The Rec Center #61
Hello! Another week and you’ve made it through. It’s been a while, so this week we’ve got an explainer: guest reccer Ravelqueen is back, this time with Gundam Wing backstory and recs. We’ve also got fanart for Moonlight, your Sherlock Holmes dream cast, and Gav reports back from RDC3’s Hannibal musical! — Elizabeth
new stuff
“@BadBuffyOutfits proves even though she was The Chosen One, her outfits didn't always slay” by Evan Ross Katz at Mic
An interview with the creator of the Twitter account that recounts the ~unique sartorial choices of BtVS.
“Black Skin Is Still A Radical Concept in Video Games” by Yussef Cole and Tanya DePass at Waypoint
“Black characters are still underrepresented in games, where white is still seen as a kind of ‘default.’” A deep dive into racism and colorism in video games. (Tanya was recently on Elizabeth’s podcast to talk about this topic, games fic, fan/creator interaction, and more.)
“Why Beauty and the Beast’s gay character is not as groundbreaking as Disney believes” by Gav at the Daily Dot
Disney seemed very excited to promote its “brave” decision to include a gay character in Beauty and the Beast, but Gav... had some criticisms. Namely, that this character is a villain who kinda sounds like a terrible stereotype?
older stuff
“In Dull TV Days, Favorites Take Wing Online” by Amy Harmon at The New York Times (specifically “CyberTimes,” which sounds *very* 1997)
A fascinating glimpse at mainstream perceptions of fic during the early days of online fandom. H/t to Aja Romano!
tumblr & beyond
Moonlight fanart by falcondiment
Twin Peaks fans: take acafan Bethan Jones’s survey for her PhD research!
Internet hero Demi Adejuyigbe created this truly inspired Will Smith rap for the movie Arrival.
Star Trek TOS, by way of “i lik the bred.”
gundam wing explainer
Ravelqueen grew up with anime, waking up every morning to watch Sailor Moon and programming her VCR to tape every episode of Detective Conan and Dragonball. Harry Potter was her entry into Western fandom, but even her first fanfic was based on her favourite manga. She’s active both on AO3 and tumblr, and check out her previous explainer/rec list for The Rec Center, about the anime/manga Kuroko no Basuke.
It’s AC (after colony) 195 and 5 teenage rebels are sent down from their respective space colonies in huge fighting robots (Gundams), disguised as shooting stars: Heero Yuy (determined perfectionist), Duo Maxwell (cynical trickster), Trowa Barton (insightful stoic), Quatre Raberba Winner (empathetic diplomatic), and Chang Wufei (serious warrior). They’re each sent on this suicide mission to terrorize, destroy, and/or topple the Earth-based Alliance government after years of brutal oppression—without even knowing the other pilots exist.
What follows are 49 episodes of robot fights, assassinations, and political maneuvering, all while everybody keeps having really deep, philosophical debates about the meaning of peace and war. It boasts an immense cast from all sides, ages, and genders. It’s an entry into the longstanding Gundam franchise, the creator of the realistic robot genre.
If you’re not up to sitting through about 50 episodes of animated space fights, don’t worry, neither did the fandom—as far as I could tell, a good portion hadn’t actually watched the show but still read and created fanworks. This means it’s a great fandom for just diving into the fics—most references to canon are very light, if they aren’t completely AU. Extremely serious, mission-focused Heero and up-beat, unconventional Duo are the juggernaut pairing of this fandom, though there are fics for literally every possible ship out there!
If you want any help diving into this fandom, but don’t know where to start/want canon information without watching the show/want to know what other pairings are cool, you can totally hit me up on my tumblr! My ask box is always open, anon or non-anon :) — ravelqueen
fanfiction
“Best Laid Plans” by turnippatch. 33K words, rated Teen.
Ship: Heero/Duo
Rec: Heero Yuy had resigned himself to being a grump for the rest of his life, and he was well on his way, too, until he met one Duo Maxwell, who somehow managed to turn all his notions upside-down. Before the coffee shop-AU there was presumably the grocery store AU. This is an adorable, contemplative get-together by one of the best writers in the fandom. (if you read anything else by her, let it be ‘Grief and a Headhunters Rage’ btw)
Content warnings: N/A
“Five Times Someone Figured Out Heero Was A Girl” by Asuka Kureru. 3K words, rated Teen.
