Fannish Fifty: Shadowcat

Kitty Pryde was a First for many in many ways, just as she was a first for teenaged comic-book readers back in her day. When she first joined the X-Men, she was youngest on the team BY FAR. That didn't stop her from first leading a team of X-Men, when all their normal leaders were down or away for whatever myriad of reasons, at the tender age of FOURTEEN. I've watched this character grow up over the years, as have, of course, other readers too, but she has inspired me in so many ways. I am, in some ways, a leader. My husband and mother have both come to look at me to lead, whether or I want to or not, and I've many colleagues who look at me at work to lead. I've even had bosses who look at me to lead them... That may or may not hold true today... :)

But Kitty was a first for me in many other ways too. She was one of my first AOL names, the first one that actually stuck, which was Shdwct83. I knew very little about her character at the time, but I'd fallen into my first RPG in an AOL chat room and she was one of VERY few characters open. All I knew about her came from the back of a trading card!





But then, FINALLY, I fell across my first comic, and the rest, as they say, is History! I wasn't even that fond of the character when I first started RPing as her, tbh, but she grew on me in Excalibur and I freaking LOVE what they have done with her since! There are many who say that she's too dark these days, but to them I say think of Days of Future Past and consider the first mini series in which she was in, which was also the first series my late Daddy bought for me, Kitty Pryde and Wolverine.





She rapidly turned dark there (and she was still SO young), and yes, she was able to beat Ogun at that time, but she was able to beat him out of her love for Wolverine and her friends and family back home. She has watched so many of them suffer and die, come back to life and suffer and die again, and again, and again... It's no wonder there is so much darkness in her now. I'm NOT one of those who thinks she's gone too dark. In fact, the below is one of the pictures I use on my work PC as my laptop. I see it every day, and it inspires me EVERY DAY to keep being strong and never let the darkness of this world take me down, even if sometimes I have to answer its darkness with darkness and strength of my own!





I can honestly say my life would NOT be the same without this character!!





Please note that the following is VERY image-filled (heavy loading) and still under construction! This text will disappear once this post is "finished", but I'm probably going to return to it at later dates to add stuff. :)


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Sarah

Title: Sarah
Fandom: Labyrinth
Author: Apache Firecat
Characters: Jareth/Sarah, OCs
Rating: G/K
Summary: The whole court observes Jareth's Queen.
Word Count: 500
Written For: LabyFic 182. Climb
Warnings: Future AU
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.


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Happy

Title: Happy
Fandom: Charmed
Author: Apache Firecat
Characters: Andy/Prue
Rating: G/K
Summary: Andy just wants to see Prue happy.
Word Count: 952
Written For: Happy (early) Birthday, LuvBarryFefe!!!
Warnings: Kid!fic
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.




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Fannish Fifty: Emma Frost

As much as I love Storm and Shadowcat, my all-time favorite X-Woman will always be Emma Grace Frost, better known as the White Queen. (Unlike Kitty, despite how much her character has changed over the years, she's never felt the need to change her codename. ;)) I came into her character what some would have thought late in her character arc, as she'd already been around for quite some time at that point, but I was there to watch her journey actually take the huge change towards becoming a heroine. I had no idea who she was when she woke from her coma during the Phalanx Covenant, but that was the first multi-series crossover arc that I really enjoyed and she SWIFTLY became my favorite character. :)

When I was younger, my favorite character used to go back and forth between Emma, Kitty, and Jubilee, before Jubie rapidly became my solid third (Ororo being my fourth, though she started as my first and is definitely a character without whom my life would have never been the same as she was instrumental in making me such a solid X-Men fan from the beginning). I admit Kitty does sometimes slip ahead, but Emma's remain stauntly my top and I'll always return to her as my all-time topper -- I mean, top. ;)

I was blown away by Emma during the Phalanx Covenant. She had so much power and strength, and yet unlike Kitty and Ororo, she did NOT mince her words, even when arguing with the heroes. She would quickly call anyone out, and do so with class. She didn't have to cuss to get her point across. She could quickly make any man feel as big as his pinkie, and that was something that definitely demanded my attention as I was younger. I did have several strong women, but most of them either bowed to their men or at least to their heroes or thought they could only get their point across through profanity or threats. Emma did not have to resort to any of that, and she never seemed to doubt herself.

