The Rec Center #447
Hi all! This week we have articles about Reylo and the video game actors’ strike, along with some cool fanart for The Green Knight, multifandom fic recs on the theme of fandom itself, and more! — Gav
new stuff
“SAG-AFTRA Calls Strike Against Major Video Game Companies After Nearly 2 Years Of Contract Talks” by Katie Campione and Dominic Patten at Deadline
Almost exactly a year after film and television actors went on strike, video game actors are striking as of today against the biggest players in the industry, with a particular focus on AI. (Note that because this is literally happening in the middle of SDCC rather than a few days before like last year, actors are still allowed to participate in the con.)
“Star Wars: The Acolyte Gives Reylo Fans The Romance They Always Wanted” by Alyssa Mercante at Kotaku
The Acolyte's hero/villain romance has attracted a lot of comparisons to Reylo—including from the show’s cast and creative team. Here, Alyssa Mercante interviews Reylo fans about why this long-awaited recognition feels so important.
“How ‘Skibidi Toilet’ became one of the most valuable franchises in Hollywood” by Taylor Lorenz at The Washington Post
If you saw the Michael Bay-Skibidi Toilet news this week and thought “what are words,” this is the explainer for you. On one of Gen Alpha’s (aka current children) biggest fandoms and its active journey from interestingly weird YouTube phenomenon to Big Hollywood Brand.
Watching those TWISTERS box office numbers to see if they're strong enough for the studio to go ahead with my pitch for TWIST3R, which right now consists entirely of "there is a good tornado on the team who helps them"
— Rob Wesley (@eastwes) July 20, 2024
older stuff
“The Fan-Journalist Tightrope” by Kayti Burt at Fansplaining
“The incident made me take a long, hard look at what it meant to be a fan-journalist. Did my editors misunderstand this thing I felt certain I knew deeply—or had my fannishness kept me from seeing the real story clearly? And in an extraordinarily perilous industry, was my own fandom an asset or a liability?”
tumblr & beyond
The Green Knight fanart by snowrosestudio
“so when louis meowed how did he share that to daniel in the interview?”
“writing a fanfic, day 30”
alison janney in 10 Things I Hate About You, you will always be famous.
a cool IWTV animatic set to a track by raleigh richie/jacob anderson!
“this fic was supposed to be three three chapters long...”
Jane Austen reaching the last chapter of a book:
— Daniel M. Lavery (@daniel_m_lavery) July 16, 2024
and another thing. I am FINISHED writing dialogue. SICK of it. okay some people got married and others didn't. nobody said anything every again, goodbye
fanfiction
Two years ago we did a pair of lists of fandom AUs aka fic where characters are in fandom, one of which I put together from the glittery depths of San Diego Comic-Con. Since it’s SDCC time again, we thought we’d do a third (put together from my home, because I was already not going this year, which is lucky since I currently have COVID 🥲) (I’m fine! Just ill.) Thanks so much to everyone who sent in a rec! — Elizabeth
“To Boldly Go” by 8daysuntiltheapocalypseiguess. 40K words (WIP), rated Teen.
Fandoms: Supernatural, Star Trek: TOS; Ships: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Dean Winchester & Sam Winchester
Recced by: author_abz
Backstory: Dean is a big name fic writer in the Star Trek fandom, on ff dot net, writing prolific Kirk/Spock and fics diving into Kirk’s messed-up past. If you knew Dean, you’d say these stories sound awfully familiar.
Rec: A story where Dean is Kirk and Cas is Spock, as written by Dean, except you only read the story summaries, people’s comments, and some private messages.
Content warnings: N/A
“#knemma” by Tulina. 6.3K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Emma (Jane Austen); Ship: Emma Woodhouse/George Knightley
Recced by: jules
Backstory: Emma and Mr. Knightley are basically 1800s childhood-neighbors-to-frenemies-to-lovers. Here Emma is a fic writer and George is her longtime friend and beta.
Rec: This fic is entirely messaging, and the author has absolutely mastered the cadence of it so the feelings come across so strong! It’s a perfect reimagining of “Emma” for modern day, with writing challenges and a Canadian girlfriend thrown in.
