yuletide | Yuletide Fandom Promo 2024!

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yuletide fandom promo

Yuletide Fandom Promo 2024!

Welcome to the Fandom Promo post, everyone!

Here's where you get those eyes on your fandoms for sign-ups!

Share what makes your Yuletide fandoms the shiniest and why you love them. A big part of Yuletide is how small our fandoms can be, and this is a good way to make sure other people know what gems there are out there!

Cheju has started a spreadsheet for promo! Here's the link!

Here are some areas you can cover:

Title:
Please put your fandom's title in the subject of your comment, too. This helps people find your promo again.

Media:

Approx length:

Where to find it:
(If giving links, please only link to legal sources. You may want to encourage people to contact you directly if they are having trouble finding a canon and you can give them tips)

What is it, in summary?:

What do you love about it?:

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?:

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
This is at your discretion and is not expected to be comprehensive

(Bonus options: What are you thinking of requesting for this? If you're thinking of nominating worldbuilding, what sort of worldbuilding topics might people explore?)

Useful tip (Not required, but helps people if they want to engage with your fandom!):

- It's best to make each fandom its own entry with its own title in the subject line! That makes it easier for people to find/see what you're promoting! Don't worry about 'spam', that is the entire point of this entry and you're using it exactly as intended.

Previous fandom promo posts can be found at this tag!

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Funny story, I have a treasured series of all four paperbacks bought when they were first released, and I believe I nominated this at one point (but not for many years ago). Picture me heart-eyes-ing at you right now. I might even be tempted to add some of the side characters.

Title:
Witches of Thistle Grove series

Media: Novel series

Approx length: There are 5 books in the series, each one standard novel length.

Where to find it:
Anywhere books are sold!

What is it, in summary?:The Witches of Thistle Grove series is a 5-book series that focuses on the small, witchy town of Thistle Grove. Each book focuses on a different couple, how they got together (or back together), as well as magical plots that happen within the town and how the characters work together to resolve them. It has a vaguely overarching plot that does resolve in the last book, but it's probably fine to just pick up the one with the plot/characters that sound the most interesting to you, as they do give a little catch-up in-scene in each book about the last book.

What do you love about it?: It's honestly the best "Modern with Magic" books I've found in a very long time, and each of the characters in the series feel distinct and have unique connections to their magic and their relationships with others. The town itself is like an idealized version of Salem, and has such great witchy town worldbuilding. The writing is snappy but also has gorgeous setting and magic descriptions.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:Post-canon (no AUs), about the lives of the characters we got to know in the series. I'd love to see more of Thistle Grove, maybe see new festivals/holidays, or have characters interacting and working together. Basically, I want more of what the series gave me. Pre-canon as well as welcome!

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?:Since I am requesting 2 different couples (one from the first book, one from the third), you can pick up and read their individual books. The third might be a bit confusing but they do give some background, and you can pick up pretty quickly from there.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
It's an adult book series, not YA or Young Adult, so you'll find a mix of serious topics despite the overall lighthearted tone, although I'd only give strong warnings for the last one (metaphorical addiction, references to grief and parental loss). The rest of the books all contain some level of magic and people sometimes misusing that magic for plot relevant reasons, whether that be with violence or hexing, but it's all very standard for "modern with magic" adult books.

Title::
A Witch's Printing Office

Media:: Manga

Approx length:: 7 volumes total

Where to find it:: Anywhere manga is sold (also digital versions, which is what I read)

What is it, in summary?:: A woman who helps organize a fanmade manga / doujinshi festival in Japan (based on the real Comiket) gets transported to a fantasy land where she must use her skills in organizing a magical version of the convention to find the spell to send her back home.

What do you love about it?:: If you like reading about the manga/publishing/convention industry it's absolutely delightful. There are many scenarios that feel extremely real to anyone who has been in any sort of context related to conventions or publishing. The fantasy setting makes the commentary fresh and fun vs what's been done before (re: commenting on the publishing industry.)

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:: Just 'more adventures in the day in the life of Mika'! Especially focusing on the magical aspects of her world, printing press things, or doujinshi-related plotlines.

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?:: You only really need to read one manga volume to get it, although all of them are great!

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):: Fantasy-typical violence but it's not very common, she just has to run for her life sometimes but it's all very lighthearted.

Edited 2024-09-13 15:13 (UTC)

Title: Sherlock Holmes (US TV 1954)

Media: live action TV series

Approx length: 39 half-hour episodes in total

Where to find it: it's in public domain and up on Youtube! Here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmHgXUJMN1TVtqyVXJ4D3ozPxgwpV-UpQ

What is it, in summary?: it's a comedy canon (although with some considerable emotional depth in the best episodes, and occasionally quite unexpectedly dark) about a young, earnest, failboat-y version of Holmes. He can't play the violin! He can't fight! Watson has to teach him how to punch! He locks himself in a chest at one point! He's adorable. His Watson, played by H. Marion Crawford, is a smart temperamental BAMF. Their relationship is super domestic and they regularly save each other from danger. I love them unreservedly.

