#there is some absolutely brilliant stuff being made in the fandom

[bharv]

When you see something that is so egregiously out of character (not a little bit off but literally “who even is this person?”) and it has fanart, 35k views, 2k kudos, hundreds of comments… honestly it makes me wonder what on earth is going on with people?

I am proud of what I make but man I wonder why I’m making it here sometimes.

[consistentsquash]

Author Love Letter - Scarlet

Folks, definitely chime in you want to add stuff because a lot of folks have probably met Scarlet in different contexts!

Also it's like 4am here so my spag and everything is going to be pretty bad. Sorry about that.

Scarlet, @givereadersahug on Tumblr and emeraldlove on AO3. Powerhouse of a human, brilliant multiship and multifandom writer, moderator, fest runner, community builder, absolute role model. 0% drama, 100% love. People first always. The Queen of giving without expectation.

We were like talking about having a Rec Fest sometime back in March 2023. Of course I was 100% talk 0% action. But Scarlet actually got a lot of great folks involved, started the fest, got comods to help out and literally just made it happen. That's a good TLDR intro: Make Things Happen Behind the Scenes. Like an iphone or something. Scarlet behind the scenes = it was going to work 100% without problems.

When I think about Snarry fandom, like any big and old fandom we have different folks with different strengths/contributions. Great writers, artists, podficcers, organizers. But it's pretty hard to find somebody whose first priority is making the fandom thrive because we are fans/fan creators, pretty attached to the stuff we are doing, we have time limits because fandom is a hobby and we have to prioritize between creating and community building a lot of times. Scarlet really said Community First, People First. I don't even know how to explain it but 0% transactional vibes.

Making space for people. Meeting folks where they are at. Obviously introverts have a hard time in communities sometimes. Some folks learn how to handle it. No judgment here because these experiences can be subjective. But I have seen Scarlet go the extra mile for folks who are new/introverted/feeling imposter syndrome/going through some complicated fandom experiences. Just being there for them and supporting them to get started.

Also a brilliant writer of darkfic!!! Scarlet's darkfic shorts are some of my all time favs because of how dark/delicious/intense they are. These fics really give me 2000s dirtyhotbadwrong vibes because of how totally out and proud they are about their fiction is not reality vibe. Tons of range and lots of genres but the darkfics get my special love because they are just dirtybadhotwrong shameless amazingness. Check out In His Bed to get a sense for that unique vibe! Her community building and cheerleading wins are huge but also her darkfic writing is some of my all time fav.

Also Queen of Attention to Detail. I have read some fests with her and she guessed authors just like that during anon phase. Just incredible observation Sherlock Holmes style.

My fav fest memory is doing Snapecase reading with her. She guessed the author for Candles Lit Against the Dark, @perverse-idyll based on the title because she noticed/connected a lot of the flame/shadow imagery in the author's other Snarry fics. I am pretty good about guessing some authors myself because I can identify their style but guessing from the title is advanced superpowers. I can't even!! So extra, Scarlet. So totally extra and I love love love <3

Another fav memory I have is about analyzing fics with her. When HotD was airing eldritcher's Ossuarium was being written episode by episode. It was an insane time. We had a brilliant time analyzing those fics :D We were both passionate but Scarlet was so extra passionate, noticed tons of detail that was totally lost on me, really good at connecting the dots, just a hardcore close reader.

Also dead dove fics! 100% supporter of folks writing dead dove, incest, darkfics.

Also reccing older fics! Her Dudley phase was insane and she was finding fics from like 2000s on wayback just like that with some superhuman skills. On like websites I didn't even know existed. Really Sherlock Holmes <3

Also smaller fests. Scarlet supported a ton of Dreamwidth fests and got new folks to join them/introduced them to Dreamwidth culture and literally was the bridge between different types of fandom culture a lot of times.

Also reccing fic! Her recs for For I Have Found Salvation by @lumosatnight and also for @wilfriede's podfics have so much love/passion/enthusiasm and I just love those works 2x because of the emotional connect of her reccing <3

Also nwhiker! I really got into this author's Snack fic, Second Life because of Scarlet's passionate, passionate reccing. When Scarlet got into something the reccing happened with big big love and for me that was like the best thing ever because folks who love things with big love are just super special <3

Also my concrit buddy for movies. Ingmar Bergman to Audrey Hepburn to Past Lives just a total knowledge wikipedia about movies/movie making/movie meta/movie crit. I really changed my perspective about movies after learning from her. Also shows! Watching HotD and doing episode reviews with Scarlet is like one of my best memories ever ever ever <3 Also books!

Also moderator of Snarry discords like @houseofsnarry, participated, started and ran a ton of communities and fests including the @hprecfest which is just finishing this week <3 <3

If I have to describe Scarlet in like one word I am going to say Connection. 100% about connection, 100% heart led. So special. Love, love, love.

pic source Los Angeles Street Art photography by bigcitiesbrightlights

[hetalia-club]

Historical Hetalia

I hate how the hetalia fandom makes England out to be this brilliant mastermind when actual he’s a petty idiot. And he’s been getting a pass for far too long.

Here are some of my favorite England moments through recent history. Absolut Looney Tunes bull shit.

Story 1:

America and England had a plan (that was really smart and would totally work) to build a tunnel under west Germany so they could go inside of it and listen in on what the Russians stationed there were saying.

A double Agent in England's side (but actually worked for Russia) went and blabbed about it. Russia was like “oh no! That’s such a good plan we should have thought of it! I know let’s let them half way finish the tunnel and then we can discover it then we can finish building it!” So that’s what happened America and England filled in the hole though and pretended like they got lost digging like a sewer pipe or something like that.

Story 2:

A rock exists on the coast of Scotland. This is a real big and cool rock… or that’s what England thought anyway. So worried about the rock he spent nights tossing and turning wondering if the big fuck ton of a rock was perhaps being used for spying, was it bugged? Perhaps it wasn’t a rock at all and it was a submarine? Tired of sleepless nights England sailed over there one day and placed a British flag on the rock and a plaque claiming it as official British territory. Scotland was so pissed because that was HIS very cool big rock! They are still fighting over who owns the rock today. I do think teh Scotts threw teh flag into the ocean.

Story 3:

Or the time that America had just recruited a new spy and he was on his way to meet his new British associates in NY for a spy mission they had against Russia. The British Spy’s thought he gave off sneaky vibes so the kidnapped him and killed him when he got to the meeting and then they just went inside and waited for him to show up. They contacted the CIA and were like “where’s your boy dog?” And they described him to the spy’s and they were like “New mission you guys need to find this guy because we lost communication and we think it might have been the KGB and he had important stuff on him” and the British Spy’s were like “um…. I think we know where to find him” *cue laugh track*

Story 4:

The British were spying in Russian waters in a submarine when they came across a Polish sub. They were super jealous because this one was pulling a bunch of hydrophones( devices that allowed to you listen inside of other submarines). So the British wanted them so they were real real quiet and they snuck up behind the sub and they cut the line. They took the hydrophones and made a quick get away without the Polish sub being any the wiser.

Poland had to go back to Russia and be like. "Remember the really expensive equipment you gave me to use? Yeah I think it broke off in the ocean and idk where we lost it though and I'm NOT going back for it so don't ask. Kay thanks bye!"

Story 4 (my favorite because it is the dumbest and I think about it a lot):

Let me set the scene It’s the Cold War and things are really hearting up and Britain and America are afraid that Russia may try and cross the iron curtain. America said they should burry land mines but then remembers that it would be too cold for the land mines to stay working in the winter time (Just remember this was some years ago). But our mastermind England had an original though. I'm just going to write out exactly how I think this conversation would have went because frankly it's just so dumb and I could not make this shit up if I tried.

