The Rec Center #277
Hello everyone! This week we’ve got coverage of the Ben Barnes Tumblr fancast that became reality, some beautiful fanart of the Dora Milaje, and the return of “recs from people who don’t know the source material,” from Young Avengers to American Idol RPF. — Elizabeth
new stuff
“Ben Barnes knew he was the perfect Darkling for Shadow and Bone thanks to Tumblr” by Petrana Radulovic at Polygon
This Ben Barnes interview drops the bombshell that his history as a Tumblr fancasting star directly led into his new role on Shadow & Bone.
“How a pop-punk girl group became the most hated band on TikTok” by Rebecca Jennings at Vox
Today in anti-fandom: TikTok sleuths dug into this girlband’s backstory to prove that they’re not “authentic,” but what does authenticity actually mean in the context of a TikTok girlband?
Whenever I talk to somebody who’s into YouTube culture, I realise how my parents must have felt hearing me talk about anime. ‘I’m just watching the new video by Frankie Tiddlywinks. He has 7 million subscribers, he reviews how party balloons taste. He lives in a palace. He’s 12’
older stuff
“Man Prefers Comic Books That Don’t Insert Politics Into Stories About Government-Engineered Agents Of War” at The Onion
Mmm hmm.
tumblr & beyond
Dora Milaje fanart by Josh Awol
“i desperately want to study russell t. davies’s mind”
“I appreciate how often Star Trek TOS has characters stand in front of a bi flag gradient.”
According to Shadowrun lore, the world is gonna change in a big way next week.
fanfiction
This week we’ve got more recs from our “unfamiliar source material” call last month—this is another batch from people who’ve never consumed the source material. For more recs, check out the first round, plus the “led me to consume the source material” list, too. Thank you very much to everyone who sent in a rec! — Elizabeth
“Teenage Wasteland” by Khirsah. 58K words (part 1 of a 3-part complete series), rated Mature.
Fandom: Young Avengers; Ship: Teddy Altman/Billy Kaplan
Recced by: fellowhuman
Backstory: All I know about the Young Avengers is what I learned from this fic series, but I take it that Billy and Teddy are a canon couple in the real comics. I believe this series is an alternate take on how they met and got to know each other.
Rec: The characters in this fic are vivid, with realistic teenage fears and pains and insecurities about figuring themselves out. Also, the palpable yearning of a first love!
Content warnings: here is both physical and emotional bullying. The protagonists are underage (16 or 17?).
“quiet like a fight” by shanatical. 84K words (WIP), rated Teen.
Fandoms: 殺戮の天使 | Satsuriku no Tenshi (Video Game), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia; Ship: Gen
Recced by: qkat
Backstory: A crossover between a horror video game and an anime about teens training to be Heroes in a society where being a Hero is a job.
Rec: The worldbuilding is great, the characters are fleshed out and treated in a way different from canon, and it’s fascinating to see how the author takes characters from one world and treats them in the context of the other.
Content warnings: Violence, unhealthy coping mechanisms, mental health issues, suicidal ideation
“A Star to Steer Her By” by ShadesofMauve. 183K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Mass Effect; Ship: Jeff “Joker“ Moreau/Female Shepard
Recced by: Stasia
Backstory: This closely follows ME2, focusing on interstitial places. Shepard’s been brought back to life and this complicates things.
Rec: I loved seeing the ways the characters’ varying degrees of skill and physical (dis)abilities affected their relationships to each other and their world.
Content warnings: Canon-typical violence
“The Villain Wrangler” by lilhawkeye3. 35K words (WIP), rated Gen.
Fandom: DCEU - Batman; Ship: Gen
Recced by: Seralica
Backstory: This is a story inspired by a tumblr post about Make A Wish kids asking for a visit from their favourite villains, and the volunteer who is assigned to track them down.
Rec: I loved the tumblr post on the Villain Wrangler, and this fic is a really interesting take on the idea. I only know DCEU stuff by osmosis, and so there’s definitely some missing context, but their protagonist OC Danny is a strong character and his interactions with some of the more famous villains like Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy are really fun.
Content warnings: Kidnapping (resolves well)
“Woke Up Married” by celli. 17K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: American Idol RPF; Ship: David Archuleta/David Cook
Recced by: macarmua
Backstory: The classic “woke up married after a night in Vegas, lets go along with it,” with former American Idol contestants as the main characters, leading them to have to deal with the press and fans and everything being famous and in a fake marriage entails.
Rec: This was my first time encountering the fake dating/marriage trope back when I was first getting into fic, and the first time I ever read something I didn’t know the source for (it literally had me googling the characters to put faces to the names), so it holds a special place in my heart. In itself, it’s a lovely “wait, why is pretending to be married to my friend so easy, oh no I have feelings” story, which everyone needs sometimes.
Content warnings: Getting black out drunk (and implied drunk sex)
is it even a queerbait ship if there isn’t one actor who’s super into it and one who’s weirdly homophobic about the whole thing
FINAL THOUGHT
Have a great weekend, everyone! We hope you enjoyed this week’s recs. — Gav <3