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Is it February already? The first month of the year has flown by, and here at Mi6 Café we’ve been busy hosting movie livestreams and book clubs, as well as introducing the new monthly challenges! On top of all of that, we have our shiny new Last Drabble Writer Standing challenge that is going to go live during February – keep an eye out on the Comm LJ and Tumblr as we will be posting announcements on both so you don’t miss them!

Anon commenting is on so you don’t need an account to join in the fun! If you are using anon comments, if you could put your name/handle in the subject line/body of the comments that would be fab (just so everyone knows who they are talking to!)

Weekly Recs

We’re debuting a new rec system, the fanwork rec form! It’s an easy to fill in form that allows you to rec your favourite fanworks for our monthly rec theme! We will then post the results of your recs with the next monthly chat post for everyone to view and enjoy!

This month, our theme is Post-Spectre Fanworks! With the release of Spectre on DVD this month in many of the countries across the world, this month we want to celebrate those Post-Spectre Fanworks! Any paring, any rating, any genre! Go wild and show some love for those works that have kick-started the fandom following the release of Spectre!

Note: As the rec form is new, if you have any trouble reccing your fanworks please don't hesitate to get in contact with any of the mods!

MI6 Café Book + Film Club

Our next book for book club is Dr No, which you can find resources for in the links on the sidebar. The first Book Club to discuss this book will be held on 13 February!

In film club will be watching Diamonds are Forever on 6 February. Please see the schedules for more information on times!

This Month’s questions

Don’t forget that these questions are also released on tumblr as our Weekly Questions! That means twice the discussion! Feel free to use these questions as conversation starters and get to know your fellow Bond Fans!

1.       What are some of your favorite aspects of Bond fanon? Are there any aspects that (respectfully!) you don’t engage in yourself, or prefer not to read?
2.       If they were married for 5 years, what would Q and Bond give each other on their anniversary?
3.       How does Spectre change 00Q as a pairing for you? If you create fanworks, are you rolling around happily in the new content, are you in full Fix-It mode coupled with a healthy dose of "THAT WAS A STUPID-ASS DECISION AND I'M ELECTING TO IGNORE IT", are you struggling to incorporate the new versions of the characters with the ones you already had in your head...? How has Spectre impacted your 00Q shipping?
4.       What does Tanner do all day and what is his greatest accomplishment that we don't know about?

Date: 2016-02-01 03:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] spike-wilbury.livejournal.com
1. i love all the meta. Though I do love me some 00q, I am not one who will get angry that it's not canon. I mean, yeah it would be nice but this is also bond, which is like 50 years old. It's like asking doctor who to finally be a poc character. As much as i want change, it's probably going to be a very long time before they do so. if 00q actually became canon, i don't think i'd even be in the fandom anymore. we have created our own headcanons that making canon would possibly void any if not all of what we think should happen.

2. q finally makes that damn exploding pen. James finally takes him out to a real fancy dinner and an opera or some equally expensive thing on the MI6 black card.

3. spectre to me was a bond film. it is what it is. i'm not in the mood for a fix-it because if they're going the route i'm thinking bond 25 will be no problem for 00q fans [most likely] /hinthint

4. tanner is a fucking boss, yo. Wouldn't it be funny if Tanner was actually head of mi6 because of all the shit that he knows when mallory isn't there. can you imagine them going after m thinking that m knows more than he lets on when it's actually tanner. CAN YOU IMAGINE.

Castillon02

Date: 2016-02-02 03:37 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
1) I see your point about the fact that if 00Q became canon, it would also void, in a way, all the possibilities that we've been exploring since it's not canon. (Lol, "YOU'RE GETTING THEM TOGETHER THE WRONG WAY," hahaha.) At the same time, I wish that they would let Q (or SOMEONE. ANYONE WHO'S NOT A VILLAIN) be openly gay so we could at least have that representation. Moneypenny got her boyfriend moment...when will Q get to have his? Ah, well.

4) Tanner: THE MILD-MANNERED POWER BEHIND THE THRONE. Love it!

Re: Castillon02

Date: 2016-02-03 01:20 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] spike-wilbury.livejournal.com
i felt like they were leading up to Moneypenny getting married. She was married in the books/older movies but still continued to actively flirt with bond. bond called her "the one that got away" or the one that doesn't fall for his charm [except for that one in brosnan's films. >:| ]

Castillon02

Date: 2016-02-04 03:11 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Oh yeah, that's a good point! I forgot about her married status in the older films. (And lol, even I heard about the collective >:| that happened after that one time in the Brosnan film!) I suppose it also helped show that her motivation was more about non-romantic loyalty/friendship/alliance than about Eve pining for Bond the way it seemed like Q was.

