Fandom Promo
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ficinaboxUse this post to promote your fandoms to others or to ask for recommendations! Feel free to link to legal sources for your fandoms :)
A non-complete list of things you may want to include:
A non-complete list of things you may want to include:
- Fandom name
- What medium is it and where to find it
- A summary (try to avoid major spoilers)
- Content warnings
- Why you like it
Feel free to copy over promo posts you've made in other exchanges!
1632 Universe
Date: 2022-08-26 04:52 am (UTC)What and Where: Books. The series is long, but some of the stuff I plan to request only requires knowledge of the first book, and/or knowledge of 1630s Germany. Find it at your local library or bookstores.
Summary: On the eve of the turn of the 21st century, a small mining town in West Virginia is whisked off through time and space to 1632 Germany in the middle of the Thirty Years' War. They quickly realize they're not in
KansasWest Virginia anymore, and seek to establish a place for them and for refugees fleeing the war. Of course, things escalate into a full-blown alternate timeline, and the rest of the series expands on those changes.Content warnings: War and violence. Period-typical xenophobia and anti-Semitism (though usually not graphic). Discussion of sexual violence. Some excessive patriotism from US-born characters. Those are the big ones, but there are several smaller ones throughout the books. Please feel free to PM me if you need to be warned specifically about something.
Why you like it: This is a very well-thought-out universe, with an enormous cast of characters who are all well-developed. Flint is clearly passionate about creating speculative fiction that centers blue-collar and working-class characters without making them caricatures, and it's also clear that he reaches out to other writers when they have areas of expertise he lacks (e.g., there's a book co-written with someone else all about opera and composing). Threads of plot are rarely left untouched, which makes for a rather sprawling series, but it's very thorough and if you find a thread you like you'll probably be able to follow up on it. While characters do die, there's a good balance between "plot armor" and "realities of the Thirty Years' War." Characters who were born in the 1900s aren't automatically better at things than characters born in the 1600s, and both groups learn from each other a lot. Also, there are maps in all the books, which I personally love.
Re: 1632 Universe
Date: 2022-08-27 03:57 am (UTC)Re: 1632 Universe
Date: 2022-08-27 03:58 am (UTC)Marvel Adventures!
Date: 2022-08-26 05:00 am (UTC)A happy universe where Tony and Steve never fight, everybody lives in the Tower, plays videogames together, while Spider-man cracks jokes, Wolverine drinks beer and Hulk has kitties, but Howard still sucks!’
What is this?
Marvel Adventures was a comics line focused on younger readers, published from 2006 to 2012. There are no overarching storylines and no complicated continuity. The relevant titles here are the 39 issues of Marvel Adventures: Avengers and Marvel Adventures: Iron Man, a shorter comic clocking at 16 issues and boasting one of the worst Howards in the multiverse. No, seriously — he left his family without any savings when his company went into bankruptcy and Tony had to bring it up from the brink. Then of course he was kidnapped because this is the life of Tony Stark and that’s how it goes.
This a ‘verse where our fearless heroes deal with complicated dramatic issues like Batroc’s dating site, chasing pigs around a fair, helping the IRS catch tax dodgers, and that one time they all turned into MODOKs. The Avengers in this universe are a classic line-up with some more modern additions: Iron Man, Captain America, Giant-Girl, Spider-Man, the Hulk, Wolverine and finally, classing up this joint, Storm. Other heroes show up from time to time and Luke Cage and Tigra join the team near the end of the run. You also have a wide variety of classic villains in their silliest versions, and new villains such as Karl, the recurring evil minion, because these Avengers are so darn nice they even get along with henchmen.
What this means is that Tony and Steve get along all the time, with a low-key, calm dynamic where Steve gets Tony to set up charities and Tony mocks Steve but only a little. Their dates involve eating hamburgers in the park, playing basketball and, of course, defeating villains who were harnessing the evil power of spam calls.
It’s wholesome, it’s hilarious and Tony Stark still has an awful backstory. What’s not to love?
Something Dark and Hoky Series
Date: 2022-08-26 03:20 pm (UTC)What medium is it and where to find it: theyre books! you can find them on Amazon or your library, and if you can't find them talk to me!!
