The Rec Center #486
Hello all! This week we have lots of Andor coverage, along with articles about RPF culture and (unrelatedly) Conclave Larping. Plus some cute Daredevil fanart, multifandom fic recs, and more! — Gav
new stuff
“The RPF Question” by Sacha Judd at Fansplaining
Fansplaining’s latest deep dive is about RPF: its history over the decades and its complicated intersections with things like celebrity fandom and conspiracy theories. Also be sure to check out Sacha’s fandom and pop culture newsletter!
“We’re All Going to the Conclave Larp” by Adrian Hon
“Whomst among us would not want to vape in the vestments of a Cardinal?”
“Andor Season 2: A Thrilling Conclusion to the Greatest Star Wars Spin-Off” by Gav at TV Guide
Gav’s spoiler-free review of the new season! For Andor fans who have already watched the first three eps, she has also published articles about the undocumented labor subplot and Cassian’s unique powers of persuasion as an undercover agent.
“‘Andor’ Is Not the Resistance You’re Looking For” by Gita Jackson at the New York Times
“Being true to yourself in a society ruled over by huge corporations like Disney is often impossible. The show is somehow both a politically affirming piece of art and an agent of corporate commerce.” On the conflict between Andor’s leftist politics and its status as a Disney product.
P.S. If Andor has spurred your interest in learning more about real-world antifascist politics, definitely check out “Project Fulcrum,” a weekly newsletter pegged to each episode that “aims to bridge the gap between the story and messages of Andor and the real life history and theory of antifascist movements.”
I wish jrr tolkien could do just a little bit of haunting just to fuck up those tech guys who keep naming their shitty companies after his lore
— taryn (@peepsaregood.bsky.social) 2025-04-21T20:13:17.279Z
older stuff
“When You Are Ready To Have A Serious Conversation About Green Lantern, You Have My E-Mail Address” at The Onion
“In conclusion, Douglas, I want to make it clear: You are still my friend. And I do not hate you. Though, frankly, deep down, I find myself pitying you.”
tumblr & beyond
Daredevil fanart by jennipond
crisis of tone in the Conclave fandom!!!
“yeah Romeo and Juliet suuucks" they should’ve both survived at the end and lived happily ever after instead.”
check out this cool 3D Nightwing animation!
“opening my 537th frasier loot box and finally pulling the super rare ‘fire niles’ skin for the battle royale mode”
“We have to do something about the lack of vampire history taught in our schools”
fanfiction
Another grab-bag this week! Thanks to everyone who sent in a rec. <3 — Elizabeth
“Sixteen” by petrichorca. 870 words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Our Flag Means Death; Ship: Archie/Oluwande Boodhari/Zheng Yi Sao/Jim Jimenez
Recced by: anon
Backstory: “Garlic Soup” is a polyam ship from the queer pirate romcom Our Flag Means Death.
Rec: This fic is so sweet and soft! And I really want to join the Garlic Soup cuddle pile now, I don’t care if it’s hot or sweaty or if I get an elbow in my face.
Content warnings: N/A
“coffin nails as collateral” by BenevolentErrancy. 13K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: 天官赐福 - 墨香铜臭 | Tiān Guān Cì Fú - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù; Ship: Hua Cheng/Xie Lian
Recced by: Chocolatepot
Backstory: A farmer sees Xie Lian magically healing from an injury and drives a nail into his head in a panic, which leaves the fallen god alive but unable to do anything to protect himself. Hua Cheng wins him in a game of dice and resolves to restore him to his former glory.
Rec: My belief is that the bigger the hurt, the better the comfort, and this is a big, big hurt. I am also a sucker for reimagining characters meeting (or in this case, re-meeting) with a more imbalanced power dynamic.
Content warnings: Serious head injury, past sexual assault, dehumanization
“Effective Communication; Or The Lack Thereof” by htruona (circhester). 2.9K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Linked Universe / Legend of Zelda; Ship: Gen
Recced by: JellyfishLover
Backstory: A humorous one shot on language troubles that can arise from time travel nonsense.