Re: Castillon02

Date: 2016-02-04 06:17 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] isthisrubble.livejournal.com
uuuuuuuuuh what are you guys talking about re: Brosnan films? that thing that happened between Moneypenny and Bond... wasn't real? unless you're not talking about the very last scene of Die Another Day, in which case I've missed something

Re: Castillon02

Date: 2016-02-04 11:27 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] spike-wilbury.livejournal.com
i know it wasn't real but it turned moneypenny from okay secretary to M to someone just pining for bond in a typical woman style. which is hilarious because the brosnan films make her the typical woman trope while the older ones kinda do the complete opposite [but still sexist because she has the typical job of a woman in those days]

Re: Castillon02

Date: 2016-02-04 11:48 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] isthisrubble.livejournal.com
right, ok, makes sense now

Date: 2016-02-01 05:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] corpus-invictus.livejournal.com
Hi, my name is Corpus Invictus and I used to write Star Trek stuff and I recently fell into the 00Q hole, halp.

1. What are some of your favorite aspects of Bond fanon? Are there any aspects that (respectfully!) you don’t engage in yourself, or prefer not to read?

Trek lends itself to a lot of bizarre stuff that I will at least give a solid shot, but Bond fandom not so much. Mpreg is a big nope for me in this fandom. Super submissive or damsel in distress Q is a nope as well. Dismissing Vesper as unimportant is a nope.

Stuff I like: 007 breaking and entering, but only in homes where the people he's comfy with live. Affection starved 007. I am here for domestic shameless 00Q fluff. Badass Moneypenny as everyone's bestie makes me happy. Fixit fic where Dench's M is still around thrills me (god I miss her). Equally badass members of MI6 who are badass in their own specializations is fantastic. I have an absolutely ridiculous fondness for Q as the youngest Holmes brother. I like to think he gets on well with Mary as a sort-of sister-in-law.

I'm surprised at how little AU stuff I've run into for this fandom. There's a bit, but it's largely canon based (aside from Bondlock) which is an interesting switch from my previous fandoms.

2. If they were married for 5 years, what would Q and Bond give each other on their anniversary?

A holiday somewhere that Bond hasn't blown up recently. A break seems like the nicest thing they could do for each other, even if I imagine neither of them would be 100% off the clock and that they'd get bored if they were on holiday for too long.

3. How does Spectre change 00Q as a pairing for you? If you create fanworks, are you rolling around happily in the new content, are you in full Fix-It mode coupled with a healthy dose of "THAT WAS A STUPID-ASS DECISION AND I'M ELECTING TO IGNORE IT", are you struggling to incorporate the new versions of the characters with the ones you already had in your head...? How has Spectre impacted your 00Q shipping?

Because Spectre is such a mess - a mess that's been acknowledged by the crew and the writers as well - I'm cool with either acknowledging Bond and Madeleine had a thing or pretending that they didn't.

That said, I'm not a fan of ignoring her character entirely. If people want to pretend a relationship between Madeleine and Bond never happened, that's fine, but I hate the idea of pretending she doesn't exist. Bond could still have spent time with her and felt protective of her (I feel like it would have been more appropriate AND interesting if he had more fatherly protective feelings toward her rather than romantic ones, but that's just me). He could have missed her but understood when she chose to walk away from everything his life represented (although ffs let's make her smart enough to stay in the safe house until the shitshow was over, thanks very much). And then he's free to start a relationship with Q after.

All that said, a part of me does kind of like the interpretation of lovesick Q accepting Bond's supposed new life away from MI6 and giving him the car, knowing Bond doesn't feel the same way. And then being pleasantly surprised a few weeks/months later when Bond returns, single and needing a friend. :)

4. What does Tanner do all day and what is his greatest accomplishment that we don't know about?

Tanner's day consists of a mix of the following:

  • Quietly trying to keep the HR folks from giving up and quitting

  • Quietly trying to arrange for more peaceful solutions to the world's various shitshows

  • Taking a hidden, unholy glee in blowing things up when diplomacy fails

  • Sneaking off to his kids' various recitals and teacher meetings when M isn't paying attention - no one ever realizes he does this


His greatest accomplishment is foiling terrorists with MI6 using his smartphone while seated at his daughter's first ballet recital. He saved lives AND didn't miss a single second of her performance (although his wife glared and grumbled about the phone vibrating constantly).

