September 1, 2023

The Rec Center #400

Hi all! This week we have articles about K-pop crypto and AI fanfic chatbots, a rec for a new bookmarking service, and some lovely Interview with the Vampire fanart. And since this is our FOUR HUNDREDTH newsletter, we’re exclusively reccing fanfics that are more than 400,000 words long. — Gav

new stuff

“Sexy AI Chatbots Are Creating Thorny Issues for Fandom” by Elizabeth at WIRED
On the user-generated chatbot platform Character.ai, which millions of people use to “talk” with their favorite characters. Fannish activity on the platform has been compared to RPGs and self-insert fic—but is it really that similar?

“TripleS And The Rise Of K-Pop Girls’ Crypto-Capitalism” by Kathryn Xu at Defector
In more fandom + tech trend news, K-pop on the blockchain…? A very interesting (bleak!) piece on Modhaus, a company that’s attempting to directly monetize all parts of the fan/creator relationship.

“No, Rachel Zegler hasn’t been fired from ‘Snow White’—and the movie isn’t canceled” by Gav at The Daily Dot
Rachel Zegler, star of Disney’s live-action Snow White movie, has become the target of a politicized backlash campaign echoing the anti-fandoms around actresses like Brie Larson and Kelly Marie Tran. If you suddenly see a bunch of posts talking about how terrible she is (or describing this utterly banal movie as “controversial”), this is why.

older stuff

“There’s No Such Thing as a Guilty Pleasure” by Katharine Coldiron at the Los Angeles Review of Books
“Why we like what we like is such an impossibly complex equation that there’s no solving it. We can’t break down the molecules of what we enjoy because it’s got aesthetic value versus what we enjoy because the main character looks a little like our mom when she laughs versus what we enjoy because we watched Top Gun (1986) too many times as children.”

tumblr & beyond

Interview with the Vampire by fruitjuucy

apparently there’s someone for everyone out there.

absolutely stunning LOTR family cosplay situation here.

An anime-style intro sequence for Star Wars: The Clone Wars!

“is it okay to fuck scooby doo?” discourse post fast becoming one of the most incendiary threads on tumblr.

“your best friend is suing you for 600 million dollars”

fanfiction

400!! Kind of hard to believe we’ve made that many Rec Centers. It’s also a long weekend for some, so…extra-long fic is doubly thematic. Thanks so much to everyone who sent in a rec—and if you submitted one this week and it doesn’t appear here, we’ll use it in a future list! — Elizabeth

“The Man On The Wall” by CaseyStar. 475K words, rated Teen.
Fandoms: Captain America (Movies), Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Black Panther (Comics), The Martian (2015); Ship: James “Bucky” Barnes/Steve Rogers
Recced by: Daniela
Backstory: “Yesterday Bucky Barnes was a specialist member of Ares 3. Now he’s the lone man on Mars, with no food, no communication, and no way to get home.”
Rec: I seriously loved reading all the science stuff in The Martian, and this story is that, plus Bucky Barnes being a salty Brooklynite.
Content warnings: Non-graphic medical procedures

“bell, book, and candle” by skittidyne. 762K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Haikyuu!!; Ships: Multi-ship
Recced by: Kacku
Backstory: A modern fantasy “supernatural hunter” AU of Haikyuu, featuring an enormous ensemble cast just like the original series.
Rec: An absorbing story, great character writing, quite breezy to read for such a long story.
Content warnings: Much talk about death

“Sansûkh” by determamfidd. 578K words, rated Teen.
Fandoms: The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings; Ships: Thorin Oakenshield/Bilbo Baggins, Gimli/Legolas
Recced by: Allegra
Backstory: You know the set-up for the movie Ghost with Patrick Swayze? Determamfidd takes that set-up and applies it to Tolkien with masterful technique. Thorin is dead, he’s with his deceased family members, and he’s watching over the events of Middle Earth after the Hobbit ends and through the events of Lord of the Rings.
Rec: The interactions Gimli and Thorin have together are A+, and we get as close to a canon re-telling of the War in the North as we’re gonna get. It’s a long one, but it’s one of the best Bagginshield fics I’ve ever read.
Content warnings: Major canonical character deaths (if you’re familiar with the Tolkien universe timeline), Dets is pretty diligent about including warnings at the start of each chapter