America: Alright everybody i really think we need to do something about the Iron curtain Russia has been too bold lately. So I was thinking something like land mines but I'm not sure if it'll work they won't work in the winter which knowing Russia that's exactly when he would attack. If anyone has any ideas I'm open to them Now if we could all ju-

England: *lifting is head from the mountain of cocaine he just had his face buried in* Chickens!

America: I'm sorry what?

England: Chickens! Chickens you idiot!

America: What do you mean chickens, are you alright man?

England: Uh! You are so dumb. We get a bunch of chickens, we strap the land mines on them and we put the chickens into little cages. Then we burry the cages and give them enough food for about a week. And we can just change the chickens every week. The body heat of the chickens will keep the land mine warm, don't you see? We can use a remote to detonate the land mines ourselves.

America: Okay...that's a thought. Anyone else have any ideas? *Looks around the room of his allies as they all nod in agreement*

America: Germany, what's your thoughts on this? You don't think this is a good idea surely, right? Just burying chickens along the border of your country.

Germany: I like chickens.

America: This is worse than my idea to put little head sets on cats and turn them lose in Moscow, you all can't be forreal

Italy: Chickens are cool tho.

America: God Damn it. Okay Operation Chicken is-

England: No stupid you can't call it operation chicken, Russia will know what we are up to right away. We need to name it something discrete. If not he'll steal our chicken idea.

America: Russia dosen't want your stupid- Alright whatever, what do you want to call it then?

England: Operation Blue Bunny....No No! Blue Peacock

America: What the actual fuck is wrong with you?

(Provided a link for this one because I don't think any of you would believe me if I didn't)

[castlebyersafterdark]

If byler is somehow not endgame the Duffers are gonna have some major explaining to do. Like why they dragged out the love triangle til the bitter end only for Mike to reject Will. Why not let Will move on with a new boy? And more importantly they can't use the "it was the 80's!" excuse. Not good enough.

Absolutely!!! I think I'm pretty decent at interpreting media and following the trajectory of a story and honestly, while I'll still love them as a ship in a fandom I'm in, I'll feel pretty stupid for being this confident.

I'll need someone with balls enough to ask them what the fuck were the inspirations for framing and writing things a certain way if not to lead up to Byler endgame. When I watched the show from the start, I was a pretty casual viewer but from the beginning I always always assumed Will was just the 'token gay kid' like it was implied but not really a major plot point. I assumed we might see him with some little relationship once he moved to california? Maybe he'd have a storyline about that? I liked the idea of him and Mike but just as something I saw people mention online - it wasn't really something I cared about because I was a casual viewer - I was in other fandoms the entire time as well so it really wasn't on my radar. Watching season 4??? Made me go back and rewatch the entire series with a new light. Gosh if this is really what I think is happening, how the fuck did I miss this? I just didn't think a mainstream show like this would go there. But it's such a brilliant slow burn if real. I'm gonna need a deep explanation about what the FUCK was the point of the airport scene if Michael Wheeler wasn't repressing gay thoughts about his best friend, most of all to be honest.

They could have written Mike and El for suuuuuure not together at end of season 3 and then he's going out to cali to visit Will and then Mike/El journey to reignite their relationship that way. But NOPE they do all this bizarro stuff and make things tense with Mike and Will??? And frame it like they're the peak of the love triangle??? And end the season with that damn foreshadowing hill shot??? Nothing makes sense w filming and scene blocking and general dialogue choices if they're not leading to byler endgame. It just doesn't make sense and I'm gonna be pretty disappointed with the show, not even getting into the optics of queer representation, but for fucking nonsensical story-telling.

[ao3-oner]

you are such an amazing reader i've slammed through all your works in the past few days. i simply cannot get enough! what are some of your favourite fics from lol rpf (not gwen because i've consumed all of her content too lol) ?

Lmao thank you for the compliment! I'm going to assume that you meant "amazing writer," but we'll see if my fic recs are good enough to prove me a passable reader as well!

ALSO YOU DID NOT NEED TO CLOCK ME AS A GWEN FANBOY OKAY lol, it's a completely accurate assessment of what my list would have looked like without your specification but damn. I guess I'll shut up about her. Her fics are so good, though...

I'll do it like this: if you've read all my works, then you're familiar with my core four ships (GK, OZ, CS, and RL), so I'll recommend two fics for each of those ships, plus two Gen fics because imo all Gen fics need more love. I'll limit myself to doing one fic per author because there are too many talented fic writers in this fandom to count, and I'll also try to make one fic for each ship more lh while the other can be angstier (since Idk which you'd prefer). Also disclaimer that I will only be including English fics in this list - I have dabbled in Google translate and thoroughly enjoyed some of the non-English fics I've read, but I do not feel comfortable recommending them as someone who cannot understand the original language. Hopefully, you'll find some stuff on here that you like!

Let's start with the GuKe (the inability to recommend Gwen's fics is absolutely killing me here):

no rules in breakable heaven by Maria Swift, Rated T, 12,000 words (you will need to be logged in to AO3 to read this one)

This was one of the first fics in the fandom I ever read and I absolutely loved it. It's meetcute college AU GuKe with a side of "and they were roommates" that's just very fun and entertaining to read. Definitely a great feel-good fic and one that I've returned to a handful of times when I need a pick-me-up. Super well-written, as well.

Phantom, Be Still In My Heart by seralove, Unrated (there is some sensitive content but nothing too graphic), 10,500 words

I was lucky enough to read this fic when it first came out and ohhhh my God did it make me feel things. This is canon (well, not quite) Worlds GuKe with a healthy portion of angst, and the descriptions are all very emotional. This fic kind of ruined me, in a good way, so just be prepared for that and definitely give it a read.

For the One2eus fics, I have the pleasure of recommending two of my favorite fic writers in the entire fandom:

lightning storm by sightstone (symmetrophobic), Rated T, 8,500 words

Reading this fic was part of what inspired me to start writing for this fandom in the first place. It's cute, it's sweet, it's absolutely hilarious - I laughed out loud multiple times while reading it. Definitely check out the other works by sightstone, too, especially her ongoing GuKe fae fic that currently has me brainrotting like crazy.

just look at me now (i'm lovesick) by screamtail, Rated E for smut, 3,500 words

Honestly, all of screamtail's works are iconic and recommendable, but for some reason, this one stuck with me a bit more than the others. I think it's probably the angst undertone and the brilliant descriptions that really made it stick in my mind. It explores the OZ dynamic from Zeus's perspective while offering some high-quality pwp content, so what's not to love?

Now if you're a CanMaker fan like me, you've probably already read all of the English fics in the tag (as you should, as have I), but I'll shoutout some of my personal favorites here:

we're magnetized (I admit it) by dustedpeach, Rated T, 15,000 words

I did not know how desperately I needed cat cafe AU Gen.G in my life until I read this fic. There could be a 100 volume series solely about this AU cafe and all of its shenanigans and I would eat up every chapter of it. In addition to the world building being truly visionary, the CanShow content is (naturally) super adorable and I will always love Canyon being a simp.

If only time were kinder by Chastelove, Rated T, 3,000 words

Speaking of fics that messed me up, Christ, my heart after reading this! Idk how I'm going to be okay. I might not. It's just... Apocalypse AU CanMaker. That's it. Read it. Please. I can't suffer alone anymore-

Since both of these recs are from AUs, if you're looking for more canon CanMaker (CanonMaker??), or if you're looking for something a bit spicier, I'd definitely recommend snow by chovying as well. It's another amazing and adorable fic, and the only reason that I didn't recommend it above is that it felt like a copout answer to push a fic that was gifted to me - like of course I love that fic! You should definitely read it and give it all the kudos in the world, though.

