Bored answer #1: Sweet Valley

[impy]

Carried over from This post.

Sweet Valley

the first character i ever fell in love with:
Enid. I think one of my first SVH books was Crash Landing! so uh, I never had a chance.

a character that i used to love/like, but now do not:
Amy Sutton. I like SVT Amy (for the most part) and it baffles me how she went from that girl to the brain dead annoyance that plagues SVH. I actually like her more when she's being outright in her scheming (like when she's waging battle against Enid for Elizabeth) but that happens less and less and is replaced by her Project Youth babble.

a ship that i used to love/like, but now do not:
Kid!me would strangle me for this, but AJ/Jessica. I used to be a big fan but it's one of those things that you definitely understand why it never lasted and wasn't really worth a second go round.


my ultimate favorite character™:
Can I pick super early Liz? She disappears/morphs into someone else pretty early on in the series, but sweet baby Zeus, Double Love!Liz where she's well aware that Jessica is the super popular, kinda powerful force of nature and she's the girl getting run over in the halls is probably my favorite.


prettiest character:
In the books? Isn't Regina supposed to be ~stunning~? But I always think Lila's the prettiest girl in school, not just the richest.

my most hated character:
I had a whole list planned out and then I remembered the obvious. Fucking. Devon. Whitelaw. There's a character who was pretty clearly planned to be the ultimate shakeup for Liz/Todd and he was. He was just also a total douche in every way that not even a 'woe is me' background could save him. HATE. He shows back up in SVU, too so hatred all around. Even though I didn't even ship L/T by the end, I couldn't enjoy the breakup because UGH. Devon.

I'm also not a fan of Janet from the Twins series (why, why does anyone put up with her? She's awful all the way around. It takes the ENTIRE SERIES for them to bother to try and humanize her. Too little, too late.

And if I remember, Dana from SVU is pretty awful, too. And not even entertainingly so like Celine could be. Plus SVU Todd should sue for defamation of character.



my OTP:
Can we all acknowledge that Bruce/Lila is obviously endgame? They didn't put us through however many years of "they hate each other" to not ultimately have them end up with one another. It's just... no. Few things in the world of SV clicked better than Bruce/Lila finally, finally, FINALLY getting together in SVU. It just made sense.

That said, I will go down with the good ship Ken/Lila. I know. I KNOW. I can't have two ships with the same person in both but there you go. It was the only thing I kinda liked in SVC and in order to make sense of the rest of the chaos, I wound up with a backstory that I love enough to keep this ship afloat. So... alternate universes, I suppose.

my NOTP:
Bruce/Liz. Just all the no in all the land. In better hands, the hate 'ship probably could have worked if the near rape scene had never existed, but it does and I can't unsee SVC and the Sweet Life so no. Just no.

favorite episode book:
I... I don't know how to choose. I re-read The Evil Twin every year and I love it. I'd give the nod to Double Love but Lila and Jessica are both 80's kinds of awful at times and I just can't really endorse it for that. Umm...
Dear Sister. You get tragic coma, you get twin personality switch, you get drama and comedy and it's pretty awesome, all things considered.

SVT answer: The Magic Christmas. Never have found out whether this is actually an original story or them swiping another book/movie, but it shows how amazing SV fantasy could/can be.


saddest death:
Sam. I remember finishing the book and having to call Ari to talk about how shocking it was. The way Sam's death kind of destroys Jessica is also heartbreaking and fascinating at the same time.


favorite season version:
Classic SVH. Pretty much everything through The Evil Twin is my jam. There are a few arcs after that I like/love (cheerleading arc is the only one I would argue we have to save if history is rewritten) but the covers send me back to my happy nostalgia place where I'm in 4th grade bringing home as many books as I can carry. Literally carry.


least favorite season version:
TV show? Is that too easy? Because when watching the first season on DVD, it's not awful now that I no longer expect it to be at all like the books in ANY way but it ain't my favorite.
Book wise, the Elizabeth series. Burn it all to cinders, baby.

