Let's get some discussion going (Or maybe a flame war)

[Jansen]

OK, denizens of the Accio-Potter forums, let's have a little discussion. About what, you ask? I respond - Alex, cover your ears - "Twilight". GASP. Yes, I come to you today to speak of worlds unbknownst to and hated by this very fandom.

Let us, hypothetically, say that I am a small, impressionable little girl. I have found that I have a penchant for fantasy novels, and am looking to start reading a new series. Now, I've heard all of my little friends squeal and giggle about how great Twilight is, but I have also heard the voices of my peers speak of the magical school of Hogwarts.

I am unsure of my next steps. What do I do? Will I read about the mysterious and charming family of vampires called the Cullens, or will I follow the tale of the boy who lived?

CONVINCE ME.

[ChristyVourcos]

I'm not sure if I can convice you. I'm more of a Harry Potter fan, compared to Twilight. I did enjoy the books and the movie of Twilight. I did enjoy the excitement for the movie and this coming movie for New Moon. Yet I'm not that big of a fan. I'm not sure if it's because I've been a fan of Harry Potter longer, know more Harry Potter fans or what but I do know one thing. It's that I dislike when people made the HP fandom uncontrable for HP/Twilight fans. Insulting the books, the author and other things make those fans feel hurt and have the need to hind their like of the Twilight series.
I still believe Harry Potter is better written but both authors came from being nothing to being well known. I thank both of them for writing something that they found was enjoyable and their own idea. I would recommend reading both series and finding out for yourself what you think, what you believe and what you want to be a fan of (even if it means being a fan of both or just one).

[Julie]

Well, now you've got me in a choose-your-own-adventure mood.

To hear my opinion about the mysterious vampires, turn to page 12.
To hear my opinion about the living boy, turn to page 38.


PAGE 12 - Maybe it's just my imagination, but the main character of this story never stops whining. It's either whining, putting people down, or fawning over Edward. The whole "love story" this series is supposed to be doesn't sound like a love story, especially when the only reason she was attracted to him in the first place was that he was a pretty boy. And he only liked her at first because she smelled good. Might I add that Edward is a jerk as well? Spying on people, ripping out their car engines, saying one thing and doing another, being all controlling, high and mighty, etc.

Also, note the over-the-top thesaurus use by SMeyer and her IRL hissy fits.

PAGE 38 - Okay, I'll admit, Harry whines a lot too. But his complaints are actually something to complain about, not that the place he chose to live in is always cloudy. He's pretty humble, having to be the male equivalent of a Cinderella in his family (great mental image). The books always have a plot, and will surprise you and make you THINK. You can draw so many connections from them and discuss them.

Note the sweetness and all around awesome-ness of JKR.


Basically, I think HP > Twilight, and will always be. There's just more substance to HP. Why do you think there have been several cons for it? There was/is Twilight con, but that's mostly a chance for people to meet the actors. I just think that Twilight's a fad, albeit a long fad, and soon (hopefully) people will give it a rest, set the books back on their bookcases to gather dust, and take out those HP books and fall in love with them again.

Yes, I'm baised. :P

~Julie

[Chelsea Nielsen]

Please, please, PLEASE do not succumb to the madness that is Twilight! It's, honestly, absolute drivel. Here, I'll go into a few reasons for you.

1. Edward is abusive towards Bella. No, not physically abusive, but mentally abusive. He encourages her to lie to her parents, constantly laughs at her, constantly reminds her he could easily kill her and takes the engine out of her car so she cannot go see her friends.

2. She constantly breaks her own canon! She tells us over and over, "Vampires cannot do this" "Vampires must do this" "This is what happens when you're turned into a Vampire". Does any of this happen? No! She constantly bends the rules she herself makes in order to make everything convenient.

3. Bella and Edward are in lust, not love. I mean, seriously. Do we ever get a good, long conversation between these two? No. They fell in "love" in the first chapters. Why? Bella: OMG HE'S SO HAWT! Edward: She smells really good...

4. Meyer tells and doesn't show. We're told Bella loves to read. Do we ever see her reading? No. We're told Edward loves to play the piano. Does he ever? Once. We're told Rosalie loves to tinker with cars. Do we see any of this? NO!