A summary:the series in set in fantasy!russia and fantasy!poland, two countries at war because of religious differences - fantasy!russia has a pantheon of gods and clerics, figures that are able to communicate and wield the gods' powers, while fantasy!poland has said "fuck this shit" and invented magic of their own, which upset the gods and caused war for the past few centuries. our protagonist is nadezhda "nadya" lapteva, the last of the clerics, able to commune with the entire pantheon, and who leads a mostly normal life in the monastery where she was abandoned at - until the prince of fantasy!poland comes knocking to kill her. nadya flees, and ends up meeting a mysterious soldier from fantasy!poland, alongside his two traveling companions.
Content warning: blood, self harm, heavy body horror in later books
Why you like it: I like the cast - they're a bunch of extremely competent people, who also happen to be a few of the biggest losers you've met. I also like the magical systems - both feel rounded and robust, and although they're not the main focus, you can still feel like they make sense. idk I just really like these books
A Gathering of Dragons - Milla Vane
Date: 2022-08-26 03:40 pm (UTC)Bookseries (two books that are part of a yet-to-be-finished trilogy, some novella's. Available in bookstores and as ebooks).
Genre: BARBARIAN FANTASY ROMANCE.
Summary:
A generation ago the Destroyer raged over the world and left a trail of death, dark magic, and destruction. The Destroyer was barely held back by several tribes, city-states and people forming an alliance, and while it worked, the politics and scheming make the peace and cooperation fragile.
Now the world is slowly recovering, but rumors grow that the Destroyer might be returning. So when a people's leaders are murdered it sets the alliance tumbling at the worst possible moment. Unless the marriage of convenience between a Barbarian leader and a cast-out City-State queen can restore the balance and start a true alliance to fight back against the Destroyer.
Oh, and DINOSAURS.
Book 2 builds further on the world and the political movements and the return of The Destroyer, featuring a new romance.
Content warnings: Vivid Violence, references to sexual assault/rape, and emotional or physical abuse. The author has a really good content warnings list here https://millavane.com/books/content-warning/
Why you like it:
Barbarians! Falling slowly in love! Politics and assassinations! A complicated motive about the value of truth. A loyal group of bodyguards that's called a Dragon! Gods meddling in human affairs! Lots of Warrior Women (esp in Book 2) DINOSAURS.
Canonically bi characters who love each other but who swore an oath of loyalty to their King who they serve together, so they fuck other people together while never acting on the love between them.
Some prominent tropes: Found Family, Marriage of Convenience, Post-Apocalypse, Enemies To Lovers (Lovers to Enemies to Lovers in book 2), Loyalty Kink, Animal Companions
THREE FANDOMS!
Date: 2022-08-26 04:49 pm (UTC)Medium and where to find it: A roguelike video game you can find on Steam
Summary: Play as different girls trying to survive monsters until dawn arrives
Content warnings: Spooky eldritch vibes, some flashing lights/effects
Why I like it: The game is very charming! It has a limited color palette with animated pixel art, and the soundtrack definitely puts you in the mood for some monster shooting. When you get the skills synergy going, the experience is extremely satisfying. There's very little worldbuilding right now, which leaves it open for a lot of headcanons. Besides, it's always fun to be your own bullet hell >:3c
Fandom 2: Vampire Survivors
Medium and where to find it: Another roguelike video game you can find on Steam
Summary: You gotta survive the whole host of minions the vampire throws at you (no vampire has been seen yet. they're cowards.)
Content warnings: A LOT of flashing lights and effects
Why I like it: It's another roguelike where you're the bullet hell, and when you get that synergy going, it's the most satisfying feeling in the world. It has a ton of characters and weapons to unlock, and right now the game has 10 different stages. Some monsters are unique to certain stages, and some stages have different rules. The game is also very funny, with a silly humor that appears more and more as you play. It has an incredible amount of content for the price, and the dev is working on a story campaign as well. You might be a little put off by the "old-looking" pixel art, but trust me, it grows on you!
Fandom 3: Thalasso Hobbyer
Medium and where to find it: A youtube channel
Summary: Thalasso Hobbyer is a crafter who makes dioramas. Most of them are water themed, with monsters.