Content warnings: N/A
“The Curse and Cure of the Internet” by consciousness_streaming. 74K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Minecraft (video gaming), Video Blogging RPF; Ship: Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound
Recced by: Elle-dubs/AnotherMCYTStan
Backstory: Dream & George are two thirds of the Dream Team, a Minecraft streaming power trio. Dream encourages his community in fanart and fanfiction, and is often called the biggest DNF (DreamNotFound) shipper. This fic takes Dream’s actual background of writing gen fanfic of Percy Jackson and says “what if …”
Rec: The fandom friendships are so real and really integral to this story. The author carefully considered almost every aspect of what being a fic writer who is also secretly a content creator would be like and I was so blown away.
Content warnings: N/A
“beta than words (but more than a feeling)” by interruptingsloth. 8.9K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: One Direction; Ship: r63 Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Recced by: drdulosis
Backstory: Louis misinterprets her crush Harry's "beta" tattoo, assuming it means that she's a particularly committed beta-reader, and sends over a wip for feedback. Harry's tattoo is actually in honor of her pet fish.
Rec: This fic is a delightful romp that I think fondly of even seven years later. Great humor, great hijinks, great execution of a ridiculous and fun plot contrivance.
Content warnings: N/A
“looking for a good story” by bestliars. 19K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Men's Hockey RPF; Ship: Mikko Koivu/Michael Russo
Recced by: 1degosuperego
Backstory: Nine years in the life of Mikko Koivu, the Minnesota Wild’s first captain, as documented by Michael Russo, a beat reporter for the team going back and forth between his “on-the-record” and “off-the-record” thoughts.
Rec: My hockey fandom dates back to 2020, so among other things I loved this fic for being a history of the Minnesota Wild's early years! It’s a marvel that author bestliars quotes real articles that beat reporter Michael Russo has written over the years and only deepens the effect of his (fictional) developing relationship with Mikko Koivu.
Content warnings: N/A
“Magneto vs. The Magical X-Men” by aesc. 11K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: X-Men; Ship: Charles Xavier/Erik Lehnsherr
Recced by: Elizabeth
Backstory: “Technically, Magical X-Men was something Magneto knew he should hate with every fiber of his being not devoted to hating ignorant humans.” Against his better judgment, Magneto is in deep on the Magical X-Men series—and especially its main character, Professor X, whose canonical best friend, Metallic Man, strangely seems a lot like Magneto. At a con, he meets Charles—who looks suspiciously like Professor X, and who tells him the series’ reclusive creator might be making a surprise appearance…
Rec: Fandom AUs rarely work for me because I often find fannishness as a personality trait kind of tacked onto characters in an unbelievable way. Magneto, however—especially the permanently affronted cape-and-helmet Magneto that crops up in crack-ish fic—is totally believable as a fan who’s comically obsessed with Professor X and also super mad about it. Such a charming little identity porn story! (Still losing it over that fanart, too.)
Content warnings: N/A
can't tell the difference between canonical HOTD character names and fandom shipping portmanteaus. every person in that show is larry stylinson to me.
— Gavia Baker-Whitelaw (@Hello_Tailor) July 20, 2024
FINAL THOUGHT
Another week, another IWTV self-promotional bit from the editors of The Rec Center! (We can’t help it if we find this show EXTREMELY INSPIRING. It’s a sickness. I’m writing meta as we speak.......)
Last week Gav plugged the newest Overinvested; this week I bring the Fansplaining special episode on season 2—in which Flourish came out of Newborn Baby Hell (affectionate) just to talk about this show.
If I’d recorded this with anyone else, we’d probably talk about, like, acting or story choices or whatever (we talk about that too lol), but because it was Flourish + me, it’s basically 80 minutes of us losing our minds over the adaptation and metatextual choices. (Harlequin Lestat!!! Enduring for Guido!!!) My desire to write a dissertation about this show has sadly not diminished in the weeks since the finale aired. 😌 — Elizabeth