Nominations Guidelines 2024

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

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This post is about nominations for tags that will be used in the fandom and relationship slots of your requests/tags. For opt-in medium nominations go to this post (link).

Before nominating, please read the "Nominations Guidelines" section of this post, even if you also read it last year. After you nominate, please keep an eye on the comm in case we need clarification from you before accepting a nomination.

How To Nominate

There are two methods of relationship nominations this year!

1) Google form

Go to the google form and follow the instructions provided to submit your nominations, filling the form out as many times as you want. (You don't need to disambiguate nominations when using the form; our spreadsheet will do that for you!) Your nominations will eventually either wind up in the tagset or show up in a nominations clarification post — please check back at this comm in case we have questions about your nominations. The google doc is anonymous.

Nomination Google Form: https://forms.gle/m9cxg6P2cKemY8RV7

2) AO3 tagset nomination

This is how most people are used to nominating! If you're confident that you understand the nominations guidelines (provided below!) Then proceed to the tagset and input your nominations as directed. You will have 10 fandoms with 12 relationship slots. We will automatically reject anything that doesn't follow the guidelines below, but will query for other problems/questions. Check your nominations page and this comm to keep up to date on the status of your nominations.

Tagset: https://archiveofourown.org/tag_sets/20083

Nomination Guidelines

Please read all guidelines below before nominating. Please continue to check back on the comm to read all the nomination clarification posts that will be posted, in case there's a problem with one or more of your nominations that we need your input to resolve.

Reminder: Incorrectly formatted AO3 tagset nominations will be rejected. You are welcome to re-nominate via the google form.

Fandoms

There are no specific rarity or media restrictions on fandoms. If you're nominating a new-to-the-Archive fandom, please either format the fandom tag based on AO3's wrangling guidelines (link) or comment on this post asking for help.

Other notes:

• RPF: All nominated characters must be famous in their own right and over the age of 18. We will reject RPF nominations for current political figures, serial killers active after 1900, controversial figures, and possibly others on a case-by-case basis if we feel they might be detrimental to maintaining the exchange's positive environment.
• Crossovers: Should be nominated under Crossover Fandom
• Original Works: Should be nominated under Original Work
• Megafandoms, franchises, etc: See next section
• Recursive fandoms: You will need permission from the fanwork creator to nominate unless the work was already nominated as a fandom in a past round. Additionally:
  • If the fanwork wasn't successfully nominated last round, you must provide a link to the creator's public permission statement.
  • If the work does not have an established fandom you'll need at least two people who intend to request and/or offer it.
  • For recursive fandoms that were nominated in previous rounds and either A) had 3+ people requesting/offering or B) for which at least one work was created, we'll consider that proof of an "established fandom" and you don't need proof other people plan to request/offer it.
• Fandoms with - All Media Types, fandoms with & Related Fandoms, and fandoms that function as such: We prefer specific, clear fandoms that cover a concrete canon or section of canon because this both makes it easier to mod and makes it easier to offer/pinch hit. As a general rule, if your fandom already has subfandoms nominated, please contact us before nominating an AMT type fandom and expect to be queried if you nominate an AMT type fandom without talking to us first. (Which you can do! We don't mind querying you.).
• "Creator's Choice of Fandom" will not be accepted in this exchange.

Nomination info for specific fandoms

• As a general rule, if your fandom/subfandom is already in the 2023 tagset please nominate in the fandom as it appears there.
• Assassin's Creed: Please nominate Assassin's Creed under "Assassin's Creed - All Media Types"
• Baldur's Gate: Nominate under "Baldur's Gate (Video Games)"
• Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and Angel: The Series will both be nommed together under “Buffyverse (TV).”
• Buffy comics: Nominate this separately from the TV shows.
• Critical Role: Please nominate all Exandria campaigns under "Critical Role (Web Series)", all Candela Obscura campaigns under "Candela Obscura (Critical Role Web Series)", and any other campaigns separately. The Legend of Vox Machina should be nominated under "The Legend of Vox Machina (Cartoon)"
• Danganronpa: Please nominate under the canonical Dangan Ronpa Series
• DC's Arrowverse: Please nominate characters from Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman, Superman & Lois, and Black Lightning (plus the webseries tie-ins) under "DC's Arrowverse".
• DC Comics: All DC Comics nominations can go under that fandom, but please disambiguate which version of the character you want in parenthesis after each character if that information matters to you.
• DC Extended Universe: DCEU movies should be nominated under "DC Extended Universe"
• Dimension 20: Please nominate all campaigns under "Dimension 20 (Web Series)"
• Dragon Age: Nominate all video games under "Dragon Age (Video Games)" including Last Court. For comics, books, and tabletop RPG, use "Dragon Age (Comics)", "Dragon Age - Various Authors", and "Dragon Age (Tabletop RPG)" respectively. For all other media types, nominate each series separately.
• Friends at the Table: Please nominate under the canonical Friends at the Table (Podcast)
• Final Fantasy VII: The original game and the remake should be nominated separately. Please nominate Remake and Rebirth under "Final Fantasy VII Remake and Rebirth (Video Games 2020-2024)"
• Harry Potter, Rigel Black Chronicles, and Revolutionary Arc should be nominated separately. Please nominate Rigel Black Chronicles as "Rigel Black Chronicles - murkybluebatter (Exchange Disambiguation)", and nominate Revolutionary Arc as "Revolutionary Arc - kitsunerei88 (Fanfic Disambiguation)".
• Historical RPF: Please split these into subfandoms that indicate what time period the nominated people are in. If there may be confusion about the identity of a nominated person, please be as specific as is reasonable.
• Legend of Zelda: Each series or standalone game should be nominated separately, for example, "The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker" or "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom". Please make sure your disambiguation is unique to each fandom -- don't disambiguate with just "(LoZ)"
• Marvel Cinematic Universe nominations may be nominated under the appropriate movie subfranchise (Thor, GotG, etc) or in Avengers. If nominating in a subfranchise (for example, Thor (Movies)), all characters in the nom should have appeared in a movie from that subfranchise. Agents of SHIELD, Agent Carter, Wandavision, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, and the Marvel Netflix universe of shows are also all separate fandoms. The Marvel Netflix shows should be nommed together under The Defenders (Marvel TV).
• Marvel comics may be nominated by title or under the name of the appropriate Marvel universe (Marvel 616, Marvel Ultimates, etc). Nominations for “Marvel (Comics)” will not be accepted.
• The Mechanisms: Please nominate under "The Mechanisms (Band)" with a disambiguation of either (The Mechanisms) or the specific album.
• Naruto (Anime & Manga), Boruto (Anime & Manga), and Dreaming of Sunshine should be nominated separately. Please nominate Dreaming of Sunshine as "Dreaming of Sunshine - SilverQueen (DFE)". Relationship nominations that involve one or more DoS character and one or more Naruto/Boruto character should be nominated under the fandom "Crossover Fandom".
• Omniscient Reader: Please nominate separately by medium using "Omniscient Reader - singNsong & UMI & Sleepy-C (Webtoon)" and "전지적 독자 시점 - 싱숑 | Omniscient Reader - Sing-Shong (Novel)"
  • Nominations for the webtoon should use the disambiguation "(ORV W)" and the webtoon's character names (eg. Yu Junghyeok, Demonic Judge of Fire, Han Suyeong)
  • Nominations for the novel should use "(ORV N)"
• Stargate: Please nominate under "Stargate - Live Action"
• Star Trek is divided by show and the Alternate Original Series is alone. Movie characters from the Original Series or Next Gen movies may be nominated under the respective shows.
• Star Wars:
  • Star Wars movies & TV shows may be nominated under the appropriate movie, trilogy, TV show, etc (eg, Rogue One, Sequel Trilogy). "Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types" is allowed.
  • Star Wars books may be nominated under "Star Wars: Legends Books" (Old EU) or "Star Wars: Extended Universe Books" (new/current books)
  • Star Wars comics, video games, etc not covered above may be nominated either according to what's normal in the fandom or by individual title. Please comment below if you need help deciding what to do.
  • Star Wars crossovers between different parts of the Star Wars universe should be nominated under “Star Wars - All Media Types.” You can nominate WB: tags in SW - AMT without additional disambiguation.
• The Witcher: Please nominate these in their individual fandoms/by media, not AMT
• X-Men Movies: Please nominate OTM and ATM under "X-Men (Movieverse)(OTM)" and "X-Men (Movieverse)(ATM)". The other X-Men movies should be nominated under their own series/movie title.