Content warnings: Spooky vibes, monsters, and lots of water.
Why I like it: There's something really satisfying in watching someone make a diorama from scratch, and how the raw materials end up making such a beautiful piece. Some of the videos have a little bit of story in them, which makes them the perfect playground for some worldbuilding or headcanons or pretty art. I've nominated things from four specific videos, which together will take you around an hour and a half to watch in 1x speed: Forgotten Shrine, Castle of Silence, The Well That Never Runs Dry, and Prayer Ruins.
4 Hong Kong drama fandoms
Date: 2022-08-27 04:33 pm (UTC)鹿鼎記 | The Duke of Mount Deer (Hong Kong 1984)
Title: 鹿鼎記 | The Duke of Mount Deer
What is it?: A 40-episode live-action historical/wuxia comedy-drama (based on the novel 鹿鼎記 by Jin Yong), made in Hong Kong and starring a very young Tony Leung and Andy Lau.
Where to find it?: For an English-subbed version, message me or check my journal. :) There are also box sets on eBay, and if you don't need English, it's free to watch on TVB Anywhere with Chinese subs.
Summary: In brief, the premise is that two boys meet one day on the grounds of the palace court at Beijing, circa 1650 or so, and become wrestling buddies. Both of them are hiding their real identities. One is actually the young emperor of China, while the other is a mischievous trickster kid who grew up in a brothel and is now being used as a spy... by rebels who want to overthrow the empire.
The series is an adaptation of Jin Yong's final novel, which is a wuxia anti-epic that subverts a lot of the traditional tropes of the genre. Much like the novel, the show is irreverent and comical and chaotic, but along the way it also explores some serious themes, building out from a sort of prince-and-the-pauper setup where a kid from the lowest level of society gets thrown straight into the highest possible social sphere.
I recently wrote up a fandom promo for this series (on
Content warnings: (highlight for spoilers) * Sexism, forced relationships/marriages (the protagonist collects a harem), strongly-implied rape. Some fantasy violence and death (nothing graphic).*
What I love about it: I love the continual back-and-forth pull of affection and conflict between the trickster kid (Wai Siu-Bou) and the Emperor, and how they both keep trying to sustain the fiction of an equal friendship despite the massive power imbalance between them. I love the moments of trust and distrust, loyalty and betrayal, the identity porn, and the (both physical and metaphorical) sparring. Their whole relationship arc is just beautifully fraught. If you can suspend your disbelief a bit and ignore the low-budget sets and bad wigs
and sexism, it's a great show, and an absolute disaster OTP that has delightful subtext and deserves so much more of a fandom. <3老洞 | The Old Miao Myth (Hong Kong 1983)
Title: 老洞 | The Old Miao Myth
What is it?: A supernatural mystery/horror/suspense series set in 1930s Shanghai, made in Hong Kong and starring Andy Lau, Ray Lui, and Patricia Chong. The number of episodes depends on which version you watch; runtime is ~14 hours.
Where to find it: For an English-subbed version, message me or check my journal. :)
Summary: The plot of the series centers around a mysterious statuette, 老洞 ("Old Cave"), which is said to bring wealth and protection to whoever guards it. When the story starts, the Tse family has had the statue for nearly 20 years and is the richest and most powerful family dynasty in Shanghai, but many other people know where the statue is and are scheming to get hold of it. Meanwhile, there’s also a perpetually-shifting love triangle going on between the youngest son of the Tse family (who's been entrusted with protecting the statue), his mysterious new best friend (who is secretly scheming to steal the statue), and their mutual love-interest. All of them get caught up in a lot of tragedy and are never really sure who they can trust.
