Tea Break - post 2

[corvidology]

Hi all,

How's it going?

This is your chance to chat amongst yourself, if you'd like to do so.


Also, in the FAQs, I answered the question about what constitutes a separate fandom in this way:

You know your fandoms a lot better than I do, so you make the call. There's really no point to 'fudging' this challenge else why undertake it in the first place?

You're a lovely comm rule-abiding lot, so I think this has been causing more confusion than I intended in my effort to simplify things.

So, if you'd like to chat with fellow comm members in the same fandom/group of related fandoms about this, please leave a comment which will hopefully start a thread although there's no guarantee.

All I ask, is that you keep the conversation civil. Right? Right!


And again, you should feel free to chat about anything, not just the fandom questions.
.

Comments

[senmut]

You know your fandoms a lot better than I do, so you make the call. There's really no point to 'fudging' this challenge else why undertake it in the first place?

So I'm from the Star Wars Fandom. And the DC Comics fandom. And Transformers fandom.

BELIEVE ME, it is possible to have MANY fandoms in these mega fandoms. Continuity is a thing that shifts, based on what era of publication, what series, etc you are looking at. So I know I'm going to be pretty liberal on divvying up what is a fandom within the big mega-fandoms.

(Like, MCU? I know people who ONLY want to play with the Thor pieces, and others who only like the Cap stuff. And arguments could be made about each one being its own, that just happens to touch the Avengers overall.)

[corvidology]

That was my point, that I'm not qualified to make these line calls as someone who is not in any of those fandoms.

Every year in Yuletide I watch the debates about comics fandom playing out and think surely the comics fans know what they're talking about?

[senmut]

+laughs brightly+

No, we really don't, but we all wing it and make it what we want!

I like your interpretation.

[kore]

Oh ghod the comics fandom debates are miserable.

[corvidology]

They must be, particularly as from the observation of someone not in the comic fandoms, it appears to be pretty much the same arguments over and over again.

[kore]

I'm like an enthusiastic n00b in comics fandom, but I really liked the 1847 Battleworld AU (basically, a bunch of the Avengers -- Nat, Steve, Tony, Bruce -- in the Old West) and IIRC that was one of the Yuletide sticking points, one year it wasn't in but the next year someone successfully argued for it.

And even with comics characters that are "the same" there are those constant "soft reboots" -- like Marvel's Fresh Start, Legacy, All-New, All-Different Marvel, Marvel NOW! 2.0. (not to be confused with Marvel NOW!) which mainly seem like ongoing excuses for new #1 issues and make my head hurt. And retcons. Hoo boy, retcons.

[senmut]

They're STILL doing that? I kept getting so confused back when I was trying to follow Spider-Girl!

[wierdalienfantasies]

Ah yes, the joys of Marvel continuity. Let me tell you, it just gets wierder and more wonderful the deeper you delve.

I’d consider myself a pretty hardcore X-Men comicverse fan, and I have to say they are probably *the* worst with alternate futures and realitites.

To give a “relatively simple” example, one of my favourite runs features one character from the future of an alternate reality, another character born ouside of all realities, a robot inhabited by the soul of a mutant from the same future alternate relality as the first character... oh and during the story the characters visit no less than eight alternate realities, cross over with ClanDestine, stray into Historical Real Events (in the case of two at least) and meet various versions of themselves, ranging from dinosaurs to Medieval Knights to evil Nazis. It’s a blast, let me tell you... but I wouldn’t have it any other way!

[kore]

I just heard that the X-Verse had yet ANOTHER giant change where all the mutants disappeared? but at he same time there's some kind of 1984 dystopia?? and Cyclops apologized and -- and my poor brain was just like, you know what, that's okay, just leave me by the side of the road and I'll catch up to you guys later.

(I really liked Cable and Hope. sigh. Also, will they EVER write Emma in a good way ever again? Signs Point To No)

[kore]

Continuity is a thing that shifts, based on what era of publication, what series, etc you are looking at.

Oh ghod yes. (I know people who just don't want to include Secret Empire in their Steve comics experience. Or Infinity War for MCU Thor fans. And I am one of those people.)

So I know I'm going to be pretty liberal on divvying up what is a fandom within the big mega-fandoms.

BLESS -- I liked the Star Trek Next Gen/DS9/Voyager examples. I think personally those are good guidelines.

I think just last Yuletide? there was again the problem with Battleworld, which is a separate series in and of itself, and offshoots from Battleworld, which were also comic miniseries but didn't really have much of anything to do with the big Battleworld story. Like the Planet Hulk and Old West ones were standalones. etc.

(Like, MCU? I know people who ONLY want to play with the Thor pieces, and others who only like the Cap stuff. And arguments could be made about each one being its own, that just happens to touch the Avengers overall.)