Relationships Field

Because of how AO3's matching system works, we have to put relationships, characters, and worldbuilding tags all in the same field in the sign up form. This section explains what kind of tags you can nominate, as well as specific guidelines for certain types of tags.

These tag formats can be nominated:

• / tags, such as Character A/Character B, which indicate a relationship that is sexual and/or romantic.
• & tags, such as Character A & Character B, which indicate a relationship that is platonic.
• Solo: tags, such as Solo: Character A, for single characters and groups.
• WB: tags, such as WB: Type of Magic, which are for non-ship/character/group worldbuilding concepts.
• You may also nominate tags in the format Character A/Character B & Character C for a request about two characters in a romantic/sexual relationship having a platonic interaction with a third character.

Tag examples:

• Elmo/Big Bird (Sesame Street) — these characters will be dating, having sex, etc.and the fanwork you receive will be primarily about that relationship.
• Elmo & Big Bird (Sesame Street) — these characters will be friends, neighbors, family, acquaintances, enemies, strangers, etc.and the fanwork you receive will be primarily about that relationship.
• Solo: Elmo (Sesame Street) — you will receive a work about/centered around Elmo, but other characters can appear.
• Solo: Muppets (Sesame Street) — you will receive a work about/centered around one of literally any Muppet, but potentially more than one.
• Solo: Elmo (Sesame Street) in Home Alone (Movies) – you will receive a crossover work about/centered around Elmo visiting or already existing in the setting of any of the Home Alone movies.
• Elmo (Sesame Street) & The Wet Bandits (Home Alone Movies) – you will receive a crossover work in which Elmo and one or more of the Wet Bandits meet or have some kind of pre-existing platonic relationship.
• WB: Sesame Street City Planning & Zoning Ordinances (Sesame Street) — you will receive a work about city planning and zoning on Sesame Street, which could include any or no characters

Guidelines for characters in /, &, and Solo: tags:

• Please properly capitalize all of your tags, otherwise we have to either fix thousands of tags ourselves or reject them.
  • Correct capitalization: Firstname Lastname/Original Female Ship Technician (A Space Fandom)
  • Incorrect capitalization: firstname lastname/original female ship technician (a space fandom)
• Nominated characters may not be modified to specify a part of canon unless the two tags are distinct versions of the character which exist in canon and are treated as separate people.
  • If nominating selfcest with a character who does not have distinct canon versions, please nominate it as "Blorbo/Blorbo (Disambig)"
• Original characters may be nominated in any fandom, but outside Original Work should be reasonably generic. Think "Original Male Elf (LotR - Tolkien)" not "Original Male Elf Who Loves Cheese And Gambling (LotR - Tolkien)" – cheese & gambling can be prompts in your optional details.
• We will not accept inanimate objects, inanimate locations, vague concepts, or platonic ideals as characters. Animals, canonically thinking/feeling objects, and canonically thinking/feeling locations are fine!
• Relationship tags may have up to six characters. All characters should have their full name included, although if the name is very long or has excessive pipes it's fine to cut it down as long as it won't be confusing — "Percival "Percy" Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III" can be "Percy De Rolo III"
• We will accept groups of characters; please see the "Group tags" section below.

Disambiguation

Participants who nominate via the google form don't need to disambiguate non-crossover nominations, but people who nominate directly to the tagset on AO3 do need to include a disambiguation with all relationship field tags..

"Disambiguation" generally means marking or changing two similar things to clarify their differences so you can tell them apart; it's a removal of ambiguity. In casual conversation, for example, one might need to distinguish between seeing a bear (animal) or a bear (gay man).