What do you love about it?: The H&W friendship is my favourite thing about the series. Apart from this, it's one of my top favourite Holmes adaptations because Holmes is young, cheerful, and constantly does some dumb shit because he hasn't yet matured into the put-together genius that is the popular Sherlock Holmes archetype. I feel like in some ways this characterisation is truer to the canon than a lot of other adaptations. Also, it's incredibly fun. It's such a cosy, feel-good production.

I also love the subtle angst the series has in places. Holmes trying to talk Watson into leaving him so as to not put him into danger. Oh, my heart.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: angsty, fluffy, intense, hurt-comfort-y friendship <3 The canon is generally quite light-hearted but I'd love the more dramatic parts elaborated upon!

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: yes. Basically just watch The Night Train Riddle, The Christmas Pudding, The Baker Street Nursemaids, and The Pennsylvania Gun, and you'll have grasped the essence of the series :D I would also recommend The Lady Beryl and Harry Crocker just because they're great. I'm not requesting anything related to a specific episode, so you don't have to watch the entire series to write for me.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): the series was co-produced by a woman and is fairly good about women's issues (for the most part - we don't talk about The Careless Sufragette), but other minorities are occasionally treated poorly. There are a number of fairly racist episodes, notably one featuring a Native American character and one featuring some Indian characters. They don't comprise the bulk of the series and not necessary to watch in order to fulfil my requests (I actually explicitly DNW references to them), but they're there.

Seems I forgot to log in AND also borked all the HTML 9_9

Title: Arthur Conan Doyle and Joseph Bell series by David Pirie (the individual novels are called The Patient's Eyes, The Night Calls, and The Dark Water)

Media: books

Approx length: it's a novel trilogy, the novels are fairly standard length

Where to find it: available cheaply on Amazon and I expect in other online bookshops too

What is it, in summary?: it's a mega Gothic Victorian pastiche about Joseph Bell, the historical prototype of Sherlock Holmes, and Arthur Conan Doyle. They're in a kind of Holmes and Watson relationship and solve crimes together (they're heavily fictionalized - they're really fictional characters rather than real people here). They're very angsty and their relationship is super intense and messed up. There's a Reichenbach and Doyle gets straight up suicidal over Bell's supposed death. I have been yelling about these books for years. Help

Technically the books are a novelisation of a TV series but no knowledge of the TV series is required to read them. The characterisation in them & the plots of the final instalments are very different.

What do you love about it?: the relationship between Bell and Doyle is the heart of it. But I also love how much historical research and love for the minutiae has gone into these books, and how wildly, unapologetically Gothic and old-timey horror-flavoured they are. If you enjoy protagonists haunted by tragedy, nature reflecting the mood of the hero, nightmarish dream sequences, and the like, you will like these :D

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: angsty intense hurt/comfort-y friendship! I thought you were dead feelings! Riffs on the Sherlock Holmes canon! Cathartic breakdowns!

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: no, you kinda have to read the whole thing

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): uhhh let's see. References to CSA, references to rape, gore, violence, instutionalized sexism, suicide, war trauma. I think this is it?

It must have been before the nominations were via AO3, since the tags weren't there. But something reminded me of The Girl with the Silver Eyes, and then trying to wrack my brain for the same era, I remembered this one... It's been so long since I've read The Great Rip-Off, I need to refresh my memory.

I have one space left and would be happy to nominate an extra! (Right now I've got Sidney, Joshua, and Samantha.)

Title: Hitman

Media: video games

Approx length: depends on how many of these you play, but the World of Assassination trilogy is an estimated 60 hours in total for a single full playthrough. They're short games, but they have tons of replayability. Absolution is also a couple dozen hours for a single playthrough, iirc. Blood Money and older games are a comparable length or shorter.

Where to find it: you can buy the first World of Assassination and older games on Steam and the rest on the Epic Games Store.

What is it, in summary?: it's a video game where you're playing a genetically modified bald guy who was designed to have no feelings but keeps having lots of them, especially about his handler. He kills people, occasionally in funny ways. It's a ton of fun, really pretty, and unexpectedly emotional.

What do you love about it?: Where do I even start. The relationship between Diana and 47 is delightful. Their whole platonic codependence handler-assassin deal is like catnip. 47 and the contrast between what he was made to be (the perfect killing machine) and what he actually is (still a human person with emotions, even if he's not always aware of them) is incredible. Also, you can crush some people to death in a grape press.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: friendshippy hurt/comfort-y gen. I like my Diana & 47 incredibly intense about each other but wholly platonic.

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: You don't necessarily have to play Absolution, Blood Money, or any of the older stuff (Codename 47 etc). I do love them but they're not essential to your understanding of the canon. The World of Assassination trilogy is mostly what my requests are based on.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): it's a game about assassination. It can be very gory, depending on how you choose to play.

