April 9, 2021

The Rec Center #275

Hello, all! This week we have an explainer on a big Supreme Court decision’s potential impact on fanworks, some beautiful Star Trek: TNG fanart, and Gav’s latest installment of “Behind the Seams,” on the costumes of the MCU.

But in addition to our regular fic rec section—this week’s theme: “domesticity”—we’re introducing a new feature, “letter of recommendation,” a space to rec a fanwork in more than just a few sentences. Our first recommender is Klaudia, writing about the mega-popular Mandalorian self-insert fic “Rough Day” and the fandom that’s sprung up around it. — Elizabeth

new stuff

“A Year Of Falling Stars, Evening Swims And Friendship: Animal Crossing Turns One” by Amal El-Mohtar at NPR
A love letter to Animal Crossing: New Horizons, a vital source of escapism during the pandemic.

A Google v. Oracle + fanworks explainer by earlgreytea68
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a long-awaited ruling this week in a case that was mostly about software development, but since it’s about fair use, it also has (good!) implications for fanworks. Elizabeth asked fandom lawyer earlgreytea68 if there were any good explainers about this facet of the case—in the end, she wrote a post herself!

older stuff

“The Cult of Christopher Meloni’s Butt” by Miles Klee at Mel Magazine
This one, we have to say, is pretty self-explanatory.

tumblr & beyond

Star Trek: TNG fanart by Yves Menshikova

Different fanfic structures, diagrammed as graphs.

TikTok: Working at the insurance call center in a city full of superheroes.

“would anyone like to see my favorite black sails pic?”

Due to a continuity error, apparently it’s… canonically impossible for Dean Winchester to be John Winchester’s biological son in Supernatural… ??

Sherlock Holmes fans, please take this lil detail into account while writing Irene Adler!!

letter of recommendation

Longtime Rec Center readers know that we run the occasional guest explainer, where people give overviews of their favorite books/shows/films/games etc (sometimes they also rec fanworks about the thing, sometimes they don’t). But this week we’re introducing a new feature to the newsletter that’s adjacent to explainers, but specifically about fanworks: a place to rec a fanwork or group of fanworks in more than the few sentences of our standard recs, and potentially talk about the fandom around it, too. We’re calling it “letter of recommendation.”

Our first letter of recommendation comes from Klaudia, about the iconic Mandalorian x reader fic you may have seen people suggest was breaking the AO3 a few months back (it’s very popular, but it wasn’t). Thank you so much to Klaudia for being our first letter-writer, and if any other readers have an interest in reccing a single fanwork over the course of a few hundred words, let us know! elizabethandgav at gmail dot com. (Yes, I owe a few people responses and here I am soliciting more volunteer emails—thank you, as always, for your patience!) — Elizabeth

Klaudia is an unfortunate Tumblr veteran who is cursed to watch the same things happen in every fandom over and over. As a recovering superwholock, she now mostly spends her days on Star Wars TikTok and in her Mandalorian Discord server, and terrorizing Twitter with whatever hyperfixation her mind will not let go of next (right now it’s Darth Maul thirst, it will soon be Infinity Train). She is also a part-time critic and a full-time social media producer, so unfortunately, being very online is her job. You can follow her on TikTok/Twitter/IG @kaludiasays.

In a new age of fandom spurred by people stuck inside, the creepily accurate TikTok algorithm, the Mandalorian saving Star Wars fandom from the brink of toxic garbage, and a metric ton of Pedro Pascal content dropped all at the same time, one fic has risen to legendary prominence: “Rough Day” by no-droids, otherwise known as guardianangelcas on AO3 (Yes of course Supernatural is involved. It always is.)

I was, admittedly, late to the party on this fic. While season 2 aired and I looked for Mando recs, as luck would have it, my For You page on TikTok started to get creepily specific. Several people in Star Wars fandom, specifically Mando fans, were all making jokes, memes, and comments about ONE specific fic. I had only seen this once before, during this past summer’s Avatar: the Last Airbender renaissance, with two Zukka fics. I was hesitant, as I hadn’t read many self-insert fics, but had started to read a few in Mando fandom and tried it out.

It’s quite good! Din is a little OOC for my taste, but the writing is compelling, and the smut is fun, and the plot kept me interested. And, much like the show, each chapter had a bit of a cliffhanger that left me, and apparently thousands of others, hooked. I have read so much Mandalorian fic at this point that elements of “Rough Day,” like an infamous scene at a shooting range, or Din calling the reader “sweet girl” (not really a preference of mine, I prefer the gender neutral cyare or cyar’ika, Mando’a words of endearment, but I digress), have become so essential to the Fanon that I’ve mixed it up with other fics.

“Rough Day” ‘fandom’ has inspired its own fanworks, and also quite the discourse. As is always the issue with self-insert fics, any art created for it tends to only represent one kind of person, which becomes a problem when the author of the fic endorses it. A podfic version of it is now being published. People are paying cosplayer/voice actors on OnlyFans to do sexy readings of it. After the winter holidays, when the author had less time and it wasn’t updating as regularly, a lot of criticism of the fic and discussion about how there are other, better Din x Reader fics out there resurfaced. Just last night, the author of the fic announced a hiatus from it (and from Tumblr), denouncing the harassment between “Rough Day” and other Mandalorian fans, and also towards herself and other major fic writers in Mando fandom.