Finally (for the ship fics, at least), we have my beloved RuLehends. Much like CanMaker, true fans of this ship will have already read all of the English fics on AO3 for it, but I'll still take the opportunity to squeal about some of them:

told you so by Aurelion8(Monochrome01), Rated E for smut, 2,000 words

On its own, this is a short, sweet and smutty pwp fic, but I am once again encouraging you to read all of the fics by this writer because there are only three of them but they all go insanely hard - especially we're still here, but really 3/3 are bangers. The reason I specifically recommended told you so was that it's like... the closest RuLehends ever gets to not being angsty? Lmao, these two really just have angst and smut encoded into their dynamic. But seriously, you should read all three of Aurelion8's fics. They are hot and lovely and I am eagerly awaiting whenever they post next.

i feel it burning me (i feel it burning you) by speaktothemoon, Rated M for implied sexual content (imho it could prob be T), 12,500 words

Ughhh this fic is just so good. It does such an excellent job of capturing the complex and heartbreaking relationship that Siwoo and Jaehyuk share while diving into what happened behind closed doors in 2022. I may have cried while reading it. Tears of joy but also sorrow because wtf... these two really will be the death of me.

Last but certainly not least, we have a pair of Gen fics aka shipless fics that I cannot recommend enough! Honestly, this category was the hardest to pick two from by far, but here's what I have for you:

In which T1 accidentally summons the Unkillable Demon King by ginger_owl, Unrated (for violence purposes), 35,500 words and ongoing

Ginger is 100% another writer who you should just click the account name for and read everything on there - her Star Guardian AU, Welcome to Summoner's Rift, it's all brilliant beyond words. The reason I chose this fic specifically is it's the first one I read (also one of the first LoL RPF fics I ever read) and that makes me nostalgic for it. It's basically what it says on the tin - high school AU where ZOGK are students and they summon the demon Faker. The worldbuilding and characterizations in her fics are always a highlight, and I'd strongly recommend reading through her entire corpus!

they light candles in rome by keres (DeerGoBonk), Rated G, 9,000 words + an 18,000 word in-depth analysis in chapter 2 because legend???

Okay as someone who's a bit of a mythology nerd... this fic made me think for a very long time. It is gorgeous and tragic and definitely worth reading through multiple times. It will make you think, then if you read keres's own analysis in the following chapter it will make you think even more. It's indescribable, really, so just def go read it for yourself!

I've just realized that both of those recs are T1-centric (but honestly, aren't most fics in the fandom?) but so are all of the other Gen fics I wanted to recommend, so.... if you're looking for non-T1, non-romance-based fics, might I recommend Metro Lines and Their Prismatic Tears? :3

God, this is making me think that I should write more platonic fics... Like Master Yourself (Master Your Enemy) was supposed to be Gen, but then the CanShow leaked into it a bit too much... honestly though? I should change that back to being marked as Gen. Platonic Lucid & Canyon is still very much the central relationship there. I'm also proud of myself for writing How It Feels to Chew 5 Gum... 2024 KT Rolster, I will miss you dearly... You should also read the mouth of the wolf, the eyes of the lamb by this excellent author named gw- *Jhin 4th shot comes through the window*

One more thing: it didn't fit into any of my arbitrary above categories, but my favorite ongoing fic/the fic that I'm currently most excited to keep reading is definitely:

off with your head by oathsworn (onelastchence), KiinCuzz with background Bddker, Rated E for death and violence, 12,000 words and ongoing

The Netflix adaptation of Alice in Borderlands is one of my favorite live action shows of all time, so needless to say I am eagerly seated for an LoLRPF AU/retelling of the story. The writing and narrative has been incredible so far, and I would love to recruit more readers to join me on the journey that is reading this fic!

Thanks for the ask! I sincerely hope you enjoy all of these fics as much as I have, and please don't hesitate to let me know your thoughts on all of them. Also, remember to leave kudos and comments on all of the fics you do enjoy, because it really means a lot to the writers and they all deserve more love than I alone could possibly offer them <3

Have a nice night, and happy Halloween!!

[spurious]

once again, mcshep fic recs

(I don't remember which "even more" we're on and am too lazy to check)

I've been doing a lot of rereading stuff from my bookmarks lately, but here are some I've collected in the past month and a half or so!

1)

Cool Hand Luke by fiercelydreamed | ~1.5k, rated E

Excerpt from an IM conversation earlier today: fiercelydreamed: this is the weirdest shit i have ever googled for a pwp fiercelydreamed: only in sga fandom fiercelydreamed: would you ever google "tens unit voltage," "prosthesis," "chemical composition of semen," and "factorial function" all for a fic under 2000 words

Basically: John loses a hand. Rodney builds him a better one. It works for both of them. Ohhhh this is just good. It's hot, yeah, but it's also just so perfectly right in that shivery way that a good idea can be, where you just know that this is how it would go?

2)

How Many by cathalin | ~700, rated T

Rodney actually does know how many times John's almost died.

I don't generally think to rec fics of this length, but this had me wanting to SCREAM with how perfect it was. The amount of FEELINGS that are packed into this small amount of words, just, holy shit. I'm a sucker for stuff about the way their experiences have changed them, hurt them, made them frightened and desperate and clinging to each other, and this does that so wonderfully and satisfyingly, I loved it.

3)

Top of the List by Helenish | ~2.6k, rated E

Rodney tries hard.

"So I like it a little rough," Sheppard said. "Sometimes."

There's, I think, a nice little sub-genre of McShep which is "Rodney Finds Out Something About John" (my own butterfly tattoo fic being a personal entry into that canon) which I think is just wonderful because of who Rodney is, as a character. He's stubborn and obsessive and analytical, and pretty much canonically fascinated by John, so of course Finding Something Out About John will make him spin his mental gears till he goes nuts with it in wonderful, tension-breaking ways. Along with that, the idea of John liking it rough, wanting to be thrown around or smacked around is, like super hot in that way that I think only fanfic can be hot, where the sexiness comes from the verisimilitude; with the accuracy of the characterization layered on top of these appealing textual descriptions of sex acts. Anyway!!! This is just very good.

4)

Entanglements by Barb G | not rated but I’d give it an M, ~8k

John falls down, and gets rescued. One is worse than the other.

This is very untagged, I actually only found it due to clicking into a remix of it (which was also good), but anyway! Let me just state plainly here that I have a real thing for fics about John and Rodney having to survive torture and/or imprisonment together. Call me a romantic! I love beautiful descriptions of suffering and the unspoken comfort that they can give to each other just by being there, just because of that immense amount of trust that they share. I love John surrendering his body to abuse because he secretly thinks he deserves it, and doing it without a second thought because he thinks it will keep Rodney safe.

5)

Ride Into the Sun by Cesare | ~14k, rated E

John's fantasies do a lot for him: they restore his sense of control, express his defiance, celebrate his victories, and connect him with feelings he can't access other ways. He never thought they'd get him what he wants.

God this is just fucking brilliant, masterful characterization for John. The inner voice is absolutely perfect, and the explanation for his fantasies, the way he’s conceptualized his own desires, his own submission, in a way that gives him back control over the horrible things that happen to him is just…oh it’s amazing, I love it so so much. And the resolution with Rodney is so good, so incredibly satisfying after what has gone on before in the story!! Just amazing. I’ve read this many many times before but every time I reread it I’m floored by how good it is.

[s-exy-sapphillean]

Finally FINALLY i got around to playing mouthwashing & wanna share some thoughts.

How Fish Is Made is one of my absolute favorite horror games so i knew already mouthwashing was gonna be good but completely unironically the fandom was why it took me this long. Because from the shit i had seen i knew going through the actual story would make me so much more angry about some of the shit i've seen.