Title: 墨雨云间 | The Double (TV 2024)

Media: television

Approx length: 40 episodes

Where to find it: https://www.viki.com/tv/40573c-the-double

What is it, in summary?: A Chinese costume revenge drama. Xue Fangfei's scholar husband attempts to murder her and buries her alive, but she survives. She ends up disguising herself as Jiang Li, the daughter of a powerful family who had been banished to the mountains, and returns to the capital to seek her revenge.

What do you love about it?: This show is gloriously gothic! It starts with the murder attempt during a storm at night in the mountains, and it keeps that melodramatic tone throughout. Fangfei is clever and careful, and allies herself with the viciously intelligent Duke Su for political machinations. I love the way she haunts her former husband (Shen Yurong), driving him very much mad by the end of things.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I really want to see Shen Yurong suffer! Nightmares, hallucinations, him going crazy with regret over his choices. Theirs was a love match, and I want to see his guilt over the murder.

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: Episodes 1-12 would be enough to fulfill the request. The plot wanders off for a while, before coming back to Shen Yurong around episode 29.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Yes, definitely. Bullying, violence, sexual assault, drugging, torture and enslavement of prisoners, forced marriages. It's all done in a melodramatic fashion, but it's a dark show.

Edited 2024-09-13 04:26 (UTC)

Title:
Wayfarers Series - Becky Chambers

Media:
Book series

Approx length:
Four medium-length novels and one short story

Where to find it:
The author's web site has links to places to buy all the books physically or digitally. May also be available from your local bookstores or libraries.

What is it, in summary?:
The Wayfarers series is a quartet of mostly-independent novels (with some minor character crossovers -- a background character in one book might be the lead of the next) set in the Galactic Commons, a loose confederation of spacefaring races come together to promote understanding and avoid violence. Humans are a relatively new arrival on the galactic scene, having made their homeworld uninhabitable hundreds of years ago and survived in the wealthy Mars colonies and the wandering Exodus fleet, but since their first meeting with the GC a century or so ago, they've been welcomed with open arms (and other appendages).

Each book explores the GC from the close point of view of a different group of people -- the crew of a ship punching new transit tunnels through subspace, a rogue AI trying to make a life for herself on a trading port, a cross-section of humans on the Exodus fleet trying to adjust to the changes GC membership has brought, a trio of travelers from very different backgrounds stranded together on a planet as a cascading satellite failure makes it impossible for their ships to take off.

The GC isn't a utopia -- far from it. AIs have limited rights and significant restrictions, and are in some ways considered more property than people. One race has a legitimate grudge against the GC for not granting them any kind of restitution for one of the founding species enslaving them and destroying their homeworld's ecosystem. Other races, including some GC members, have unpleasant customs or are pretty authoritarian. Wars still happen with non-GC civilizations, and other fringe societies have some pretty awful practices (one of the viewpoint characters was a cloned child labor slave on a fringe world -- cheaper than automation!).

But if there's one consistent thing to all the stories, it's that good faith and attempts to understand can bridge a lot of gaps. Someone's society may be odd, and their biology may be odder, but if you sit down to talk with them and are willing to let go of some of your prejudices, you might learn a lot.

What do you love about it?:
I've always loved explorations of alien psychology, culture, and biology, and these books have that to no end -- sometimes from the point of view of the humans, sometimes from the aliens. What's it like to be from a race that's symbiotically paired with a viral infection that lets you visualize five-dimensional spacetime but will kill you young? What's it like to be a touch-starved member of a casually intimate reptilian race in a galaxy of people who like much more personal space? Can the slow-moving galactic bureaucracy ever accommodate the only methane-breathing race known, whose needs are unique and whose lives are so short that multiple generations of leaders will live and die while their requests are stuck in committee? (And one of the few things that nearly every race can agree on is that the human food known as 'cheese' is conceptually horrifying.)

It's also a very LGBTQ+ friendly setting. Humans are casually established as gay or bi or trans with no trouble -- one viewpoint character has been married to another woman for over forty years, and the heroine of the first book ends up in a lesbian cross-species relationship. The various alien races have their own approaches to gender and sexuality, often informed by their own biology -- Aeluons have four biological sexes (male, female, neuter, and shon, who change between male and female); all Grum are born female, eventually transition to male, and then finally enter an 'in-between' state; Laru youths have no gender and only choose one when reaching maturity. There's a common set of gender-neutral pronouns used across the galaxy for non-binary or otherwise unspecified people.

And in general, it's just the overall vibe of the important things being the bonds between people. There's no grand evil empire to defeat or cosmic horror to defy, just people coming together to fumble their way towards a better future, getting to understand their own biases and faults and those of their society.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:
This year I'm primarily looking for stories about Speaker and her people, the Akarak. Her people have been without a homeworld for countless generations, unable to exist on the surface of a planet without protective suits, and now they've just gotten access to sims letting them genuinely feel what it's like to live unshielded out in the elements. That's sure to cause major reactions in their culture. Worldbuilding is also a prime interest of mine -- I love the exploration of the various races and worlds, and seeing more imagination along those lines would be great, either expanding on existing races or inventing new ones.

