*nods* Often when I write a new fandom for the first time, I don't want to read other people's fic, because I want to stick with that pure sense of the characters that is all my own. Which, because I'm such a slow writer, tends to mean that I miss the whole first wave of fannish excitement and I never read much fic at all. It's a trade-off, and I'm not sure it makes sense or is worth it. It seems to be how my brain works best, though.

It is a tough mindset to maintain - making a vid simply because it's what you want to make - but then the thing is, right now, there is this flood of X-Men vids, and some are good and some are crap, and many are in some ways very similar. But we're still in the first rush of OMG NEW FANDOM. It's only when the dust have settled on that that we'll know which vids are the great ones that will last. And that's not about how unique a vidder's use of any given footage is; it's about the artistic qualities of the whole, which is far more intangible. So, you know, I think all the vids are worth making, because you can't know until after the fact which ones are the keepers. If that makes any sense at all.