Tags in tagsets need to be disambiguated with their fandom(s) for a number of very boring technical reasons that basically boil down to "so that all the tags stay where we put them and don't confuse anyone and don't mess up matching."

Your nominations should look like one of the following:

• Character A/Character B (Fandom)
• Character A & Character B (Fandom)
• Character A/Character B & Character C (Fandom)
• Solo: Character A (Fandom)
• Solo: Group (Fandom)
• WB: Worldbuilding Topic (Fandom)
• Character A (Fandom A) / Character B (Fandom B)
• Character A (Fandom A) & Character B (Fandom B)
• Character A (Fandom A) in Fandom B

You can abbreviate the fandom name, although please think about alternate versions of your canon and make sure the abbreviation is distinct. For example, it wouldn't be helpful if both The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings (Movies) abbreviated their disambiguations to "(LotR)"! Instead, the book should be "LotR - Tolkien" and the movies "(LotR Movies)"

Group tags and "Any" or "Creator's Choice" guidelines

• Just to reiterate above, Solo: Group tags mean "One or more of this group" whether or not they have "Any" or "Creator's Choice of" in front of them.
• If you request an ambiguous group (eg: "Solo: The [fandom] ensemble" or "Solo: The Avengers") we will assume that any possible member(s) of that group fulfill that request.
• You may request "Any" of a character type. For example, "Mikhaila Ilyushin/Any Female Talos I Employee". Similar to original works, please make sure any important information is within the Any character tag.
• Where there is ambiguity created by a nomination, we will likely side with the creator. If you want to be sure that you'll get specific characters, please nominate them by name.

Original Work

• Ships in Original Work should be nominated as Character Type/Character Type, with any additional details you see as essential for the ship included. If the gender of the characters is important to you, for example, please include it in the character tags.
• You may nominate other kinds of tags in Original Work, for example ambiguous groups like "Solo: Cute Forest Animal(s) (Original Work)"
• Where there is ambiguity created by a nomination, we will likely side with the creator. If you want to be sure that you'll get specific characters, please nominate them by name.
• We prefer Original Work and Original Characters be in title case ("A Really Hot Vampire/A Wizard" not "a really hot vampire/a wizard") but we will accept sentence case as well ("A really hot vampire/A wizard").

Crossovers

• For crossovers, please disambiguate on the characters and nominate them within Crossover Fandom. For example: "Varric Tethras (Dragon Age)/Nick Valentine (Fallout 4)"
• Crossovers where a character from fandom A visits canon B should be nominated like this: "Solo: Shang Qinghua (SVSSS) in Lord of the Rings"
• If there's more than one version of the canon and you care about which version you receive, specify that version in parentheses, for example "Solo: Shang Qinghua (SVSSS) in Lord of the Rings (Movies)"
• You may nominate crossover WB: tags. The worldbuilding topics must all be things that would qualify in their own fandoms under the worldbuilding guidelines (listed below) and the tag should be as open to worldbuilding options as possible. For example, we would prefer "WB: Connection Between The Lazarus Pits (Batman - AMT) And Ectoplasm (Danny Phantom)" over "WB: The Lazarus Pits (Batman - AMT) Are Some Kind of Ectoplasm (Danny Phantom)"
• We know the actual AO3 nom page says you can put crossover tags in either fandom but please don't!

Guidelines for WB: tags

Worldbuilding is the process of fleshing out a fictional world with details that make it a coherent setting. In Fic In A Box, participants may request works focused on worldbuilding (rather than a specific character or relationship) by using the format “WB: Worldbuilding Topic (Fandom Name)” or by requesting “WB: Any (Fandom Name)”

Please do not nominate WB: Any. We will add WB: Any to all fandoms before sign ups open. If WB: Any is the only tag you want in a fandom, please comment on this post letting us know the fandom and we will manually add it to the tagset. (Don't nominate via AO3 because it will get mixed up with all the fandoms in which people nominated things incorrectly and got their tags rejected.)

WB: tags should meet these criteria:

• based on or easily extrapolated from canon.
• about something fictional.
• reasonably broad, not phrased as a prompt, and not easily covered under a relationship, character, or ambiguous group nomination.

based on or easily extrapolated from canon.

Worldbuilding tags are meant to request exploration of concrete facets of the requested canon. We wouldn’t accept “WB: Magic” in a hard sci-fi fandom. We also won’t accept tropes, plots/conflicts, moods/vague concepts/“vibes” or prompts.

We would accept something like “WB: Trans Healthcare” even if the fandom made no specific mention of healthcare or transitioning, because both of those things probably exist anywhere there are people.

We may accept popular fanon on a case-by-case basis, but we will usually ask that the WB: tag be phrased to focus on the canon aspect of whatever the fanon is about.

For example, if it were popular fanon that Oscar the Grouch (Sesame Street) is blackmailing the local garbage collectors and that’s why he never gets accidentally thrown away despite living in a garbage can:

• we wouldn’t accept “WB: Contents of Oscar’s Blackmail Against Sanitation Workers (Sesame Street)”
• we would accept “WB: Garbage Collection on Sesame Street (Sesame Street)” and ask that the nominator include their preference for the blackmail fanon in their optional details

about something fictional.

Worldbuilding involves making stuff up to explain why stuff is the way it is, so we want WB: tags that require creativity rather than straight research.

We also want worldbuilding tags to refer only to in-universe things, with in-universe phrasing, wherever possible.

• For example, if you're seeking worldbuilding about the way people gain skills and abilities in a video game where skill points are traded for in-game objects (say, books) which have a lore reason for giving new skills, we would prefer a tag like "WB: Magic Books of Esoteric Knowledge Imparting" (or whatever the lore calls them in-game) over a tag like "WB: Skill Point Books"

For secondary world canons (canons that don’t take place on Earth in the real world) everything counts as fictional. You can nominate something like “WB: Apples & Apple Orchards (The Lord of the Rings - Tolkien)” and we will happily approve that so you can find out what’s up with apples on Middle Earth.

