Leave now if you don't like people tearing off on occasionally self-righteous #%*#&%* sessions.
This rant is for Feb 19th, 2000.
What's this one about?
Before all you fanboys and fangirls out there who love Xenogears jump down my throat, let me specify the subject: It's about fanfic authors and the character of Id. Yes, this has major plot spoilers, blah blah.
There's a lot of yelling in this one (lots of oversized letters, etc etc etc). And there's even less tact than usual. Before you guys start screaming counterpoints at me--'Aren't *you* just as bad?' 'Who are you to judge people *you* don't even know?'--just keep in mind that this is a rant, and I take all the factors of my poor judgement into account before formulating an actual arguement later.
So.... for those unfamiliar with the game, Fei is a multiple personality, whose major counterpart is this guy named Id. (No, we can't heckle the choice of name, when we've all got sillier ones lying around in here, right?)
The neat thing about Id is that he can change his entire swath of hair color when he shifts over, as well as skin tone and eye color and all that. Wish we could do that.
But before we get sidetracked.... basically the gripe this time is about fanfic writers who write stories about Id and Fei.
Lemme say this now: Unless you're a multiple (or have been one), you don't know what you're talking about. Yeah, anyone can get hints and ideas about the subject through use of a good imagination, but you have to LIVE it for YEARS before some of the more subtle aspects about being a multiple shine through.
So people either get a really two dimensional idea about the character of Id, or they get these strange ideas about what it's like to have more than one person running around your head.
And that's only with two!
Lemme see a single fanfic writer who has gone through the effort of even talking to a multiple--let alone getting feedback from multiples who have integrated and those who /are living just fine without integration (and there are *plenty* of them, and yes, it is a different experience)/
C'mon! This is like wandering around a group of writers who are all straight and are writing about what it might be like being gay, and have only read textbook routines for an education on the subject. And you can't speak up, because if you do, you'll either draw out all the people who want to jump on the #%*#^*% bandwagon or be discredited--or even better, believed and then given problems because of it.
(And yes... I know I'm opening myself up to criticism here, but we've *all* seen slight cases who have pushed themselves into drama fests... and one or five people is *not* the same as sixty, and three hundred fragments is *not* the same as thirty fully fledged people. Another rant later about why 'bigger is better' seems to prevail among the people who push their fragmentation....)
So. Give us all a break, guys! If you're not a multiple, then STOP thinking you're the authority on the subject--holy and unquestionable, even by multiples themselves--especially when writing fanfics on the game. And not even in Xenogears--in any fan response. Just stop it. I've waded through dozens of poorly written fics about being a multiple, and it gets annoying after a while. I wouldn't even care that much, except that they don't bother to explore multiplicity beyond the surface definitions and stereotypes--and THAT, good readers, is my gripe.
Ariel: Took her long enough to get to the end, didn't it?
Reb: *growls*
Ariel: Yaaaaa!!!! *scampers away*
