XENA SMASH

[auronlu]

Mintywolf is a saint.

For four years, she's been posting Guardian comic every week. She's up to 111 pages. 

The story focuses on relationships between female characters. On every page. From Lady Ginnem's mentorship of Lulu to Ginnem's kickass sister Imogen to Yuna's friendship with Valefor to NoPantsCrusader/LadyYocun'sBiggestFan  the nuanced portrayal of Lulu's friendship with Yuna, which evolves and grows over time. 

It's a well-written, convincing love story in which the protagonists are not het and not in a sexual relationship. It shows, not tells that female friendships can be every bit as powerful as the standard "boy meets girl" romance.

Just as with the game of FFX, the bulk of the story is actually flashback, recalled at the end of the journey. The "present" is the scene in which Lulu volunteers to be Yuna's fayth. That scene is reprised at the beginning of each chapter, only now it's ticked forward to show that Lulu IS going to become Yuna's fayth, in this AU.

Yet reader comments often seem oblivious to all of the above.

• Readers are excited when Tidus shows up, because now, at last, the story can be about Tidus/Yuna. (It hasn't been.) Some post a burst of Tidus/Yuna art right after she posts an emotionally powerful Lulu & Yuna scene.
• There are comments like "whoa whoa, Lulu, that almost sounds gay" when her headspace-narrative describes her feelings for Yuna. 
• Commenters jokingly scold Lulu for being sharp-tongued at Wakka, because she shouldn't be talking that way to her future husband. Did they play FFX?

Today someone wants to know if/when Minty's going to get to FFX-2, because this fan can't wait to see Lulu spawning the Wakkababy.

Even though Mintywolf's already showed that Lulu's going to become the Final Aeon, diverging from the X-2 storyline.
Even though Mintywolf's been focusing on female friendship and cuddles.
Even though Mintywolf's been avoiding sexual content all along.

Said fan kept poking, and Mintywolf deflected with tact. As she always does.

It is difficult for me not to snark at readers so desperately trying to find the het in her story, so determined not to see what the story is about, and has been about, for one hundred pages. 

When we were talking about this, Minty pointed out that "where is the straight?" comments on stories about female relationships are hardly unique to Guardian: Sister Claire's had such comments just this week.

I'm not surprised that these comments happen, of course. I'm just very frustrated on her behalf that people can't see, appreciate and engage in what she's trying to do, and has been doing very effectively, for years.

All I can do is support it. 

Comments

[cumuluscastle]

But that's the internet. None of my fanart gets as much traffic as fanart that contains a popular pairing or nudity.

It's fandom's relentless pursuit of pairings in all of its forms that's turned me off the most in recent years. There's nothing wrong with any of it, but, you know, romance is just one literary genre. I can only read so much of it before I want to read something else.

In the end, I think it just has to be its own reward, creating the art you want to create.

That said, her comic is amazing and I should comment more and recommend it more (not that I can recommend it anywhere where I'll reach a big audience - I don't interact as much with the internet as I used to). It's so refreshing that she has based her whole story around a sisterly relationship. She really needs to be commended for it.

[auronlu]

I used to be utterly bewildered by online fandoms tendency to fixate so much on pairings, since it never occurred to me to ship until I hit FF fandom in the mid-2000s. Then I fell afoul of the habit. But that's another conversation.

Creating the art you want to create is something I commend and don't comment enough when it comes to your art, despite the fact that I have two very dear pieces from you.