The Rec Center #383
Hi all! This week we have articles on anime distribution, the writers’ strike, and Shadow and Bone fandom, along with some cool Critical Role fanart, another batch of multifandom “trapped together” fic recs, and more! — Gav
new stuff
“Inside the Big Battle to Save One Small TV Show” by CT Jones at Rolling Stone
Forget save-our-show campaigns: this piece chronicles the work the Shadow and Bone fandom is doing (e.g., watching the show 60 times!) to preemptively make sure it doesn’t get canceled—even though Netflix is totally opaque about viewing data and how they determine cancellations.
“Anime home video is thriving, even in the streaming era” by Daniel Dockery at Polygon
On the rise of collecting physical copies of anime in the U.S.: “Blu-rays are great collectibles—and you never have to worry about your favorites disappearing from streaming.”
“‘House of the Dragon’ will film through the writers’ strike—but that could spell major problems for season 2” by Gav at The Daily Dot
This is hopefully a useful primer on the absurdity of TV shows continuing to film through the WGA strike. The production companies behind HotD and Rings of Power are both filming new seasons with “scripts completed before the strike”—but TV writers argue that this misrepresents their work. While writers are on strike, on-set rewrites and edits are forbidden, and the showrunners for Rings of Power literally aren’t allowed to work on their own show.
https://twitter.com/9_volt_/status/1653895676563005452
older stuff
“The Kiss That Changed Video Games” by Simon Parkin at The New Yorker
How a kind of amazing series of miscommunications—and a surprise kiss during the demo at E3 in 1999—led to The Sims allowing same-sex relationships in the game.
tumblr & beyond
Critical Role fanart by starving-and-arting
a blast from the past: vintage geocities star trek logos.
in love w the Snoopy notebook Bruce Springsteen used to write his Nebraska album.
someone submitted a star trek DS9 subplot to the Slate advice column and got it published!! we feel bad for the columnist, but honestly: lol.
“listen. padme amidala is a freak.”
some lovely fanart for... Thelma Schoonmaker, iconic film editor and longtime Martin Scorsese collaborator?
PSA: YouTuber Rowan Ellis is looking for old-school fans (ie. fanzine-era Kirk/Spock shippers) to interview for a video about fanfiction!
fanfiction
Last week we had part one of “trapped together” fic, and this is part two! Featuring characters stuck everywhere from specific spaces (a bunker, a tower) to existential situations (time loops, limbo). And like last week, mind the blanket content warning for claustrophobia! Thanks so much to everyone who sent in a rec. — Elizabeth
“The Only Living Boy In New York” by Witling. 47K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Inception; Ship: Arthur/Eames
Recced by: RM
Backstory: Arthur and Eames are members of a team that can go into and manipulate peoples’ dreams. In this fic, they go too deep in someone’s head, and get trapped in limbo, getting stuck for years while seconds pass in the real world.
Rec: Handles the tensions beautifully as they try to figure out what to do with themselves, and with each other, as they realize that they’re likely to be stuck together for decades. It does an interesting exploration of limbo and what it means that the place is really in their heads.
Content warnings: Past child abuse
“To be seen and not heard” by PolsVoice. 33K words, rated Teen.
Fandoms: Nightwing (comics), Batman (comics), Green Arrow (comics); Ship: Gen, Dick Grayson & Lian Harper
Recced by: procrastinatingplatypus
Backstory: While helping the JLA with a mission, Nightwing is injured and hides in one of the JLA bunkers. Inside he finds Lian Harper whose help he must enlist if he’s to survive.
Rec: Lian Harper is the daughter of one of Dick’s oldest friends—Roy Harper (more associated with Jason these days but this fic is firmly based in the comics continuity where his friendship with Dick is strong). Lian is very young here—under 10—and one of the main tensions is reading as Dick must ask for Lian’s help to survive while attempting to shield her from just how dire the situation is for him.
Content warnings: Violence typical of the canon, blood and injury
“Meet Me in the Morning” by monroeslittle. 25K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: The 100 (TV); Ship: Clarke Griffin/Bellamy Blake
Recced by: Susan
Backstory: The 100 is about a group of teenagers sent to a post-nuclear Earth to determine if it’s livable for human life again (they have been living in space for generations). They have to learn how to not only survive, but also become a community together.
