Antigone2
| Fan | |
|---|---|
| Name: | |
| Alias(es): | IdesofNovember, Antigone |
| Type: | fan writer |
| Fandoms: | Sailor Moon |
| Communities: | Usamamo |
| Other: | |
| URL: | Antigone2 at AO3 Antigone2 at FanFiction.Net IdesofNovember at Tumblr |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Antigone2 is a hugely influencial and prolific Sailor Moon fanfiction author who has been writing predominantly for the Usagi/Mamoru ship since 2001. She has written over 70 works for Sailor Moon and gets cited by many authors currently active in the Sailor Moon fandom as the reason they have started writing Sailor Moon fanfiction.
Although Antigone2 has been active since the first wave of Sailor Moon fanfiction (as coined by TinaCentury's analysis of Sailor Moon fandom history[1]), she has not only been most active during the 4th wave of Sailor Moon fanfiction but has been described as a defining turning point for the fourth wave itself.
After a hiatus in the later 00s, she started actively writing (and blogging) for Sailor Moon again with the Kodansha re-release of the Sailor Moon manga.
She has also hosted several fanfiction exchanges and fandom events, such as the 2018 4 Authors 1 Trope Sex Pollen Challenge, the 2019 Tumblr 'Fall in Love' Fanwork Exchange, the 2019 UsaMamo Fanwork Exchange, or several iterations of UsaMamo Week. Additionally, she beta-reads for a handful of authors in the fandom.
Impact on the Sailor Moon fandom
Even though Antigone2 has been around since the beginnings of the North American Sailor Moon fandom, her impact is most felt in the Fourth Wave of Sailor Moon fandom, identified by Tina Century during the Sailor Moon Fandom History on the Mondsteinflug podcast: The Fourth Wave (2014-Present): The Sailor Moon Fanfiction Renaissance. In episode 5 of this podcast mini series, Tina Century summarised that one of the things that set the stage for the fourth wave, next to Sailor Moon Crystal airing, was, in fact, Antigone2 returning to the fandom after the Kodansha re-release of the manga, creating a rippling effect through the fandom with many fans following in her footsteps. Her impact on this phase in Sailor Moon fandom is so big that it fills almost the entire fourth episode of the Sailor Moon History podcast and marks the changing of eras in the fandom.
In this fourth episode, Tina Century says the following:
The main kick-off for this era is twofold: In 2011, Kodansha releases the new english manga in the US, the new translation. And in May of 2011, Antigone2 returns to writing Sailor Moon fanfiction for the first time since 2002. So, yeah, Antigone2, if your're listening; Sorry, you're kind of a big part of this episode. [...] Antigone 2 said : "Sailor Failures on Tumblr and the release of the Sailor Moon Kodansha manga brought me roaring back into the Sailor Moon fandom." And so the reason this era I have seperated from the next era is kinda for a few reasons. Again, Antigone is coming back and that ends up having a domino effect that can be traced down to what today, I refer to as the Sailor Moon fanfiction renaissance -which we get into more in the next episode. But basically, just about every single fandom author in usamamo fandom who is active today, including both Flora and myself, cite Antigone2 as one of the reasons that they write. So, I felt it was important to mention that. [...]"[2]
This is again mentioned by Tina Century in the 6th episode of the same mini series:
So, if you guys recall from a few episodes ago, when ASMR -again, A Sailor Moon Romance- shut down, if you go to their website now, there are a bunch of essays from writers who were active back then, who basically have this sense of mourning that the Sailor Moon fandom is over and Usamamo fanfiction as we know it is over, etc. And while since then we did have other eras where there was some usamamo fanfiction, it seems that in the past, say, I don't know, 5 years or so, there has been kind of this resurgence. And really, if you want to trace it back to one thing, it can be traced back to Antigone2 coming back to the fandom in 2011. This kind of starts a domino effect essentially."[3]
An overwhelming number of fans active in the Sailor Moon fandom today cite Antigone2 as their inspiration to join the fandom and/or start writing. For limited examples: Irritablevowel-types has cited Antigone2's fic Seven Minutes in Heaven that follows Usamamo through the seasons set into a Seven Minutes in Heaven setting fic for joining the fandom and starting to write. FloraOne has cited Antigone2's fic Desperate and Divine as both her favorite work of fanfiction and the inspiriration for her first Sailor Moon fanfiction, prompting her to join the fandom. In Desperate and Divine, a canon divergence fic, Mamoru never regains his memories after Classic. Years later, right before Mamoru leaves for Harvard, Usagi decides to seduce him for a one-night-stand before he goes.