But lets get to actual thoughts on the game:

First of all visually absolutely breathtaking. Again i'm already kind of obsessed with their style from How Fish Is Made but Mouthwashing is sooo good. Kudos to the visual/art direction. I could probably go on and on about the visual story telling

Writing also just brilliant. I definitely experienced it in not the intended way because i'd gotten a lot of things spoiled but honestly i rly enjoyed being able to pick all of jimmy's bullshit apart before you're rly intended to have picked up on it & the fact that that's possible is such a big plus for the writing.

I'm also generally a rly big fan of disjointed, non-linear story telling and i think it's done soooo well in this game.

Funnily even with all the spoilers i had no clue swansea existed. He was never in any of the stuff i saw which btw... What's that about? Swansea as a character was probably one of my favorite parts of the game. Kinda bummed out too seeing the amount of youtubers not understanding that be rly cared about daisuke.

Btw very random thought to put in a post like this but i'm rambling anyway: I think the point where Swansea rly decided to protect the pod for Daisuke's sake was during his conversation with Anya that one night 3 months after the crash. Because i'm convinced that after anya telling him about what jimmy did to her and the pregnancy, he would have mentioned the cryopod and i'm pretty sure that anya would turn down any suggestion for her to be the one to get it, especially if the reasoning was because of the pregnancy.

ANYWAYY

Jimmy is possibly the most irrefutably irredeemably selfishly horrible and evil any character has ever been and it's so well written, i fucking despise him. I was hoping he'd at least try to use that rope from the cockpit at some point, if you get what i mean.

Lastly, just as i expected i think i fucking despise this fandom and actually having proper context has made me so much more angry about things

Overal fantastic piece of art and fandomification is possibly the worst thing that could have happened to it

[danpuff-ao3]

@consistentsquash, professionally. Squash, casually. Squish-Squash, affectionately. Overall wonderful human.

My first introduction to Squash was a mention of her 22 Slash Fics for 22 Years (though it was 21, at the time) rec list. Then I had to look for more and was suitably impressed! Very thoughtful, detailed rec lists; but best of all, such good taste! Squash's recs were right up my alley! Even now, I don't even blink when Squash recs things, I just blindly open links and Mark For Later. (Or, for non-AO3 links, I save them to my Pocket app.)

Then one day, Squash recced Teardrop In Your Palm on her New HP Slash Fics Published in 2021 rec list!! Which made me feel quite famous, let me tell you. And insanely flattered. "This person who recs such good fics!!! Recced!!!! MY???? FIC??????" (Am I super casually sneaking extra recs into the Introduction section? Well spotted! Yes. Yes I am.)

Of course, Squash is more than just a gourd with good taste in fics. She is a very intelligent, enthusiastic, supportive fan. Big love for fandom, the community, the history, the culture, and more! She is openminded and openhearted. A rockstar cheerleader. She leaves such sweet comments! She has read a lot, and somehow finds the time to do all of this stuff, even with life being hecka weird and rough!

Best of all, Squash is a good friend. I can fearlessly barge into her DMs and blather about my woes, various dramas, and worst of all: really humiliating fangirl shenanigans. If I can shamelessly fangirl in front of anyone, it's Squash! She is a great listener. Very compassionate and supportive and understanding. She is an absolutely fantastic HUMAN above all else, and I just adore her!

And with that in mind...check out just a few of the hecka awesome stuff Squash has done!

Meta

House of the Dragon Fanfic Character Analysis - Daemon from eldritcher's "Ossuarium"

Fanfic Relationship Analysis - Daemyra from eldritcher's "Ossuarium"

Fanfic Relationship Analysis - Rhaelicent from eldritcher's "Ossuarium"

Pretty sure these are some of the coolest things I've ever seen?? Very loving, ecstatic, detailed essays on eldritcher's work!!!! Too cool, even if I am woefully behind on Ossarium!

Recs

5 Meta Recs

Very cool concept for a rec list! I do love a good meta post. Though don't read that Making of Contempt haha oh no. I see a lot of fic recs. I've even seen some art recs. I'm not sure I'd seen meta recs before this, and I'd sure love to see more of them! I inhale good meta when I see it!

10 Albus Dumbledore Slash Recs

I do need some good Dumbledore slash fics in my life, and Squash provides. Such good fics on this list! Especially In Infinite Remorse of Soul, which I'm obsessed with.

10 Intro Slash Fics With 2nd person POV

I love this! Second person POV can be such a difficult one to pull off writing, or to properly get into reading, but when it is done well, it is done very well! And we can all thank Squash for putting together a list of goodies for us!

10 Snarry Recs with Sexposition

What a great list, wow. Snarry, for one thing, our shared OTP! But also...sexposition! Nice. Also: so many great fics. Wow wow wow. 10/10 rec list. (Haha. 10/10 for the 10 Snarry Recs. Look at me go.)

Some Snarry fics are seriously brilliant about using smut for plot exposition - they are indeed!

Comments Are Love / 5 Comment Recs

A very unique and special rec list idea! As a writer, I can assure you, comments ARE love. They are big love. And I love my commenters. It's also a reminder that comments are soul food not only for the creators, but can be so meaningful and impactful to other readers, as well! And an excellent reminder that this is a community. A community built on love.

for an explanation about Mutuals March, or to figure out why i wrote you a thing, please check out this post.

[thatmilkshakedragon]

Gonna talk about this guy for a second because I genuinely feel like no one is talking about this/ not enough coverage about the Deku headcannons made in the bnha/mha fandom.

I'm gonna spit it out now, I think Bakudeku is the most overrated ship I have ever seen, in any fandom, period. I also think that Deku is one of the most shit on characters by a fandom that doesn't really deserve to get shit on. There is so much I can say about this, but for the purposes of you, the reader, I'll try and keep this as short as I can.

ALSO GONNA SAY THIS NOW, MY OPINION IS NOT GOSPEL. SHIP BAKUDEKU IF YOU WANT, MAKE DEKU SAD EMO BOY IF YOU WISH, THATS YOUR CHOICE. IM JUST NOT GONNA WATCH YOUR CONTENT AND IM SIMPLY SAYING THE REASONS WHY.

OFFICIAL CONTENT WARNING FROM HERE : I will be talking about alot of sensitive topics in this post but the main ones I will be covering are Underage Sex, SH, depression etc. Also there will be slight spoilers for the show ( I haven't watched it so don't expect anything massive )

So let's talk about Boku no Hero Academia/ My Hero Academia. Alot of you know about this show already, but for those who don't :

Boku No Hero Academia/ My Hero Academia is an Manga Series turned anime, originally illustrated and written by Kōhei Horikoshi. In the series, we follow a Teenager called Izuku Midoriya (Deku for short) , who is a "quirkless" boy lives in a world of "quirks" (superpowers). He still dreams of being a superhero, and he gets scouted by his hero, "All might", who bestows his powers onto him after seeing his potential, and also helps to get him into a prestigious high school for superheroes in training.

Now in this anime, there is another boy called Katsuki Bakugo, who has bullied Deku ever since he was a child. When they were in middle school, the bullying did not stop, and now in high school they continued to be rivals/ Deku being bullied by Bakugo.

Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with headcannons/au's, in fact, I think headcannons/au's are one of the building blocks of fandom. But there is a certain point in which these Au's can cross a line, and unfortunately in the Bnha/Mha fandom, that line is crossed a fair bit.

Let's start with bakudeku, the thing that sparked this whole post in the first place. At the start of this post I said it was overrated, and I stand by that. The amount of hype I see of these two getting in a relationship fills me with absolute agony. THESE TWO AREN'T COMPATIBLE IN THE SLIGHTEST. Yes, Katsuki may have character development that I have not seen, since I do not watch this show ( the reasons why can get a post on its own ), but from the clips I've seen of Katsuki, he just seems like a huge jackass towards EVERYONE. The only people he does respect are adults who can beat the shit out of him, and that's really sad. Now let's get to Izuku. I'm not very sure but personally I don't think he will be shipped with anyone, at least not for the time being. Izuku seems focused on becoming a hero at the moment in the series, so I'd highly doubt that he will be getting into a relationship.