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?:
Each of the novels is fairly self-contained, though there are threads tying them together. Speaker's story appears only in The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, and reading it on its own would give enough information to work with. Worldbuilding could take from any of the books, though the more you've seen the more you'd be able to build on.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
The galaxy can be a rough place in some ways. Some things described in moderate detail in the books include child slavery, political exile, permanent injury, major and minor character death, unproblematic sex work, children with life-threatening injuries, homelessness, semi-graphic results of malnutrition.

Title: Birth (Video Game)

Media: video game

Approx length: 2-3 hours

Where to find it: Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1889040/Birth/

What is it, in summary?: A puzzle game. You are a lonely resident of a city, and you've decided to make yourself a companion out of bones and organs you find around you. This has you wandering around the city for parts, including into other people's apartments. You are alone. You will build a creature, a partner, a wet warm heart, a collection of bones.

What do you love about it?: It's both creepy and sweet at the same time. The puzzles aren't too hard, and the world is fascinating.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Relationship stuff between You and Your Creation, or possibly worldbuilding.

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: Not really, but it is short.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): None

Title: Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story

Media: App Game in Visual Novel Format

Approx length: 70 Novels is the estimated length for all the content (main story, events, character-centric mini stories)

Where to find it: The Official Game has closed, but you can find archives of the English translation on Magia Union Translations. There is an anime “adaptation” but it’s extremely different and downplays what I love about it, so I don’t personally recommend it.

What is it, in summary?: An Alternate Timeline of the Puella Magi Madoka Magica universe focusing on a new set of magical girls with appearances from old favorites. This Visual Novel’s Main Story includes the original Holy Quintet (Madoka, Homura, Mami, Sayaka and Kyouko), manga spin-off characters in special events (Tart, Oriko, Suzune, Kazumi) and over 100 new magical girls and their stories.

What do you love about it?: If you ever wondered what might happen to the original girls if they weren’t stuck in Homura’s time loop- this spin off is for you! Not only does it expand and develop those five outside of those constraints, but the newer cast is well-developed and interesting as well.

Personally I love the characters and I love this take on the Madoka Universe’s themes and world. The cast is like 95% female and the story is entirely driven by them, which I appreciate. There’s, of course, a lot of yuri subtext and some text too. The villains are multifaceted so if you love some disaster-causing lesbians there’s that for you too.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: character-centric pieces for favorite characters, ship fic for my fave Arc 2 disaster-causing lesbians

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: The event Green Jasper Diviners is a stand-alone event from Arc 2 that only really requires knowledge of the magical girl system in the universe to enjoy it. There’s a FanDub version of it in two parts (Part One / Part Two ) as well.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): No major content warnings. I will warn for the following: suicide attempts, suicidal ideation, minor character death, child abuse

They really are.

I may nominate "Ode To Billie Joe" as I love that song as well and could come up with many things for it.

I should have read more carefully! I don't know it but listened to it, and it is intriguing! (and agreed on the slightly weird lyrics)

Title: Where The Wild Things Are - Luke Combs

Media: Song

Approx length: Four Minutes

Where to find it:

Youtube

Lyrics

What is it, in summary?: A country song about two brothers and their relationship. The second most successful song on the album it appeared on (after Luke's cover of Fast Car).

What do you love about it?: The story it tells in the four minute length, the amount of possible story ideas and relationships that could come from it.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I have so many gen and other ideas for this song. In brief: Narrator & Brother, Narrator/Brother, Narrator & OFC & Brother's Child, Narrator/OFC & Brother's Child, Narrator & Brother & Mother, Narrator & Mother, Narrator/OMC, Narrator/OMC & Brother's Child, Narrator/Blonde (OFC or OMC), Narrator & Brother's Child - essentially all the gen and other ideas I have expressed as pairings though there just could be one or two I haven't thought of. But most if not all of these would be on my list. Some are expanding on moments/ideas in the song, some are a little more based on my own thoughts and ideas. I'd nominate the four characters that would allow the most of these but would definitely be nominating Narrator, Brother and Brother's Child - the fourth would likely be an OMC or an OC with ideas for both genders, I think, but this may change as I narrow things slightly.

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: No, not at all.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): One relationship could be incest (Narrator/Brother), and the Brother is killed at the end of the song. I think that's all?

Edited (Adding some explanation) 2024-09-13 06:52 (UTC)

Title: Phantasmagoria 2: A Puzzle of Flesh

Media: FMV video game

Approx length: ~4 hours

Where to find it: You can watch a playthrough here. It's probably not worth playing yourself due to some moon logic puzzles.