Content warnings: The plot hinges significantly on the stereotype of non-Han peoples having supernatural (and potentially evil) powers. (I'm requesting fanworks that avoid or subvert this, as far as possible.) More spoilery warnings: (highlight for to view) *Constant tragedy. Nothing graphic, but LOTS of death, including murder, child death, and suicide. *
What I love about it: I love the horror vibes and all the trauma the characters go through, as well as all the romantic drama and conflict among the main three characters — particularly the two guys, whose rather ill-advised friendship begins right after deaths occur in each of their families, each caused by someone in the opposite family, initiating a sort of blood-debt situation that makes their relationship strange and difficult right from the start. We get some triad-brotherhood vibes, shifting power dynamics, drunken confessions, trust and betrayal. There’s continual angst, and everyone living in fear for their lives all the damn time. The show admittedly has problems; it's very dated and low-budget and full of ethnic stereotyping, and parts of the plot make no sense at all. But I like three main characters a lot. <3
神鵰俠侶 | The Return of the Condor Heroes (TV 1983)
Title: 神鵰俠侶 | The Return of the Condor Heroes
What is it?: A 50-episode live-action wuxia series set in early 13th-century China, based on the novel of the same name by Jin Yong, and starring Andy Lau and Idy Chan.
Where to find it: For an English-subbed version, message me or check my journal. :) There are also box sets on eBay, and if you don't need English, it's free to watch on TVB Anywhere with Chinese subs.
Summary: This show is the second installment in a three-part series, and tells the story of a young, orphaned, mischievous, irreverent martial-arts student, Yeung Guo, whose quest to avenge the death of his father (the villain of the previous series) gets complicated by (among other things) his falling in love with his martial arts master, Dragon Lady, in defiance of strict social taboos against such a relationship. Meanwhile there's also a Mongolian invasion underway, rival sects vying for power, gatherings and contests among martial heroes, run-ins with roving trickster adepts, a zillion kinds of poison, a giant condor... basically, this is a wuxia classic and it's got everything. :D
Content warnings: (highlight for spoilers) *Nothing graphic, but lots of death and fantasy violence, child abuse and abduction, rape, suicide, permanent mutilation, a student/teacher relationship as the central romance, and probably some other warning-worthy things that I'm forgetting.*
What I love about it: Yeung Guo is a great character, and I really enjoy all the messiness and conflict in his character arc, and the ways he matures across the series, which spans a couple of decades. I also find his relationship with Dragon Lady extremely interesting, from the shades of Oedipal attachment and intense mutual dependence to his having grown up basically trapped with her in a tomb, and her extreme possessiveness over him, and their extravagant mutual pining. Most of Yeung Guo's other relationships are also rife with drama, which is great too. :D Like the two other series I'm promoing here, it's admittedly dated and low-budget, and does require some active suspension of disbelief. But if you're okay with that, it's a great series!
江湖 | Triad Underworld (2004)
Title: 江湖 | Triad Underworld (aka Jiang Hu)
What is it?: A Hong Kong gang/crime drama starring Andy Lau, Jacky Cheung, Edison Chen, and Shawn Yue. Runtime is about 85 minutes.
Where to find it: Streaming on Tubi here
Summary: I think it's best to watch this movie unspoiled, so I'll keep my summary minimal, but in brief, this is a Hong Kong gangster movie about a mob boss who becomes an assassination target after rumors spread that he intends to leave the triad. The story unfolds in a strangely slow, muted way, for a gang drama. It's one of the more unusual and interesting examples I've seen of the triad-brotherhood genre.
Content warnings: (highlight for spoilers) *Death, violence, mild gore.*
What I love about it: I'm basically here for the complete disaster that is the relationship between the mob boss (Hung Yan-Jau) and his
right-hander, left-hand man, Lefty. They spend a night having dinner together, alone, in a restaurant that they co-own. They're both dangerous men. Lefty is untrustworthy and sort of unhinged, but there's still some kind of weird enduring loyalty between him and Hung Yan-Jau, who is much more level-headed and sober but equally capable of violence. The way the film is structured, we don't get to know either of them very well, or see much of their relationship — but that just means there's more for fanfic to explore. :DSpace Force
Date: 2022-08-27 05:56 pm (UTC)[Image from this gifset.]
Title: Space Force
Media: TV Show
Approx length: 17 episodes (~9 hours?)
Where to find it: Netflix
What is it, in summary? General Mark Naird must build Space Force, the US's military branch for IN SPACE!, with the help of his chief scientific advisor, Dr. Adrian Mallory. Despite no one taking them particularly seriously, they have a number of successful and less successful missions to space early on. Similar vibes to The Office - not a very serious show, despite the military trappings.