For canons that take place on Earth in anything like the present time or a real historical time period, WB: topics must be something fictional in that setting. We want worldbuilding topics that require creativity over research, even if research might be necessary/helpful to truly flesh out the topic.

If one were brainstorming WB: tags for the fandom Home Alone (Movies):

• we wouldn’t accept “WB: New York City (Home Alone)” because there’s not much to worldbuild about there that couldn’t be accomplished by researching the real New York City.
• we would accept a tag like “WB: Law Enforcement Efforts to Arrest the Wet Bandits (Home Alone)” because the Wet Bandits are fictitious. Anyone filling this tag might need or want to do research on real-life law enforcement or burglaries, but they will also have to invent a lot of specific information about the Wet Bandits and their various crimes.

You may nominate WB: tags about things that exist in the real world but which are very different in your canon. For example, “WB: New York City (Marvel Cinematic Universe)” would be accepted, as New York City in the MCU has been invaded by aliens and has a bunch of superheroes.

If it isn’t obvious to us that something about the WB: topic is different from the real world we may ask you to provide clarification. We might also encourage you to be more specific if there’s a particular fictional aspect you’re interested in–for example, “WB: Public Opinion of Local Superheroes/Vigilantes (MCU)” or “WB: Emergency Response to Chitauri Invasion (MCU)”–but we wouldn’t insist if you’re really just interested in anything about NYC.

reasonably broad and not easily covered under a relationship, character, or ambiguous group nomination.

What exactly "reasonably broad" means will vary somewhat by canon and worldbuilding topic, but in general worldbuilding tags should be applicable or related to more than one character, and shouldn’t be or be phrased as prompts.

Character backstories/origins

We will not approve these. If the reason you want worldbuilding for a character’s backstory is because they were in a particularly interesting location or lived in a particularly interesting culture or something and that’s what you want worldbuilding about, then instead of a tag like “WB: Blorbo’s Time At [Backstory Location] (Fandom)” you should instead nominate “WB: [Backstory Location] (Fandom)” and mention Blorbo in your optional details. If getting a gift focused on Blorbo is more important to you than the worldbuilding, then please nominate character as a Solo: tag and prompt for backstory exploration in your optional details instead.

Scenarios, plots, worldbuilding phrased as questions

We will not approve WB: tags that name a specific scenario or plot, as that’s what optional details are for, and we find questions too ambiguous. You should phrase your WB: tag around the thing you actually want worldbuilding about.

For example, if you’re interested in a story where a Naruto character joins the Akatsuki, instead of nominating “WB: Character joins Akatsuki (Naruto)” you should instead nominate either something like “WB: Akatsuki Recruitment (Naruto)” or, if it’s important to you to specify which character(s) are involved in your gift, a non-WB tag with a prompt in your optional details.

Instead of “WB: How Many Types Of Magic Are There?” or “WB: What Happened During The Noodle War” we would prefer “WB: Types of Magic” and “WB: The Noodle War”, respectively.

Mentions of specific characters

If your WB: tag needs to mention a specific character, please consider posting a quick clarification below letting us know why and mentioning how the WB tag is or could be relevant to other characters, original or canon.

This might look something like: Just nominated WB: Blorbo’s Ship (Fandom)! The ship doesn’t have a canonical name. Only Blorbo pilots it, but there are unnamed spaceship techs on base and other characters spend a lot of time near the ship.

Or maybe: Just nominated WB: Blorbo’s Sex Toy Collection (Fandom) which is a common, canonical subject of discussion among Blorbo’s friends and enemies in several episodes.

Ambiguous groups, organizations, teams, clubs, superhero teams, religious orders, etc

There's often a lot of very interesting potential worldbuilding topics to explore around groups/organizations/etc, but we would like you to specify what worldbuilding topic(s) you'd be interested in, so as to avoid situations where we have something like "Solo: Council of Mages" and "WB: Council of Mages" both in the tagset.

Suggested additions to your WB tag (not a comprehensive list!): History of [Group], Rumors and Public Opinion About [Group], Daily Life in [Group], [Group] Internal Politics

Nominations evidence/explanations

In addition to the post functioning as documentation to explain our nominations rules, it's also a place where you can preemptively ask questions about our guidelines, explain edge cases you would like to nominate, or give clarification on confusing or hard-to-google subjects.

Fandoms

Most fandom tags don't need evidence/explanation posts.

You should post evidence or explanations below if…

• You are nominating a fandom with "- All Media Types" or "& Related Fandoms" in it and need to explain why you can't use/don't want a more specific tag.
• You are nominating a fanwork as a fandom and need to link us to a permission statement as well as have other people indicate their interest in the fandom.
• You are nominating a fandom that has a weird or ambiguous canon source, especially if it doesn't yet have a tag on the Archive and you need help formatting your tag.

&, /, and Solo: tags

Most &, /, and Solo: tags don't need evidence/explanation posts.

You should post evidence or explanations below if you're nominating a relationships field tag…

• that involves a character who might be mistaken for an inanimate object, location, platonic ideal of a virtue, etc. (Examples: a sentient weapon named something like "Greg's Sword"; a character named "Justice" who we might have problems googling)
• that involves a canonical alternate version of a character that we might have trouble confirming is actually canonical.
• that involves a character or characters that might confuse us for some other reason. (eg, if two characters canonically have the same or almost exact same name.)

WB: tags

Explanations for WB: tags are REALLY helpful and you are encouraged to post a short explanation of all of your WB: tags telling us what each one is so that we don't have to google them, as it will save us time on the mod end and potentially save you from having to answer a clarification query.

You should post evidence or explanations below if you're nominating a WB: tag…

• that you're not 100% sure we can easily google
• that's about something that exists in real life, and need to explain why your canon's version of it is different from the real-life version.
• that might seem like it only applies to a few characters (especially if it names a specific character) and you'd like to explain why it's actually general enough to be approved.
• that you think otherwise might be an edge case for one of the above WB: guidelines.