Now lets get into another reason for why Izuku is shit upon. The amount of Batsuit insane stuff that the Bnha/Mha fandom has produced. This segment doesn't just run for deku either, this can be for arguably every character in the show (besides grape guy everyone agrees he is a dick) Fanfiction is in my opinion, the core part of a thriving fandom, alongside Fanart and Headcannons, but the amount of fanfiction that has Izuku as a cat maid for todoroki or some shit along the lines of that IS INSANE. A bunch of these characters aren't aged up either, which makes it even more fucking gross. Like youre writing 2 teenagers fucking each other in their rooms which they still have like stuff up from when they were 10 or some shit. I do know about Japan's fucked up sex culture quite a bit, and how the age of consent is lowered there, but this is still a huge problem regardless.

Let's stop with the CP, and now go onto depressed Deku. I also see in the Bnha/Mha fandom, that there is a lot of content about Deku being depressed or like not mentally ok. In alot of these headcannons, there's usually an event where a character will find Deku's arms with giant slits on them, or they will find blood on Deku's clothes, and Deku will try and deny that he is depressed, or go into a massive breakdown. These headcannons usually involve Deku going to a mental institution to seek help, and along the way fall in love with a character ( I lied there's more ship content ) . My personal opinion, these are disgusting headcannons. Yet again, this guy is still in his teens, and you're putting him into crazy scenarios not many teens have.

The last point I have to make is the plague that this character made upon fandom. From Gacha, to Ao3 to Tumblr, the shittyfied Deku has taken over fandom spaces like these. The amount of gacha content surrounding Deku (usually in a relationship with a character) is fucking insane. For every 20 videos you can find on YouTube of Bnha/Mha, at least 15 will be bakudeku. There's not much normal content anymore on the fandom, because the shitty deku has taken over, and I find that really sad.

It's a genuine shame that Deku has been tested like this, because he seems like suck a great character for this anime, but the fandom has just betrayed him. It's saddening seeing the showrunners get harassed for not shipping Deku with anyone, rather then actually critiquing things wrong with the show ( like directing, writing, comedy etc ). Idk man, this whole thing just makes me really sad.

if you do need some guidance for your mental health, you're under 18, and you live in Ireland or the UK, then call ChildLine, they are a brilliant organisation who listens and lets you vent and lets you be heard. To find out more go to www.childline.co.uk for more info.

Please for the love of God reblog this I spent over an hour on it and it's 20 past 1 in the morning kill me 🤠

[bloomeng]

I was watching a video essay on SU Future and I was just reminded how much Future meant to me as it was coming out. I loved SU as a child but I sort of lost touch as I got older. It always meant a lot to me, seeing as it was a fundamental part of my childhood, but some of the glaring issues that became more apparent in later seasons endeared me less to the series. Back in middle school I didn’t really interact a lot with the fandom. I was just told from the sidelines that it was toxic and learned exactly why that was years later so I don’t really have anything to say about that. However, when SU Future came out, I was a senior in high school about to graduate during the pandemic. A lot of its themes resonated with me in a way that the rest of SU just hadn’t. The themes in SU had always been something that I really enjoyed and at times related to, but it didn’t feel as personal.

Side note about me, I’m not the kind of person who cries when I watch stuff even if it does make me sad. I can count on my hands the amount of media that has ever made me cry and by the end of SU Future I was sobbing and I had no idea why. Perhaps it was the timing or because it was the true end to a show from my childhood but that didn’t seem right, seeing as truthfully I emotionally checked out from this series years ago. At the time I didn’t really have the vocabulary to articulate why it was having such an impact on me. My life didn’t add up to Steven’s story in any tangible way that I could see. The only thing I could rationalize about why the series had such a big effect on me was that it was about change and growing up, and I was about to go off to college. Looking back I do think that’s a part of it, but I’ve come to realize it’s more complicated than that.

Pulling back from my personal experience for a minute, I was shocked to find out how many SU fans hated the series. I know at that point it had become this kind of the cool thing to shit on SU and Rebecca Sugar (which there is valid criticism in there) so I kind of took it with a grain of salt, but I was still pretty confused. I thought the series was actually very well thought out and uniquely reflective. To me, it made so much sense to explore this avenue given the nature of the show’s history. Because of course, Steven had years of pent up trauma and of course his savior complex lead to identity issues. And I was fascinated with the way this epilogue series interacted with our understanding of Steven as a character. What was once a cute little quirk of his personality was being fleshed out. We were finally seeing repercussions of the reality of self-sacrificing behavior. Whether it was the whimsy of kid logic or cartoon logic that blinded audiences, it was very overlooked that Steven based his entire personality and self-worth on helping others, and as soon as you take that away, issues are gonna arise. So personally, I thought it was brilliant to create a series where he was now older, and having to deal with the calmness in the aftermath of everything that it happened. Honestly, I think exploring that was more interesting than the series had been in years.

I’m not gonna pretend that it didn’t have hiccups, but all of SU had hiccups, and considering that, I would say this epilogue series ran way more smoothly than the last few seasons/movie ever did. And people critiqued the main series and movie, but the hard-core fans still stood by both, so I expected the same type of leeway to be given to Future. That did not happen. I kind of let it go because I never really participated in that fandom space anyway. Years later I came across a video essay talking about the series and they absolutely trashed it. So I revisited the series with their criticism in mind. I saw some of their points but I still cried at the end. 

One of the most common types of criticism that I see towards Future is that people don’t like Steven. I’ve seen this take range from extremely thought out points, to simply “I found him annoying and out of character.” I’m not ever here to police how you feel about a character but hearing that take over and over again, made me realize how few people seem to understand the actual intent of the series. You can be annoyed with Steven all you want but that’s also kind of the point? Mental illness isn’t cute. Trauma isn’t cute. Steven suffers from both and his actions aren’t supposed to be cute. I think the moment where it really clicked why all of this rubbed me the wrong way was when I saw a post from some random person online who pointed out that a lot of the traits that Steven shows in Future closely emulate traits of bipolar and bpd, both of which are highly stigmatized. I’m not saying he has either of those, the traits of mental illnesses overlap all the time and honestly I don’t think it’s important that we diagnose him, but I absolutely think that it’s worth noting. 

Steven’s behavior in Future is supposed to be uncomfortable. I think part of the reason why so many people had a negative reaction to Steven’s shift was— just like all of the characters in the series— they expected him to act the same way that he did when he was a little boy. It’s great to talk about mental illness when you’re discussing things like anxiety and depression but when the conversation steers into anger is generally where the line in the sand gets drawn. In some ways I understand because anger is often associated with violence, but anger is a factor for so many people when it comes to mental illness. Now that I’m older I realize the reason that Future resonated so much deeper for me was that I was seeing the nuance of a lot of complex emotions that I had experienced played out by a character I grew up alongside. So to hear so many people bitch about how annoying they found Steven was really disheartening. 

I just wanna put a quick disclaimer that I do not think that this is a perfect series by any stretch of the imagination. I think— like a lot of SU— it suffered from pacing issues and I don’t even wanna touch on Jasper. That’s a whole thing within itself. Bringing it back to the beginning and the first video essay that inspired this whole post, I came across a video essay talking about the positives of SU Future and it was a relief. I don’t really have anything intelligent to say on their video other than I liked it, and I recommend it (link below) but on an emotional level, it was just good to know that I wasn’t alone in liking this series.

[terresdebrume]

Right, I just finished watching dead boy detectives, so final thoughts are in:.

