So, while I'm having insomnia: Two more FF recommendations.

[auronlu]

So. Two recommendations of a very different nature. (non-LJ Community, video)

1) BRILLIANT FINAL FANTASY FAN TRIBUTE VIDEO for the win.

Ain't No Other Man

So not my usual taste in music, so well-paced, so much fun. Includes clips from FFVII through X, with an emphasis on Advent Children (which I haven't seen, but I don't think this is very spoilerific, it's just random bits of action scenes and Reno being Reno). The ending makes me giggle every single time I watch it.

Now if only someone would do a piece like that showcasing the best Final Fantasy female characters instead.


2) Final Fantasy Project forums and online community.
[[[EDIT: After ova_lexa discovered plagiarism on their wiki, I'm not quite so enamored of these folks. Hmmmmm. ]]

This place has so much potential, although it's small. It is a Final Fantasy fan forum + wiki + roleplaying hub + fanfiction archive.
~ It has forums for discussing the games.
~ Its members helped write the FFX wikipedia articles, and have their own wiki.
Its fanfiction archive's controls/options are better than most (I like being able to include pictures, comma, dammit).
~ Its blog/journals can be used for many purposes -- that's where I've been posting Lulu's Journal.
~ I haven't delved into the roleplaying forums because I don't want to let myself get sucked in, but it looks promising: Sin's Dawn, set 1000 years ago.
~ The members are thoughtful and especially oriented towards FFX, although they discuss all the games.
~ "Mythology, Canon, and Trivia of Final Fantasy" forum with some good topics.
They just don't have that many active members. I'd like to see what would happen if more people started participating.

Comments

[heyheyrenay.livejournal.com]

Well, I would participate except in how every FF forum I've ever gotten involved with has died or been filled with absolute jerks--and the fact there are loads of those all over the internet, all splintered apart in just the same way. It's discouraging, I guess. Probably forum life isn't for me; I know I'm way too busy to be a good member of anything anymore.

Also, did you not know about the Final Fantasy-only fanfiction archive we've been talking about for months now? For some reason, I swore you were involved because of your interest in communities. Huh. Well, whatever the case, if you're interested: ffarchive. It's only an archive right now, no other fancy addictions, but it's a pretty big undertaking. Anyway!

[animecrush.livejournal.com]

My temptation to wander over there is nawing at my head. Like I need something else to distract me from the many other things I do on the net >.>" I am going to seek a peek when I get a moment though.

[muggy-mountain.livejournal.com]

Is the writing....you know, good?

/Spoiled by LJ.

[auronlu.livejournal.com]

Their fanfic archive is a bit of a grab bag right now-- not much selection, and for some reason the admin of the place posted a not-stellar-piece as her main offering -- but the discussions tend to be cogently-written.

I'm having fun with a thread in the Mythology forum right now discussing the possibility of a mysticism strain within the Yevon religion, like the gnostic, kabbalistic, and Sufi traditions within Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

But bottle_of_shine is right. The web is littered with hundreds of final fantasy forums, all of them suffering from lack of members, and the more active ones tend to be occupied by jackass bastards and braindead twits. I visited and quickly grew inactive on a whole slew of those about the time I found this LJ Borg Collective.

FF_project is so small that it hasn't attracted jackasses, except for one recent drop-in from a mostly-harmless munchkin Aurikku fangirl. I think what makes FF_project nice is that its fans tend to be general fans of Final Fantasy's worlds and cultures and myths, more than obsessive fans of ships or specific characters (mea culpa!) so it generates a slightly different set of topics.

[muggy-mountain.livejournal.com]

I'm on there now, as storyless. What do you suggest I do now?

[auronlu.livejournal.com]

*drools stupidly*

Erm, embarrassingly, I'm not sure? Just poke around the forums and see if any discussion topics or parts of the site catch your fancy?

[heyheyrenay.livejournal.com]

>.> I didn't mean to be a downer! I SWEAR!

<.

[ovo-lexa.livejournal.com]

*Spots what might be content plagiarism right off the bat, and fluffers up.*

It looks like it could be a comprehensive 'site in time, and I love chatting FF mythology, but... ... *Sits on hands.* I will not be confrontational; I will not be confrontational; I will not be...

[auronlu.livejournal.com]

OY.

Blesh.

That was my chief hairtrigger back when I was a moderator, and I used to get members suspended for it. (Mostly for posting other artists' artwork as their own.)

It's one thing to post screencaps and excerpts from the game where it's clear that's what they are, and one's not making any claims to it as one's own material. It's another to post other people's stuff as if you made it yourself.

Well, well, perhaps my initial enthusiasm was a little misled.

[ovo-lexa.livejournal.com]

It's in the Wiki, so I'm fairly sure it's only a single, possibly inexperienced user. But I'm more definite now, too... And not only is it probably stolen - it's also misinformation.

Heh. The last forum I looked into, I found a 'fic plagiarist as well. Must be a budding talent of mine. -_-'