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Next discussion topic - Sheppard has a kid. I've read plenty of such, some I like, some I don't (why is it Sheppard is always given daughters? What's wrong with the occasional little boy just to be different? Sometimes I think it's a subtle way of inserting a Mary Sue.) At the top of my personal "don't like" list is Sheppard with an illigitimate child on earth.
Now, I will admit that there are stories that have handled such a scenario well. I still don't like such stories, but there have been ones that have made the concept rather plausible. The ones I cannot stand are those that make John out to be some kind of dead-beat dad. He knows about the kid or kids, but won't have anything to do with them for some reason. No matter how well handled or intriguing the idea to some, it feels like character bashing to me. I've said it before - John comes across as too loyal an individual to be abandoning anyone, a kid especially. Now, if the mother wouldn't let him see the kid, or if he didn't know about the child, that would make a heck of a lot more sense. But to know about the child but never actually meet it or take a more active role in its life... no way. It makes him off as some kind of coward or creep, which obviously he isn't unless you just really, really don't like him.
Anyways - illigitimate child fic: like it, hate it, don't care as long as there's whump? I just hope the actual show doesn't go that route. It would feel a little too much like recycling since Jack had had a kid.
Now, I will admit that there are stories that have handled such a scenario well. I still don't like such stories, but there have been ones that have made the concept rather plausible. The ones I cannot stand are those that make John out to be some kind of dead-beat dad. He knows about the kid or kids, but won't have anything to do with them for some reason. No matter how well handled or intriguing the idea to some, it feels like character bashing to me. I've said it before - John comes across as too loyal an individual to be abandoning anyone, a kid especially. Now, if the mother wouldn't let him see the kid, or if he didn't know about the child, that would make a heck of a lot more sense. But to know about the child but never actually meet it or take a more active role in its life... no way. It makes him off as some kind of coward or creep, which obviously he isn't unless you just really, really don't like him.
Anyways - illigitimate child fic: like it, hate it, don't care as long as there's whump? I just hope the actual show doesn't go that route. It would feel a little too much like recycling since Jack had had a kid.
