This review of First Time #5 has been in my drafts for over a year
First Times 5 was published in February of 1986 by Merry Men Press, and is, of course, the fifth issue of First Time. It boasts 193 pages, 7 fics, 12 poems, and 7 drawings (not including the covers). It's spiral bound, which isn't my favourite but gets the job done nonetheless.
First impressions are very easy because I pulled this out of my box of fanzines and was immediately smacked in the face by Kirk's naked ass. The cover art is pretty nice but quite shocking. The back cover is weirdly proportioned and that doesn't look like the most comfortable position but okay. It starts with a poem before the editorial, which is unusual. The editorial itself is pretty funny, as the editor suggests that all trekkers band together and buy shares of Paramount to control what the company makes - very let's buy tumblr vibes.
Warnings: rape, non consensual drug use, mild sex.
Disclaimer: as usual, all of this is my personal opinion and should not be taken as an attack on anyone involved in this zine.
A Thought for Christmas
by Ellen Thacher
Christmas fics my belothed. It's hard to enjoy them when I keep thinking that both Kirk and Spock are Jewish. Thankfully, Spock also doesn't seem to like it. In the very first paragraph I already found two punctuation errors, which did not bode well for the rest of this zine, though I found no others. The fic was pretty sweet. 4/5
Logical Decisions
by Faille
It only took one page for me to be certain that Kirk and Spock would end up stranded on some planet with Spock entering pon farr, and I was soon proven correct, even if it happened in a slightly different way than I had expected. I'm not complaining, I like this trope. This is a long one, and it's mostly romantic, mushy, lovey-dovey stuff (in the best way possible) interspersed with some light humour. Plenty of relationship negotiations, which is always a plus. The only complaint I have (other than the considerable amount of typos) is that it made me crave apricots, and they're currently out of season. 5/5
On Our Beach
by Vera Barga
After Pike leaves the Enterprise Spock takes shore leave and tries to go somewhere quiet. On the same night, Kirk is enjoying his last night before becoming Captain. They meet in a casino and hit it off (if you know what I mean) and are then surprised to meet again on the Enterprise. They take it slow and eventually become lovers again.
People say you should sandwich the bad things in between good things but I have to get this out of the way: as a trans nonbinary person reading fics from the 80's is hell. It's all "male" and "female" and being into "males" or "females" and "women are exotic and strange". This is literally my only complaint for this fic and it's incredibly common in this era but in this one it was even more heavy-handed than usual. Other than that I had fun though. I like how important the explicit consent was, how at no point either of them tried to pressure the other and even went out of their way to point it out. I liked it. 4.5/5
The High Price of Love
by Ann
Spock disappears and Starfleet considers him a deserter. Kirk, of course, can't believe that, and keeps looking for him. It takes six months and Bones dragging him to a brothel to find Spock, selling his body to feed his addiction to an aphrodisiac. Turns out he was kidnapped by Orion slavers, addicted to this drug to "train" him as a sex slave, and sold to this brothel. Kirk and McCoy rescue him and help him fight off his addiction. There is a lot to unpack here.
As far as stories with this kind of premise go, the relationship between Kirk and Spock was natural, fairly pre-established, and fully consensual. McCoy played a fairly big part, which I personally greatly enjoy, and even had some heavily subtextual scenes with Spock, which I enjoyed even more (Spones? In my K/S zine? It's more likely than you think).
Graphic descriptions of rape were graphic, graphic depictions of consensual, romantic sex were less so. All in all, not too bad. 4/5
High Time
by Jenny
Kyle's bachelor party is made infinitely more interesting by someone slipping a drug that lowers inhibitions into some people's drinks. Scotty tells terrible jokes, Sulu does a strip tease, and Kirk seduces Spock. A great time is had by all - except McCoy, who wakes up with a hangover.
Honestly, I had a great time reading this. Despite drugs being involved everything was fully consensual, and Kirk and Spock were incredibly sweet. I also liked Scotty's joke, even if it was quite long-winded. 5/5
Where You Find It
by Zoey Brook
Kirk and Spock get stranded on a planet crawling with Klingons and are forced to hide in a cave and huddle for warmth, while a mysterious, empathic, shape-changing entity attempts to help them and learn from them.
I tend to like "stranded on a planet" stories. They're not usually my favourite, but when they're well done they can be spectacular. Personally, I felt that despite the interesting premise, this one was somewhat lacking. There was so much more that could have been done with it. 4/5
The Wall
by Kathy Tipton
Apparently, every five years Starfleet forces their officers to do a "check-up" which involves potentially risking their lives in a very harsh environment. Kirk and Spock are lucky enough to go together. They nearly fall off a cliff and get attacked by a vicious animal, and then they have sex for the first time while waiting for rescue before Spock dies from blood loss.
And despite all that (or maybe because of it?) I enjoyed this fic. I like the angst, I like the descriptions, the smut wasn't bad, and it had a happy ending. What more could I ask for? 4.5/5
Final thoughts
Pretty enjoyable zine, all in all. I think it has the highest typo count of any zine I've read so far, but most of them were pretty unobtrusive. The little art there was is all very nice, and the poems were generally more to my taste than in other zines I've read. I hate the comb binding, but I think that's pretty universal. I didn't actively hate reading it, which is good enough for me.
10 notes
·
View notes
If I re made the mer ygo zine from scratch with the original name though , would anyone be interested?
Please note though that the old admins will not be welcomed in this due to toxic behaviour and the massive damage they caused and continuing with the old one.
So they are blacklisted from being an admin or from contributing from now on and please note that I will not allow anyone in like that again, so heavy checks will be made prior and that admins in general will not have full control of the project due to the issues from prior ones.
So let me know if you are interested and wanting to join me in the project once more and for the right reasons, a love letter to the ygo fandom and mers.
Let's do this right this time ✨
So again, let me know who is interested in this idea and will go from there 💕
6 notes
·
View notes