You're also welcome to post here if you need help formulating a WB: tag that will fit in the 100 character tag limit and abide by our rules.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

hi!
I'm going to nominate original work comic posted on ao3 as "Where is Trevor (ow comic) – sarriathmg"
and wanted to link you permission of the author in advance. It's on their profile https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarriathmg/profile and the author also said they are ok with recursive work based on this one shot in a thread on fffx clarification post https://fffx.dreamwidth.org/53664.html?thread=817056#cmt817056 :) The comic is this work https://archiveofourown.org/works/56203060
-c_art

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

Thank you! We will need two new more people to indicate an interest in requesting or offering this comic; they can reply to this comment with a logged-in or signed comment. If we don't have two comments to that effect by the time Nominations Clarification 2 goes up, we will add a note to that post asking anyone interested to stop by here.

[darlas_mom]

What's the best way to nominate canonical characters that nonetheless don't have names? I'm wanting to nominate past Slayers in the Buffyverse, but while a few are shown/described (the two Slayers Spike killed, a Korean Slayer in the 30s mentioned by Sid the Haunted Puppet in S1), they don't all have names. The first of Spike's two Slayers, the one from China, had one in one of the comics so it's given as her name on the show's wiki, even though it was never stated onscreen. Is it okay to use that name?

Related: in the Buffy movie and the showverse comic adaptation of it, Merrick asks Buffy about three other Slayers she has maybe dreamed about being. In the movie and comic both, he suggests a Magyar peasant girl and an Indian princess. In the movie, the third one is enslaved on a plantation in Virginia. In the comic, the third is a Chinese sex worker in the 19th century. I would love fic for any of these four! ...which canon should that nom be under, exactly? /o\

I think the easiest thing would probably be to nominate them as OCs in Buffyverse using those descriptions (e.g, Original Indian Princess Slayer, Original Virginian Enslaved Slayer, Original Magyar Peasant Slayer), but before I do that, do you have another way you'd prefer?

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

Oh, what a tangle, but these seem like really fun characters to request!

I'm happy to approve tags like "Solo: Original Virginian Enslaved Slayer" and the like, but if you want to nominate unnamed canon characters, you can definitely make reference to the episode/comcis issue they were shown or mentioned in. Critical Role (Web Series) for example has the tag Caleb Widogast & C2E70 Unnamed Volstrucker (Critical Role) because there was no better way to specify which volstrucker the nominator wanted.

Our nomination instructions say to nominate the Buffy comics separately from the show, but don't specify what fandom tag to use. It looks like the two canonical comics tags are "Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Comics 1998)" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Comics 2019)", but I'm not sure if it makes sense to split them up? I've seen the TV shows, but haven't read the comics, so I'm not sure if the two separate runs are treated like separate canons. I would be happy to accept nominations under either canonical comics tag or combined under the tag "Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Comics)", whichever you think is best. The canonical tag for the movie is "Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)" which I think should also be nominated separately from the TV and the comics — although it definitely makes a mess of what you want to request. It's too late into nominations this year to consider combining all the Buffy stuff, but you could definitely bring that up during nominations pre-gaming next year. For this year, I think you'd need to really spread out your nominations between Buffyverse (TV), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992), and whichever comics tag you want to nominate all of these characters.

The first of Spike's two Slayers, the one from China, had one in one of the comics so it's given as her name on the show's wiki, even though it was never stated onscreen. Is it okay to use that name?

We'd prefer you not use her name for the TV verse nomination (unless it was maybe in the credits?) because we don't want Buffyverse (TV) offerers to feel like they need to pick up the comics to fill any TV requests.

If you need help phrasing these tags clearly, please let me know!

My WB Noms

[prueturner]

Hello! I've just nommed:

WB: Discovery and Influence of the Dresden Slate (K anime): The Dresden Slate is the item that gives the characters powers. It was discovered in the past in the show, and gives powers not just to the clans/kings, but sometimes at random (strains).

WB: History of Clans and Kings (K anime): Although there are canon clans and kings that we know the backstory of, they aren't the first red or blue clans that existed, there were more before them, as well as some clans that are not really focused on or that have many unnamed characters (grey and gold).

WB: Shizume Town (K anime): The main setting of the show, which is a five-minutes-into-the-future-y fictional setting. I'd be happy with anything about it, but if I need to be more specific, please let me know!

WB: Robotic Cleaners (K anime): These cleaners are depicted in the show, sometimes arguing. None of them are named and I'm pretty sure they're all identical robots. I think it would be cool to explore who created them and how that affects the setting!

I've also nommed

WB: Earth After Judgement Day (Terminator Movies): To explore the setting of the future in the Terminator movies.

and

WB: Formation of the Human Resistance (Terminator Movies): We are given a little insight into this with a few named characters, but nothing concrete, so I think it would be cool to explore.

Re: My WB Noms

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

Thank you, these are all very helpful!

WB: Robotic Cleaners (K anime) is on our query list. If they're capable of arguing with each other, it sounds like they're probably sentient enough that it should be a Solo: tag, even if they all look identical — they can have differences of opinion, so they can probably think differently or have different personalities, rather than just being straight machines, right?

The other option would be to make a more specific WB tag, for example something like "WB: Construction/Technology of Robotic Cleaners (K anime)" or even something like "WB: Effects Of Robotic Cleaners On Janitorial Profession/Labor Market (K anime)" — or something different! I'm willing to add several WB tags into the tagset for you to cover all your bases.

[(Anonymous)]

Heyo ! in the interview with the vampire section, certain tags seem to be doubled due to an error in differenciation (IWTV AMC & IWTV TV 2022 are the same thing ^^)

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

Thank you!

Typo in a tag already in the tagset

[echotunes]

Hi! There's a typo in one of the Fuga Impossível (Web Series) tags - Guaxinim is incorrectly spelled as Quaxinim in "Quaxinim & Mikethelink & Pactw (Fuga Impossível)".

Re: Typo in a tag already in the tagset

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

Thank you!!