Rec: The gimmicks work so well, some of them seem like curve balls at first before thinking for a moment and going: Oh no, that works too well with them! Some of the specific bits are so incredibly memorable and the character interactions are gold! Just a good time in general.
Content warnings: N/A
“Settle Down” by wearing_tearing, whatthehale. 153K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Teen Wolf; Ship: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Recced by: Gryvon
Backstory: Rich architect Derek’s biological clock is ticking. He hires struggling author Stiles as a surrogate.
Rec: Cute story where the pregnancy comes first, then they build a relationship together.
Content warnings: N/A
“it feels like the first time” by Jazzfordshire. 8.4K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Supergirl (TV 2015); Ship: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Recced by: alby_mangroves
Backstory: A no-powers AU with no fandom knowledge necessary, the story follows Lena’s introduction to her own libido, something she had given up on, and her sexuality, which she hadn’t thought to question, until meeting Kara.
Rec: This is a story I’ve returned to time and again because it’s so fun and so hot, Lena’s oblivious but curious thoughts are so relatable, and her ultimate discovery makes me want to break out the pompoms and jump up and down for everyone who’s ever had a late gay awakening.
Content warnings: N/A
“Colder Weather” by inlovewithnight. 33K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: Men’s Hockey RPF; Ship: Jamie Benn/Tyler Seguin
Recced by: beedeviledeggs
Backstory: Future fic where Jamie Benn, once captain of the Dallas stars, suffers a career-ending injury in a car collision and retreats up north to recover alone. A few years later his best friend and former-maybe-something-more Tyler Seguin tracks him down to get some much-needed closure.
Rec: Jamie’s daily experience of living with chronic pain is so tender and so emotionally complex in this. And I absolutely adore this version of Tyler who’s been forced to grow out of his wilder youth in Jamie's absence, into someone so loving and so confident in who he is.
Content warnings: Chronic pain, car accidents, depression, explicit sex
actually it's important to post even more unlocked rpf omegaverse porn on ao3 so all the AI slop the idiot tech bros churn out is incomprehensible to the general public. this too is praxis.
— truths 🌱 (@bangtanagan.bsky.social) 2025-04-24T17:29:53.487Z
FINAL THOUGHT
Per the post above! In case you missed it: once again, some AI asshole has scraped the AO3. If your work is not archive-locked, it was probably a part of the scrape; per the AO3 subreddit, the OTW is aware of the situation. (The subreddit also points to PaperDemon, which is tracking this and other art-hosting sites that were scraped and taking whatever action they can.)
I’m writing an article about AI and fanfiction right now—albeit one that’s more about people using AI to write fic vs tech stealing it—and I wrote about it in this somewhat depressing piece at the end of last year. Tech people see fic as extremely exploitable because it’s 1) a huge body of work freely available online 2) often about pop culture stuff 3) not protected by a major entertainment corp’s legal team—I own the copyright to the original material in my fic just as much as Marvel owns the source, but I don’t have the same means or ability to fight back. They know this; we’re just a giant dataset to them.
This kind of thing is hard to talk about because there’s very little constructive advice to offer—like, it’s enraging! If you look down the thread at the screenshots or click through to Hugging Face, you will probably be enraged! The entitlement of these scrapers, both individual actors and bazillion-dollar tech companies, is staggering to me. (Perhaps you saw that Meta’s lawyers are currently arguing that it was cool for them to pirate more than 7 million books because they had no economic value.) Is it the worst thing in the world? In this current moment of unmitigated horror in both domestic and international politics? I know, I know. But it’s just like…fuck these people lol.
If there’s concrete info to share in the coming weeks, we’ll be sure to include that here. And until then…while I wish you godspeed if you want to keep flooding the internet with omegaverse, it might be time to lock your fic if you haven’t done so already. (And if any Rec Center reader still doesn’t have an account to read, you should sign up!) — Elizabeth