The Rec Center #132
Hi folks! This week we have some Wynonna Earp coverage, some reporting on THEATER TEENS, an unfortunate update on The State Of Star Wars Fandom, a very specific question about Master Chief from Halo, and some multifandom fusion AU recs. Have a great weekend! — Gav
new stuff
“7 Days With the Most Talented Theater Teens in the Country” by Natalie Walker at Vulture
“‘What are the Jimmy Awards?’ you ask, like an innocent child. Short answer? They are the high-school Tonys.” On the National High School Musical Theatre Awards—many thanks to Lex, who sent in this rec!
“A Cult Show’s Recipe for Success: Whiskey, Twitter and Complex Women” by Maureen Ryan at The New York Times
This piece is about Wynonna Earp (and its fandom) specifically, but a must-read for anyone interested in the evolving relationship between the television industry and fans.
“Star Wars backlash is the new Gamergate” by Gav at the Daily Dot
An overview of how backlash against The Last Jedi has snowballed into fandom’s new reactionary movement, fuelled by bigotry and entitlement, and recently leading to the harassment of a Lucasfilm employee.
older stuff
“How Writing Fanfic Introduced Me To Myself” by Karen Onojaife at BuzzFeed
“These were the stories where I started to believe I was a writer.”
tumblr & beyond
The Expanse fanart by varshavijayan
“Who’s that Klingon?” A flowchart.
Does Master Chief’s spacesuit in Halo really jack him off? Is this canon? Oh my god.
Someone recreated John Mulaney’s “old-timey people waving farewell to departing ships” joke IRL!
fanfiction
This week’s theme is fusion AUs, where characters from one fandom are rewritten for a different fandom setting! — Gav
“A Fellowship to Call Your Own” by kaikamahine. 20K words, rated Teen.
Fandoms: The Social Network, Harry Potter; Ship: Mark/Eduardo
Recced by: kisatsel
Backstory: It’s a Hogwarts AU where Mark’s a Slytherin and Eduardo’s a Hufflepuff.
Rec: Kaikamahine has written a lot of excellent fusion fics so it’s worth checking out their AO3 profile! This is a sweet, romantic story that blends Hogwarts with the more modern world of TSN in interesting ways.
Content warnings: N/A
“Dust in the Wind” Lyra_wing. 3.7K words, rated PG-13.
Fandoms: Supernatural, American Gods; Ship: Gen
Recced by: Ladylark
Backstory: What if the TV show Supernatural took place in the same universe as Neil Gaiman’s novel American Gods? What happens when hunters Dean and Sam, after killing monsters for so long, become legendary themselves?
Rec: This fic was written in 2007, long before Supernatural clocked up double figure seasons and the associated plot complexities. Lyrical and thoughtful, it applies the mood, themes and worldbuilding of American Gods to the love Supernatural expresses for the American open road.
Content warnings: N/A
“Making a Home at the End of the World” by Starlingthefool. 7K words, rated Mature.
Fandoms: Harry Potter, Pacific Rim; Ship: Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy
Recced by: Natalia
Backstory: Pacific Rim AU. “Harry is a Jaeger pilot, and Draco is in the K-Science division. Together, they fight Kaiju! Actually, they mostly fight each other.”
Rec: I know nothing about Pacific Rim, but I still felt so TENSE while reading this. I love it when the fluff doesn’t erase the very real stakes of a suspense plot.
Content warnings: N/A
“To Grow in Blood and Blue” by EssayOfThoughts. 2.4K words, rated Gen.
Fandoms: Harry Potter, Avengers; Ship: Gen
Recced by: bethyyeah
Backstory: Wanda and Pietro wait for their Hogwarts letter in their Sokovian orphanage.
Rec: I love the way the fandoms come together. It feels very organic. There’s also something appealing about the (very fictional) idea of having a close/uncomplicated relationship with one’s sibling.
Content warnings: N/A
“in the fire and the flood” by wellavellan. 27K words, rated Teen.
Fandoms: Les Miserables, Harry Potter; Ship: Enjolras/Grantaire
Recced by: Gav
Backstory: Most Les Mis fanfic focuses on the young revolutionaries. Enjolras is the leader while Grantaire is a cynical nihilist who follows him. This HP AU is an even more abstract twist on the modern Les Mis AU concept, with Enjolras as a wizard activist and Grantaire as a curse-breaker.
Rec: An intriguing twist on the ~truth drug trope~, and an interesting use of HP worldbuilding for a new AU.
Content warnings: N/A
Plus two we ran in earlier lists! More fusions!
“Lacuna” by morpholomeg. 29K words, rated Teen.
Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, His Dark Materials; Ship: Gen, Natasha Romanoff & Clint Barton friendship
Recced by: acesamw
Backstory: The MCU has a lot of gaps in its canon, especially regarding minor characters that don’t have whole movies dedicated to them. This lends itself wonderfully to fanfiction, and HDM has elements that can be easily incorporated into fics.
Rec: An amazing look at how Clint and Natasha could have developed their friendship pre-Avengers,with plot and character development that’s spiced up with daemons from His Dark Materials canon.
Content warnings: Some violence
“Rowan and Red Oak” by ChuckleVoodoos. 22K words, rated Mature.
Fandoms: Daredevil, Harry Potter; Ship: Matt Murdock/Franklin “Foggy” Nelson
Recced by: IrishMumbles
Backstory: Matt/Foggy is the dominant slash pairing in the Daredevil fandom due to their friendship, connection, and emotional intimacy in canon.
Rec: I would not ever have imagined such a perfect melding of the Daredevil universe and the HP universe, and yet here we are. Matt Murdock was struck blind by a Dark Curse as a child, Foggy Nelson has Wild magic that acts up a lot around Matt.
Content warnings: N/A
FINAL THOUGHT
If you are SDCC-bound, two things to put on your radar:
Thursday! Room 6DE! 8:15 pm! I will be (once again) on the Harry Potter fandom panel. Last year we were asked to give unpopular HP opinions and I said I thought some Harry Potter fic was better than the books...and the audience gasped in horror. :-))) I don’t know how to top this this year, but I’m going to try.
Saturday evening, Flourish and I will be hosting some sort of Fansplaining meetup, time and location TBD. I’ll be able to share the actual details in next week’s Rec Center, but for now, if you’d like to come and say hi to us, PENCIL US IN.
— Elizabeth
Have a favorite one-off rec? Please send it our way! We’ll use it in a future list. Other fanworks—comics, vids, etc—are strongly encouraged as well. And if you have any interest in doing an entire rec list, explainer, or ship manifesto, please get in touch! elizabethandgav at gmail dot com.
If you liked this, please share it with your friends! https://thereccenter.substack.com/. And find us on social media: Gav (twitter/tumblr) & Elizabeth (twitter/tumblr)