Generation Loss Showfall Contestants

[feyscape]

I will be nominating for Generation Loss (Web Series) the tag: Solo: Creator's Choice of Named Showfall Contestant(s).

This tag is intended to include the characters Ranboo, Charlie, Sneeg, Niki "Nihachu", "Vinny Vinesauce", Ethan Nestor, and AustinShow, as this group of characters are all subjects of Showfall Media's games (in-canon: contestants on the reality-show-like broadcast), especially in episode 2 of the series.

However, a valid interpretation of the web series is that *all* the named characters are under the control of Showfall Media, and not just the ones who are the victims through the series, e.g. the people on the carousel in episode 2. In the case of someone including the other named characters as subjects, and thus contestants, of Showfall Media instead of so-called puppet masters, the tag would also include Rat Sykkuno, Rat Valkyrae, Hetch, and The Puzzler.

The tag also includes the word "Named" due to there being other contestants as background characters, both a few on-screen as well as implied others that remain off-screen.

Re: Generation Loss Showfall Contestants

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

Thank you for this info!

WB tag for Smosh

[feyscape]

I'll be nominating the tag: "WB: World With Problems Which Can be Solved by Application of Comically Large Body Parts (Smosh)"

This tag is about the fictional alternate reality of certain characters from Smosh bits and sketches, in which problems are solved by calling for help from people with comically large asses or breasts. One such problem could be a hole in the Hoover damn about the size of a large ass, in which situation a character is called to go plug up the hole with their comically large ass.

A compilation of moments in this alternate reality can be found through this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVmzAu95hvM

Re: WB tag for Smosh

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

Thank you for this info! We rejected the tag for querying but you've answered our question about it, so we'll accept as-is :)

[zabbers]

I nominated some WB tags for the fandom Knowledgeable Creatures - Christopher Rowe, which is a short story available here: https://reactormag.com/knowledgeable-creatures-christopher-rowe/. (Rowe also has a novel set in the same universe, The Navigating Fox.)

WB: Cultural Position of Learned Mice - In this universe, there are sapient, talking animals. They're referred to with terms like this: learned mice, investigative dog. As a cross-species group, they're called knowledgeable creatures. I think it's somewhat ambiguous whether all knowledgeable dogs are investigative, but it seems to be consistent with mice, who are a special group: "All knowledgeable creatures are fascinated with learned mice to one degree or another."

WB: Scholarship Regarding the Flowering - Knowledgeable creatures were first awoken from their animal states at some point in the past, during "...the so-called Flowering, the world-wide, centuries-long explosion of new knowledgeable creatures". There's an accepted but hazy history of how this happened (involving Isaac Newton, also nominated), and then there are less orthodox theories.

WB: Relations Between Types of Creatures - Maybe this one needs some workshopping? I'm interested in how different species of knowledgeable creatures live and work with each other as well as in how knowledgeable creatures share a world with their mundane counterparts.

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

Thank you! For that last one, it might be easier to split it into two different WB tags -- one for knowledgeable creatures interacting with each other, and one for them interacting with unknowledgeable animals? "Relations" also feels a little unspecific/euphemistic, but I'm not coming up with anything better off the top of my head. I'm willing to accept WB: Relations Between Types of Creatures but I'd like you to have WB tags that you really like, that you feel are asking for what you specifically want, so I'm down to keep workshopping if you want!

[zabbers]

Just letting you know that in Stargate - Live Action, there's still WB: Any Canonical AU (SG LA) in addition to WB: Any Canonical Alternate/Parallel Universe (SG LA).

By the way, I'm thinking through whether I would need this, but if I additionally nominate a specific character or ship from one of these alternate/parallel universes, is there a way you'd now prefer the characters to be "named"? The options I can think of are (for instance) Solo: Vegas John Sheppard, Solo: Vegas 'Verse John Sheppard, Solo: Vegas AU John Sheppard.

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

Thank you!!

for the canonical alternate universe versions of characters, whatever you think is either most popular in the fandom or most unambiguous should be fine!

Quackity in relationship tags

[feyscape]

Hi, I accidentally forgot the letter Q's place in the alphabet when I nominated Quackity in relationship tags. As far as I can find, it's affected the alphabetizing of the following tags:

QSMP: Cellbit/Roier/Quackity, should instead be Cellbit/Quackity/Roier

Dream SMP: Fundy & Ranboo & Tubbo & Quackity, should instead be Fundy & Quackity & Ranboo & Tubbo

Re: Quackity in relationship tags

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

Hi! Thanks for the note, but we're not super strict about alphabetizing characters, so this is fine. :)

[fayharley]

I have three world building nominations for Elden Ring. Short explanation:

WB: Alchemical Rebis and Godhood
Elden Ring uses a lot of alchemy symbolism and part of that is that Marika/Radagon is a rebis, the white queen and red king in the same body. There's discussion in andom if being a rebis is necessary for godhood

WB: Physical and Psychological Effects of Great Runes
According to some lore people can be corrupted by the power of great runes.

WB: Reproduction in the Lands Between
There's debate about how people are born in game. There's normal kids, kids that seem to spawn from plants, and also artificial life forms.

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

Thank you!

[27twinsister]

Dropping a quick clarification for Ride Kamens: Libal | Mask of Liberty is a member of the villain group. His name is spelled リバル and there's no canon/confirmed romanization. I spell it as Libal and have seen other people use it so that's what I used in the nomination, but I've also seen it spelled Ribal (personally I haven't seen this spelling outside RiderWiki but still) or Liberu. These all refer to the same character.

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

Thank you!!

[27twinsister]

I've nominated "WB: Crystalia Holidays & Traditions (Mashin Sentai Kiramager)". Crystalia is a planet which the mecha/villains/various characters are from. I'm interested in if Crystalia has any unique holidays or celebrations and what they do to celebrate them (there is canonically Crystas, which is celebrated in an episode, then there should be more!)

