The Rec Center #225
Hello! It’s Friday! (Truly, you might need a reminder.) This week we’ve got a ton of stuff—virtual cons, a fascinating longread about the “stockbrokers” of Magic the Gathering, some beautiful Mandalorian fanart, and more. Plus! Since many of you are likely excited about the news that Leverage is coming back, we’ve got fic recs from Gav + a few Rec Center readers. — Elizabeth
lockdown stuff
Do you have a submission for “lockdown stuff”? Cons going online, fests, any kind of fandomy event happening in the coming weeks? Please send it to elizabethandgav @ gmail dot com! <3
“not alone here” is a Magicians fanworks auction, with all proceeds going to queercovidrelief.com! Bidding is happening this weekend (April 24th-26th), so if you’re interested, check it out soon.
Swancon, the “longest continuously running science fiction convention in Australia,” is running online this weekend! Check out the full schedule for the “Not-Con” here.
Also this weekend: Virtual Comic-Con 2020! For “cosplayers, photographers, artists, and overall creators who love the con scene and want to take it online.”
And finally, podfic fans! “Voiceteam is a Discord-based team scavenger hunt for the podfic community.” Sign-ups run through April 30th—check out the full details here!
new stuff
“The Stockbrokers Of Magic: The Gathering Play for Keeps” by Cecilia D’Anastasio at Wired
“The market for the popular strategy game’s cards has started to resemble Wall Street, complete with speculation, arbitrage, and yes, insider trading.”
“The Superfans Springing Into Mask-Making Action” by Michael Schulman at The New Yorker
“Cosplayers picked up on it right away and were, like, ‘Boom! Let’s do this.’” A lovely piece about cosplayers sewing masks and sharing mask-construction tips.
“Revisiting ’Game of Thrones’ during social distancing is a bittersweet memory of shared fandom” by Alexis Nedd at Mashable
“For me, getting back into the best parts of Game of Thrones and remembering the community we built around the show is half entertainment and half torture at this point.”
“Elijah Wood is the model Animal Crossing player” by Nicole Carpenter at Polygon
Hands-down the most adorable thing to happen this week!!
older stuff
“Fanfiction isn’t about muting the original stories. It’s about heightening them.” by Constance Grady at Vox
“When I read fanfiction written about source material I love, I am almost never reading it to ‘correct’ the source material or erase my emotional reaction to it. I’m doing it to heighten my reaction to the source material.”
tumblr & beyond
Mandalorian fanart by shima_spoon
Idris Elba’s Janeway poster................. Oh my god.
Death Note shitpost fan comic: L tries to outwit Light by guessing his fursona.
As always, Glee has so much to answer for.
A sweet but sad fan-comic starring young Eddie from Stephen King’s IT.
Will Riker’s true legacy.
“guess who joined a downton abbey fb group and then got kicked out after 3 days”
fanfiction
Leverage is a crime-caper TV series about a team of con artists who use their powers for good, like a cross between Robin Hood and Ocean’s Eleven. It’s basically the opposite of the current trend for intense, longform TV storytelling: an episodic comedy-drama where the main focus is on Hijinks and Friendship.
While Leverage never reached megafandom status like Sherlock or Supernatural, it’s gained a steady following since its cancellation in 2012, partly due to its lighthearted tone and charming cast (including a close-to-canonical OT3 in the main team)... and partly because its anticapitalist subtext feels increasingly relevant. Corrupt villains that felt cartoonish ten years ago now feel worryingly on-the-nose. Anyway, Leverage’s showrunners just announced a revival season featuring the original cast, which is why we’re bringing you this rec list today! — Gav
“The Thanksgiving Dinner Job” by Phnelt. 13K words, rated Teen.
Ship: Alec Hardison/Parker/Eliot Spencer
Recced by: Severnaya
Backstory: The trio has to host the huge Hardison family Thanksgiving dinner at the brewpub. Alec builds family dossiers, Eliot cooks (several) turkeys, Parker learns the meaning of Thanksgiving.
Rec: This fic gives Hardison a large extended family and several foster siblings, which is a twist on the usual. It’s a fun, domestic, fic with lots of cooking and family feels that (while not being angsty) grapples with coming out to family as people in a poly relationship. Also Eliot goes way overboard on the food and it’s delightful.
Content warnings: N/A
“Audience: 822,000 and Homeland Security” by WerewolvesAreReal. 3K words, rated Gen.
Ship: Gen
Recced by: Gav
Backstory: Hardison is the Leverage team’s resident geek, while his BFFs Parker and Eliot are the cat burglar and the muscle.
Rec: A funny outsider-POV story about Hardison’s Twitch channel accidentally going viral because people notice Parker and Eliot doing weird crimes in the background of his webcam.
Content warnings: N/A
“Four Times Hardison Told His Nana He Was Sorry, And One Time He Said He Was (But Totally Wasn’t)” by LJC. 1.1K words, rated Teen.
Ship: Gen
Recced by: Roz
Backstory: Age of the Geek, Baby! Hardison wears his geek cred on his sleeve and this is a wonderful example of all the fandoms he probably was in.
Rec: It’s a great list of shows I can imagine Hardison watching and being annoyed about in a way that makes my fannish habits seem sensible.
Content warnings: N/A
“Shelter Me” by thingswithwings. 21K words over 2 works, rated Explicit.
Ship: Alec Hardison/Parker/Eliot Spencer
Recced by: anon
Backstory: Leverage OT3 get together (established Parker/Hardison, getting together with Eliot) with Eliot puppy play!
Rec: This fic feels like a perfect extension of the OT3’s dynamics into the bedroom, and is such a sweet and smutty get together fic. Nobody gets turned into an actual pet, but there is petplay.
Content warnings: N/A
“The Job Interview Job” by copperbadge. 3K words, rated Gen.
Ship: Gen
Recced by: Gav
Backstory: Since the Leverage team have to adopt new fake personas for basically every episode, they tend to leave... an interesting paper trail.
Rec: Another outsider-POV story, this time featuring a conspiracy theorist who accidentally figured out that some of Eliot’s aliases were the same person. You can absolutely imagine this happening in the show!
Content warnings: N/A
And two different reccers sent in this vid:
“Parachute” by thingswithwings. 3:33, rated Teen.
Ship: Alec Hardison/Parker/Eliot Spencer
Recced by: K and sunrayravine
Backstory: K writes: A wonderful video about the trio’s relationship set to the song Parachute by Ingrid Michaelson.
Rec: K writes: It’s a really wonderful combination of song and clips and a wonderful encapsulation of the various relationships between those three characters.
sunrayravine writes: My favourite fanvid of all time. It never fails to put a smile on my face.
Content warning: Blood
FINAL THOUGHT
Thanks to everyone for continuing to submit recs & lockdown content! Wishing you the best for a good weekend! — Gav
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)