The Rec Center #299

Hello, all! Hope everyone had a very nice Dunking on the Live-Action Mario Day yesterday. (Also if you’re still celebrating, enjoy—there are so many jokes to make!!) This week we have articles on Jared Harris (🙏🏼) and Mary Sues, some lovely Pacific Rim fanart, and an explainer and fic list from guest reccer Ang on Roswell, New Mexico’s Malex. — Elizabeth

new stuff

“‘Doctor Who’ Showrunner Russell T. Davies to Return for Next Season” by K. J. Yossman at Variety
In case you haven’t seen! RTD is coming back to Doctor Who.

“Why are the Karens of America so obsessed with this home decor brand?” by Mary Frances Knapp at Vice
A glimpse into a rather different type of fandom from what we usually cover. Rae Dunn crockery is, objectively speaking, pretty bland. So how did it attract such an obsessive following?

“It works because of Jared Harris” by Miles Surrey at the Ringer
A love letter to Jared Harris, a veteran character actor who earned recent acclaim (and an unlikely cult following) thanks to his lead roles in Chernobyl and The Terror. (Gav just gave a positive review to his new show Foundation, a gloriously expensive Asimov sci-fi drama that co-stars Lee Pace and an ensemble cast of unknown actors, and is wayyyy too nerdy to be a mainstream hit.)

https://twitter.com/funkefly/status/1441169029264117767

older stuff

“Mary Sue” by Elizabeth at Fansplaining
“From self-inserts to imagines, how young women write themselves into the narrative.”

tumblr & beyond

Hermann Gottlieb fanart by keto-enol

Some Halloween inspo: This sexy Pokemon cosplay.

“baby i’ve got half finished wips you couldn’t even imagine”

Another legendary quote from Garak actor Andrew Robinson.

“Buffy Seasons in order of how they taste,” by Pulitzer prize-winning critic Emily Nussbaum.

Boba Fett canonically drinks boba tea now apparently??

https://twitter.com/IwriteOK/status/1441172774664298505

fanfiction + explainer: Roswell, New Mexico

Ang is a writer who has spent the past ten years bouncing from fandom to fandom. You can find her on twitter, where she keeps her fandom tweets as vague as possible, and tumblr, where anything goes.

(TW assault, homophobia)

Roswell, New Mexico is a show on The CW inspired not only by Melinda Metz’s Roswell High books from the 90s, but also the first Roswell television show that aired from 1999-2002. The books and shows explore the lives of three aliens living in Roswell, New Mexico, following the events of a UFO crash in 1947, and the ways their lives intersect with the humans around them.

The 2019 “reimagining” features most of the same characters, but instead of being high schoolers, the pilot picks up around their ten-year high school reunion. Liz Ortecho (the show’s protagonist, who gets her original last name and heritage back after becoming Liz Parker in the original Roswell show) comes back to Roswell for the first time in years, only to run into her high school crush, a chance encounter that changes their lives and the lives of everyone around them.

(bitch-ass-aliens on tumblr)

In season one of RNM, the core characters are all variations of characters from the books and first show, and the major relationships remained unchanged. By aging all the characters up ten years, they’ve been given space to grow outside of the halls of New Roswell High School, settling into adult life with responsibilities a lot larger than science homework.

But one of the bigger changes RNM made was the inclusion of LGBT main characters: Michael Guerin and Alex Manes are both queer in this reimagining. Michael is a bisexual alien cowboy, a secret genius with a bad boy exterior and a good heart. Alex is an air force veteran, amputee, aspiring musician, and while he’s eventually openly gay, most people in his life have known since he was in high school.

(prettyteenvamp on tumblr)

Neither Michael or Alex have particularly good blood families: Michael was an alien orphan bounced around the foster care system, and Alex grew up with a homophobic, physically abusive father, an absent mother, and three brothers who stood by and let everything happen to him. On the show, their families are chosen families, made up of many of the same people.

In flashbacks to high school, we see the origin of their relationship: Alex offering Michael somewhere to stay so he doesn’t have to sleep in his truck leads to their first kiss and first time together, which ends abruptly when Alex’s dad finds them in a shed and smashes Michael’s hand with a hammer. As adults, they reunite upon Alex’s return to Roswell after his third tour in Iraq, coming back together like “a crash landing” (Michael’s own words, from the season 1 finale). They continue to stay in each other’s orbits, whether solving an alien mystery together, attempting something akin to friendship, or just because Alex sings a song for Michael at an open mic night (it’s incredible).