5. Imprinting on small children = child grooming. This is illegal. Very, very illegal. Does Meyer care? No. It's TWU WUV!

6. Meyer fails at science. She absolutely fails at it. If she told us her vampires were magical, cool. That works. No, she tried to justify them scientifically. Here's one of the MANY examples: Her vampires sparkle in the sun (*rolls eyes*). She tells us they do this because each of their cells are faceted, like a diamond. Obviously, she doesn't know what this means. Diamonds sparkle in artificial light too. This means the Cullen kids can't go to High School because they'd blind everyone with their perma-glitter.

7. Bella so WHINY. Her dad gets her a truck. She whines. Edward gets her a new sound system for the truck. She whines. Alice wants to throw her a party. She whines. People are NICE TO HER at school. She whines.

8. The most horrible point of all: Bella, my dear, is a Mary Sue. A complete and utter Mary Sue. Her only "flaw", we're told, is that she's "clumsy". Notice, we rarely see her being clumsy. She's described as ordinary in the looks department, but everyone in Forks automatically loves her and wants to be her friend. She's never lost anything. Unlike Harry, she doesn't know what REAL loss and sacrifice are.

Yes, I'm very bitter.

[Julie]

Amen.

[Jansen]

1. Edward is abusive towards Bella. No, not physically abusive, but mentally abusive. He encourages her to lie to her parents, constantly laughs at her, constantly reminds her he could easily kill her and takes the engine out of her car so she cannot go see her friends.
1) Doesn't matter. It's true love, he's just doing that to protect her.

2. She constantly breaks her own canon! She tells us over and over, "Vampires cannot do this" "Vampires must do this" "This is what happens when you're turned into a Vampire". Does any of this happen? No! She constantly bends the rules she herself makes in order to make everything convenient.
2) I think you're making that up

3. Bella and Edward are in lust, not love. I mean, seriously. Do we ever get a good, long conversation between these two? No. They fell in "love" in the first chapters. Why? Bella: OMG HE'S SO HAWT! Edward: She smells really good...
3) It's love at first sight! They don't need to speak in order to know that they are destined to be together.

4. Meyer tells and doesn't show. We're told Bella loves to read. Do we ever see her reading? No. We're told Edward loves to play the piano. Does he ever? Once. We're told Rosalie loves to tinker with cars. Do we see any of this? NO!

4) Does it matter? Again, this is a story about love and vampires, not books or cars.

5. Imprinting on small children = child grooming. This is illegal. Very, very illegal. Does Meyer care? No. It's TWU WUV!
5) So what? There are books about murders, and that's illegal. Lolita, ever heard of it? It's a book about a guy being a pedophile. THE WHOLE BOOK. IT INCLUDES THEM HAVING SEX. That = worse than twilight.

6. Meyer fails at science. She absolutely fails at it. If she told us her vampires were magical, cool. That works. No, she tried to justify them scientifically. Here's one of the MANY examples: Her vampires sparkle in the sun (*rolls eyes*). She tells us they do this because each of their cells are faceted, like a diamond. Obviously, she doesn't know what this means. Diamonds sparkle in artificial light too. This means the Cullen kids can't go to High School because they'd blind everyone with their perma-glitter.
6) People don't care about the reason he glitters. They just care that he's OMG SO GORGEOUS

7. Bella so WHINY. Her dad gets her a truck. She whines. Edward gets her a new sound system for the truck. She whines. Alice wants to throw her a party. She whines. People are NICE TO HER at school. She whines.
7) I could say the same for Harry in Book 5, all OMG ANGST ANGST MOPE ANGST.

8. The most horrible point of all: Bella, my dear, is a Mary Sue. A complete and utter Mary Sue. Her only "flaw", we're told, is that she's "clumsy". Notice, we rarely see her being clumsy. She's described as ordinary in the looks department, but everyone in Forks automatically loves her and wants to be her friend. She's never lost anything. Unlike Harry, she doesn't know what REAL loss and sacrifice are.
8) again, and I hate using this argument, who cares? The character was purposefully made as hollow as possible, so that the girls reading it could project their own personality onto her. (Shit works, I would say the guy equivalent is Halo, Master Chief being an empty character so guys can project themselves into the character, and feel OMG SO BADASS)