Obligatory Two Cents

I have no reason to fear that my journal will be suspended; it's rare for anyone under the age of thirty to get laid in one of my stories and I've not yet got around to writing any Justin/Iris. (Or Vash/Knives, for that matter.) I'll probably be safe unless someone decides that porn involving tentacles, evil robots or plain old gay sex isn't 'family friendly' enough for livejournal. I don't think that's remotely likely at this stage.

This still concerns me deeply. Artists, of whatever sort, should never end up beholden to those who apparently can't tell the difference between fiction and reality.

How is it that HBO can put a full-on smooch between brother and sister on screen in Carnivale, and Arrested Development can joke about incest for three seasons solid, but someone who lists 'incest' in their lj interests as a result should have their journal suspended?

I've written a story where someone gets raped (Chimera) and story where a teenage girl has a sexual relationship with a man old enough to be her grandfather (Near Enough). Neither of these things is portrayed positively in the stories concerned. I'm not confidant that this would be sufficient defence for people who think communities and journals should be deleted based on user interests alone, with no regard for context.

I can't fault Livejournal for wishing to provide themselves with legal protection. I can fault them for not communicating better with fandom at large about this issue, and letting panic reign. I can definitely fault arseholes who go around reporting people writing about fictional characters as paedophiles.

My other concern is that I don't know what the hell 'underage characters' means in the context of a global internet, anyway. Underage in the US? Underage in Australia? Underage in Japan, where in parts of the country the legal age of consent is thirteen? Does it matter where the characters are in in the story? What if they're in Narnia or it's the 13th century? This is why context matters!

If your children are wandering around unsupervised on the internet, of course they might find things that disturb them. The solution here is not to make the entire internet safe for eight-year-olds. It is to properly monitor the internet use of those who are not old enough to protect themselves from things that they don't want to see/read. Adults, and even older teens, are more than capable of hitting the back button if they find something they don't like.

My journal will remain unlocked, and since I've been on lj for going on six years, I'm in no hurry to pack up and move. I do, however, find this disturbing trend.

And Now For Something Completely Different

I may have celebrated waking up early for the first time all week by going out and buying two packs of Robot Heroes Transformers figures. I had sworn off buying more action figures since I don't have any more space, but these are so tiny and adorable and will look so awesome on my desk at work I couldn't resist.

I have wanted the tiny Starscream ever since I saw pictures of him online; he's half way through blasting off and has the best evil smirk. I also got Optimus Prime and Ravage - chibi robot kitty! - and Mirage came packaged with Starscream.

The packages I didn't buy had Rodimus Prime & Insecticon (just a generic Insecticon, it seems, no mention of whether it's Kickback, Bombshell or Shrapnel) and Grimlock & Shockwave. Is it just me, or are those incredibly random pairings of characters? Optimus vs. Ravage seems like such an unfair fight, and why Mirage with Starscream? I understand the desire to have an Autobot and a Decepticon in each pack, but they could have at least put Starscream in with, say, Red Alert. At least Grimlock trod on Shockwave that one time.

Also, I feel the need to point out how awesome Teletraan 1, the Transformers Wiki, is. Here is their description of Robot Heroes Prime:

As with all Heroes figures, Optimus Prime is a simple, yet well-detailed two-inch tall figurine with exaggerated, cartoony proportions. He is sculpted holding his Ion Blaster rifle in his right fist and his left arm in a pointing pose. He is also love.

Silver Lining

If you have any sort of involvement in fandom as creator or spectator - and if you're reading this, I'm pretty sure you do - then get thee hence and join fandom_counts with all your fannish journals.

As I type this, it's topped 25,000 members. I'm both staggered and delighted by that - I had no idea we could call upon such numbers!