(queersirius on tumblr)

But here’s the thing: they’re in love. They loved each other in high school, and they love each other now. Without spoiling too much, they’re star-crossed and cosmically fated, paralleling their ancestors. And while there’s a lot of trauma surrounding their relationship, their time apart has helped them grow significantly, setting them up for a relationship that will be healthy and lasting.

To wrap this up, here are some of my favorite Malex fics! You can also check out my own Malex fics: a canon-divergent time loop and an ensemble heist AU co-written with my best friend. — Ang

“here everyone knows (you’re the way to my heart)” by catching_paper_moons. 20K words, rated Mature.
Backstory: This fic was written during the hiatus between season 2 and 3, so the author took some of the loose ends from season 2 and wrote this; it’s technically canon divergent now, but essentially picks up in the weeks following the season 2 finale.
Rec: There are many, many things I love about this fic, including the ensemble vibes, the conversations between characters we rarely see interact on the show, and the really touching use of Isobel’s mindscape, but most of all, I love the way this author writes Alex. While it is a love story between Michael and Alex, there is a lot of internal reflection on Alex’s part and the use of journals helps bring that part of the story to life so beautifully.
Content warnings: Canon-typical violence, referenced homophobia, temporary character death

“With A Little Help From My Friends” by andrealyn. 9.5K words, rated Explicit.
Additional ship: Alex Manes/Michael Guerin/Kyle Valenti
Backstory: Kyle is another one of the core eight characters on RNM. In canon, he was kind of terrible to Alex while they were in high school, and as adults they manage to fix their friendship; he and Michael have kind of begrudgingly accepted that they’re friends because of Alex.
Rec: This fic does a really good job at establishing Kyle as friends with both Alex and Michael before Michael and Alex propose a solution to Kyle’s problem. I think it’s extra fun because it’s written in Kyle’s POV. I also love the way the author kept the Malex dynamic consistent across the board even with the addition of Kyle.
Content warnings: N/A

“i found a home in you” by Bellakitse. 8.4K words, rated Teen.
Backstory: This AU picks up after the shed incident, and answers a few questions: What if Alex hadn’t enlisted, what if he had left home anyway, and what if Rosa never died?
Rec: This is my favorite canon-divergent fic from the era right after high school. Even though we haven’t seen a lot of it in canon, I adore the way this author wrote Alex and Rosa’s friendship and the older sister-big brother relationship they might have had, especially the way she spends the fic nudging Alex toward Michael and gives him the family he never thought he’d have.
Content warnings: Implied/referenced child abuse, panic attack

“I Won’t Send Roses” by Hazel_Athena. 10K words, Not Rated.
Rec: I love ‘didn’t know they were dating’ fics and I feel like they work especially well for Michael and Alex, who canonically are terrible at having important conversations; in this fic, they realize they’ve been in a relationship and then struggle just to exist as a couple. It all feels very real and like something I could expect out of later seasons of the show itself.
Content warnings: N/A

“Nothing Lasts Forever (But He Makes Me Wanna Try)” by prouvaireafterdark. 4.2K words, rated Explicit.
Backstory: Though it’s never been confirmed to be canon, a lot of Malex shippers believe in “the lost decade,” where Alex and Michael may have continued seeing each other after Alex enlisted. This fic is canon compliant, but just one of many explorations of what may have happened during those ten years.
Rec: I just really, really love this one. It’s so bittersweet, because it doesn’t actually have the happiest of endings, but since it follows canon, we know that Alex will come home eventually. This fic does a really great job with both Michael and Alex’s complicated emotions regarding each other, the distance, and the efforts taken to keep them apart.
Content warnings: N/A

“the first who ever did” by nostaljinks. 33K words, rated Mature.
Backstory: This story, per the author’s note, takes place primarily before the events of season one, but is compliant through the season one finale.
Rec: An excellent take on the 5+1 format that takes us through Michael and Alex’s relationship from high school to adulthood. I think this fic does an excellent job at showing something the show is only just starting to get at now: Michael has a huge heart and he cares so much, even if he comes off as sarcastic and apathetic.
Content warnings: Canon-typical violence, references to child abuse and homophobia, torture and medical experimentation

https://twitter.com/arb/status/1441172575774642176

FINAL THOUGHT

Alright folks, have a great weekend! And as a PSA to people in Britain: The Green Knight finally came out today! — Gav