The Rec Center #240
Hi folks! This week we’ve got an article about a very unusual baseball game, a profile of a groundbreaking manga artist, some lovely ATLA fanart, multifandom ~fluffy fanfic recs, and more! — Gav
new stuff
“An absurdist baseball game is tearing up the internet, thanks to fans” by Sam Greszes at Polygon
“Blaseball is, in a lot of ways, an infinite series of writing prompts.” A look at how fans are creating elaborate lore for the “unapologetically queer, justice-focused, and anticapitalist” online browser game Blaseball.
“The Groundbreaking Female Artist Who Shaped Manga History” by Gabrielle Bellot at The Atlantic
On a new English-language book about Kuniko Tsurita, “an overlooked Japanese cartoonist who smashed both gender and genre norms during her short life.”
“TikTok and the Evolution of Digital Blackface” by Jason Parham at Wired
Not necessarily super-fandomy, but a very good piece on anti-Blackness on TikTok, from appropriation to harassment to censorship from the platform itself.
older stuff
“How the growing generation gap is changing the face of fandom” by Gav at the Daily Dot
Gav wrote this back in 2014, after attending the World Sci-Fi Convention and Nine Worlds (a much smaller, more progressive convention) in the same week. It’s interesting to revisit now, following the various controversies around this year’s Worldcon and what went down at the Hugo Awards.
tumblr & beyond
Avatar: The Last Airbender fanart by Lilit
A detailed ranking of every single Wei Wuxian outfit in The Untamed.
“aren’t you married? Should you be reading self insert fic? Isn’t that leading him on?”
That one line in Sherlock has a lot to answer for.
“top 10 favourite dumb lines throughout star trek history??”
Sure, Black Sails and Game of Thrones are...quite similar.
Avatar: The Last Airbender, canonical Florida edition.
fanfiction
This week: fluffy fic! Don’t worry, angst fans, we’ll do one for you soon. Thank you to everyone who sent a rec. — Elizabeth
“i thee wed” by sauntering_down. 14K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Free!; Ship: Nanase Haruka/Tachibana Makoto
Recced by: anon
Backstory: In Free!, *the* swimming anime, Haruka and Makoto are childhood friends who swim together for the school team.
Rec: Fake dating is out, pretend marriage is in. Here, two friends who grew up together and act like an old, married couple in canon deal with feelings for each other behind their “joke marriage.”
Content warnings: N/A
“a thing that wants” by magdaliny. 5.5K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Marvel MCU; Ship: Maria Hill/Natasha Romanov
Recced by: Ellie
Backstory: “Hey, Steve,” Bucky says. “We’re gonna find Nat a dame, okay?”
Natasha shoves him into the pool.
Rec: Cute AND funny AND hot. The main pairing is great, and I love Nat’s relationship with Steve and Bucky.
Content warnings: N/A
“interdepartmental courtship rituals” by eversall. 2.8K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Shadowhunters TV; Ship: Jace Wayland/Simon Lewis
Recced by: fredfinch
Backstory: Simon and Jace, as told by a series of emails, incident reports, and memos between the exasperated agents of the Idris Department of Demon Activity.
Rec: The sheer frustration of literally everyone in this fic is amazing. The crabby emails back and forth are so funny, and the fic overall is a nice, cheerful pick-me-up.
Content warnings: N/A
“How to Not Do the Dishes (And Other Ways to Fail at Cleaning)” by tantarted (tanyart). 5.2K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Team Fortress 2; Ship: Gen
Recced by: anon
Backstory: A nice fic about domestic shenanigans with the TF2 cast. Perfectly on-point characterisation of the whole team, from Scout’s POV.
Rec: Fluffy and humorous, ending on a sweet cake-eating note, perfect for when you’re feeling down <3.
Content warnings: N/A
“strawberry jam stains” by poetroe. 6.9K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Lucifer; Ship: Chloe Decker/Mazikeen
Recced by: fredfinch
Backstory: After moving in with Chloe in s02, Mazikeen starts to develop feelings.
Rec: It’s short, sweet, and I love how Mazikeen gets along so well with Chloe’s daughter Trixie. The kid scenes are so cute, and the way Chloe and Mazikeen gravitate together is so good.
Content warnings: N/A
“Shipmates” by zlot. 4K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Hark! A Vagrant; Ship: Brigand/Nemesis
Recced by: anon
Backstory: Based entirely on Kate Beaton’s very good short comics about a pirate and his nemesis. That’s it, that’s the story.
Rec: Look, the concept of a pirate being in love with his nemesis is inherently great, the fic itself is both charming and hilarious.
Content warnings: N/A
FINAL THOUGHT
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! — 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)