(We ignore SVC. It never happened and thus the continuation never happened and I don't know what you're talking about.)

character that everyone else in the fandom loves, but i hate:
Hell if I know whether there's even a fandom left, man, so how the heck am I to know who they love? I do remember waaaaaaaaaay back when, when Senior Year was out and every damn website was all "Conner! Siiiiiiiigh." No. Conner's only interesting when he's not with Liz or really wanting to be with Liz and even then he's not that fun.

my ‘you’re piece of trash, but you’re still a fave’ fave:
Uhhhhhh...Margo? Yeah, yeah. She's an awful human being but I'll be damned if I don't find myself wishing we'd gotten a what if where she'd managed to twin switch herself into Liz.


my ‘beautiful cinnamon roll who deserves better than this’ fave:
Enid. She deserves so much better than what she wound up with by the end. :/ People who go, "ugh, Enid" make me want to punch them.


my ‘this ship is wrong, nasty, and makes me want to cleanse my soul, but i still love it’ ship:
I don't think I have one, though I totally get why people do ship Enid/Jessica and that's pretty close.


my ‘they’re kind of cute, and i lowkey ship them, but i’m not too invested’ ship’:
I cooled considerably on the good 'ship Wilkins/Wakefield after he came back from Vermont. At the time I was all giddy and happy for them but adult me isn't as thrilled. I don't hate them, it's just... eh.

Comments

[luxken27]

a ship that i used to love/like, but now do not:
Kid!me would strangle me for this, but AJ/Jessica. I used to be a big fan but it's one of those things that you definitely understand why it never lasted and wasn't really worth a second go round.

I haveta admit, this did surprise me. AJ is my second favorite Jessica boyfriend (after Sam) and I love their little arc, short as it was (but not the way it ended, ugh). They definitely couldn't get back together after breaking up, like Liz and Todd, but I still enjoy their little romance even as an adult ♥

Double Love!Liz where she's well aware that Jessica is the super popular, kinda powerful force of nature and she's the girl getting run over in the halls is probably my favorite.

And yet she can also pull Hurricane!Jess back in line when it's necessary (like how she blackmailed Jessica into accepting Fall Queen after setting her up to make Win her King instead of Bruce, mwahahaha!). Yes, this is a totally valid choice, LOL!!

I had a whole list planned out and then I remembered the obvious. Fucking. Devon. Whitelaw.

LOL, now I kinda want to know who else was on your list. I agree that Devon trumps them all (and was portrayed as outright abusive in the TV series, gross me out).

Can we all acknowledge that Bruce/Lila is obviously endgame?

Yes. Yes we can, LOL.

That said, I will go down with the good ship Ken/Lila. I know. I KNOW. I can't have two ships with the same person in both but there you go.

Says who? Lila wouldn't have just one boyfriend evar like fucking Saint Liz of Sweet Valley, okay? The girl has chemistry galore with lots of people. I was rereading the first 3 SVHs and found it rather fascinating that apparently after she started the rumor about Ken and Ms. Dalton in book #2, Ken found a way to forgive her and they carried on a hot and heavy fling in book #3. Which makes my pre-canon Bruce/Lila series a little tougher to write but hey, I also enjoy a challenge :D

Bruce/Liz. Just all the no in all the land.

Agreed. Not even early!Liz would've matched up well with Bruce. She'd find him way too insufferable. There's a reason he required a personality transplant in that-book-that-shall-not-be-named in order to make them fit together o.O

People who go, "ugh, Enid" make me want to punch them.

Same. I'm not sure why people don't like her, she sounded pretty awesome to me, at least in classic SVH.

I cooled considerably on the good 'ship Wilkins/Wakefield after he came back from Vermont. At the time I was all giddy and happy for them but adult me isn't as thrilled. I don't hate them, it's just... eh.

I hate the way Jeffrey just stepped aside and then disappeared off the face of the earth. He didn't indulge Liz's crap nearly as much as Todd did, until the very end. Brokenhearted actually holds up pretty well IMO, and made me appreciate Jeffrey more. I still don't see what Lila sees in him, but he and Liz were good together.