Ships: Numerous implied pairings
Rec: One of the best genderbent one-shots I’ve ever read in any fandom by the writer of my favourite version of Heero that also introduces all important characters extremely well, if you want to get an idea of their particular energy/quirks.
Content warnings: N/A
“Upon a Fiery Steed” by Vathara. 99K words, rated Teen.
Ships: Mainly gen, though background Trowa/Quatre, Heero/Duo
Rec: SG-1 crossover. Completely AU for Gundam Wing. Daniel is taken hostage by a Gouald Queen where he is co-prisoner/rescued by Duo Maxwell, Gundam Pilot whose planetary system might prove to be a valuable ally. Really cool plot, no real background on any of the canon needed and written by the author who convinced me crossover could be well done.
Content warnings: Canon-typical violence; medical experiments and their consequences by the baddies; references to past torture
“Iron Fists” by ellewrites and Miss_Murdered. 64K words, rated Explicit.
Ship: Heero/Duo
Rec: Underground MMA-AU—extremely visceral and a rare new Gundam Wing story. I remember reading this all in one sitting and sacrificing a lot of sleep for it, that's how good it is. Heed the warnings.
Content warnings: Pretty explicit and visceral depictions of violence (b/c MMA) and a relationship where people are more used to communicating with fists than with words—if you don’t like your main pairings sometimes hitting each other in the face, skip this one.
“Drums of Heaven” by Sol1056. 235K words, rated Explicit.
Ships: Heero/Duo, Trowa/Quatre, Hilde/OMC
Rec: I struggled to decide whether I should rec this—for one, it is *extremely* long, it’s set post-series so it might be hard to read for non-fans, and there are some questionable relationship dynamics. But decided to re-read it...which I have done for 3 days now, nearly non-stop. One of the fandom classics, with a really in-depth spy story, a lot of struggle, and an important role for one of the many great female GW characters.
Content warnings: Graphic violence (people die and get killed by the main cast), references to past child abuse/mistreatment
“Not Enough or Way Too Much” by matchsticks. 2.5K words, rated Teen.
Ship: Heero/Quatre
Rec: I tried so hard to include a fic on here that is focused on one of the female characters, but I just could not find one that would be a good intro for newbies. So instead you get this hilarious one-shot of a rare pair (that if you knew the canon would actually make a lot more sense than 01x02...).
Content warnings: N/A
“Book accurate Sherlock Holmes with Dev Patel and Riz Ahmed” by Beka Duke
FINAL THOUGHT
I had a great time at #HannibalCon last weekend! In particular I was super impressed by the quality of all the art & fanworks, which somehow seems way more noticeable when people are wandering around IRL with art prints and zines and hardback books. Also: THE MUSICAL!!!
An international team of fannibals performed a musical inspired by the show, getting round the problem of rehearsals by individually recording their parts, editing and mixing the sound, and then lip-syncing for the actual performance. It was hilariously funny and you could tell Bryan Fuller loved it. (Hugh Dancy was apparently reading along in the libretto, which is adorable.) I wish I could find a copy online, but they also printed lyric booklets so the audience could follow along.
There doesn’t seem to be a working video clip from the performance rn, so here’s an adorable gifset.
HannibalCon left me with a ~reawakened love of the show and its fandom, and I only wish I’d made friends with more fannibals before I arrived! I barely knew anyone. Well done Hannibal fandom, for being so awesome. <3 — Gav
Have a favorite story you’d like to submit? We’re always looking for guest reccers to do full lists, but if you have a one-off, please send it in via our submissions form! We’ve also gotten vid and podfic recs in recent weeks—those are strongly encouraged and we’re excited to include more of them going forward.
If you liked this, please share it with your friends! https://thereccenter.substack.com/. And find us on social media: Gav (twitter/tumblr) & Elizabeth (twitter/tumblr)