The writing in the first episode and a half is so bad. It's absolutely terrible, definitely assumes you're too stupid to retain an information you heard less than three times, and uses stupid exposition that's barely short of "As you know my friend, we are ghosts on the run from death". It's very annoying and nearly made me stop watching

If you can get past that, things get kinda better. I wouldn't call it brilliant by itself: imo the fact that our main characters are mixed race or queer is the most original bit. Stuff is still rushed because Netflix is allergic to more than ten episodes per season, but at least the sharing of information gets less annoying, which is nice

The characters are interesting and have some compelling elements that would have entirely enticed me if they'd had proper time to be developed instead of telling me what's wrong with each of them. Personally big fan of Niko and Charles, the first because she's a very sweet, loving and lovable weirdo, and the second because apparently I am not immune to a character being willing to cheerfully beat someone up with a cricket bat

Edwin, on paper, should have been a favorite (I like the repressed ones) except he suffers from In Love With My Straight Bestie syndrome, and while they do arguably have a solid queerplatonic relationship going on, I still don't like that trope. Not an issue for shipping, still annoying in itself

There's other things that I could have gotten behind if they'd had more time to develop (the Cat King bit, Monty's entire deal vis a vis the permanence of self, Tragic Mick) that will probably make me watch S2 if they make one, but because the most interesting parts of the show are likely to stay in the realm of fanfiction, I'm gonna have a final rating of "eh, why not" and turn to AO3 for satisfaction x)

ETA: I think it's relevant information that it's been four days and I'm still coming back to this show and I've been writing fic about it so. Not necessarily the best quality, but good fandom potential :3

ETA 2: Yeah it took over my life. Rest assured I am being appropriately roasted about it:P

[sevenhundred721]

YOU HATE DINOPANTS TOO???

YES SO MUCH! It just always is so reductive for the both of them. It feels like people get so into the idea that because they had an alliance they have to be coupled and because they have to be coupled that becomes the primary way they choose to understand Hot Pants as a character. I'm not super tuned into how the fandom treats Diego, but I do know that he gets boxed into a lot of tropes that largely come from DinoPants fans. Putting my thoughts on it under the cut :)

I feel like Diego retains some of his canon character in fan content because people care about the way he interacts with the rest of the male main cast from an at least somewhat analytical standpoint. Hot Pants really doesn't get that luxury because a lot of Jojo fans really aren't in it for the women unless they can ship them with somebody or offhandedly say they're kinda cool. People's perceptions of her are so distorted because they're only able to view her as Diego's goth girlfriend. They ignore her motivations and her story when it doesn't involve him. And the most important connections we see her experience are also ignored all for the most bland nothing heterosexual ship that they think is brilliant because the gender roles are flipped. They don't realize that if they fail to see the woman in a het relationship as a person outside of just her sexual role, archetype, and aesthetic they are being misogynistic. It's not unlike how manic pixie dream girls were treated in the early 2000s.

Hot Pants is one of my favorite fictional characters of all time. Her relationship to guilt, loss, and sacrifice are incredibly compelling. Using a character who is a nun to tackle what sisterhood can mean is funny. Her relationship with faith and the loss of a sibling can be compared and contrasted with Pucci's backstory and relationship with Catholicism. Faith is an important theme in Jojo, especially in parts 6 and 7. Jesus is in SBR and Hot Pants is a fucking nun sent from the Vatican secret service on Jesus scavenger hunt duty. She has a stand that explicitly requires an equivalent exchange, echoing her themes of sacrifice. She dies beautifully and tragically because she had to for her arc to be truly complete. I find it absolutely infuriating that at "best" I see people joke about this stuff and at worst they just completely ignore it and replace her with a plush doll who only talks when the string on her back is pulled by a male character.

Sorry if this is like... extreme, but I've been a massive fan of Hot Pants since I was around 16. And it feels like no effort is made on peoples' parts to understand her. Especially when most fan content of her comes with Diego. It really does feel like people see her as his accessory.

[ryttu3k]

for the ship game:

beckett/sascha

mina/jonathan

nines/lacroix

vykos/holzmann (aka Double Sascha)

[ship it or don't ship it meme]

Well that's a solid 'ship it' for all four. Let's go through 'em!

Beckett/Sascha

What made you ship it?

Literally, this exact passage.

Like yes okay funny haha 'hate fuck it out' and all but this passage is the bit that made me go, "Oh. They're parallels."

What are your favourite things about the ship?

They work so well together. Not just as a character dynamic, but in-universe. Once they stop trying to murder each other, they just click, and Drowning of Rasputin showcases that beautifully. They have shared passions but different approaches that coordinate extremely well, where Sascha gets Beckett to maybe act a little more analytically and Beckett gets Sascha to, um, not turn people inside out.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

Super not a fan of the like... pre-Dracon-extraction stuff where it's still extremely unhealthy, like I have seen some ship content that was still very much 'enemies' and not so much 'enemies to lovers'. Like I feel Beckett saw enough in Dracon!Sascha to save their unlife in Constantinople, but I can't see an actual relationship starting until they get through that.

Mina/Jonathan

What made you ship it?

Jonathan went from "I should get this recipe for Mina! :D" to "I would condemn myself to hell for Mina". Mina went from "My fiance wrote to me *dokis*" to "My husband is a goddamn beast *eyes emoji*". They protect each other, they look after each other, and they complement each other. They both have this really cool dichotomy of being both Very Victorian and also Very GNC And Also Sometimes Feral. They're both fantastic characters in how they're written and fantastic people in that I would 100% love to be friends with them. And they love each other and are devoted to each other with the force of a thousand suns and it'd be exceedingly hard not to super love both characters and also not come out of it loving their relationship, too.

tl;dr I took one look at how in love these dorks were and decided I was in love with their love.

What are your favourite things about the ship?

Oh, uh, I think I covered that above tbh XD

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

Don't think so! They're not a main ship so I'm not as hooked in to the fandom, though, so I'm not 100% sure what the unpopular opinions are.

Nines/LaCroix

What made you ship it?

Played Bloodlines. Nines was my favourite, LaCroix managed to worm his way into problematic favourite. Peered with interest at some fics on AO3 and realised I had promptly lost my mind and read basically everything on there and then I was just in way too deep.

IIRC it was We Don't Have To Like Each Other To Survive This by @iravaid that made me go, "Fuck it, I ship it."

What are your favourite things about the ship?

They're absolutely brilliant foils. Camarilla Ventrue Prince vs Anarch Brujah street prince. LaCroix has authority on paper but no respect. He's Prince of the city and he's so alone up there in his tower. Nines doesn't want on-paper authority, and so rejects the title of Baron. He wants to be a part of the community, and for the most part, he absolutely is. He has, quite naturally, the respect that LaCroix wants, just not the on-paper power to enact his desires. They each want or need what the other has. If they worked together? Damn, LA's enemies wouldn't stand a goddamn chance.

Ira has a really good post on how they work as foils here.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

Mmm not a fan of the non-consensual stuff but that's a disclaimer I have to give for any enemies-to-lovers ship, really XD;;

Vykos/Holzmann

Context: Sascha Holzmann is an OC based on a single sentence in Transylvania Chronicles II of Myca renaming themself after a fallen comrade who died fighting the Camarilla. You can read the bio I wrote for him here; the line from TCII is:

What made you ship it?

That little line from TCII. Myca is a walking clusterfuck of identity issues at that point. For them to take their entire name from someone means they must have been incredibly special to them, and that... stands out a lot. A lot of people must have died in that time. What makes this guy special?

What are your favourite things about the ship?

Rambled a fair bit on how I see them together in the bio/write-up linked above. With the caveat that lmao this is 100% a canon/OC ship... mostly it's the quiet support Sascha gives Myca? Myca has been Dracon!Myca for two and a half centuries at this point and I feel they no longer had much of a sense of identity of their own, and Sascha gave them the space to just... exist for a bit. No prying, no trying to Work Things Through, just being there.