[snarky-imp.livejournal.com]

I fudged things a little on the used to like/don't anymore 'ship. I still enjoy AJ/Jess but not as much as I did. Some of the questions were harder than I thought they'd be because I don't really spend a lot of time pondering ships I don't like or that I'm not kind of nutty for *coughLila'sshipscough* so I figured that since kid!me shipped 'em at about a 12 (on a scale of 1-10), lowering it down to maybe an 8 as an adult would have to do. :P

Somewhere, there's a universe where early Liz didn't morph into popular Liz quite so fast and I'd like to think that world is also devoid of SVC. So a better world, really.

LOL, now I kinda want to know who else was on your list. I agree that Devon trumps them all (and was portrayed as outright abusive in the TV series, gross me out).
Huh. Now I'm gonna have to rustle up the later seasons. For science. Yes. Science.

My list went something like this:
Heather. I loathed her for most of her run, and I get that I was supposed to, but there's an enjoyable amount of hatred and then there's just going too far and Heather tended to go too far. Oddly enough, I remember not hating her as much by the time she left.

Melissa and Will in Senior Year. Melissa took Heather's annoyance and cranked it way up and Will just stood back and did nothing helpful. Hell, he made it worse every time he turned around. Also, Melissa broke up Lila and Jessica and this, this I will not forgive!

Also, I kinda lowkey actually hate Amy for most of SVH. I enjoy her arrival but they very quickly ran out of stuff for her to do and she's just awful. But she worked better for another question sooooo...


carried on a hot and heavy fling in book #3. Which makes my pre-canon Bruce/Lila series a little tougher to write but hey, I also enjoy a challenge :D
Woo! I look forward to seeing how to work around/through it because I have faith in you. Also, need to re-read #3 when I next get bitten by the plot bunny.

I still don't see what Lila sees in him, but he and Liz were good together.
That's what fic is for, I suppose. And Jeffrey deserved better. I do wish they'd followed through on the Jeffrey/Enid hookup or had him stick around in some other way. Sigh.

[luxken27]

Now I'm gonna have to rustle up the later seasons. For science. Yes. Science.



You're welcome :P It started with the rumble in the jungle storyline (you know, the High School Wars, only in this version Christian Gorman lives?) but this is where Liz tries to break up with Devon. Ugh.

Heather. I loathed her for most of her run, and I get that I was supposed to, but there's an enjoyable amount of hatred and then there's just going too far and Heather tended to go too far. Oddly enough, I remember not hating her as much by the time she left.

Wait - she left?? How did I miss that news bulletin?

Also, I kinda lowkey actually hate Amy for most of SVH.

I just can't with her whole personality transplant between SVT and SVH.

I do wish they'd followed through on the Jeffrey/Enid hookup or had him stick around in some other way. Sigh.

SERIOUSLY. Jeffrey/Enid would've been all torrid, and Liz kinda deserved that in the post-#100 books. At least her crazy jealousy would've served a purpose, and would've been more believable than her angst about dropping Todd for Devon.

[snarky-imp.livejournal.com]

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssss! Something to look forward to when I finally finish my cleaning (it'll never end, but this gives me hope it might!) today. And I never understood the letting Christian live thing. Wasn't his entire point to die? I feel like it was.

I can't remember if Heather moved or graduated or what (so it's possible she's there til Senior Year) and Google is no help in under a minute. Woe. Huh. I'm gonna guess she just gets shuffled off in SY and is immediately replaced by bitchtastic Melissa because she's definitely still there through the prom right before The End and I'd imagine we'd remember her dying in the earthquake. Brain, why so weird?

Amy's shift is so radical and we're never really given a reason for it. I could kind of buy that Amy reinvented herself in high school after her move didn't pan out well socially (it worked for Enid and college, sorta) but SVT Amy was smart and had a conscience. SVH Amy's brains shrink the longer the series goes on and when Regina died, she took what was left of Amy's conscience. Shoulda left that as your legacy and not a camera, Regina.

I would have looooooooved J/E and the way Elizabeth would've had to come to grips with it, or not. And since they seemed hellbound to not really have the twins actively date the same guy (at least not til the Ken past was revealed), it would've been interesting to see the Jeffrey arc come full circle. Doubly so considering how nice Enid was about it originally. But no. Freakin' Devon.