What is it, in summary?: Curtis Craig is a quiet young man. He has a steady job working for the WynTech Industries corporation. He has a lovely girlfriend, Jocilyn. He's been out of the mental hospital for exactly one year. All Curtis wants is to live a normal, happy life, but something seems to have other plans... Strange events, inexplicable and terrifying, begin to happen all around him. Curtis begins to doubt his own sanity, and the very fabric of reality. Then... The murders begin...

(Steam Summary)

Or...

Think Severance if it was made in the 90s on a budget of five bucks and instead of a writers room, it had... aliens?

What do you love about it?: Curtis is the first playable queer character EVER. The way it's revealed and talked about is really respectful – his therapist explicitly says it's not from his mom making him wear dresses as a kid. He also has fantasies of moving out to the country with a man and a woman, and living his best bi poly life. (see said man in my icon)

It's a low-budget B-movie horror where most of the "gameplay" is showing old Polaroids to your coworkers. But it has so much charm to it. Also, the game deals with false/altered memory, which I'm always a sucker for.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Curtis/Trevor, or Curtis/Trevor/Jocilyn. And getting Curtis on some damn meds.

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: It's pretty short so I'll just say watch the whole thing. BUT if you want to skip to Curtis' poly fantasies, that's here.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Gore/blood. There are many murders. Also, past child abuse which is discussed and flashbacked to. And unreality/possible psychosis.

Title: Rope (1948)

Media: Movie

Approx length: 1 hour 20 minutes

Where to find it: You can find it on archive.org, or on streaming services.

What is it, in summary?: Two men try to convince themselves they've committed the perfect murder by hosting a dinner party after strangling a former classmate to death.

(IMDB Summary)

Or...

What if gay people could kill (feat. Jimmy Stewart)?

What do you love about it?: It's a Hays Code movie that got away with a lot of gay. It was adapted from an English play, so the original script had the characters calling each other 'dear boy'. All of that got censored out, while... the rest of the movie remains.

It's also quite a tense thriller, for being set in one room. If you like Hitchcock – great, he made this. If you don't like Hitchcock – great, this isn't like any of his other movies.

Also, for film nerds out there – it's shot in one take (sort of)! They had to change reels every 20 minutes due to technical limitations, but it's disguised fairly neatly. It really feels like a play.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Obviously Brandon/Phillip, but also examinations of their relationships with the other characters.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Murder! It's based on the Leopold and Loeb murders. Also discussions of the Ubermensch and Nazi Germany.

Title: Clone High

Media: TV show

Approx length: 4 hours per season (so 12 total)

Where to find it: You can find the first season here, and the other seasons on streaming platforms.

What is it, in summary?: Historical figures who have been cloned and placed back in high school, including Abraham Lincoln, Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, John F. Kennedy and more, as they face the trials of normal teenage life.

(IMDB Summary)

What do you love about it?: It's a wonderful parody of teen dramas like Dawson's Creek. It's irreverent without being offensive (mostly) and isn't so much of a parody that it doesn't stand on its own.

Also, Seasons 2 and 3 exist. (Insert long rant here where I explain how I like the character and episode concepts but spit all over the execution.)

And the art style is really nice and shapey, even for the second two seasons which are animated on rigs instead of frame-by-frame. Other 2000s cartoons have a weird problem with character design and tangenting (speaking of tangenting, let's move ahead).

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Anything and everything! Ideally episode-style fics, or 'special episode'-style topics that were lacking in S2/S3.

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: The last episode of Season 1 teases Joan/JFK's relationship and sets up everything you need to know for the other two seasons. And S02E01 sets up the new characters pretty well.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Copious amounts of cartoon blood. Jokes about disability. Some rape/dubious consent in S02E08.

Title: Perfect Propose (TV)

Media: TV show

Approx length: 6 episodes, 25 minutes each

Where to find it: streaming at https://www.viki.com/tv/40542c-perfect-propose or https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/dp/B0CJN2GD5M

What is it, in summary?: Overworked programmer Hirokuni's life sucks, with an abusive boss, overtime, and a depressing apartment full of rubbish. But then Kai, his long-lost friend, shows up needing a place to stay. Kai's gay, Hiro's not, but friendship quickly turns into something more, with delicious meals along the way...

What do you love about it?: Kai and Hiro have wonderful chemistry, and an adorable relationship where each helps the other overcome their obstacles.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Post-canon Kai/Hiro continuing to be adorable. I like the old man who took Kai in as a child, and would love for him to be around as a grandfather figure. I'd also be happy if Kai and Hiro found out Kai's dad had another child that he also abandoned, and they adopt him/her. Or just Kai's adventures with balcony gardening! Today the tomatoes, tomorrow the world :)

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: No

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): The first sex scene is dubconny (it has no negative impact on the characters' relationship, but felt very 'welp, this was in the manga so, here you are') (I have not read the manga! But that's how it felt.)