Add on his values and what he stood for, wanting that freedom from manipulation, and I can see Myca seeing Sascha as... almost as an ideal? Someone who is free, who can act on their passions and values, who can advocate for themself as an individual, something Myca feels is no longer possible (based on @solivar's line in this phenomenal write-up: "I could not even pretend to be a self-willed child of Desire when my will was manifestly not nor could it ever again wholly be my own.") So the relationship they have, and taking his name afterwards, is a gesture of, "I'm intentionally and deliberately going to take his name as a way to represent his values, because those are values I want and need for myself."

I don't know, it's just a really interesting little tidbit from TCII that could spawn a whole lot of interesting stuff. The original Sascha had to have been so significant to Myca if they took his name, y'know?

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

lmao no because I made it up entirely.

[soopsiedaisies]

18, 22, 24 👀

Hiii!!

18-It’s absolutely criminal the fandom has been sleeping on…

Within the HP fandom, most things have already been done—but that doesn’t mean they’ve been done well or often enough in a fandom of this size, which means to me that it’s being slept on.

Personally I’m really interested in the Potter family and I just don’t see enough absurd theories about them. You’ve got this pureblood family that’s like… INCREDIBLY old: according to extended canon, they’re only two generations removed from the Peverell brothers (who were born about two centuries after Hogwarts was first established), considering Ignotus’ granddaughter married the first person in the family who took ���Potter’ as his last name.

The Blacks have SO many fics with HC’s about their Long and Beautiful (and Horrible) History, but the Potters (the paternal family of the main character) get like… what? A mansion, sometimes? Or all their power comes from their Peverell ancestry, or their Gryffindor ancestry, or whatever Old and Powerful Extinct Family is left. There’s only a couple of fics that explore some quirks other than their hair or bad eyesight, or explore some funny little ancestry, and I genuinely think that’s a shame. Let the Potters weird and/or creepy, please (with the ODDEST collection of stuff in their vaults)

22-Your favourite part of canon that everyone else ignores

This one’s difficult because, again, most things in canon have already been covered and therefore ‘everyone’ is obviously an overstatement… but dammit if I don’t love (and hate) all the memorial shit Godric’s Hollow. From a wider perspective, this is being discussed with some frequency (at least, in the fanfics and meta I read), but that mainly focuses on the hero-ification of Harry and his dead parents in general. But keeping the destroyed house up and putting a sign on it, and having a statue of a young family commissioned and placed in a cemetery feels… weird to me? Because like, who’s it for? Not for Harry, at least—especially considering he wasn’t taken to GH at any point in his life and had to go himself with Hermione whilst they were actively being hunted down.

The intent behind it I can sympathise with: it’s for wizards and witches to remember the end of the first wizarding war. But it just feels so… tourist trap-y. Imagine thinking it’s a brilliant idea to have a statue made of two dead twenty-one year olds and their baby as a memorial for the war they accidentally ended. Accidentally!!! I just KNOW that neither Lily nor James were thinking about the war effort when Vee broke in, only about the survival of their child. And their house still standing… I dunno. Like I said, I get it to some degree, but it also feels foul. Like this violent end and the sacrifice these people made for their son is something to gawk at.

That being said, it is one of my favourite bits in canon because it only underlines how fickle and nosy the wizarding world (and the world at large) is. I’m sure it was seen as respectful in-universe at the time, but it’s really just the cherry on top of the absurdity that is Harry’s fame. I really liked that bit in A Marauder’s Plan when the house was being cleared out and reality set in—the dishes, the towels, the toys, the newspaper… it all still lying there, at which point Bill questioned why the entire world had been celebrating the death of two young parents and elevating an orphan to hero-status. It’s just so… I dunno. It got some emotion out of me, at least.

24-Topic that brings up the most rancid discourse

Which ships are supposed to be the best, and which shouldn’t exist because they’re supposedly morally wrong. I’ve got a lot of tags blocked on Tumblr and I don’t frequent Twitter (sorry, ‘X’) so I thankfully miss the bulk of it, but just also… in general? Why are you threatening to dox people or sending death threats over a fictional SHIP?? Have you perhaps not yet developed the ability to predict potential consequences, or are you just a bully? It makes absolutely 0 sense.

[drawnaghht]

This 2021 SDCC panel is also one of the reasons I couldn't agree with some of the stuff tumblr posts last year had stated... which was mostly made up! ie "Stan didn't actually work on the show" or

Like you can see the joy emanating from their faces when Stan and the cast and other crew explain their parts in the show... I can't believe any of them would hate it, whether this was a promo video or not xD Like... you don't go to a SDCC panel of the show you made if you... absolutely hated working on it. idk, it just doesn't make sense. I get that seeing a show or characters from a fandom lens makes people hate that show/characters make stuff up about the show later (i.e. other fans hating on Yuichi Usagi, just as a concept, bc of the ship/shipping, I get it) but it just seems... so strangely petty. Plus non-shipping fans might have been mad that this was not a direct adaptation.... Again I get it! I've been there with other stuff. But whether a show is good or bad, it seems mean-spirited to just lie about the crew or creators of it. It's okay to admit that you had different expectations about it. Yes, it's aimed at a younger viewership and does not directly adapt the darker aspects of the comic, but, that's wholly because of circumstance (Netflix show) and the show is good despite that. Your view of it can simply depend, well, on your view on spinoffs and animation in general, when you watched, what mood you were in. Whatever opinions fans might have, this panel seems to suggest the cast and crew had a mostly good time on it. Unless everyone here is some sort of pathological liar.

More press coverage of the Samurai Rabbit SDCC 2021 panel:

IGN, Polygon (a few pics), Animation Magazine, Geek Network, AIPTcomics (I'll add any more I find if I find smth new)

Screenrant (announcement of the Comic-Con @ home lineup) longer article on AWN (2022, about the premiere with more pics)

also, Stan's interview with the SDCC blog in 2022

"UBLOG: Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles debuted its first season on Netflix, and has already been renewed. What was it like finally getting to see your characters come to life in that way, and how pleased are you that it was so well received? Sakai: We at Usagi Studios are very pleased with Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles. The protagonist Yuichi is a direct descendant of my Miyamoto Usagi who is featured very prominently and with a twist that I thought was brilliant. We worked very closely with Gaumont and Netflix, approving/adjusting scripts, designs, suggesting voice actors, etc. I even calligraphed (by hand) the logo for the series. Samurai Rabbit expanded on a mini-series I created titled “Senso” inspired by HG Wells’ War of the Worlds wherein the martians invaded feudal Japan instead. Japan took that alien technology and developed it, adding their own cultural elements. Samurai Rabbit takes place in the future with Yuichi a young samurai in training who worships his famous (or infamous) ancestor, Usagi. Like my Usagi stories, Samurai Rabbit is very character driven and the first season tells of Yuichi meeting what is to become his core group of friends as they battle yokai, the haunts and monsters of Japanese folklore. I’m so glad that a second season is coming up."

i cannot imagine Stan Sakai Lying. like. LEGIT i cannot so i don't get why ppl make stuff up abt the show. it hasn't been very egregious so far, just stuff in tags and reblogs, but still. weird. fandom is weird abt stuff like this lol! I also do not get the hate that the show itself and the character of Yuichi Usagi get for basically. Not being what people imagined in their heads of an Usagi Yojimbo spinoff. I kind of get that part, because when Avatar: LOK was previewed in 2011, I imagined such a vast and colorful version of the show based on just 2 art pieces, I was caught a bit off-guard by the 1st season's premiere, and completely let down by the 2nd season. So I get that part at least. Many articles seemed to suggest that this show would be an adaptation, and I am guessing this is where people's expectations rose ten-fold in a similar way to my 2011 self. From interviews, I sense that the crew had similar expectations when they joined: a Usagi aniamted project with Stan Sakai directly involved! I'd be asking to be on the show too if I'd been a Gaumont studios member at the time.

