The Rec Center #289
Hi folks! This week we’ve got articles on gender roles in Chinese celeb fandom and the vintage Paul Is Dead conspiracy theory, along with some super cool X-Men fanart, Dashcon cosplay, and more Pacific Rim AU recs—along with a one-off rec for one of my fav fics of all time. — Gav
new stuff
“Why are Chinese Fans Calling Male Celebs ‘Wife’?” by Zhang Wenjie at The World of Chinese
“[Word of Honor star Zhang Zhehan] is not the only male star fans have been giving female labels—it’s part of a trend on social media that has fans of celebs flipping the genders of their idols. The gender reversal, known as ‘inverted Mary Sue (逆苏 nìsū, or 泥塑 nísù),’ is mainly used by female fans toward male stars as a term of endearment.”
“TV is Obsessed with Literary Adaptations. It’s Changing What We Read.” by Alexander Manshel, Laura B. McGrath, and J. D. Porter at The Atlantic
Not strictly fandomy, but probably of interest to a lot of our readers: a deep dive into the television industry’s hunger for literary adaptations—and the fundamental ways that will alter what gets published in the coming years.
“Why the MCU’s lighting kind of sucks” by Gav at The Daily Dot
Following the glut of unbearably murky scenes in the Loki finale, Gav wrote this examination of why the MCU’s lighting is so routinely bad. (And yes, this includes the eye-catching and widely-beloved scenes where everything is bright purple, red or green!) The problem is the lack of contrast between light and dark, making it hard to actually see what’s happening, especially on the small screen.
https://twitter.com/ManuclearBomb/status/1415027474249965570
older stuff
“‘Paul Is Dead’: The Bizarre Story of Music’s Most Notorious Conspiracy Theory” by Rob Sheffield at Rolling Stone
A retrospective on the 1960s conspiracy theory that Paul McCartney was secretly dead (and had perhaps been replaced by a body double), the blueprint for many similar celeb conspiracy theories today.
tumblr & beyond
X-Men fanart by Glen Brogan
An impressive cosplay to celebrate the 7th anniversary of Dashcon.
Some gorgeous and unusual fanmade Hannibal posters!
ok let’s not look too deeply into this.
everyone: writing fanfiction is a great way to explore your various sexual fantasies
fanfiction
This week we have a...4 + 1 (you know I wanted one more!! It is what it is). It’s our second batch of Pacific Rim fusions—that is, characters from other worlds in the world of Pacific Rim—plus Gav has a special rec for her very favorite Pacific Rim fic writer, who has returned to the internet after a hiatus. For our first Pacific Rim fusion list, see issue #283. And thank you very much to everyone who sent in a rec! — Elizabeth
“to hoard promises that could snuff out the lie” by Mayarene Rose. 49K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: MDZS/The Untamed; Ship: Lan Xichen/Jin Guangyao/Nie Mingjue
Recced by: cactusboyband
Backstory: “3zun is a set of Sworn Brothers whose story includes multiple murders and a lot of secrets. This fic maintains most of that canon in a PacRim world where Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue aren’t drift compatible but Meng Yao and Nie Mingjue are.”
Rec: This fic melds MDZS characters and relationships into the extensive world building of PacRim in a way that makes you ache. The relationship and history of the characters is a deep investigation of what makes people drift compatible, and the ways that it does and doesn’t overlap with a romantic/soulmate relationship.
Content warnings: All the canon warnings for PacRim and most of the warnings for canon 3zun dynamics
“Beyond the Edge of Our Hope” by Seek_The_Mist. 170K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Raven Cycle; Ships: Parish/Lynch, Henry/Gansey/Blue
Recced by: OfTheTwilightTheDarkness
Backstory: Extremely well plotted epic pitting the Raven characters in a war with the Kaiju.
Rec: Great battle scenes, great relationship development.
Content warnings: N/A
“In the Dark and Out of Harm” by Feenwitch. 12K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Tian Guan Ci Fu / Heaven Official’s Blessing; Ship: Xie Lian/Hua Cheng
Recced by: anon
Backstory: Summary from AO3: “There is always an alarm sounding somewhere in the shatterdome. Xie Lian has grown used to them over the years. Some signal shift changes, some come from the huge pieces of machinery the J-tech engineers use to maintain the jaegers, and some indicate that a Kaiju is on the move. The bells wake, they warn, they fill the shatterdome with a riotous jumble of sound, and Xie Lian has learned to interpret them all. Today, the alarms mean bad news.”
Rec: This is a Pacific Rim AU! The main couple are a deity and a demon king and they’re drift compatible.
Content warnings: N/A
“FOXTROT WALKER BLUE” by antistar_e. 95K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: In the Flesh; Ship: Largely gen, Keiran-centric with lots of Keiran & Amy and some Keiran/Simon
Recced by: Emilie
Backstory: The conceptual hook is that the walkers’ eyes are Kaiju blue because the walkers were caused by Kaiju pollution. Set in a post-Pac Rim canon world where zombies like Kieran are being exploited to finish building the now redundant Kaiju walls.
Rec: I love a typical Pac Rim au but I love that this one is set post Pac Rim canon and thus not oriented around fighting Kaiju but around a world rebuilding after catastrophe and related seismic societal shifts. This story is brilliant and immersive and ties the two canons together so inventively and neatly while adding a great deal to both stories and the In the Flesh characters. The platonic ideal of crossover fic for me!
Content warnings: In the Flesh canon levels of zombie related body horror, minor character death
And finally...
I steered clear of reccing this author before because she took down her AO3 page and personal website. But this month, Pacific Rim & Stargate: Universe writer cleanwhiteroom reactivated her website to upload a surprise sequel to her most popular work, the Pacific Rim Newt/Hermann fic “Designations Congruent with Things.”
CWR’s fics tend to be very long, emotionally sophisticated, full of interesting and informative scientific/literary detail, and astoundingly well-written. Over on AO3, kvikindi has also published two similarly brilliant remixes of CWR’s SGU fics, both of which are more than 400,000 words long. (I read and loved them without even having watched the show!)
But in terms of this week’s topic, “Designations Congruent with Things” is the big rec. Set after Pacific Rim, it sees Newt Geiszler and Hermann Gottlieb (a codependent duo of constantly-arguing scientists) grapple with the aftermath of having saved the world—and with the medical fallout from having linked minds with an alien creature. The fic sees them go on the run and attempt to start a new life together while Newt suffers debilitating physical and mental strain. CWR is incredibly good at articulating both characters’ intelligence, scientific expertise and personal interests, alongside their idiosyncratic personalities and (in Newt’s case) self-destructive behaviors—including new thought patterns brought on by a unique kind of trauma.
This is truly one of the best fanfics I’ve ever read, and it fully deserves its cult following! It’s also available in audio format by podficcer Elementals, along with a spinoff audio drama and a wonderful concept album recorded “by” some of the characters in the fic. (The band has a Neutral Milk Hotel kind of vibe, and I listen to some of those songs frequently!)
Happy reading! — Gav
https://twitter.com/blacksailstheme/status/1415406116888924160
FINAL THOUGHT
We’re still soliciting summer-themed recs! Please send in your favorites via our handy form—just be sure to include “summer” or something similar in the themes/tropes field. — Elizabeth