August 16, 2024

The Rec Center #450

Hi all! This week we have articles about Broadway fandom, deep-sea livestreaming communities, and a Marvel TV scandal, along with some cool fanart for the new M. Night Shyamalan movie, multifandom fic recs, and more! — Gav

 

new stuff

“The Traumatized Gatekeepers of Broadway” by Laura Wheatman Hill at Fansplaining
A deep dive on theatre fandom and how, in an era where more people than ever before have access via social media—and when the industry itself is struggling—it’s only seemed to heighten fans’ nitpicking and gatekeeping.

“A Stream Flowing From The Sea” by Allegra Rosenberg at The Long Now
A beautiful piece about deep-sea fans forming communities online via underwater livestreams and citizen science work. “like a susurration of silver starlings, wrote one commenter. ​​surreal, like candles in the night, wrote another.”

“Marvel Fires Back Over ‘X-Men ’97’ Creator’s Claim He Was “Stripped” of Season 2 Credit, Cites “Egregious” Investigation Findings” by Aaron Couch and Borys Kit at The Hollywood Reporter
There’s been a lot of speculation about why the showrunner for Marvel’s animated smash-hit X-Men ’97 got fired. Recently he insinuated that homophobia was involved, but Marvel has now revealed that he was let go due to “egregious” behavior in the workplace.

 

 

older stuff

“Alien’s ‘Standard Semiotic’, Pictograms and Icons” by Philip Boyes at Crews Project
With a new Alien movie coming out this week, it felt like a good time to revisit one of the coolest background details in the original 1979 film: The Nostromo’s ingenious shipboard pictograms, designed by artist Ron Cobb.

 

tumblr & beyond

Trap fanart by tommdale

yeah there’s a slight difference between sam reid and sam reich.

“What writing fanfiction feels like”

“Im actually going to start blaming all my problems on random showrunners”

here’s a tutorial on how to make a lestat bookmark!

“character did a lot of stuff wrong and I was unconvincingly saying oh no stop don't do that between bites of popcorn”

when you want someone to watch Black Sails, you might have to resort to desperate measures…

 

fanfiction

We got a TON of submissions for our overall “don’t know the source material” call last week, so we’ll be running a few different variations in coming newsletters. Up first: fic that led people to the source material and/or fandom! Thanks so much to everyone who sent in a rec. — Elizabeth

“Ordinary Life” by Speranza, Astolat. 20K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis; Ship: John Sheppard/Rodney Mckay
Recced by: Pi
Backstory: John is a soldier and Rodney is a scientist, and they work together as part of a mission to another galaxy. This story describes a visit home that occurs shortly after an episode where they thought they had gone home but it has actually been an illusion.
Rec: I love these authors and their writing was a big reason I wanted to join this fandom. But this fic also has some great tropes like people assuming they’re in a relationship before they actually are.
Content warnings: N/A

“Wildflower” by Becca Abbot. 40K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Gundam Wing; Ship: Duo Maxwell/Heero Yuy
Recced by: percy-persephone
Backstory: Gundam Wing is a classic anime about teenage terrorists, er, freedom fighters, using giant mechas to free their space colonies from Earth. The story takes place two years after Endless Waltz, a sequel movie.
Rec: The characters are well-written, the pacing is tense, this and the world-building triggered a need for me to see the original. It was incredibly satisfying to reread after I had watched the show.
Content warnings: Noncon sex/rape, drug use, slavery, and some violence

“Lipstick” by setepenre_set. 28K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Megamind; Ship: Megamind/Roxanne Ritchi
Recced by: impatientseamstress
Backstory: Megamind is a Superman parody about two aliens who crash to earth as infants. By circumstance Megamind decides/is forced to become a supervillain and constantly kidnaps Roxanne Ritchi as his hostage, they banter, they argue, they flirt.
Rec: This is the fic that pulled me into the fandom. It looks at Megamind and Roxanne as not just as damsel in distress and evil supervillain archetypes, but as two professional, career driven adults who despite their public cartoony interactions, challenge and spark off each other in a very real way.
Content warnings: Tentacles, improvised bondage

“first love, late spring” by cityboys. 114K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Jujutsu Kaisen; Ship: Fushiguro Megumi/Itadori Yuuji
Recced by: anon
Backstory: This is a university AU requiring no knowledge of canon! Megumi and Yuuji are in a friends-with-benefits-type relationship when some of Megumi’s family mistakes it for a romantic relationship, which both Megumi and Yuuji have some Strong and Complicated feelings about.
Rec: This fic is one of those rare ‘rewired how I think about human connection and emotional vulnerability’ gems. The writing is stunning, well-paced, and just all-around the best kind of devastating!
Content warnings: Panic attack

“Pauline Trilogy” by kaikamahine (antistar_e). 16K words over 3 works, rated Teen.
Fandom: Percy Jackson & the Olympians (Books); Ship: Nico di Angelo/Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson
Recced by: aimmyarrowshigh
Backstory: PJO is a many, many book series about Greek demigods—superpowered children of Greek deities and mortals—in New York City, the modern home of Olympus. This story takes the main canon pairing, Percy/Annabeth (Poseidon’s son and Athena's daughter, respectively), and adds in the most popular character with the fandom, Nico Di Angelo, who is the only son of Hades. And then it turns out that he has a new sister.
Rec: This trilogy led me to read the PJO series, and I've always wished that the books were half as thoughtful and interesting as this series. The depictions of grief, death, rage, confusion, and darkness here are so much more in line with the feeling I get from most Greek myths than anything in PJO canon. This series’ characterizations of Percy, Annabeth, and Nico have always been “my canon.”
Content warnings: References to child abuse, murder, descriptions of a corpse

“i’m the one for your fire” by occultings (microcomets). 43K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: MDZS | 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù | The Untamed (TV); Ship: Lan Zhan | Lan Wangji/Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian
Recced by: storiesforsorries
Backstory: In this modern AU, Wei Ying and Lan Zhan are coworkers and they work as cultivators (people who can tap into a core power, expel ghosts/demons, etc.—you don’t need to know much more than that). Wei Ying is outgoing, boisterous, and not a strictly-by-the-rule kind of guy. Lan Zhan is aloof, stoic, very good looking and powerful, and Wei Ying thinks Lan Zhan hates him. This is also a Cherry Magic AU, which means that if you’re a virgin when you turn 30, you can read peoples’ thoughts when touching them.
Rec: I read this without any knowledge of fandom. As a modern AU it was a perfect introduction to the world and characters, and the mind reading was a fun bonus. I knew almost nothing going in, and was able to follow the story well. The fic mostly centers on Wei Ying, Lan Zhan, and their relationship. It’s full of idiot to lovers, queer awakening, and some horny yearning. After I finished this, I was so intrigued by the characters and relationship dynamics that I started reading the original novels.
Content warnings: Mild internalized homophobia/compulsory heterosexuality, characters getting drunk, and brief injury

 

 

FINAL THOUGHT

A reminder for any Netflix subscribers who’ve been eagerly waiting: Interview with the Vampire and a dozen other AMC shows will be on the platform starting on Monday! If you somehow missed it a few months back, you can read our full IWTV explainer/rec here. Note that Netflix is only airing season 1—you’ll have to (you’ll want to!!) watch season 2 via AMC+/AMC on other streamers like Amazon or Apple. (Also note that this is all U.S.-specific; as of a few weeks ago, U.K. folks can watch both seasons on iPlayer. If you’re based elsewhere, you will have to investigate for your specific region!) — Elizabeth