The mountain is high and it is hard to surpass. When Netflix ordered the show to be about a younger Usagi and gear it for a younger audience too, I find that perhaps the Gaumont and Usagi Studios crew also saw this. In a fan's eyes, almost no one could match Stan Sakai in his storytelling, and the crew are big fans of his work. So it would make sense that they started to see the show they were developing differently. Instead of something like the 2003 adaptation of Miyamoto Usagi, where they make him younger and change his story a bit, the SR crew saw an opportunity. Lets make it about a descendant and a whole different setting, yeah? So the show becomes something quite different, but more manageable now. The mountain seems more like a long trek than an unpassable task.

But it also seems from every interview and official release I've seen that most of the people working on the show really liked what they made and liked working on it, even if it wasn't a direct adaptation of Usagi Yojimbo, something most of the crew were a fan of already themselves.

also, the series was worked on at least since 2018. Yeah, it's aimed at a younger audience, but a lot of effort seems to be put into it anyway, from writing, acting and art aspects all-around, so it just doesn't seem like something that people would feel the need to lie about. it's a good show. It is just not a direct adaptation of the comics, that people have been wanting, or something "style adjacent" to the comics, e.g. what people expect of the comics (that it's only dark and gritty).

A 2019 comicon.com article sharing a facebook photo at Gaumont studios with Stan is the perfect example of this - "This studio is known for their work on the original Redwall animated series. Judging by the key art shown above and Gaumont’s location in Paris, I hope that the animated series will remain faithful to the darker tone of the comics." - of course an article by a reader of the comic would have something like this, but we can see as early as this, the writer is setting themselves up for higher expectations for the series. Which I don't find fault in, who doesn't want a cool animated adaptation of their favourite comic? But comparing a studio now to what the studio was 15-20 years before is like setting the reader up for expectations that are too unrealistic. Redwall is a beautiful adaptation, but each show/series will almost always have a different team of people working on, so from an animation work POV, it just seems like something unrealistic. Animation industry, both western and otherwise, has always been something that can't always cater to all interests.

not-so-hot take but: it's actually good that it's not a direct adaptation!

The expectations people put on any adaptations/projects based on an older thing, is probably also a huge factor in why both younger and older fans (both shppers and the fans of the comic) feel so terse about the series, when in reality, it's possibly the best result we could get for a netflix adaptation (if I look at any anime/manga live-action adaptations for example, netflix has sort of "dropped the ball" on many of these). The series having loose and not-so-loose connections to the comics canon basically ensures that nothing about the comics canon is ever changed much, or that Stan is never obligated to change the comic for the show. The comic and show are allowed to be separate, but the show is also an homage and open fanart to the comic.

This also means that whether viewers hate or love the series, perhaps having a non-adaptation og series based on the comic... means they will actually read the comic itself now. I see this with both liveaction and animated adaptations, but ppl usually don't pick up the og source material based on just one adaptation, and if the adaptation is good or faithful, they still won't - thinking of TMNT 2003 but also Rise series haters who insist Raph doesn't use Tonfa, when that was a og comics reference lol - there's no trust that the animation folk working on your favourite properties adaptation are ALSO FANS of the same thing. So the chances for that might be similar. If people are happy with an adaptation, they might be less likely to seek out more of it. But I just find this series an interesting attempt from that POV. It almost feels similar to what Transmedia Storytelling is explained as a technique - of telling a story across multiple platforms, adding something unique each time.

A direct retelling is different from an original piece or continuation set in the same universe. Imagine that Usagi Yojimbo, the original comic, is like a tentpole that readers gather around. As time grows on, different animated adaptations occur, some tabletop games, a theather play etc. Different media for Usagi to inhabit as a character and a concept. And then comes along Samurai Rabbit, wholly not an adaptation of the comic's stories at all, but something inspired of it, building on it, not changing it much, but still adding to the canon in its own way (the existence of the Ki-Stone in this show). It's different but it's entirely a work made out of love for the comic, and you can see it in the different aspects it adapts from the comic (the 2D sequences, the skull-death-bubbles, the references to the comic, how it shows Miyamoto Usagi) and how it approcahes the characters as a cast.

So because Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles is not a strict retelling of any of the comics narratives, it allows itself room to explore and grow as its own thing, while also loosely adding to the canon in an interesting and unique way.

I hope phrasing the show from that vantage point gives other existing a different view on it.

this show also credits everyone in the production, including even the 3D animation company (a lot of animated shows only credit the company itself, or at least used to do this a lot) so I think that speaks a lot about how the production sees the show itself. The people making the show are valuable and did well, whatever the reception is going to be. And genuinely, I hope it was actually a good experience working on the show for all of the cast and crew.

[transitofmercury]

I don't normally post personal stuff on here, it's very much a fandom blog and I usually try to keep it apart from my real life but since I've been pretty MIA from this blog for a couple months, I felt like I should just make a bit of a life update post for anyone who is interested.

I’ve actually been very active on Tumblr these past couple months, it’s just that I’ve been busy posting about Casualty over on @medicallymercury, which is a sideblog I made so that people who followed me over here for historical fiction don’t have to deal with masses of posts about medical dramas. Basically, I’m busy being stressed about my favourite idiot paramedic besties (who should be more than besties if you’re asking me) who are no longer besties because of what is essentially love triangle disaster drama. Things are a mess for them - unfaithfulness, not talking to each other, panic proposals, resignation letters, family drama and now EVEN MORE unfaithfulness - and you can expect me to come running back to the security of Atti and Orla’s relationship the moment this storyline takes a turn I can’t force myself to accept or the moment I get tired of waiting for this hiatus to be over. Here’s an edit I made of my beloved idiot paramedics + doctor and their messy, messy love triangle which is about to get messier:

(Expect some Atti/Orla edits soon, there’s a couple songs on the new Mitski album that made me think of them.)

[At risk of shilling for the BBC, anyone who’s got 50 minutes to kill should absolutely watch the improvised paramedic special from last year, Thin Green Line (on IPlayer and Dailymotion), which is brilliant and can be understood in isolation from the rest of the show and is focused on my favourite characters and their semi-found-family dynamic.]

Before my obsession with BBC medical dramas made it’s comeback, I had my exams. I think that went well, I mean I was very happy with my results, so… It was pretty stressful though, and I had a bit of a family crisis going on at the same time but things are all a lot more calm for me right now.

Next week is my first actual week of university, but last week was my welcome week. I’d say to expect a change in my posting patterns with the start of uni stuff but honestly I’ll probably be posting over here more than I have been for the past couple months. I’m studying History so I wouldn’t be surprised if that triggers a comeback of the obsession with Roman Britain and the Pulitzer family which is basically what this blog is for. University is going surprisingly well for me so far, I’m exhausted this weekend, but I’ve managed to talk to a lot more people than I expected to - I’ve really managed to put myself out there. Plus, my Horrible Histories movie obsession came to use during a History Society quiz - I knew that Boudica died at 31 and my team didn’t win but I was quite happy with myself for knowing that. The weirdest thing about uni so far is how many (posh) people have told me I have a strong Black Country accent, which is basically the opposite of what I heard from people who actually do have the accent throughout my entire childhood.

Basically: I know I’ve been gone for a while but that’s mostly been school stuff, followed by an out of nowhere re-obsession with Casualty, followed by more school stuff and I would like to think I’ll probably be more active on this blog again from now on, but who knows? I hope everyone who sees this is doing well!! <3