“Halo Effect” by Alex51324. 527K words over 2 works, rated Teen.
Fandom: Downton Abbey; Ship: Thomas Barrow/Original Male Character(s)
Recced by: Rowan Ellis
Backstory: The fic is split into 2 works that follow directly on from each other and is canon-divergent from 1x03—but you don’t need to have seen the show to follow what is happening. It’s focused on Thomas Barrow, unfortunate queer villain in the original show, and complex messy fascinating character in this fic.
Rec: I have never seen Downton Abbey, yet this fic CONSUMED me. It is a character study and a war epic and a love story all in one—with diligently researched historical accuracy, a real understanding of how homophobia can warp your perceptions of the world and yourself, and a beautifully happy ending.
Content warnings: The author didn’t include any archive warnings, but individual content warnings are including in each chapter

“Bequeathed from Pale Estates” by Author376. 434K words, rated Teen on AO3, but est. Explicit for somewhat graphic descriptions of sex.
Fandom: Game of Thrones; Ship: Oberyn Martell/genderbent Jon Snow
Recced by: anon
Backstory: Soulmate AU where soulmarks are very rare and when they do occur, happen to bind otherwise rival houses together, the Starks and the Martells are brought together. (Also there’s a plague so a lot of characters are dead.)
Rec: I love the worldbuilding in this a lot and I think it’s very well written. Also, I love Oberyn character in it.
Content warnings: Underage sex, references to rape, violence, all warnings you’d expect in Game of Thrones

“A Narrow Bridge” by FrameOfMind and JoLasalle. 700K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: MDZS/The Untamed; Ship: Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī/Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn
Recced by: KittyClimpson
Backstory: A time-travel fix-it where Lan Wangji makes a different choice in the rain at Qiongqi Pass.
Rec: A wonderful long read, well worth your time. There is some honest-to-god communication between Wangxian, which one might argue is a bit OOC, but it’s just so refreshing! And there’s still plenty of jeopardy even without the stupid artificial misunderstandings of the “this would all be cleared up in 5 minutes if they just talked to each other” type. A gorgeous, tender exploration of Wangxian’s relationship and world, excellent side characters, tons of plot, superb writing and imagery, it’s just so, so good!
Content warnings: Canon-typical violence

“a simple thing” by iridan. 854K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Star Wars, The Mandalorian; Ship: Boba Fett/Din Djarin
Recced by: Gav
Backstory: Din Djarin is a Mandalorian bounty hunter who was raised to follow an extremely strict religious creed. Boba Fett is a crime boss on Tatooine, raised with a very different idea of Mandalorian identity.
Rec: Spinning off from the rather threadbare canon of The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, this fic weaves an epic story about Tatooine politics and Mandalorian culture. At the same time, it’s an incredibly compelling slow-burn BDSM romance that delves into Din Djarin’s background of (unknowingly) being raised by a cult.
Content warnings: Graphic violence; religious trauma; consensual sadomasochism

FINAL THOUGHT

I’ve been doing some work this past month for Aboard, a new bookmarking and curation tool. I’m actually using it personally—to keep track of things for this very newsletter, and to store research material for the longfic I’m working on—but when I initially looked at it, I told them, “This could be really useful for fan stuff,” and they said, “Show us how you’d use it as a fan.”

So I did! Specifically, I built an Interview with the Vampire board, which was a very interesting exercise in how…shitty? Impermanent? The web has become with everything geared towards (crumbling) social media platforms. But I had a wonderful time putting this board together, and continue to add to it weeks later. I like to imagine if any of my holdout friends who haven’t watched IWTV yet suddenly do and then say, “hey are there any good articles about that show,” I’d have one very comprehensive resource to send them.

Aboard went into public beta this week, so I wanted to plug it here, with the full disclosure that yes, I do work for them lol. But I also know fans love organizing things and especially tagging things, so if you’ve been looking for this sort of tool—for your personal fandom stuff, to collaborate with friends, to publish a curated list somewhere outside social media—I highly recommend checking it out. :-)) — Elizabeth