I'm also considering a similar tag for Kyuranger, but I know "WB: The Kyurangers' Homeworlds" is already in the tagset. Should I request the existing tag and say I'm interested in any unique holidays as optional details in my request, or make a new tag?

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

Thanks for this info!

You can definitely nominate a similar tag for Kyurangerian holidays, if that's the worldbuilding you're most interested in— we don't mind subject overlap for WB tags.

[primeideal]

Worldbuilding explanations for "Remembrance of Earth's Past":

-"Three-Body" is the name of a VR video game that some human characters play, that is secretly teaching them about an alien species. ("The Three-Body Problem" is also the name of the first installment, and sometimes refers to the trilogy as a whole, so I see how this could create disambig issues.)
-"Fairy Tales from Earth" is the name for a collection of stories that the character Yun Tianming writes and publishes as if they were traditional folktales. I would be interested in more in-universe stories like these/alternate media versions.
-In book three, we learn that there are patches of the universe that have up to ten, or fewer than three, dimensions. Eventually Earth's solar system is attacked and reduced to two dimensions; at other points in time, humans use a four-dimensional "bubble" to do things that look like magic to normal 3D people.
-The "Galactic Human(s)" are the descendants of Earth humans who escaped the solar system in two spaceships and have spread out to many other planets in the universe.

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

Thank you, this is really useful!

We're going to accept the Fairy Tales From Earth fandom as "WB: Fairy Tales from Earth (In-Universe Book) (Remembrance of Earth's Past Trilogy)" so that we don't forget what the tag means come works check.

[(Anonymous)]

hi ! it seems the tag desperate supervillain / superhero he reluctantly goes to for help in the original works fandom is dplicated :)

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

Thanks for letting us know!

Nomination Clarifications for Khyber Shards

[yellowmagicalgirl]

I doubt any of my stuff (beyond character names for solo characters and ships) is easily Googleable (small fandom is small), so I'll explain myself here.

Group: Stryke Force. The main characters of the story; the adventuring group of non-guest player characters. And yes, they spell their group name with a y instead of an i.

WB: Anti-Aberrant Policies of the Galifar Alliance. The Galifar Alliance (also sometimes called the New Galifar Region) is a group of countries that banded together in the wake of the destruction of the largest city (Sharn) on the continent as well as the eastern half of the continent being taken over by a necromancer queen. Aberrant dragonmarks are effectively magical birthmarks that grant unpredictable and often destructive powers. The nations of the Galifar Alliance were already prejudiced toward those who bear aberrant marks before canon started, but then Sharn was destroyed by a giant emperor who bears multiple aberrant marks and claims to be the creator of aberrant marks as well as the rightful ruler of those who bear them. Due to this, those with aberrant marks canonically aren't welcome within the Galifar Alliance.

Blackwheel During the Last War. The Last War was a 100 year long war that ravaged the continent of Khorvaire. The Blackwheel Program coerced aberrant marked people into joining and trained them to be supersoldiers before liquefying the program when the war ended. Blackwheel still exists in a very different fashion after the Last War, but I'm aiming for the pre-canon time frame.

Re: Nomination Clarifications for Khyber Shards

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

Thank you for this info!

[rachelmanija]

I'd like to nominate a medium opt-in not attached to a specific fandom. How do I do that?

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

Head to the post here: Medium Nominations Page and follow the directions to nominate a medium!

You might also want to review the rulesets, so that you know where the medium you want to nominate should go (we do accept some unique rules nominations but we try to limit those).

Honkai: Star Rail WB noms

[azurrys]

Hello! I just nominated a handful of WB tags for Honkai: Star Rail. I also immediately pressed submit on the form without thinking and forgot to save them elsewhere (sorry, oops) so apologies in advance if any phrasing isn't 1:1 or I miss a few, but here are all the ones I remember:

WB: Consequences of Nihility Exposure (Honkai: Star Rail)
The Nihility is a specific set of values/powers (known as a path) in canon ruled over by the god (known as an Aeon) named IX, which is basically the void. Everything IX gazes upon/touches experiences consequences of some kind; there's lore in canon about people who end up in the Border of Nihility (one of the manifestations of IX's power) experiencing consequences afterwards. Definitely open to rewording if this isn't clear!

WB: Cornerstones (Honkai: Star Rail)
WB: Consequences of Breaking Cornerstones (Honkai: Star Rail)
Cornerstones in canon are artifacts possessed by a group of people (the Stonehearts), which grant them powers that are specifically stated to differ between each person. I'm interested to see any exploration of how exactly the powers are acquired/formed (allegedly, each individual holder needs to 'cut' their own stone to reveal its power), and also specifically nominated breaking them — we do see a Cornerstone shattered and reforged in canon, but without much further explanation of its consequences or how it was ever broken.

WB: Interastral Peace Corporation Employee Housing (Honkai: Star Rail)
The Interastral Peace Corporation (also known as the IPC) is a capitalist organisation in canon. I'm not sure if they actually have employee housing in canon but I would love to explore what it would be like if they did!

WB: Sigonia-IV (Honkai: Star Rail)
WB: Avgin Culture (Honkai: Star Rail)
WB: Kakava Festival (Honkai: Star Rail)
WB: Second Katica-Avgin Extinction Event (Honkai: Star Rail)
Sigonia-IV is a planet; the Avgins are a mostly-extinct tribe from Sigonia who were almost entirely wiped out by the Second Katica-Avgin Extinction Event, a historical clash between the Katica and Avgin tribes. The Kakava Festival was celebrated by the Avgin tribe.

Re: Honkai: Star Rail WB noms

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

Thank you, this is very helpful!

[secondsheepy]

Hello! I’d like to request as a recursive fandom “Hotguy Comics Zine - Various”! You can find a permission statement here: https://www.tumblr.com/hotguycomiczine/759486345762734080/hello-im-so-so-excited-for-this-im-already

(A quick context: despite the fact this is called a ‘zine’ it has a single shared universe with a single plotline and consistent characters, it’s more of like… a collaborative multimedia au. So I am not trying to request recursive fandom of something that doesn’t have the meat for that.)