Date: 2016-02-01 05:39 pm (UTC)
ext_1756653: (Default)
From: [identity profile] mia-zeklos.livejournal.com
"Sneaking off to his kids' various recitals and teacher meetings when M isn't paying attention - no one ever realizes he does this"

I'm just now imagining Tanner as a family man and the thought is endlessly entertaining and potential-filled to me.

Date: 2016-02-01 05:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] corpus-invictus.livejournal.com
I so badly want him to be the one guy at MI6 who's able to maintain a happily married life with two or three kids. And that he's so good at doing it that his coworkers don't even notice when he sneaks off to have lunch with the wife or see a school play. (Well, Eve does, but Eve sees all.)

Date: 2016-02-01 05:55 pm (UTC)
ext_1756653: (Default)
From: [identity profile] mia-zeklos.livejournal.com
I'm always here for Tanner being sneaky and getting things to go his way, to be honest. And Eve definitely sees all, but she's also the best one there at keeping secrets.

Date: 2016-02-02 03:50 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] isthisrubble.livejournal.com
1) "Dismissing Vesper as unimportant is a nope." *high-fives you and showers you in desert of your choice*
there is some good AU stuff out there, but yeah I think there's less of it here than in other fandoms? we had AUs as a rec theme one time, you can find the list here http://mi6-cafe.livejournal.com/5662.html

2) I agree with the 100%!

4) YOUR TANNER HEADCANONS OMG I LOVE THEM

Castillon02

Date: 2016-02-02 04:56 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Hi, Corpus Invictus! Welcome to the 00Q hole! :D

1) Definitely have to agree that I'm not a fan of weak!Q. Not only is Q a bamf genius, he also has the strength of will and character that it takes to oversee an entire department in a high-stress job, including going toe-to-toe with people like Bond and M when necessary.

(Just want to add a coda that by weak, I don't mean physically weak! Q can be as scrawny as anything and still be a strong character who sets himself up as Bond's equal! For instance, he is literally a small kidnapped child in Only_1_Truth's "Attack Dogs Make Good Babysitters" AU and still manages to be a force to be reckoned with. :P)

Also: Affection-starved 007. YES.

2) Five-year-anniversary holiday! "It'll probably be another five years before the next one," Bond grumbles, because Q's work schedule has hardly lessened over time, and Q is just like "We went somewhere for your retirement two years ago, I'm sure you can think of another excuse before year ten." I'm torn between wanting them to just have a nice peaceful time away from the death and the espionage and wondering if the best present Q could give would be a few explosives and just a small little despot/terrorist that needs taken care of, haha.

3) YES. I AM HERE FOR NOT IGNORING MADELEINE. She deserves better than to be fridged or what-have-you for the sake of 00Q! And like you say, there are lots of possible ways to be respectful of her character and her impact on Bond without going the full romance route...or if you do go the romance route, and Bond comes back later in need of a friend, that works too. :D

(Bond feeling more paternal than romantic toward Madeleine is an interesting potential take on that dynamic! I can definitely see it--the parallels between him and her father are there: their professions, Bond teaching/not-teaching her how to shoot, his protectiveness, and of course the fact that he's like twice her age.)

4) Family man Tanner! Co-mod isthisrubble has long headcanoned him as being an awesome dad and now there are EVEN MORE DAD!TANNER HEADCANONS IN THE WORLD, yay. What a perfect greatest accomplishment for him.

And the image of Tanner secretly being gleeful when he gets to use the explosives (after he has worked so hard and been so patient and TRIED THE ALTERNATIVES LIKE A GOOD MI6 CHIEF OF STAFF) definitely makes me grin. :D

Date: 2016-02-01 05:52 pm (UTC)
ext_1756653: (Default)
From: [identity profile] mia-zeklos.livejournal.com
1. What are some of your favorite aspects of Bond fanon? Are there any aspects that (respectfully!) you don’t engage in yourself, or prefer not to read?
I'm relatively new to the Internet fandom of the franchise as a whole, but most of the meta is great. And I don't really have any problems with any of it; the only thing I cannot stomach is people disregarding the effect Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace had on Bond as a character and as a person, but that's probably because I'm a very passionate Vesper fan.

2. If they were married for 5 years, what would Q and Bond give each other on their anniversary?
A holiday, probably. Well, of course, a 'holiday' means hunting down a minor terrorist organisation because no matter what they do, they're always on call.