“Rough Day” has become a microcosm for all the discourses that often happen in a fandom, and it’s not even finished yet. It also became a representation for the Din Djarin sector of the now booming Pedro Pascal fandom. You would think Mandalorian fans would be the most prevalent Pedro fans, but no—that title goes to the Javier Peña Narcos fans, who have become legion. It’s been fascinating to watch Pedro fandom (and Mandalorian and Star Wars fandom) evolve SO FAST over the past few months, in part largely because of this one fic, whether you like it or not.

Here’s the Din x Reader fics I usually recommend for people who like “Rough Day”, or instead of it that I think are better:

• “Dust” by etchedbox
• “Faculae” by steeeeeeeviebb (this one is, unfortunately, only on Tumblr)
• “The Space Between (your heart & mine) by dirty_holy_things

fanfiction

This week’s theme is “domesticity”—our guest reccers either tagged these fics as such, or highlighted that element in their rec. (Weirdly, no one in our batch of hundreds of recs used the tag “curtainfic,” are we not saying that anymore?) Thanks so much to everyone who sent in a rec! <3 — Elizabeth

“first love / late spring” by vowelinthug. 36K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: IT; Ship: Richie/Eddie
Recced by: Liz
Backstory: Does anyone get tired of fixing the ending to IT: Chapter 2? This starts in canon and then immediately diverts, bringing you the domesticity and mental/physical recovery from the trauma of it all. And meanwhile, they accidentally start a podcast.
Rec: The characterization in this fic is off the charts! It’s so funny, but it also made me cry, and it’s also sexy sometimes? It’s Richie’s POV and the author really nails it, but also encapsulates Eddie In Love that can sometimes be hard for people to get right.
Content warnings: N/A

“a history of the body” by northofallmusic (tofsla). 13K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: The Untamed/Módào Zǔshī; Ship: (F/F) Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī/Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn
Recced by: juliethegay
Backstory: Lan Zhan lets Wei Ying use her vibrator to help with her chronic pain. From the summary: ‘A fic about the complicated nature of having a body, and also the versatility of sex toys.’
Rec: A lovely representation of life with chronic pain, who doesn’t love friends to lovers with domesticity, and the tag “Figuring Out Sex Age 35 When You Aren’t Even Inexperienced Really And Other Queer Journeys.”
Content warnings: Chronic pain from injury

“What Signs Remain” by Lindentree. 117K words, WIP but nearing the end, rated Mature.
Fandom: The Walking Dead; Ship: Daryl Dixon/Beth Greene
Recced by: anon
Backstory: On the show, there’s a point at which the group gets broken up, and Beth and Daryl end up together, and then they get separated from each other. This is fix-it fic that takes them from the point of separation and lets them stay together (and alive).
Rec: It’s very domestic. Sometimes bad things happen, but it’s just really pleasing and cosy to read, for the most part, and it’s about letting them find a home.
Content warnings: Mild sexual assault (minimal groping) in one chapter; rape threats made by bad guys in one chapter; canon-typical but non-graphic violence

The “Ladders” series by emungere. 134K words over 20 works, rated Teen to Explicit.
Fandom: Hannibal; Ship: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Recced by: Sofia
Backstory: In Chilton’s care, Will is pushed beyond limits. Seeing this unnerves Hannibal who decides to spring him out. They try to build a life in France while negotiating feelings, domesticity and murder.
Rec: Just!! feelings!! Growth!! Buying curtains and cutlery!! There are also some appearances by Freddie Lounds whom you apparently like now, sorry ’bout that.
Content warnings: “Hannibal” is his own label

“Kerosene & Brass” by Kinaesthetic. 2.8K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Overwatch; Ship: Sombra/Widowmaker (Spiderbyte)
Recced by: Tacticalgrandma
Backstory: “After breaking free, Am
lie wants to rebuild her life away from Talon and Sombra’s more than willing to help. Finding a place hasn’t been easy.”
Rec: Heartbreakingly good domestic, not so much fluff as it is real but that somehow makes it more comforting.
Content warnings: N/A

“THIS IS HOW YOU SURVIVE THE COHABITATIONAL BLISS THAT FOLLOWS AFTER YOU WIN/LOSE THE TIME WAR” by ScottLynch78. (yes, the author of the Gentleman Bastards books). 551 words, rated Teen.
Fandom: This is How You Lose the Time War; Ship: Red/Blue
Recced by: Blythe
Backstory: This is How You Lose the Time War is a weird, beautiful, and extremely gay epistolary novella about two operatives from different sides of the time war falling in love. One is tech-themed and one is plant-themed.
Rec: Since the characters in the novella are busy being at war, everything is very dramatic and high-stakes for quite a lot of the canon. Seeing those characters pivot to domestic bliss is hilarious.
Content warnings: Possibly some body horror

FINAL THOUGHT

Wrapping up this week with a link to my new costume design video! It’s all about superhero costumes in the MCU. Basically, why are Marvel’s costumes so dull and same-y compared to the comics? And why do the films (with a few exceptions) have such a grey, contrast-free color scheme? There’s an answer for that!

And otherwise… have a great weekend, everyone! :) — Gav