The Rec Center #258
Hi folks! We’re here this week with coverage of Tumblr’s 2020 Year in Review, the delightful French cartoon Ladybug & Chat Noir, some more Supernatural shitposting, and a multifandom rec list of fix-it fic. — Gav
new stuff
“Tumblr’s top fandoms of 2020” by Kayti Burt at Den of Geek
Tumblr’s Year in Review came out this week, and while that’s always interesting in and of itself, this conversation with Tumblr’s Amanda Brennan digging into some of the trends is a fascinating read.
“Megan Thee Stallion and Anime—Or, the Male Gatekeeping of Fandom Spaces” by Stitch at Teen Vogue
“When someone says, ‘she only cares about anime to get us to care about her,’ who exactly is ‘us’?”
“The French Cartoon that Led Me to Fandom and Friendship” by Priyanka Bose at Catapult
A beautiful personal essay about making friends through fandom: “It feels unreal, in a world filled with so much unkindness, that a French children’s show led me to such an incredible group of friends.”
older stuff
“Tumblr’s 2013 Year in Review is just scratching the surface” by Aja Romano at The Daily Dot
After a month of Destiel-influenced “it feels like 2012/13/14 again” commentary around Tumblr’s recent content explosion, it’s fun to look back at actual 2013 on Tumblr, the first year they did the Year in Review. “But who knew Supernatural heartthrob Jensen Ackles would be the surprise dark horse behind Cumberbatch.” The more things change...
tumblr & beyond
Kate Bishop fanart by Maxy
“Sam Winchester: queer ally.”
Quiz: Is this line from Hannibal, Naruto, or Death Note?
What’s the relationship between Supernatural’s demon Crowley, and Good Omens’ demon Crowley? An investigation.
Thoroughly impressed by this color-coded family tree of Lord of the Rings elf dynasties.
“He single, he Pringle, he ready to mingle.”
fanfiction
Fix-its! A hallmark of fanfiction. And one that I love because there’s no predominant “it” that fix-its always fix, so you can get a great deal of variety. (Yeah, OK, there are a few popular “it”s, but still.) Thank you very much to everyone who sent in a rec. — Elizabeth
“Song” by WithBroomBefore. 41K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: The Untamed; Ship: Wei Wuxian/Lan Wangji
Recced by: Lara
Backstory: Wei Ying and Lan Zhan Getting A Clue early kick-starts a huge change in events, and a truly magnificent four-way soulbond between the two of them, Jiang Cheng and Jin Zixuan (!!) results.
Rec: An unlikely group soulbond, written as deftly and beautifully as you could ever wish. This is a fix-it fic in the best way—with realistic consequences and pain still existing, but everyone getting something they badly need by the end.
Content warning: Temporary major character death
“Judith and her Maidservant” by Siria. 1.1K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Venom (2018); Ship: Gen
Recced by: esteefee
Backstory: You don’t need to have seen the movie to love this story. In fact, who needs the movie?
Rec: Dora deserved so much better. This is her new, truest self, and she is gorgeous.
Content warning: Gory thoughts
“And Beyond” by AlchemyAlice. 32K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Avengers/Marvel MCU; Ship: Tony Stark/Steve Rogers/Pepper Potts
Recced by: alasse
Backstory: Everyone knows—I think—Avengers and MCU, and throughout the Infinity Saga there’s been an interesting ebb and flow in the way people write Steve and Tony together, as well as Pepper in relation to them. This story takes place after Endgame, but changes a few things, so we get to see all characters with the breadth of the entire saga behind them.
Rec: I love fix-its and mid-story AUs, and this is that in addition to so much more. A gorgeous exploration of Steve, and Tony, and Pepper (and Rhodey, and Morgan) that quietly but beautifully fixes some of the things that were unsaid, some of the things that were broken, and creates a completely believable and earned OT3 by the end of it, together with some really cool world-building.
Content warnings: N/A
“run in the blood of the sun’s hard rays” by magneticrays. 2.6K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Teen Wolf; Ship: Gen (Allison & Lydia)
Recced by: Kelsey
Backstory: Teen Wolf is about teens who are werewolves. Allison comes from a family who hunts werewolves, and Lydia is a banshee with death-related powers.
Rec: This is a story about Allison and Lydia’s friendship, and the lengths to which Lydia is willing to go to protect Allison.
Content warning: Death
“Tell Me The Truth (About Love)” by drivingsideways. 72K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: The King: Eternal Monarch; Ships: Jo Yeong/Kang Hyeon-min, Jo Yeong/Kang Sinjae
Recced by: Persimmon
Backstory: The show was a short-run K-Drama in which an alternate universe Korea was never colonised by Japan and retained a monarchy which is still in power in the present day. Cool concept with high production-values (jumping between universes, time travel, doppelgangers, murdering your alternate-self for financial gain, a plot to kill the king!) but a somewhat incoherent storyline meant that only those thoroughly committed to Woo Do Hwan’s beautiful face made it to the end. The pairing involves the two second male leads (the respective best friends of the main couple).
Rec: The plot of the show is confusing but this story is a (relatively) straightforward romance between Jo Yeong (Captain of the Royal Guard) and Kang Sinjae/Kang Hyeon-Min (homicide detective), two characters who deserve the intimacy they were denied in the drama. This fic doesn’t deal with alternate universes or time travel as much as it deals with the aftermath of messing with the timeline, and taking chances that you didn’t get to take the first time round.
Content warnings: Hyeon-min is a homicide detective whose side-story involves catching a serial killer. There are indirect references to abuse, probably sexual, of a minor and depiction of a suicide. Jo Yeong retains memories of an alternate universe in which he briefly met Sinjae/Hyeon-Min, while Sinjae does not.
And a podfic!
“Inscribed on Glass Plaques.” Read by bienenalster, written by readerofasaph. 14:24 (1.5K words), rated Gen.
Fandom: Princess Tutu; Ship: Gen
Recced by: Chestnut_filly
Backstory: Princess Tutu is the story of a duck who becomes a girl who becomes a ballet-dancing princess to save her friends and town. It is a classic of 90s/early 2000s anime and is full of references to ballet and European fairy tales.
Rec: This is an excellent experimental podfic. The story itself is a card catalogue of a museum exhibit detailing the “real life” aftermath of the anime, and Bienenalster makes it into a perfect mix-and-match recreation of a museum audio tour, down to sound effects for those squeaky wooden floors. I really did feel like I was wandering the rooms of a small exhibition, which is a wonderful feeling!
Content warnings: N/A
FINAL THOUGHT
A few Decembers back we did a call for holiday and wintry recs and we got a ton of responses, so we decided to do it again this year. Please send us your favorites! Be sure to put “winter” or “holidays” or something similar in the tropes & themes section so I can tell that they’re for this prompt. — 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)