[(Anonymous)]

I would also be interested in this!

[corpserevivers]

Explanations/clarification for one of my Google Forms DC Comics noms! Also realizing I definitely wrote Birds of Prey 2020 when I meant Birds of Prey 2023 for the most recent comics run lol.

WB: Meridian's Technology - Meridian is a time-traveling superhero from the future who has technology that is powered by the Red (a type of lifeforce in the comics). I'm interested in fics that build on how that technology works!

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

Thanks, this is really helpful! I adjusted the tags for you so they'll be in the tagset as 2023

Recursive nomination- ScumDragonAU - silversinnbees and lavenderandrue

[lavenderandrue]

Hi! I'd like to nominate a recursive fandom, ScumDragonAU by silversinnbees and lavenderandrue (me!). The first installment of the comic is here, and here is a fic/art collab between Sinn and I set in the AU.

Once this has enough interest to be nominated, would something like "ScumDragonAU - silversinnbees and lavenderandrue (DFE)" be a good way to phrase the fandom tag?

Re: Recursive nomination- ScumDragonAU - silversinnbees and lavenderandrue

[sinnbee]

I’d be interested >:3c

[ladybrooke]

Hello! I am interested in nominating characters from The One Ring / The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying, both published by Free League. They are the same source text in almost all ways, except one uses their own system and one uses DnD rules. In terms of who I'm requesting, the differences don't matter at all. How should I nominate it?

If additional info is needed, here are Free League's description pages for both:

https://freeleaguepublishing.com/games/the-one-ring/

https://freeleaguepublishing.com/games/the-lord-of-the-rings-roleplaying/

Thank you!

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

Since they're the same sourcebook except for game mechanics, I'm happy to have them nominated in a combined fandom! There doesn't seem to be a canonical, so how about: "The One Ring | Lord of the Rings Roleplaying - Free League (Roleplaying Game)" which should keep the canons clear to anyone looking for them?

[(Anonymous)]

I've nominated some WB tags for Kate Daniels World - Ilona Andrews

The books take place in our world after an apocalyptic event where Magic waves destroy technology. This has thoroughly changed our world: there's no more internet or easy long distance traveling, cars barely work and only when the tech is up and about half of the population (that remains) is magical in some kind; vampires, shapeshifters, witches, druids and many, many more.

I've nominated the following tags:
WB: New Shinar: A new kingdom (queendom) created by Erra somewhere in what's currently called California.

WB: Atlanta's Factions and Politics: The main series takes places in and around Atlanta. There are big and smaller magical factions and various magical law enforcements that together sort of rule the city (in so far that there is over arching government). I'm open to a different phrasing, but I feel like fans of the books would understand that this has nothing to do with current RL politics.

WB: Shapeshifter Courting Rituals: in the series there are Shapeshifters that shift in various animals which are organised into Clans. The Clans have slightly different cultures due to the different animal influences. The courting rituals are different between the animals.

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

Thank you, these are very helpful!

[waveridden]

WB: Everyday life in Never Stop Blowing Up (D20)

The fictional movie Never Stop Blowing Up is an action comedy with huge comically insane action movie things happening all the time, like the President announcing 30 new wars and extreme drag races through residential streets. I’m hoping to get at what it’s like to be a normal non-action-hero person who lives in this bonkers movie.

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

Thank you, this information was very helpful!

[silveredeye]

I have nominated some WB tags.

Terra Ignota is a science fiction series that takes place in 26th century Earth, where various aspects of the society are very different from ours. States have largely been replaced by Hives - geographically non-contiguous entities that differ in their political philosophies and have to be chosen proactively (no one has a Hive citizenship from birth, people pick (or don't) when they come of age and can switch later). Most people do not live with a nuclear family, but rather with their bash - some combination of friends/relatives/roommates and their partners or children.

WB: Languages and Language Learning (Terra Ignota) Canonically most Hives have a Hive language used for intra-Hive communication and it is considered somewhat rude to learn another Hive's language without a good reason (I think it was likened to eavesdropping by a character). However people do change Hives and their first language may not necessarily be their Hive language (or vice versa - French is the Hive language of a specific Hive, but it's easy to imagine a bash who have been Francophones since before this Hive existed).

This tag could also include the languages used in the 26th century - which languages are still used (and by whom, or where), how the 26th-century languages differ from ours etc.

WB: Bashes (Terra Ignota) As mentioned before, bash is the main household type in these books. Since most of the characters are VIPs, we only get to see their (mostly unusual) bashes, plus the basic idea of how bashes are formed. However, we don't have much information about how an average non-VIP bash solves interpersonal problems or arranges their daily life etc.

WB: Daily Life in Utopia (Terra Ignota) Utopia is one of the Hives, and intentionally one of the most aloof and mysterious. They're noted to consist of mostly workaholics and to have the twin goals of exploring space and eventually solving all causes of human death, but also they're not supposed to work themselves to an early grave.



WB: Life on Erlin's Eye (Citizen Sleeper) Erlin's Eye is the setting of the game: an old creaky space station.



WB: Daily Life in Port Carnelian (Sunless Sea) Port Carnelian is a location in the game. Some of its inhabitants are sapient talking tigers. It is also notably full of spies (retired or otherwise, belonging to at least three factions I can think of and probably more).

WB: The Kingeater's Castle (Sunless Sea) This is also a location in the game - a mysterious and horrific empty port. The game is pretty tight-lipped about who exactly built it and why, why it's a horrible nightmare place where it is possible to conduct eldritch rituals, et cetera.

WB: Irem (Sunless Sea) This is also a port in the game. It exists in future tense and has some connection to the world of dreams - but people live there and it's one of the nicest ports.

WB: The Salt Steppes (Sunless Sea) This is the in-game name for the region containing three ports (Khan's Glory, Khan's Heart, Khan's Shadow). They were all established by the same now-destroyed mother city. Since they're relatively wary of outsiders we only get glimpses and very basic info about their daily life, political situation, art, etc.

[fic_in_a_box_mod]

Thank you!