Oddly enough, as she and I both grew, and I watched her soften in Generation X and recognized that she truthfully was deeply vulnerable, I only grew to love her character more. I think, looking back, that she is definitely one of the characters who inspired me to want to become a teacher, and whereas I may not be an actual teacher, I do kind of teach basic Internet skills in my current job now. Honestly, I'm actually kind of proud of that, and definitely grateful for my job. My job goes into rural areas, and we reach people that may not be reached otherwise (speaking from definite personal experience here) with jobs that require computer skills -- but we will also teach those computer skills. I graduated with a degree back in 2003 that I never got to use, until this job, and I have just this past year accomplished my second computer certificate, this one being actually current. :) Emma touches lives, she saves mutant children -- as Scott himself said, even when they were no longer together, she is all about the kids. I'm not that crazy about kids myself, but I DO have a SERIOUS soft spot for those like me (and my husband and I'm sure many of y'all and other fanfic writers and readers) who should have been reached long before we were -- there are also far too many people like my late Daddy who are never reached -- but this is about to be about the character, not about the sorrow of our lives. :)

This character, this bold, courageous woman, fights for mutant children, and she fights for those who might otherwise never be reached, those "grown kids", as some, including Emma, would say men are so good at being. :) This includes the X-Men's own Bobby Drake, who (sorry, not sorry, after all, this is MY opinion) has never been given a good love partner in the comics. I know, he's gay and all now, but back in the day, it wasn't as obvious -- and honestly, I don't think Emma would care, especially considering her own brother (who I do think would make a cute match for Bobby).





I thought he seriously deserved a good lover back in the day, and although I didn't like him paired romantically with Emma (or Kitty, for that matter), I DID like them for friends, and I saw long before the comics did that she had taken him over to prove that he was failing to reach his full potential. Xavier was failing him, yet even Emma was Touched by Charles' faith in her and his faith that she could be better and be trusted to lead another generation of mutant children, when she herself didn't trust herself and, to this day, carries a considerable amount of hate and grief over her first students, the Hellions.





And let us never, ever, please, underscore what all Emma herself endured as a child. This is a person who had every reason and hate to never trust anyone ever again. Her own parents threw her away into a mental asylum from which she had to fight her way out by mind-controlling a big, burly guard, and it didn't get easier from there. I found it hard to read some of the Uncanny X-Men issues that were released closer to the end of the first run, where Emma, still as a young teen, if not younger, had to literally claw her way into survival with the Hellfire Club with her bare hands. The woman has endured far more than anyone should, and yet to this day is never given credit for that.





She's bound to have PTSD from Hell, and she has absolutely NO reason to trust or care for anyone after everything she has endured. But she continues to fight for others. She continues to put her trust in others, and to be vulnerable despite her strong defenses. She is one of the few characters where I have a definite OTP, but can also enjoy pairing her with others. I've recently seen some Kitty/Emma pairings, and although I don't think their relationship swings that way at all (I think they have built a strong friendship based on mutual respect honed over their years -- we've seen them grow from Emma trying to control a young, naiive Kitty and Kitty hating her for it to where they literally stand and rule together and are such a wonderful, strong dynamic that one of my daily work wallpapers inspires me every day!), I do admit the thought has some intrigue to it.





I don't like her with Bobby romantically, but I DO like them, quite a bit, as FRIENDS. She has grown on me with Scott, or rather Scott has grown on me with her (and she is surely better for him than Jean!). She brings promise to Tony Stark, of all people, and her flirtation with Namor held a lot of promise for me for a while.





But my favorite -- ALL-TIME favorite OTP pairing for her is and will forever remain Sean Cassidy. He was the only man who would stand up to her back in the day of the Phalanx Covenant and Generation X. It both annoyed her and burned her in a VERY good way. I've always had a thing for a good man MAKING a strong woman have to relax or otherwise allow him to be there for her when no one else will be, and Sean definitely seemed to be that man for a long time for Emma until, of course, Marvel screwed it up like they always do. I HATED what the writers had Moira do to him recently in the comics, but I've come to honestly kind of think of it as his just due for what he put Emma through at the end of Generation X.







That being said, one of the movies that I LOVE that the critics always rip to shreds was and will always be Generation X. It remains one of my favorites to this day, although it's admittedly nowhere near as good as I thought it was when I was a kid (as is the case with so many things when looked at through an adult's eyes). I STILL LOVE what Fiona Hughes (Charmed fans should recognize that name as the original Halliwells' mother) did with her character, and I seriously doubt ANYONE will EVER do her better!!!!!!





To me, Emma will always be one of the strongest X-Women, and she honestly didn't need the second mutation of her diamond skin. It added to her power, yes, but she was already so beautiful, dynamic, bold, and powerful without it. She will ALWAYS inspire me!!!!!!!!!! <3 <3 <3





Please note that the following is VERY image-filled (heavy loading) and still under construction! This text will disappear once this post is "finished", but I'm probably going to return to it at later dates to add stuff. :)

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