Cori Falls
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[edit] History
Cori Falls is thought to be the origin of all Weepy!Jessie and Manly!James Rocketshippy fic (this claim may be an exaggeration; Rocketshipping has been around since the very late 1990s and Cori didn't open her website until 2000), and was either worshipped or scorned during her time in the Pokemon fandom.
Her stories followed a timeline, which began innocently enough. They followed the canon of the anime and seemed tame enough save for OOC moments by the barrelful. But as time went on and as Cori became more and more disgusted by how canon treated her favorite characters, the stories broke away from canon more and more until Cori decided to wash her hands of the anime and follow her own ideals, eventually stating that as far as she was concerned, everything happening on the show was now a series of Ash Ketchum's twisted fantasies. That was when people started to roll their eyes, tear their hair out, and refused to take her seriously anymore.
In 2005, she left Pokemon fandom and started on Yu-Gi-Oh. This time she did things her own way right from the outset.
[edit] Controversy
[edit] MysticVaporeon
After reading a story by this author that upset her, Cori took it upon herself to write a response in which James's death was only a dream. Sometime later, she wrote a saga which dealt with James's death and resurrection, a more "hands on" approach.
In her disclaimers, Cori shamelessly chewed out Mystic for "betraying" her; Cori had a rule about not being sent tragic fics, and Mystic sent her the story falsely promising it was happy, and that it "wasn't a deathfic". Cori didn't think James dying and Jessie reuniting with him in Heaven sixty years later when she died of old age was happy or romantic. Mystic's reaction was, understandably, not good.
One thing to note, however, is that Cori once stated that James' death in the fic was remarkably similar to her late grandfather's death, which is apparently the main reason why the fic upset her so much. And to her credit, she did offer some form of apology, though it certainly didn't make Mystic feel any better:
"I offer my sincerest apologies to Mystic Vaporeon. I tried to shake everything off and forgive her (and she did apologize to me when she finally started to get an idea of just how hurt I was), but in retrospect, I realize that I really, really can't. It was just too personal to me, and I can't get over that. Don't get me wrong, she's a talented author, but I just don't like a lot of the subject matter that she writes about -- it's too dark for my taste."
[edit] Alph
Alph is the lesser-known author of another fic that upset Cori so much she wrote a continuation of it to make it better for her. Unlike the case with Mystic, though, she didn't offer any sort of apology
"As for the author of The Pinball Machine? I make no apologies to her. No real fan of Team Rocket would even think about killing them off in their fics, so she's not a real fan as far as I'm concerned! Alph doesn't even seem to be in the fandom -- after submitting this fic, I never heard from her again. Even her e-mail address was a dead link. I can only conclude that she was somebody who hated TR and wrote The Pinball Machine for the specific purpose of upsetting real fans."
[edit] ShadowCat
Cori got into a scuffle with this author over the use of lines from the Team Rocket motto as story titles; ShadowCat claimed Cori had ripped her off, or vice versa. (more accurate info needed)
[edit] Chibi Team Rocket
For whatever reason, Cori insulted this popular member of the fandom. It stirred up quite a ruckus.
[edit] Reputation
Cori is a joke among certain circles of the Pokemon fandom who hate her characterizations, bitchy disclaimers and the way she would force her favorite hobbies, and sometimes her religious beliefs, on her favorite characters {she once wrote a fic, for example, where Jessie and James have a neo-pagan wedding, with Lord of the Rings and Final Fantasy VI wedding songs}. Her stories were often long and verbose, peppered with mushy love scenes and bad jokes, and she seemed to have a poor grasp on the concepts of foreplay and sex {a single act of lovemaking would often take several HOURS of the characters' time}.
She wasn't without her good points, however. She was competent at spelling and grammar, not shabby at capturing and fleshing out scenes, and even if her OCs and backgrounds for Team Rocket were Mary Sueish at best, she could at least be praised for her creativity.
[edit] Legacy among the Pokemon fandom
Though she's moved on, her impact on the Pokemon fandom is far from forgotten. Her work is still a popular conversation and MST subject among fans.