FloraOne describes the pull and impact of Antigone2's fanfiction in the same episode 6 of the Mondsteinflug Sailor Moon Fandom History Mini Series as such:
I read Desperate and Divine by her and I fell in love. [...] I said this in another episode before, but [after Sailor Moon Crystal's hiatus] I'd sorted through a lot of very good fanfiction still, but to me, Antigone2 had kind of the same effect as Crystal, in the way that the themes and the targeting was for me: It was for my age and for my themes. Antigone2 posted fanfiction about Sailor Moon that was thoughtful, deep, feminist, sex-positive and amazingly mature. And it was this moment for me where I thought, damn, there's still people out there writing things in my mindset that I want to take part in. And yeah, she's still writing this content, and she's a huge driver, and yeah, why I'm here."[4]
Her quality fanfiction for many fans have been a reminder that, in fact, the Sailor Moon fandom can be a well of free, literary works showcasing female empowerment and feminist themes of your first fandom love that you can not only consume but participate in. She lured in many. By the time she'd written for a while and inspired many more authors, the word clouds for the Sailor Moon fandom renaissance has grown with a lot more active authors mentioned than it had been before to join her for the new era of Sailor Moon fanfiction.
Many themes first seen or made popular in her fanfiction have become common fanon tropes that can be traced back to her works.
Themes in her fanfiction
Antigone2 has a large range of themes and topics in her fics. The following are a curated selection of her many themes.
Angsty Romance and Romantic Angst
Antigone2's fanfiction is a feast of mixing romance with angst. Be it secret mutual pining heavy on the pining or break-up arc settings, her romance comes with heaps of delicious heartache. Be in in fics that touch upon the break up arc or the end of Stars, Antigone2 focuses a lot on the heavy and often traumatic themes the Sailor Moon series had to offer and pulling Usamamo through a very enjoyable blender with it.
Authentic Japanese culture
Antigone2's experiences with Japanese culture make her work feel especially authentic in regards to Sailor Moon's Tokyo setting. She continuously references real-life Tokyo landmarks, districts and cultural aspects. This was especially notable in a fanfiction landscape where during the first to third waves of Sailor Moon fanfiction, a majority of the English-language fics used to be written with American dub character names and/or thrown into a hugely North American settings.
Usagi is GREAT
When Antigone2 started writing, a popular narrative in Sailor Moon fanfiction was the 'let's make Usagi into someone who is not Usagi' type of story, where Usagi left the group after a falling out and returned supposedly 'better and improved': different hair, different personality, smarter, more success, more ambition. While of course these stories have their own space in fandom, they aren't exactly celebratory of the themes that make Usagi, well, Usagi. The lovable ditz with a big heart, the girl who does not have to be perfect in order to be needed, the unapologetically feminine happy-go-lucky sunshine girl who might hate school but can save the world anyway. Antigone2 has always been a fan of Usagi as she is, and in her fanfiction Antigone2 has always allowed her to be the lovable, wholesome ditz this character was meant to be. Celebrating Usagi -and the character's negation of all the checkboxes put upon women in society- is something that happens in fandom regularly now, but a lot of it started with Antigone2 tooting Usagi's horn tirelessly for a decade and beyond.
Feminism
Closely related with her 'Usagi is GREAT' themes, Antigone2 in general writes the girls as assertive, empowered third & fourth wave feminist characters who know virginity is a social construct, feminitiy is not inferior to any other gender expression, sexuality is something beautiful that women are encouraged to explore, and girls get shit done. Of course, many of these themes have always been canon in the fandom, and yet Antigone2's fanfiction screams girl power in a way that feels fresh and modern, and her writing has pied-pipered many a feminist author into the fandom.
Antigone's Fanfiction
Notable examples of Antigone2's fanfiction sorted by its relation to the canon timeline
Makaiju arc fics
- Mamoru's Distress! Lost memories, alter-ego and a misguided love triangle is a retelling of the Makaiju arc from Mamoru's POV episode by episode, truthful to canon and its dialogue.
R-Fics/ Crystal Tokyo fics
- In Desperate Measures, King Endymion has to bring out the big guns to prompt Neo Queen Serenity to forgive him for the very unforgivable stunt he pulled in R and breaking Usagi and Mamoru up through ominous dreams.
