The Rec Center #500
Hello and welcome to the momentous 500th issue of the Rec Center! This week we have articles about Spock’s love life and the mainstreaming of fanfic, along with Elizabeth’s panel from SDCC. Also some cute Kpop Demon Hunters fanart, and a compendium of themed rec lists from past issues. — Gav
new stuff
“Why Is Star Trek: Strange New Worlds So Obsessed With Giving Spock a Girlfriend?” by Gav at TV Guide
Following the introduction of a baffling new romantic subplot, Gav delves into Strange New Worlds’ determination to give Spock a girlfriend—a creative choice that resonates awkwardly with the legacy of Kirk/Spock, and with this show’s notable lack of queer representation.
“Fan fiction is everywhere, if you know how to look” by Rachel Kurzius at the Washington Post
Elizabeth was quoted in this piece about the mainstreaming of fanfiction alongside some fan studies folks and fic writers who’ve gone pro. Excitingly, she gets her eternal gripe, “it’s actually not all fanfiction,” into a national newspaper. :-D
“The Fandom Advantage: How Fan Creativity Fuels Pro Entertainment Careers” at Fansplaining
For the folks who asked if Fansplaining’s SDCC panel would be recorded, it was! It was a great conversation with panelists from fandom who’ve since worked on properties like IWTV, Star Wars, SPN, and many more. This article includes the video recording, as well as a full transcript.
As a true Fantastic Four fan I won’t be seeing the new movie unless there’s a slide whistle sound every time Mr Fantastic stretches
— pixelatedboat aka “mr bluesky” (@pixelatedboat.bsky.social) July 26, 2025 at 9:23 PM
older stuff
“Photographers Are on a Mission to Fix Wikipedia’s Famously Bad Celebrity Portraits” by Jules Roscoe at 404 Media
“Jeremy [Strong] said, ‘Wait, you’re from Wikipedia? For the love of God, please take down that photo. You’d be doing me a service.’”
tumblr & beyond
Kpop Demon Hunters fanart by avi-mation
"do NOT sort by kudos the real play is to find the most prolific writers in the hockey rpf tag and go to their profile..."
a perfect summary of Pride & Prejudice.
pouring one out for Orson Krennic during the worst week of his life. (actually we’re not lol. he deserved it all!!)
We’re both pretty scandalized by this TikTok, which explains how a single AO3 user published over a thousand AI-generated slop fanfics for a children’s TV show, seemingly just so they could get a random ship into the top 100 pairings on the Archive.
fanfiction
500 issues!!! Which we 10000% could not have made without all of you. I mean, Gav is much more omnivorous than me, she probably could have kept things moving somewhat, but if it was all on me, I’d be providing you with like one X-Men fic rec every six weeks at best.
So in honor of #500, we’re resharing some guest lists from over the years—a variety, but not even remotely the totality of all the community contributions you’ve given us, from explainers to ship manifestos to literally thousands of one-off recs. So thanks again to all these reccers, and to EVERYONE who’s ever sent something in to share with our readers. — Elizabeth
A Rec Center List of Lists 😎
We’ve run guest lists for massive fandoms, like this one by Raizel for Boku No Hero Academia.
We’ve also run lists for fairly niche fandoms, like AirgiodSLV’s explainer and recs for the multiverse created by Thai BL actor Jeff Satur.
Some of our rec lists document fandom history, like queersintherain’s two-parter tracing the spread of f/f omegaverse.
Others have been collaborations between fandom friends, like this f/f Star Trek: Lower Decks list by Rod, Daly, and Jenny.
Guest reccer Praycambrian shared this explainer and rec list for Ted Lasso between seasons two and three.
Long before there was a TV show, Phoebe wrote us a Murderbot explainer and rec list.
A classic cross-fandom trope: Nicasio Reed put together a multifandom list of Daemon AUs.
Perhaps less classic—but still involving animals!—we ran a list of “soulmate goose” AUs by Orangistae.
Just like our occasional one-off submissions for fanworks other than fanfiction, we’ve run whole lists like twtd’s podfic recs this past Femslash February.
And, of course, wrapping up with a vid list: this one was put together by Rosemarycat5.
Boba Fett 1980: I do human trafficking for space Hitler. Boba Fett 2021: I would like to begin by acknowledging that we are in dune sea, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Tusken People
— Boat Facts (@chainchompist.bsky.social) July 12, 2025 at 1:39 PM
FINAL THOUGHT
Totally wild that we’ve done 500 REC CENTERS!! Here’s to 500 more. <3 — Elizabeth