Title:僕らのミクロな終末 | Bokura no Micro na Shuumatsu | The End of The World With You (TV)

Media: TV show

Approx length: 8 episodes, 25 minutes each

Where to find it: In Japanese at https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/dp/B0B6QNXSW1 or streaming on https://www.viki.com/tv/39229c-the-end-of-the-world-with-you

What is it, in summary?: An asteroid is going to hit Earth in 10 days and kill everyone; Masumi goes to the library and runs into his ex, Ritsu, who shattered his heart and broke his spirit ten years ago. One thing leads to another, they end up on a roadtrip to take home a teenager who'd gone to the ex's house to commit suicide after the idol he adored killed herself. There are a lot of coincidences but also magical realism (outright magic? /has an asteroid-sized tinhat about this), so it all works. The story is very much about suicide and the effect someone's suicide has on their friends and family, and about choosing hope even at the worst time.

What do you love about it?: I love how the four roadtripping characters (broken-hearted Masumi, suicidal asshole Ritsu, superfan Yuma who was devastated by idol Madoka's death, and Madoka's crossdressing brother Meguru) support each other, fight and make up, and ultimately all make it home before the end of the world. I love the way magic works, both to end the world and save it.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Missing scenes from canon, post-canon speculation (does the world end or not? What exactly is Yuma?), Ritsu/Masumi, Yuma/Meguru (Yuma finding Meguru's Instagram, or taking pictures...)

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: No (IMO the manga is mostly the same as the show, but I'm not sure it's available in translation)

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Suicide, suicidal thoughts, child abuse, homophobia, injury

Title: みなと商事コインランドリー | Minato Shouji Coin Laundry (TV)

Media: TV show

Approx length: 2 12-episode seasons, 25 minutes each

Where to find it: AFAIK it's only streaming on https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/dp/B0B64K4CZ1 (LMK if you want more information)

What is it, in summary?: Shin, a 3rd-year high schooler, finds out laundromat-owner Minato (a decade older) is gay and starts pursuing him relentlessly. Minato is haunted by his own shame over a teenaged crush on his male homeroom teacher. It's cute and has lots of manga-esque tropes (ye olde tripping onto someone and kissing them instead of having an urgent dental emergency), and the pacing can be slow and my GOD the misunderstandings, but it's fun and the actors work well together. I also enjoy the side couple, Shu and Asuka, who bond over Shu's special interest in architecture.

What do you love about it?: I like the characters! I'm aware people find Minato's inability to come to any decision without some catastrophe frustrating, but one of the things I like is how being out works for queer characters in canon. Shin's family seem totally accepting of him and his thirst for his laundromat owner; at school Shin and Asuka are kind of out to the one weird fujoshi classmate; and then Minato has been fiercely closeted his whole life and has huge problems with intimacy and desire (canon doesn't delve into why this is, so it's fertile ground for fic speculation) which leads to him always running away. I'm not a huge fan of labeling characters, but Shu reads to me as demisexual, working through confusion over his feelings with Asuka, Shin, and his uncle Takayuki. /my thoughts

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Post-canon Minato/Shin and/or Asuka/Shu, as they take further steps in their relationships. (telling the family? Celebrating holidays? Having friends over for dinner? Getting a cat?)

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: No (if you have read the manga or light novels, hiiiii, I personally am fine with those canons or references to those canons (I've read 2 of the 3 the light novels, one anthology, and the manga to date and am *here* for the bodyswap and/or deaging shenanigans). If you've read the manga in translation, I'm aware it's behind the Japanese; lmk if you want me to fill in what's happening. I translated some of the recent online chapters on FFA.)

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): none that I recall

Title: กฎแห่งรักดึงดูด | Laws of Attraction (TV)

Media: TV show

Approx length: 8 episodes, 60 minutes each

Where to find it: *may require VPN to view* (each episode posted as 4 15-minute episodes is also available on the official YT channel; too many links to paste here, but if you want them, ask me!)
Ep1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyOgp815xC4
Ep2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9857NTh8ZM
Ep3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XRQa6gzavA
Ep4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOr62-hHCag
Ep5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_OjfWcdqxI
Ep6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVro-4FM6A0
Ep7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVAo_6sfq0w
Ep8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t91VTJCA2g

What is it, in summary?: Tinn's niece is victim of a hit-and-run; the driver's politician father tries to pay him off and bury the incident, but he's intent on getting her justice. Charn, the devious lawyer hired to deal with Tinn, gets in his own trouble with the politician and switches sides. Together they work to uncover the truth. (Or do they???)

What do you love about it?: Whump! Betrayals! Loyalty! Explosions and car chases! The main couple of Tinn/Charn is great, as are the side couples (Charn's best friend and her girlfriend; the politician's abused son and his bodyguard). The story can be lighthearted at times, but Tinn and his grandmother's grief over Tonkhao's death was also very real and present (as was Charn's grief and guilt over his mother). Charn's ex Nawin is a violently unhinged delight.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Charn/Tinn getting in trouble again. Tan/Thee recovering and moving forward. Rose/Maya's wedding!