[luxken27]

Yeah, I'd say cheesy cheestastic SVH TV would be a decent reward. Once you start watching it, you kinda can't stop... :P

I think letting Christian die would've taken away from the overall lighthearted feel of the show, since they went the camp route instead of the soap opera route. Better to have him just leave and break Jessica's heart...though she somehow starts dating douchebag Devon and everybody's just okay with it, WTF o.O

when Regina died, she took what was left of Amy's conscience. Shoulda left that as your legacy and not a camera, Regina.

*snickersnort* I do kinda wish Amy and Bruce had had more social consequences for what they did. Everybody was waiting for Bruce to revert to his arrogant asshole act, but IIRC everybody was appalled that Amy even made a play for him in the first place. How did she come out of it smelling like a rose??

So re: Jeffrey...I finally gave in and read Shannon's recaps of SVHSY and apparently he hooks up with Liz for part of their senior year? (DJ Jazzy Jeff will never NOT be funny, LOL). So it could've gotten even weirder if he bounced from Liz to Enid and back to Liz again, with at least one major personality transplant going on in there. And maybe him breaking up with E would've set her off down her path of gothic destruction that ends up with her becoming an alcoholic in college...

My god, these storylines practically write themselves, LOL!!

[snarky-imp.livejournal.com]

I started at the beginning of S4. I figure if I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go big. I'm already ready to throw things at the screen whenever Devon appears. Argh.

Fair enough call on the campy feel of the show and death not really working.

The only real repercussion Amy seems to have faced is that after Regina's death, Jess and Lila (and possibly Cara) both seemed less... amused by her? Beforehand, they seemed to enjoy (up to a point) Amy's flightiness and extreme cattiness, but after Amy's play for Bruce, they go from "oh, Amy" to "really, Amy, this again?" depending on the ghostie at the wheel. And it's only in throwaway scenes that I could be reading too much into when I'm re-reading things at random.

But Amy lucked out because, if memory serves, the school crucified the kids who were with Regina when she died and not Amy/Bruce.

I try my best to forget that DJ Jazzy Jeff ever existed because whaaaaaaaaa and also the giggles just don't stop. Man, when you look at it like that, Enid bounces a lot. Before we meet her, she's troubled druggie Enid. Then cookie baking awesomesauce Enid. Then hippie Enid in SY and then alcoholic Alex for SVU. That's a lot of personality switches.

Yeeeeeeeeeees, let the stories write themselves and the peasants (me!) shall rejoice. Yays!

[luxken27]

All of the seasons of SVH are on YouTube, in varying quality. It definitely went downhill as it went on, and it makes me wonder which horribleness came first - the late-series books, or the show? Maybe its a chicken-and-egg type situation...

But Amy lucked out because, if memory serves, the school crucified the kids who were with Regina when she died and not Amy/Bruce.

Yup - it was the druggies' fault she died, not the people who drove her to it! I read your recap and I didn't realize that Regina hijacks 1Bruce1 when she finds out about Bruce/Amy - maybe that's why Bruce got off relatively easy, LOL.

According to 1bruce1 recaps, Jessica also stole 1Bruce1 in #86, basically just because she could. This elevates everyone in my book, LOL.

Man, when you look at it like that, Enid bounces a lot. Before we meet her, she's troubled druggie Enid. Then cookie baking awesomesauce Enid. Then hippie Enid in SY and then alcoholic Alex for SVU. That's a lot of personality switches.

And yet. SV is just crazy enough that we can make some sort of logical (if soap-opery) sense of all the ghostwriters' varying storylines and character 180s. Which is pretty scary, when you think about it o.O

In order to write Jeffrey/Enid though I'd have to read late-series SVH and I'm not sure I have the stomach for that. I'd at least have to divorce myself from the relatively realistic early canon, at least.

Since you're the one with the Margo-as-Liz bunnies, maybe I can leave this to you, too? *smiles sweetly*

[rogokolop.livejournal.com]