The Rec Center #257
Hello everyone! This week we have a few pieces about games fandoms, some beautiful Hades fanart, and a multifandom character study rec list. — Elizabeth
new stuff
“They Found Community, and Then Love, in Online Games” by Elizabeth Landau at Wired
An extremely charming story about couples who met and fell in love playing RPGs and other online games.
“How ‘Hades’ Actors Made the Internet Horny for Their Voices” by Elizabeth Ballou at Vice
A look at the explosive popularity of the videogame Hades, which turned its voice cast into unexpected fandom celebrities.
older stuff
“The Writer as Robot: Fluency, Fanfiction, and Finding My Voice” by B.N. Harrison at The Toast
“It soon became obvious that I had stumbled on something powerful. I was getting ecstatic, heartfelt comments by the cartload. More importantly, I’d rediscovered the fluency I commanded in high school, when only the want of free time prevented me from writing thousands of words per day. It had to do with all those messy emotions, I decided.”
tumblr & beyond
Euridice (Hades) fanart by linipik
“there is not a single role chris pratt does that jack black couldn’t do better”
Yes, multiple people sent this fanart to Gav: “What if NBC Hannibal did the Sonic Adventure pose?”
“e girl and her podcaster boyfriend”
Renaissance art/Sailor Moon crossover? Why not!!
“c. s. lewis making his jesus allegory a lion when jesus’ canonical fursona is a lamb……..toxic masculinity”
fanfiction
This week we’ve got one of my personal favorites, “character study” fic (if it’s also one of your favorites, we did another list over the summer). Thank you to everyone who sent in a rec! — Elizabeth
“Able to Succeed” by Betty. 1.2K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: DCU/Batman; Ship: Gen
Recced by: espionne
Backstory: Batman is a world-renowned paranoid vigilante with many a contingency plan. Nobody told his sidekick that there would be homework.
Rec: There’s an excellent characterization of Bruce as super pedantic, and it fleshes out his sidekick training. There’s also a killer ending line that gets me every time!
Content warnings: N/A
“a girl in the forest of moss and bone” by theformerone. 65K words (part 2 of a long series but can be read as a stand-alone!), rated Teen.
Fandom: Naruto; Ship: Gen
Recced by: Fanny
Backstory: An AU where Sakura isn’t denied character development and becomes a sage as powerful as the likes of Sasuke and Naruto. Takes place in Shikkotsu forest, where she has to survive, adapt, and prove herself to the slugs who she wants to enter a sage contract with.
Rec: THE WORLDBUILDING IS INCREDIBLE! The author runs with minor in-universe concepts and makes something entirely whole and mesmerizing that is both like and unlike anything in canon. Plus, Sakura only interacts with literal slugs and it’s great.
Content warnings: Fairly graphic depictions of violence, lots of talk of slug slime
“The End of All Our Exploring” by Epigone. 17K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Falsettos; Ship: Whizzer/Marvin
Recced by: anon
Backstory: It’s subtitled “The Lost Entr’acte,” and mostly focuses on the two years that Whizzer and Marvin spend apart and their subsequent reconciliation.
Rec: It’s a great Whizzer character study, and it’s incredibly well-written. It’s probably the best Falsettos fic I’ve read.
Content warning: HIV/AIDS themes
“Transformative” by unfolded73. 3.2K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Schitt’s Creek; Ship: Gen
Recced by: fredfinch
Backstory: After the Rose family loses their fortune, they move to the small town of Schitt’s Creek, purchased years ago on a whim. This fic is a quick character study focused on Stevie Budd in which she navigates being David’s Best Person at the wedding reception.
Rec: It’s a nice, warm story with a great grasp on Stevie’s character. The scenes between her and various members of the Rose family are very sweet.
Content warnings: N/A
“Well-Behaved Women” by ehmazing. 39K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood; Ship: Maria Ross/Sheska; Riza Hawkeye/Roy Mustang
Recced by: Raizel
Backstory: Sheska character study in a Royai West Wing.
Rec: A really original take on the FMA future fic with solid worldbuilding! Sheska has a great character arc, her romance with Maria Ross is smooth and sweet, and Riza is really trying to sort out her own shit as first lady of Amestris.
Content warnings: N/A
“O, Empathy” by almostnectarine. 33K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: The Witcher (all media); Ship: Geralt/Jaskier
Recced by: Swords and Spindles
Backstory: Geralt of Rivia is a monster-hunting Witcher (alleged to be emotionless) who is accompanied on his adventures by Jaskier the bard (who often has more emotions than is good for him). Their on-screen chemistry and dynamic of gruff reluctant hero/flirty sunshine sidekick spawned an instant classic ship.
After a body-swapping curse, Geralt and Jaskier have to cope with experiencing the world through the senses, emotions, and abilities of another person and, incidentally, gain insights into the carefully hidden depths of feelings they harbour for each other.
Rec: Almostnectarine turns the trope into a precisely crafted character study that explores the deceptively simple concept of how the way we see the world (and other people) fundamentally dictates how we interact with it. There’s drama, humour, a quest-y plot, an astonishing amount of details for the reader to pick up on, and almost unbearable levels of mutual pining and romantic tension.
Content warning: Descriptions of anxiety
FINAL THOUGHT
This week, my podcast Overinvested posted its third and final episode on Lord of the Rings! It was super fun to revisit the trilogy this year, both from a nostalgic fandom perspective and as a deep dive into the creative background of the books and films.
Each ep covers one of the movies, along with one or two key themes: Tolkien’s historical and literary influences, the films’ incredible production design, an analysis of the musical score (including its links to LOTR’s racist subtext!), and the films’ unique legacy in Hollywood & at the Oscars. You can listen on any major podcast platform, or here on our website!
Wishing you all a relaxing weekend! xoxo 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)