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: No

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Child death, murder, gun violence, physical violence, child abuse

Title:
The Adventures of Tintin

Media: Comic books - both the black/white and the colourised versions.

Approx length: The black/white comics differ a bit in length, but are a bit over a 100 pages each. The colourised versions are 62 pages. There are 9* b/w comics (including the infamous "Tintin in the Land of the Soviets" & "Tintin in the Congo") and 22 colour versions (including "Tintin in the Congo"). Because Hergé, the author, died in 1983 the canon is closed; he didn't want anybody else to continue on the series after his death. Hence why I'm not including the unfinished "Tintin and Alph-Art", as it really only consists of more or less finished doodles and notes. The "finished" version floating around the internet is a bootleg version.

*However, for reasons unknown, only five titles have been published in English. But if you speak French, they're definitely all available in French.

Where to find it: In libraries and book stores. I can't remember if there was made e-book versions recently, either way the comics are best enjoyed as a physical media (European comic books are much bigger than American ones. Each Tintin-book is appr. 23,5x30,5 centimetres and are available in hard cover).
The Wikipedia article is also a good place to start, although it'll never beat reading the albums. ;)
Also, the series has been translated into more or less every language, including regional dialects. ;)

What is it, in summary?: A young, Belgian reporter travels all over the world and solves crimes, goes on expeditions, saves the day/his friends/the world...
In the beginning it's just him and his faithful dog Milou (Snowy in English), but as the series continued, the amount of stock characters grew, and from "The Crab with the Golden Claws" he's accompanied by Captain Haddock.

What do you love about it?: The well-executed plots, the historical context, the humour and the attention to detail in the drawings. (Hergé basically founded an entire school of drawing called "la ligne claire" - the clear line - which is marked by a certain, slight stylisation, all unnecessary "frills" are removed. Doesn't mean unsophisticated, almost the opposite. There's attention to detail, but in an elegant, minimalist way. For a famous example, check out the cover of "Destination Moon".)
That you can both read the stories with your slash-goggles on, or not.
Because of the then laws about shielding children from unwholesome content in comic books, Franco-Belgian comics from that time period are devoid of female characters that in any way could be construed as love interests, meaning that we have basically all-male casts navigating in all-male worlds. A notable exception in this series is the formidable opera singer Bianca Castafiore, "the Milanese Nightingale", who OTOH is portrayed as so much older than Tintin that not even the most zealous censor could claim she was his love interest. Instead the teenage boy just lives in a castle with a much older man whom he isn't related to by blood...

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Stories that fill out gaps in canon (of the "wonder what happened between this and that event in the story"-variety). Life at Moulinsart (Marlinspike Hall in English). I'm almost equally likely to request smutty/shippy fics as I am to request stories exploring the friendship between the characters.

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: As I am an unapologetically shipper of Tintin/Tchang, you can more or less just go directly for "The Blue Lotus" and the magnum opus of the series "Tintin in Tibet" (with a side of page 5 in the following book "The Castafiore Emerald" where he receives a letter from Tchang). For "daily life at Moulinsart", read "The Castafiore Emerald".
In case of either Tintin/Haddock or the friendship between Tintin and Captain Haddock, I'd say the albums "The Crab with the Golden Claws", "The Shooting Star", "The Secret of the Unicorn", "Red Rackham's Treasure", "The Seven Crystal Balls", "Prisoners of the Sun" and "Tintin in Tibet" should cover it, more or less. (Along with "The Castafiore Emerald" for that glimpse of daily life, along with the beginning of "The Calculus Affair".)
As for the lovely late addition to the cast, Estonian pilot Piotr Szut, he appears in "The Red Sea Sharks" and "Flight 714 to Sydney".
Tintin's arch nemesis Rastapopoulos appears in "Cigars of the Pharaoh", "The Blue Lotus", "The Red Sea Sharks" and "Flight 714 to Sydney". Another antagonist, Müller, appears in "The Black Island", "Land of the Black Gold" and "The Red Sea Sharks".

The series can sort of be divided into different groups, depending on what you want to focus on:
"Tintin on his own": The early volumes from "The Land of the Soviets" through the first half of "The Crab with the Golden Claws". These are also the stories with the most visible inspiration from Real Life events (hello Bordurian dictator "Müsstler" in "King Ottokar's Sceptre"!)
"Tintin and Haddock go on fantastical adventures": From the second half of "The Crab with the Golden Claws" and onwards.
"Tintin and South America": "The Broken Ear", "The Seven Crystal Balls", "Prisoners of the Sun", "Tintin and the Picaros".
"Tintin and Eastern Europe": ("The Land of the Soviets"), "King Ottokar's Sceptre", "Destination Moon", "Explorers on the Moon", "The Calculus Affair".
"Tintin and the Middle East": "Cigars of the Pharaoh", "The Crab with the Golden Claws", "Land of the Black Gold", "The Red Sea Sharks".
"Tintin and the supernatural/fantastical": "Cigars of the Pharaoh", "The Blue Lotus", "The Black Island", "The Shooting Star", "The Seven Crystal Balls", "Prisoners of the Sun", "Tintin in Tibet", "Flight 714 to Sydney". (The supernatural/fantastical events in these stories range from "there was a natural explanation all along" to dreams of vengeful mummies, a yeti and aliens!)

