New fandom, a new way

[libraralien]

Last weekend a friend came to visit and, per my request, explained the plot of the Metal Gear games to me. With a powerpoint. For over three hours (and has patiently fielded follow-up plot questions in the days following). I have never been somebody who tends to get into fandoms without consuming the canon, or gone in fic first, so starting to poke around the fic with my only experience of the canon being an, admittedly extremely in-depth, explainer is a new experience for me. But so many people over the years have told me I would love the story of the games, but I know I am never going to play them because the gameplay is just not the type of game I am interested in/good at.

So now I am exploring the fic side of the fandom, mostly on ao3 so far, and generally having a good time. I am definitely tending towards shorter, pornier fics for now, things that might be described as "plot light" because I am worried more involved, plottier stuff will require a stronger grasp of canon than I have. I am mostly reading Solid Snake/Otacon right now because it is the ship whose dynamic is the easiest for me to grasp ("reluctantly married" seems to be the vibe), but at least on ao3 there doesn't seem to be a ship that is the overwhelming juggernaut and I am excited to see what some of the other ships hold.

If anybody is in this fandom and wants to share any beloved fics, old fic sites I should check out, has a ship they want to sell me on, wants to show me a cutscene or clip that I absolutely must see, or just wants to squee about a newbie in their fandom, feel free to comment. Or if anyone has thoughts in general about how getting into a fandom when you haven't consumed the canon is different than when you have, I have been thinking about that as well.

Comments

[khronos_keeper]

I love metal gear so much. Even if you don't play them, I suggest you check out the lets plays that are available on youtube! I like GaLM personally, even if he's terrible at stealth games. You can get watch the storylines of each game and how they run, and how the games fit together. Metal Gear is full of iconic moments, so it depends what kind of stuff you're looking for.

The older MSX games are, uh... charitably described as batshit insane, but still great. If you start with Metal Gear Solid, you can get an idea of the kinds of broader themes metal gear games are about and the general way they're played.

One of the best fic repositories has to be the old LJ mgs_slash site. I used to write a lot of gen back in the old days.

A let's play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1MhuUTquzw&list=PLspeOI0YmcdMOhUVs3W8Ac8-poLRLL-9Q

There's also Slow Beef's text Let's Play of Metal Gear 2, the MSX2 game. It's amazing. http://www.effinslowbeef.com/MG2/

[libraralien]

I have been thinking I should watch a let's play, or at least a compilation of the cut scenes, so thanks for the recs of a some to try! My friend did show me a couple clips she thought were important. I am just kind of along for the ride still, so I don't know what kind of stuff I am looking for yet. I will definitely explore the old LJ comm, I was sure there must be one somewhere out there...

[lookashiny]

Metal Gear is a fandom I'm intermittently in almost entirely because of lets plays. I'm more into the MGS 3/5 stuff with Big Boss, and Kaz, and younger Ocelot. I can't remember any particular fics off the top of my head, but the fandom has a lot of good writers.

[libraralien]

I definitely plan to explore those characters as well! Looking at ao3 it seems that Kaz is quite the fandom bicycle, so excited to see what the fuss is about there.

[lookashiny]

Yeah, he's pretty popular. I think a lot of it is his looks and his snark.