What do you love about it? Mallory was such a stand-out character for me. Intellectual, sophisticated, older (and gay), he makes a great contrast for Naird's blustering leadership. They make a pretty good team when they're not bickering over the budget.
Content Warnings: NAWA, but feel free to ask if there's anything in particular that would put you off!
Dr. Stone
Date: 2022-08-27 05:56 pm (UTC)Media: Anime. (I've nominated this version because it might be easier to get into, but it's faithfully translated from the manga. If preferred, I can help you find that as well!)
Approx length: 35 anime episodes in 2 seasons (~12 hours?)
Where to find it: Crunchyroll
What is it, in summary? You know how sports anime use sports as a plot device/goal/conflict that they can then build all their character development around? And likewise for cooking anime, card game anime, etc? This is like that... but with SCIENCE! The main character wakes up in a post-apocalyptic future, and sets out to use his scientific know-how to rebuild all of civilization from scratch.
What do you love about it? The science bits are clearly explained and feel educational (?). The main character is a larger-than-life genius who acts like he only cares about Science and Rationality but secretly wants to help everyone (my favorite trope!). The plot moves rapidly and goes in unexpected directions.
Content Warnings: I can't think of anything major, but if you have concerns about any particular squicks, feel free to ask!
no subject
Date: 2022-08-28 05:58 am (UTC)What medium is it and where to find it: It's a webcomic! It's available to read online for free here.
A summary (try to avoid major spoilers): A fungal intergalactic criminal has crash landed in the woods around where Jessie lives. Jessie, a tween girl, is the only person who knows it's there and she's having trouble deciding what to do about it.
Jessie does not kill the alien! What she DOES decide to do creates massive problems for a lot more people, including herself, down the road.
Content warnings: body horror; animal harm (mentioned), there is a creepy dude who's implied to have been doing very unsavory things to tween girls floating around but he vanishes from the narrative QUICKLY and he does get his very just desserts
Why you like it: Fun fact: Tamsyn Muir wrote this! It's not the reason I like this, but it is a fun fact.
I like weird relationships between aliens and humans. I like body horror, plants growing out of human bodies, humans growing new eyes and new mouths. I like difficult, thorny female characters who hate wholeheartedly. I just think this is a fun little comic and it's a pretty low time commitment as it's under 100 pages! If anything like that sounds interesting, give it a shot.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-28 06:59 am (UTC)What medium is it and where to find it: short story; it can be read in GRRM's collection Dreamsongs
A summary: Wealthy, amoral Simon Kress gets some exciting new pets called Sand Kings, semisentient alien beings that wage ritual war on each other - when raised properly. As he's an impatient child, he doesn't raise them properly; he starves the Sand Kings to incite them to wage war on each other. Events conspire such that the Sand Kings are eventually released from their enclosure. None of this bodes well for Simon, but it's very much his just desserts.
Content warnings: animal harm
Why you like it: It is INCREDIBLY SATISFYING to see rich bastard Simon get what he deserves, and to know that everything he suffers throughout this story is completely his own fault. Also, I love the Sand Kings and just think they are so neat! They're low-level psychic, getting stronger as they grow, and this is used nicely in the story; they have a funky life cycle, and another human character is very closely bonded with a Sand King 'hive.' I think there's a lot of juicy worldbuilding tied up in this tightly written story and that's what I will be requesting this FIAB.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-30 02:00 pm (UTC)What medium is it and where to find it: TV series! Available on Hulu. It is also floating around elsewhere online, but I have noticed that particularly on DailyMotion there are some unusual edits to some episodes. There are also a few full episodes on YouTube, but I would avoid anything that doesn't have a running time around 50 minutes as some of those seem to be corrupted, ultra-zoomed in, etc.
