Fandom March Madness!

[tardis_stowaway]

Watch out, y'all. It's that time of year again.



Fandom March Madness!

That's right it's time to pit characters from different fandoms against each other in a seemingly pointless yet really HIGHLY IMPORTANT competition. Right now it's perhaps the most heartbreaking round, the preliminaries where you have to choose just one character from within each fandom. Seriously, how am I supposed to choose just one character from all of Doctor Who, Torchwood, and Sarah Jane Adventures when there are so many fantastic individuals in the Whoniverse? (Spoiler Alert: I picked Donna. She's the most important woman in the universe, plus a strategic vote to get past Amy Pond and unite the fandom in later rounds.)

Go tear your hair out in frustration at these impossible choices VOTE!  Also, enjoy all the pretty gifs and capslock flailing in the comments.  Voting on the preliminaries lasts until 1-2 pm Eastern on Thursday. 

Might I suggest:

John Watson for Sherlock.  We'd be lost without our blogger. 

Donna Noble for Doctor Who.  She is our household god!

Neville Longbottom for Harry Potter.  I am honestly confused about how he is not sweeping this bracket.  He's the biggest BAMF in the series and also a really great guy. 

Comments

[sylvansafekeepe.livejournal.com]

I didn't vote for any of your suggestions.

Sorry.

[tardis-stowaway.livejournal.com]

Who DID you vote for, so I may berate you or offer grudging approval accordingly?

[sylvansafekeepe.livejournal.com]

Sherlock/Ten/Snape (which would be a hilarious crack grouping, now that I think of it. O_o), but the only one I actually cared about was Sherlock. I spent way too much time choosing between Sherlock and Moriarty, mainly because I wanted to go with a villains/good bad guys/bad good guys theme with my voting. But then I decided to vote for someone who had a chance of actually winning (and Holmes kinda counts as the latter of those options, anyway).

You probably could've convinced me on the other two votes, but unfortunately for you, I'd already visited the polling place by the time you made this post.

Behold, a way to waste EVEN MORE time on this

[tardis-stowaway.livejournal.com]

You can actually change your vote. That's why where are so many offers of vote trading going on in the comments. Here's how:

-Start looking at the poll results. At the top of each division, there will be a link that says "Poll#[some number}". Click that.

-At the next screen, one of the options near the top is "fill out poll." Click this.

-You can now change your answers. Just be sure to hit submit at the bottom.

[timemachineyeah.livejournal.com]

OH GOD THANK YOU FOR REMINDING ME OF THIS.

True fact: it was this competition last year that alerted me to the existence of BBC's Miranda, which I now LOVE WITH A FIERY PASSION.

If nothing else, the comment threads are hilarious and give you a taste for new fandoms so you can see what you maybe should be checking out.

I am going to go vote now!

[timemachineyeah.livejournal.com]

OH GOD AVATAR NO HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO PICK.

THIS THING IS GOING TO TEAR ME APART.

[tardis-stowaway.livejournal.com]

Yes! Last year's competition pushed me into watching Community and Fringe, which I now love. (Though I still need to catch up with both.)

[joking.livejournal.com]

So much Sherlock hate in the comments! I know he's a misogynist and a privileged dick, but there's a certain point at which I draw a line in the social justice sand, refuse to feel guilty, and enjoy the show.

[tardis-stowaway.livejournal.com]

Yep.

I was always planning to vote for John, but I nearly changed my vote to Sherlock after seeing all the venom directed against him. I ultimately decided that I couldn't vote for anyone other than my beloved BAMF army doctor, but the anti-Sherlock sentiment is a bit much.

there's a certain point at which I draw a line in the social justice sand, refuse to feel guilty, and enjoy the show.

WORD.

[joking.livejournal.com]

There is no such thing as an unproblematic TV show, and bloody hell, I'm a queer genderfluid Latin@ and Sherlock makes me happy. That doesn't mean I'm blind to the show's faults.

I voted for John too. :)

[timemachineyeah.livejournal.com]

I feel this way too. I get cranky at Moffat as much as the next feminist, but the hate is a little much. I think a lot of the legit social justice criticism is being used a bit as a shield to cover for just being irritated by the ubiquity/popularity of the fandom ( kind of understandable? We are SQUEEING IN EVERY CORNER OF THE INTERNET right now), along with people just generally deciding to make Sherlock and the Eleventh Doctor personal avatars for Moffat for taking out their feminist rage on.

Mostly because if it were really about Sherlock being a privileged asshole starring in a sausage fest, you'd see a similar (and much stronger) campaign being lobbied against Tony Stark, who is really really a privileged asshole, a quality that the viewer is meant to find endearing (unlike in Sherlock, where we are meant to like Sherlock despite the way he treats people/women, not because of it). But (and granted I only made it halfway through the comments) I haven't seen a similar anti-Stark campaign.

*shrugs*

I might be taking it a bit personally, though, as I actually really identify with the BBC interpretation of Sherlock Holmes.

Still voted for John, though. He's the better person! How can you not love him?

[joking.livejournal.com]

I might be taking it a bit personally, though, as I actually really identify with the BBC interpretation of Sherlock Holmes.

See, there's the thing. It's all too rare to have protagonists who have Asperger's/whatever it is that Sherlock has in shows that don't turn it into the disability version of the "Magical Negro" who is so saintly and wonderful because of the hardship they have to go through because of their Asperger's/OCD/what have you. And I think that's an entry point for a lot of fans. (Not saying that's the reason why you identify with him, but it's a reason a lot of fans identify with him, and I think it's great.)

[timemachineyeah.livejournal.com]

Oh totally agreed. I mean, I kind of hate Moffat a whole lot of the time? But I think he's actually really good with invisible disability, both including it a representing it. He had a kid with dyslexia in Doctor Who, the mention of a woman with diabetes, the fantastic Vincent episode happened under his watch, and Sherlock -whether Aspie or not- definitely isn't entirely neurotypical, but like you point out, it isn't treated as a magic power or as an excuse.

I identify with Sherlock mostly as someone who was told a lot by teachers and parents as a kid, "Your making the other children feel bad" when I did something differently or "better" than others. I remember spending a lot of time trying to figure out what the right response to that was as a kid, whether it was moral to hide myself to make others feel better and whether it was moral to keep doing well if my doing well discouraged other kids from trying. It pretty much came down to "Do I care if it makes the other kids feel bad?" - my answer was a little yes and a little no, but I get the feeling Sherlock faced a similar conundrum as a kid and decided "No. I don't care." and decided to make that his identity. And I find that incredibly understandable and relatable.