Rec: This fic takes a contentious turning point in the 1st season, and asks what else could the two main characters have potentially done to make these horrible things not happen? By having both Clarke and Bellamy stuck in the time loop together, they have to come to trust each other much sooner, and the story plays out many “what ifs” not explored by canon to a much more satisfying conclusion!
Content warnings: Suicide (not permanent), minor torture (not permanent)
“and from our own/live to ourselves” by betweentheheavesofstorm. 106K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: The Untamed/MDZS; Ship: Wei Wuxian/Lan Wangji
Recced by: Minna
Backstory: Wei Ying, his brother, and 28 strangers wake up in a strange location and immediately realize they’re on a reality show which, last time it aired, no one had realized was real until partway through, and then watched in horror as all the contestants die. Now they have to survive a frozen, isolated location and the monsters therein.
Rec: This genuinely reads, with the unique setup and compelling action, like it could be a standalone novel, but it also does such a good job putting all these existing characters in a very stressful bottle and shaking them up. I also like that it continues after the worst of it is over, giving the characters time to recover.
Content warnings: Graphic depictions of violence, major character death, bloodletting
“City of Salt and Time” by Eccentric_Hat. 11K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell; Ship: Gen
Recced by: Chestnut_pod
Backstory: JS&MN is a doorstopper of a fantasy novel, a pastiche of various Romantic-era literary genres, which follows two morally ambiguous (at best) English magicians through the Napoleonic Wars as they try to restore magic to England. JS&MN ends with Strange and Norrell (spoilers!) trapped together in a tower of darkness, unable to separate from one another. Nobody can argue that they don’t deserve it, but unending darkness is surely wearing.
Rec: Eccentric_Hat’s lovely story sees the magicians return to Venice in search of succor and introduces a wonderful character who represents the undeserved mercy whose absence played a causal role in Strange and Norrell’s self-entrapment. The fic is a wonderful pastiche of the original language, complete with footnotes, and is full of easy wonder and beauty.
Content warnings: N/A
“The Weather Outside is Frightful” by OnYourMark. 9K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: White Collar; Ship: Gen
Recced by: penna.nomen
Backstory: Peter Burke is an FBI agent who ignores warnings about an upcoming snow storm until it’s too late. Unable to return to the office, he takes home three team members who were on a stakeout with him, and then learns one of them is sick.
Rec: This is one of the first fanfiction stories I read, and it made me want to find more examples of sick!fic. There are so many classic elements: characters trapped together in a blizzard, losing electricity, hurt/comfort for the sick team member, hallucinations. The sick character is an artist, and there’s great use of artworks (which are embedded in the story for us to see) in his hallucinations.
Content warnings: N/A
https://twitter.com/kaludiasays/status/1653619350929125376
FINAL THOUGHT
First of all, for any folks in the WGA—and I know at least a few of our subscribers are!—we just wanted to offer our support and solidarity. We’re behind you 100%. <3 And for (presumably the majority of) our readers who are not in the WGA, a few links:
- The Entertainment Community Fund (via a short explanatory thread from Leverage co-creator John Rogers) that supports all the other film & TV workers (crew etc) who are losing work right now.
- Amongst many good explainers, we recommend this one from Diane Duane about things you can do to help. TL;DR listen to the WGA, who are not, for example, currently calling for anyone to cancel subscriptions or engage in other boycotts.
A couple more fandom-specific things I’ll say: in the past few days, I’ve seen talk about how fans shouldn’t engage in things like fancasting or creating things on Tumblr, which seem based on misunderstandings of what writers in film & TV do (versus, say, development executives). Generally, most fan activities aren’t really relevant here, so don’t worry about that. But! Entering a script contest or being directly approached by a studio/production company/streamer/etc. to do writing work in any capacity would be scabbing, and will likely result in you being banned from ever joining the WGA, so, like, Don’t. For multiple reasons.
And finally, I will say that even though I’ve seen the odd Real Bad Take in passing on Twitter, it’s been nice to see so many fandom folks posting about how they understand this strike is more important than their show getting delayed or even canceled. You can already see the entertainment trade publications trying to turn fans against the writers, and I’m glad that for the most part, we aren’t having it. So let’s keep it up! And we’ll do our best to continue sharing relevant resources in the coming weeks. — Elizabeth