredibly well-characterized, brilliant fic that takes place numerous years post-movie, but they did, AND I LOVE THEM FOR IT. \o/ 23/? parts, epic-length WIP, one of the ones I wait on with baited breath *_*

make your wars
Summary: The one where they’re perfectly normal men in the twenty-first century. Except for where they aren’t. Gennish, pre-Charles/Erik. Warnings: Mentions of war, child abuse, homosexuality, murder and hints of PTSD. ~3,000 words

and the sequel to the above: and quietly keep walking
Summary: Erik abhors silence and Charles is nothing if not noise. Modern day AU, no powers. ~4,800 words; I'm really hoping the author writes more in this series, I think it might be my favorite modern!AU because it captures who they would be and who they would be with each other so well. *_*

world enough and time
Summary: Charles Xavier in the days, weeks, months after the beach.  ~2,100 words

all the fears you left behind
Summary: "Erik has had one goal. He’s spent his life in relentless pursuit of it and has given almost no thought to what would come after he achieves it." ie The one with the really awesome play on the gun scene. ~2,200 words

/TOOK IT ALL

[flicker-flash.livejournal.com]

...I'm done again. 8Da

@_@ /wakes up to this

[zhadra-ahni.livejournal.com]

IT ONLY TOOK YOU TWO HOURS AND TWENTY MINUTES TO READ ALL THAT?!

What are you, some kind of--of--reading machine? /o/ \o\ /o/

[whiteadelphi.livejournal.com]

SOMETHING LIKE THAT. I EVEN WENT TO THE SHOP HALFWAY THROUGH!

Also, I am hooked on both of those WIPs. B| Hurry up and make them update faster, Cam. (You can totally do that, right.)

,...and then there were new releases 10 minutes later

[whiteadelphi.livejournal.com]

Cam how did you do that

[zhadra-ahni.livejournal.com]

My god, woman! DO YOU HAVE SUPERSPEED.

...Apparently my mutant power is causing updates to appear! \8D/ Or maybe they appear when other people call on me, since it's never worked before. 8|a ...OH WELL /pounces on updates yaaaaaaaay /rolls in updates whoooooo

/will be back with more recs momentarily >_>a

dkljsfdsf HERE

[zhadra-ahni.livejournal.com]

Snakes and Ladders Are Banned In Here
Summary:  Set post movie. They never meet in public; not for fear of getting caught, but because they’re too aware of innocent bystanders. ~4,000 words

What The Knife Wants
Summary: Erik and Charles each keep one thing secret from the other. ~1,300 words of ouch. ;;

i guess i should say thanks or some shit
Summary: believe it or not, charles has a well-thought-out moral philosophy. he doesn’t follow it. but he has thought it out.
alternatively: charles and erik douche it up in amsterdam. Contains very dubious morality. ~18,000 words

Synthesis (Scenes from an AU)
Summary: Synthesis is a dynamic process. Or, scenes from the AU where Charles and Erik have sex, get married, become best friends, and run the school together.
Notes: Warnings for the Holocaust, implicit references to torture and child abuse, institutional misogyny, and potential dub-con situations, depending on how you interpret Erik/Charles. This is not "fix-it" fic; this is another possible road. Contains various other pairings in the background. ~15,200 words

your head caught in a waking dream
Prompt: “Soon after Charles meets Raven, his parents/guardians/whatever find out he is hearing voices and have him taken to a mental institution. Charles is fine when he goes in, but being surrounded by people with mental illness is rough for a telepath. By the time Raven manages to breaks him out, Charles is far from fine. I want telepathic Charles in complete denial of his powers because he is so certain it's all in his head, and Raven trying to help him with varying degrees of success. bonuses for: Raven shifting to visit Charles in the hospital (especially if it confuses Charles even more and makes things worse); Erik somehow helping break Charles out; RAVEN BEING AWESOME
Currently ~17,500 words, 11 parts, and still WIP. Warnings for...I don't know what to call it. What happens when you stick a sane telepathic child in an insane asylum and don't believe him when he says he's sane, and by the time you break him out he's genuinely lost it (it being his mind and any control over his powers), and Erik is still attracted to him against his will. I love this fic a lot, it's a really amazing take on the prompt, fantastic writing and characterization. /wants mooooar *_*

[whiteadelphi.livejournal.com]

And now LJ is working and I am finished with this wonderful list ;A;