3. How does Spectre change 00Q as a pairing for you? If you create fanworks, are you rolling around happily in the new content, are you in full Fix-It mode coupled with a healthy dose of "THAT WAS A STUPID-ASS DECISION AND I'M ELECTING TO IGNORE IT", are you struggling to incorporate the new versions of the characters with the ones you already had in your head...? How has Spectre impacted your 00Q shipping?
I'm somewhere in between, actually. In every post-SPECTRE fic I've written so far, I've acknowledged it and gently made repairs over canon to fit how I want it to. Actually, in the WIP I'm currently writing, SPECTRE and its events make up the bigger part of James's characterisation along with Casino Royale because I hate happiness.

4. What does Tanner do all day and what is his greatest accomplishment that we don't know about?
*rubs hands together* I so love discussing Tanner. I have this headcanon that he's actually the one pulling most of the strings that make MI6 work. I mean, everyone else (up to and including Mallory, bless him) run around all the time trying to figure things out and he's just doing his thing and does most of the job that makes it all run so smoothly.

Date: 2016-02-02 03:54 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] isthisrubble.livejournal.com
1) yeah, people ignoring the first two craig!bond movies annoys me to no end

4) tanner, the unsung hero of james bond

Date: 2016-02-02 12:19 pm (UTC)
ext_1756653: (Default)
From: [identity profile] mia-zeklos.livejournal.com
4. I feel like no one truly appreciates him, poor thing, and he's probably the one who keeps it all together.

Castillon02

Date: 2016-02-02 05:14 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
1) YES, VESPER.

3) Yeah, one of the tricky things about fan-writing can be choosing which pieces of canon you want/need to acknowledge, and which bits need a bit of a...massage. Of course, the Bond canon is constantly going through this as well with its past movies, so we're not alone in the process! :D

4) Completely agreed that Tanner is integral to the daily functioning of MI6! He's probably been there longer than anyone but Bond at this point, so I feel like he's got all this knowledge of MI6 history and experience stored away in his head. I bet it makes him the best kind of troubleshooter!

Castillon02

Date: 2016-02-02 05:29 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
1) YES, VESPER.

3) Yeah, one of the tricky things about fan-writing can be choosing which pieces of canon you want/need to acknowledge, and which bits need a bit of a...massage. Of course, the Bond canon is constantly going through this as well with its past movies, so we're not alone in the process! :D

4) Completely agreed that Tanner is integral to the daily functioning of MI6! He's probably been there longer than anyone but Bond at this point, so I feel like he's got all this knowledge of MI6 history and experience stored away in his head. I bet it makes him the best kind of troubleshooter!

Re: Castillon02

Date: 2016-02-02 01:34 pm (UTC)
ext_1756653: (Default)
From: [identity profile] mia-zeklos.livejournal.com
1. V e s p e r. I love her so, so much and yet she's so rarely mentioned.

3. Exactly! If writers get to retcon things and add a previously non-existent character/plot line whenever, so can I. ;D

4. He probably has to fix everyone else's mess, to be honest, just because he's the only one who can deal with it.

Date: 2016-02-02 04:23 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] isthisrubble.livejournal.com
1. What are some of your favourite aspects of Bond fanon? Are there any aspects that (respectfully!) you don’t engage in yourself, or prefer not to read?
META! also, everyone has read/watched a different amount of Bond, so we get some people bringing old stuff into the modern version and I love that.
On the other hand, some parts of the fandom seems to have conveniently forgotten the first two Craig!Bond movies exist (or even, you know, the rest of the older movies), so their fic/character headcanons/assumptions about how the franchise works/etc ignore them completely, which I find infuriating

2. If they were married for 5 years, what would Q and Bond give each other on their anniversary?
I can't imagine them getting married until after James has retired from fieldwork, so I think... Q gets James a dog, and James has one of the unused rooms of the house converted into a lab, so Q can tinker around without having to stay at work to do it

3. How does Spectre change 00Q as a pairing for you? If you create fanworks, are you rolling around happily in the new content, are you in full Fix-It mode coupled with a healthy dose of "THAT WAS A STUPID-ASS DECISION AND I'M ELECTING TO IGNORE IT", are you struggling to incorporate the new versions of the characters with the ones you already had in your head...? How has Spectre impacted your 00Q shipping?
I came out of Spectre grinning like a loon, I loved it. I have to admit, when I watched it the first time I walked away assuming that was the end of 00Q for me, like how my brain gave up on all johnlock stuff after I watched sherlock s3. But I watched it a second time, and talked about it on tumblr to people who also enjoyed it, and I still ship the ship! I'm amazed!
I love Madeleine, both as a character and as a foil for Bond, so I can't read or write fic that just handwaves her out of the narrative (unless it's a absolutely-none-of-spectre-happened au). Their relationship has a lot of potential and I really hope she comes back for Bond 25.
On the other hand, this (isthisrubble.tumblr.com/post/137944655673) is a serious headcanon I have going on, so I guess when I think of general headcanons I like 00Q pre-Spectre and James/Madeleine post-Spectre.
of course, there's always James/Madeleine/Q...
or this (isthisrubble.tumblr.com/post/134784322153), because I love pain (and at some point I will fic that and it will be full of creepy hallucination stuff)