Content warnings: The series can't always hide that it was created between 1929-1976. Especially the first couple of albums ("Tintin in the Land of the Soviets" through "Cigars of the Pharaoh") can be...interesting... to read in 2024. Keep in mind, though, that the first three albums were essentially dictated by the editor of the newspaper where Hergé worked, and that Hergé himself was very young at the time. (He was going on 22 when he began the series.)

From "The Blue Lotus" onwards he became more conscious of doing proper research, to a degree where he did several "George Lucas" on some of the albums, from not wanting "The Land of the Soviets" to be reissued, to reworking a couple of the albums. Most notable is "The Black Island" which was brought up to date in the 1960's, whereas it originally was set in a pre-war Britain. He also agreed to redraw a page of "Tintin in the Congo" for the Scandinavian publisher, so the rhino doesn't get blown up (! As happened originally!) but instead is scared off by a gunshot.
I'd also argue that one could read the early works and just as easily laugh at the old-fashioned, colonialist, anti-communist, views expressed there. Or they could be used as an argument for portraying Tintin as a violent brat, if you so please. ;)
As historical documents, however, I do think they should be read. Both to see how Hergé developed as an artist and a human, but also to see the views held by a colonial power in pre-war Europe.

It also should be noted that alcoholism is a pervasive theme once Haddock makes his appearance. He's at his lowest in "The Crab with the Golden Claws", but his thirst for whiskey (or other hard liqueur) plays a role especially also in "Red Rackham's Treasure" (where it's purely for laughs) as well in "Explorers on the Moon" where the result of his drinking is almost fatal. (Yes, it's a series where people sometimes die, although none of the main cast ever gets seriously hurt, and it's never graphic.)

Drug addiction and drug smuggling are also touched upon in "The Blue Lotus" and "The Crab with the Golden Claws". In the former we also see the inside of an opium den, although this being a very wholesome comic overall, it's probably the nicest and cosiest opium den you'll ever see. ;) (But we do see people lying on mattresses smoking opium/passed out from smoking. Although, again, the harshest facts are glossed over somewhat by the people smiling beatifically and looking like they just take a nap! *g*)

Also note that the stories I grouped in the "supernatural/fantastical"-category feature themes such as medically induced madness, a giant spider, human sacrifice almost taking place and one brief sequence where all the protagonists dream of a mummy coming alive.

But to round this off: The wonderful thing about this fandom is that you can choose a very kid-friendly "nobody ever dies"-approach or a grittier, more realistic take, and both views can be supported by the source-material. :)

Title:
My Sweet Devil (2003)

Media: 3 Part Movie series (an hour and a half total, so just one movie divided up into 3 parts really)

Approx length: Hour and a half

Where to find it:
It is an out of print movie but there is an English subtitled version on archive.org. Full disclosure: It's my fansub I did after watching it unsubbed and loving it. I recommend searching on archive.org with quotations ("My Sweet Devil") as otherwise you get so many results.

What is it, in summary?:
A low-budget indie tokusatsu (practical special effects- think Godzilla, Power Rangers, original Star Trek) movie about a woman who gains demon powers in order to fight demons.

What do you love about it?:
It is so genuinely filmed and written even though the budget is an empty Ito En bottle and a handful of yen coins. The costumes are clearly where the budget went, and there are really great emotional moments, even amidst the cheesiness of 2000s tokusatsu. It feels like a snapshot of a time in how "I am cringe but I am free" it is.

What sort of things are you likely to request for it?:
So it has an open/ambiguous ending, so I'd love post-canon, but I also wouldn't mind "during-canon" where Maki and her mentor (I could not for the life of me remember his name so I guess we will make one up lol) fight more demons or just live life with the knowledge they have magic demon blood and what that means for them. Also Maki has a fellow female demon-fighting friend - what's her deal?

Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?:
I recommend watching the whole "movie" (3 parts), it's only an hour and a half.

Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence):
BIG heads up on sexual violence - these sort of indie filmed tokusatsus featuring women unfortunately featured that a lot. While the archive.org versions are censored and thus a lot of the actual on-screen assault isn't there, it is either hinted at, or you see groping. An incubus (and the consent issues there) is a main villain. Also, fighting-genre typical violence and blood. First part of movie references an unspecified terminal illness that is cured.

Edited 2024-09-13 15:17 (UTC)

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Page 8 of 19

Yuletide Fandom Promo 2024!

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