The Rec Center #203
Hi everyone!! This week we’ve got articles about BTS and Real Housewives (!?), along with some vintage Werner Herzog coverage, and a puzzling Baby Yoda update from Disney. Following on from last week’s rarepair fanfic recs, today we’re recommending fic from super-mega-popular pairings. Have a great weekend! — Gav
new stuff
“Break the Internet: BTS” by Erica Russell at Paper Mag
With some recent high-profile reporting on Kpop that’s been...not-so-great, a great deep dive on BTS and their fandom, including an interview with the group and some exquisite Lisa Frank-esque art.
“Star Wars: Beyond the Rise of Skywalker” at Wired
A collection of pieces about Star Wars fandom, including cosplay and the new theme park.
“How the Real Housewives built cable TV’s biggest fandom” by Rebecca Jennings at Vox
A very interesting piece about BravoCon, a “celebration of what can only be described as the Bravo Extended Universe.”
older stuff
“Herzog Found at Comic-Con” by Michael Cieply at The New York Times
This past week, someone unearthed this little gem from 2011, when Werner Herzog went to SDCC. Of the experience, he said: “I have never seen the collective dreams all in one place.”
tumblr & beyond
This week in deeply ridiculous misunderstandings of transformative works and their power as a marketing tool, Disney is... taking down people’s gifs of Baby Yoda in The Mandalorian?
Congrats to this interpretation of Avengers: Endgame.
Yuri on Ice/Goose Game fanart!!!
A list of academic papers from the Star Trek universe.
“if i was the joker id just get a restraining order on batman and superman”
fanfiction
Last week we did rarepairs, so this week, how about juggernaut ships? I set an arbitrary threshold of 15K fics on AO3 (FFN is pretty hard to search via ship numbers, but 98% of our recs are AO3 links anyway). I actually set it much higher and then realized that would actually make it, like, a destiel list only lol. As you can imagine, these are...some ships you have heard of. (Yes, my friends, this list is very dude-heavy, apologies for that!) Interestingly, several of these ships aren’t even the most popular in their respective fandoms, which speaks to the power of a truly massive fandom. Thanks so much to everyone who sent in a rec! — Elizabeth
“Entertaining Strangers” by domesticadventures. 30K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Supernatural; Ship: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Recced by: poisedtoleap
Backstory: Castiel is an angel without his powers, Dean is not a hunter. They build a life together.
Rec: I’m a sucker for quiet domestic fics, they feel like the most indulgent form of escapism. In this, Cas and Dean face the mundane from rent, crappy jobs, exhaustion and sadness. Oh yeah, and they fall in love.
Content warnings: N/A
“A Fold in the Universe” by darkest_bird. 153K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Sherlock; Ship: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Recced by: anon
Backstory: A freak accident of the multiverse has “canon” John Watson swapping places with the omega version of himself from another universe.
Rec: As someone who’d never read any omegaverse fic before this was a fantastic introduction to the genre. There’s a fantastic dual character arc as canon!John fights against the gendered restrictions of the world he’s suddenly been placed in and omega!John struggles to come to terms with just how much has been stolen from him by his circumstances.
Content warnings: N/A
“Night Channels” by Bulgyoongi. 122K words (WIP but updating regularly), rated Explicit.
Fandom: BTS; Ship: Min Yoongi | Suga/Park Jimin
Recced by: Amorphine
Backstory: BTS rpf, non-AU, Jimin and Yoongi of the K-Pop group BTS. Yoongi is asked by the management to up the fan-service with Jimin in order to promote a new project, which leads to them getting closer.
Rec: It’s very realistic and it has the most accurate characterization of Jimin and Yoongi that I have ever seen. Great writing, great angst, great pining, and a concert scene that knocked the wind out of me because it was so vivid.
Content warnings: N/A
“Won’t Do Me No Good Washing in the River” by DevilDoll, Jinxy, Rahciach. 6K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Teen Wolf; Ship: Derek Hale/ Stiles Stilinski
Recced by: marfra
Backstory: When Stiles dies, Derek decides to secretly bring him back. But the Stiles that comes back has no memories of his past life and is not quite the same that Derek remembers and loves.
Rec: This story has a heartbreaking premise (which becomes even sadder) AND YET it left me with an aftertaste of impossible hope, because you love no matter what, even through change, especially through change. It’s a haunting fic that’s got me wondering what actually ‘makes’ a person and has me still looking for the answer.
Content warning: Temporary character death
“Firebird” by LavenderProse. 8K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Yuri!!! On Ice; Ship: Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov
Recced by: haygahr #9190
Backstory: Genderbend AU!
Rec: It’s just a lovely short genderbendy YOI fic with lovely soft writing.
Content warnings: N/A
“Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do” by copperbadge. 39K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Marvel, The Avengers; Ship: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Recced by: humblystark
Backstory: This AU takes places in Chicago during Prohibition. What if Tony was a bootlegger and Steve was the only “straight” cop in the city who has to cozy up to him to solve a murder?
Rec: Copperbadge nails Steve’s angst and the way he finds Tony both dangerous and magnetic. Tony, meanwhile, is a gangster with a heart of gold (and shrapnel). This city of Chicago feels like a real character in addition to all of your faves from the movies and the comics. And the period-specific details are well-researched and add to what is already one of the best written fics I’ve read in Marvel fandom.
Content warning: Some internalized homophobia
FINAL THOUGHT
If you’re traveling in the coming week, have a safe journey! And next week we’ll be running extra-long fics, for everyone who has a looooong weekend ahead of them. If you have any favorites, please send them 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, zines, 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)