4. What does Tanner do all day and what is his greatest accomplishment that we don't know about?
as far as I understand it, Tanner runs the day-to-day aspects of MI6, so he deals with department heads and people who want to talk to M but who M doesn't want/have time to talk to. his biggest achievement is probably staying sane in the mad house, but... it's probably something to do with his family, like, one time his wife was running really late coming home after work, and for once Tanner had the afternoon off, so when his wife got home all stressed out, she found the house nice and tidy, their kids doing their homework, the ironing done and dinner in the oven. or something.

Castillon02

Date: 2016-02-02 05:56 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
2) Aww! A dog and a lab. So domestic. <3

3) Moar James/Madeleine/Q! Yes!

4) OMG that is the sweetest accomplishment for Tanner that I have ever read. TANNER BRINGS OUT YOUR INNER FLUFF, it's adorable. :D

Castillon02

Date: 2016-02-02 06:32 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
1) There's so much respect and banter and that wonderful feeling of competent equals meeting in a lot of Bond fic, and I can never get enough of it. I'm here for Q's ridiculous home security, for all the headcanons about Q Branch and missions and other 00s (like blackidyll's Scarlett!), for teamwork and both of them getting kidnapped too damn much, and for both of them being bamfs at each other, and for one or both of them being kind of terrible at feelings but too stubborn not to pursue what they want or to let the other one scare them away. I also love when they're both "the scary one" in the relationship but in vastly different ways. :P

I've mentioned I don't like weak!Q, and one related trope that I could stand to see less of is 'Q can't feed himself/forgets to take care of himself' because, well, Q is an adult and people's lives sometimes literally depend on whether or not he's with-it enough, so I feel like Q's got a responsibility to make sure he's stuffing adequate sources of blood sugar into his face on a regular basis. Q-who-lives-on-protein-bars. Q-who-lives-on-microwave-dinners. Q-who-eats-too-much-boxed-salad. However you want to do it--though I'll note that there are takeaway containers on his desk in Skyfall! I know the whole genius-forgot-to-eat-because-he-was-thinking-too-much narrative is compelling, but if Q can supply his 00s with THEIR equipment, then he can supply his body with the equipment it needs to keep going on a regular basis.

*cough* Um. Apparently I had some strong feelings about that.

I also don't like Eve as a matchmaker? Love her as Bond and Q's friend, but she also deserves more than to be the narrative device getting them together.

2) Whatever the other person asked for. By that point they're open and secure enough about it that they're just like "Okay, what do you want?" There's room for a little improvisation, of course, but they both feel better knowing what they're going to get.

3) In Spectre, Q seemed to have a little less spine where Bond was concerned than he did in Skyfall. They still had great banter, but it always felt like Q was giving and Bond was taking--less reciprocity. So for me, the challenge is figuring out how much Q actually gave/risked and why (bc it needed done? bc he trusted Bond as an agent? bc he's hopelessly devoted to Bond's everything damn it?), and what it would take for Bond to give back in a genuine way.

And of course Madeleine can continue to be part of Bond's life even though I mostly ship 00Q. (OT3 with Q! or friends with Bond and/or Q! or MONEYPENNY/MADELEINE, YES) Or she can dump him like she was going to at first, or a dozen other options. It's important to me to acknowledge Madeleine's character and treat her respectfully (no fridging!), plus, like...we hardly ever get awesome ladies that are STILL ALIVE by the end of a Bond movie, so why not enjoy the fact that she's here?

4) Tanner makes a lot of phone calls and writes a lot of emails. He practices keeping his voice calm. He strategically incentivizes and threatens, sometimes so well that the person he's talking to isn't aware of why they've changed their mind. He touches base with Bond during lunch when they both have time, exchanges long-suffering looks with Moneypenny, and enjoys Q's ability to do at least some of the impossible things that Tanner asks him to do before his first cup of Earl Grey.
Greatest accomplishment: The 00s were all together in the MI6 building once. Thanks to Tanner, the building was still standing by the end of the day and the event hasn't repeated itself. :P

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