- In Catharsis, Usagi tries to (heartbreakingly!) find out what is going on during the break-up arc using the disguise pen.
S and Super S fics
- In Je t'aime Usagi uses the disguise pen to transform into a French exchange student trying to seduce Mamoru at a party and is absolutely and adoringly HORRIFIED when it seems to work.
- Detective Reasoning is set after episode 132 of Super S, and leaves Saori with the puzzling question: If Mamoru dates Sailor Moon, is Sailor Moon cheating on Mamoru with Tuxedo Mask???
Post-canon fics
- Antigone2's that original lifeline series follows Usagi and Mamoru's struggles to reconnect post-stars, including overcoming trauma. Focusses predominantly on Hurt/Comfort themes.
- In What If, a chance observation of Mamoru with one of his cute co-eds leads Usagi to decide to ask Setsuna to fuck with time and make it so that Mamoru never knew Usagi so he may freely date cute co-eds.
- Dream Girl is a post-canon fic in which Mamoru grapples with his sexual awakening and a few more nsfw dream memories of the silver millennium plague his mind very entertainingly.
- In Forget-Me-Not, a monster-of-the-week makes Usagi forget Mamoru, and Minako makes Mamoru fly halfway around the world from Harvard in the middle of the night to come and make her remember, because of course.
manga fics
- a space in the clouds is a fic set in the manga short story Parallel Sailor Moon and we adorably follow Mamoru through his 40th birthday.
Alternative Universe
Antigone2's alternative universe fics are mostly of the canon-divergent kind. Fics that COULD be placed in canon, but aren't. Most often they are of the non-Senshi variant that could work as alternative post-season 1 AUs in which they did not (or only partially) remember season 1 after the season finale amnesia, with notable exceptions.
Canon-divergent AUs
- In Royal Pain, Usagi, Mamoru and the Senshi are searching for the "missing" Prince Endymion (yup.), creating a LOT of Mutual Pining for Usamamo.
- In Desperate and Divine, or a.k.a. "Operation Fuck Mamoru's Memories Back", Mamoru never remembered after the Season finale, and Usagi plans to seduce his pants off now that he's leaving for Harvard, prompting him to dig into some hazy, fantastical snippets of memories of his.
- In Crown Me Nemesis it's not Chibiusa who gets turned by the Black Moon, but Neo Queen Serenity, and King Endymion is the one to face his eerily evil sexy wife. Has prequels and interlude fics associated with it!
- A Thousand Cuts is a Break-Up Arc Goes-On canon divergent fic where when Seiya proposes to Usagi, Usagi rushes to Mamoru's side with a panic attack and a bag of repressed heartache.
- Mix-and-Match-Maker is a crack fic in which Neo Queen Serenity and King Endymion go back in time because in a wonky timeline, Usagi and Mamoru need some nudging to get together.
- Dust is perhaps Antigone2's CRUELEST fic: It follows Mamoru in a 'what if Usagi did not survive the R movie' fic.
Non-Senshi AUs
- A Seaside Ghost Story follows Minako as she tries to uncover the mystery of an old, beautifully-eery haunted European mansion in a tiny seaside town.
- Down the Rabbit Hole is a first season Usamamo tease-AU in which Usagi works at a maid café, and Mamoru does not have a furry fetish.
- In The Boy Next Door, Antigone writes Usamamo in a Neighbors AU setting (!!).
- The White Rabbit is a Sailor Moon pirate AU. Yup. It is. They're Sailors. It's amazing.
- The Serenity Case is a thrillingly atmospheric 1930s Detective Noir AU featuring Minako, a club called "Lune", and a missing Serenity.
Links
- Antigone2 on Ao3 (current and active)
- Antigone2 on Fanfiction.net (no longer updated)
- Idesofnovember: Antigone2's fandom blog on Tumblr
References
- ^ Tina Century on the Sailor Moon Podcast Mondsteinflug. Episodes 1 to 8 on Sailor Moon Fandom History with Tina Century and FloraOne. 2020.
- ^ Tinacentury on Mondsteinflug. Sailor Moon Fandom History Part 4: New Releases, Big Announcements, and a third wave of usamamo fanfiction., 23 August 2020.
- ^ Tinacentury on Mondsteinflug. Sailor Moon Fandom History Part 6: The Sailor Moon Fanfiction Renaissance., 29 August 2020.
- ^ Floraone on Mondsteinflug. Sailor Moon Fandom History Part 6: The Sailor Moon Fanfiction Renaissance., 29 August 2020.