A summary (try to avoid major spoilers): One of the original ensemble shows, coming in before St. Elsewhere and LA Law and basically creating that format. The show follows a precinct in an unnamed city from the captain (Frank Furillo), who is divorced and now dating public defender Joyce Davenport, Lts. Howard Hunter (described by one newspaper as "to the right of the John Birch Society", kind of Sam the Eagle as a person), Henry Goldblume (who will go into a speech about the morality of literally anything), and Ray Calletano (the only ranking Hispanic officer, who has to deal with a lot of BS for it), Detectives John "J.D." LaRue (my personal favorite, dealing with alcoholism and a tendency to get-rich-quick schemes, not to mention attracted to every woman he ever met), Neal Washington (J.D.'s beleagured partner, permanently getting his feet out of the fire), and Mick Belker (always undercover, always eating sardine sandwiches), and Officers Andy Renko (yee haw), Bobby Hill (smarter than Renko by a lot, but tends to have issues with gambling), Joe Coffey (possibly the dumbest person in the station), and Lucy Bates (his own beleaguered partner), Sgt. Phil Esterhaus (who runs the roll call, among other things), and Frank's ex wife Fay... And many, many more.
Content warnings: Police brutality/misconduct, plotlines that involve sexual assault/rape (including one involving a main cast member as the victim), domestic violence, racism, transphobia, lesbophobia, and other related topics - on the whole, the show was ahead of its time, but not necessarily in all cases.
Why you like it: Every character has their own intriguing personality (as much as I pick on Coffey, even him! Eventually) and their own day in the son. The plots, on the whole, are engaging and interesting, and at the end of the day you can get very invested in the goings-on at the Hill. And there is a character for everybody.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-31 08:48 pm (UTC)Medium: English live-action movies
Approx length: Two feature-length movies
Where to find it: Kanopy, Shudder, or you can rent it from the usual places
What is it, in summary? 80s/90s horror comedy franchise loosely adapted from a Lovecraft story, about a mad scientist med student and his roommate whom he drags along in a quest to re-animate the dead.
What do you love about it? Just as a movie, Re-Animator is very tightly written and very funny, with a great score and great physical special effects for its bloody gore. The cast is great, especially Jeffrey Combs as mad scientist Herbert West. (Combs went on to play a bunch of different alien characters on Star Trek: DS9.) It's also VERY shippy. Herbert is a weird little amoral gremlin who dislikes basically everyone on Earth except, apparently, his roommate and fellow med student Daniel Cain. Meanwhile Dan seems like the sensible one at first, but no, it's just that unlike Herbert he has a modicum of emotional intelligence, which does nothing to prevent him from going along with all Herbert's REALLY BAD IDEAS.
The second movie, Bride of Re-Animator, isn't as good of a movie, but in some ways it's even shippier, to the point of "there is no heterosexual explanation for this" on Herbert's end. A third movie was released almost a decade later, but it's pretty bad and doesn't have Daniel in it, so I don't really recommend it.
What sort of things are you likely to request for it? I ship Herbert/Dan a LOT. I really want fic of Herbert being his weird gremlin self while continuing his important
body desecrationscientific research. Feelings and gore, basically! However I'm also requesting a bunch of opt-ins, including various in-universe documents (illustrated or not), art of my fic, comics, pixel art, and assorted other items.Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfill your requests? I would be happy with fic for just the first movie or for the first first two movies.
Content warnings: Lots of blood, gore, and body horror, as well as institutionalization and a nonconsensual lobotomy. The first movie has a very uncomfortable gross-out scene of attempted sexual assault of a female character.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-31 10:10 pm (UTC)Where to find it: There's tons of material, but to start I wrote a primer!
What is it, in summary? Brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher were the heart of the 90s Britpop band Oasis. They always had a tumultuous relationship, which ranged from speaking of each other glowingly to hitting each other on the head to kissing each other, sometimes with tongue. The band broke up in 2009 and they haven't spoken to each other since, but that hasn't stopped them from talking about each other, not to mention singing about each other.
What do you love about it? They're both huge personalities and endlessly quotable, and they have been extremely, publicly weird about each other for going on thirty years now. I find their relationship absolutely fascinating, and I love going through all the years of documentation (interviews, concert footage, etc) and watching how it evolved over the years. I really love the weight of all that history.
What sort of things are you likely to request for it? Fic or art of my fic. I would love stories about any period from when Oasis was first formed until now. (Reunion fic!!) Kinky/porn fic, fic full of feelings, tropey fic with a/b/o or soulbonds or other bonus goodies... I want it all!