It gets funky with the MCU too -- arguably the Thor trilogy wraps up with Ragnarok (THEY'RE FINE. THEY'RE ALL FINE IN THE SPACE ARK) but then goes on in Infinity War (NO IT DOESN'T). And presumably Thor will have his final chapter in Endgame? Or will he get cameos in future movies? And MCU Tony is now part of MCU Peter's verse, and the same with Bucky and Wakanda, and blahblah fishcakes. But that was a later development, as they decided to build to the big ten-year climax, and something like the IM movies, say, clearly form a distinct trilogy.

Part of the problem with the comics stuff is that while they're the "same" characters, Marvel does have canon AUs, like with the Battleworld stuff. Or that one world where Tony is a woman and marries Steve. The multiverse idea is sort of woven into Marvel cosmology. But maybe not MCU so much. (Especially since if you try to sort out a general MCU cosmology or even simple chronology within the films, it turns into a hot mess.)

[senmut]

ALL of this!

DC wasn't as big on the AU thing after they did the Crisis back in the 80s, but they had a title that was called Elseworlds to explore a few, and some of those have fans. Likewise, Vertigo Comics, in the... 90s? Was distanced from main continuity to explore the strange and unusual with a more adult slant. So on and so forth...

So yeah, a nice big place to play in, where fandom is defined by the creators works for me.

[kore]

Oh, Elseworlds! I think I remember some fun things in that.

oops

[oldtoadwoman]

I already forgot I was doing this. So... uh... 1/12 of the year gone and I have accomplished 1/50th of my goal. I need to write a lot more this month.

Re: oops

[corvidology]

No worries! Remember, there's no time limit.

Re: oops

[senmut]

I'm not even starting on mine til March because I already had a February project and holdovers from January to get to.

Re: oops

[anonamor]

Same. Hoping to start in late March, maybe early April. (I need to stop writing fanfic for the same 4-game series arghhhhh)

[samuraiter]

*raises hand*

Representing video game and anime / manga fandom(s) here.

[anonamor]

I should be able to do the 100 from just video games alone... Which is kind of crazy now that I think about it.

[senmut]

I think it's GREAT that you can!

[samuraiter]

And that was exactly why I signed up. :-)

[sarajayechan]

Every Fire Emblem is its own continuity to me, for the most part. (Elibe, Jugdral, and Tellius' games can be merged into single canons)

[samuraiter]

I agree. Despite my theories of a shared world or shared universe, the games are generally pretty distinct from each other, direct sequels and prequels aside.

[anonamor]

I feel it's fair to count them as separate if they have very few repeating characters? At least that's how I was thinking of rolling. Like I was going to count Suikoden Tierkreis and Suikoden: Woven Web Century separately from the main Suikoden series even though they could technically be connected via the millions of worlds theory of the series lore.

[wierdalienfantasies]

Might be a longshot... but any Total Drama fans out there? I really love the show, but have never written for it so was considering using this challenge as an excuse to break the ice.

My problem is... can you count ‘Rama as a separate fandom? I mean the creators themselves are vague as to whether we’re supposed to view it as canon or not (I mean feasibly the characters would not remember their toddler years and so TDI would still make sense...). And what about the Ridonculuous Race? It’s a different in-universe show, but there’s competitor overlap and it is canonically filmed at the same time as TDPI.

Basically: TDI through TDPI is definitely a single fandom. I want to know where people place “Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race” and “Total DramaRama”?

[gladdecease]

I'm not in the fandom per se, but I know the shows well enough to have an opinion. IMO, it's a similar situation to the Star Trek TV shows: all of the shows exist in the same collective universe*, characters may appear in multiple shows, and people often call themselves fans of the collective universe rather than fans of one specific show, but each show is its own fandom.

*Re TDR, think of it like Muppet Babies - an official (if probably not canon) preschool AU! Definitely its own fandom if you want it to be.

[wierdalienfantasies]

Ah, thank you! That's actually a great analogy, and makes so much sense! I will probably at least split the main show and 'Rama up then (may not do The Race unless I'm desperate). Thanks once again for helping out here!

[makiyakinabe]

Harry Potter (books + movies) and the Fantastic Beasts movies: same fandom or separate fandoms?

On the one hand the Fantastic Beasts movies are essentially prequels to the main Harry Potter series, but on the other there seems to be plenty of distance separating the two of them so they feel like fairly different fandoms to me (even with characters like Dumbledore and Grindlewald appearing in both)...

[smallhobbit]

I'd treat them as separate fandoms - in the same way as Star Trek and Next Generation really are different.

[smallhobbit]

Of course there are all the different iterations of Sherlock Holmes ...

[kore]

I would definitely treat ACD, the Ritchie (sp) movies, and the TV shows all as separate fandoms. It really annoys me when the tags get mashed up for all those on AO3.

[smallhobbit]

Plus The Great Mouse Detective and My Dearly Beloved Detective ...

[kore]

Oh and the Mary Russell books. And the Granada series (my favourite).

[corvidology]

It's my favourite as well.

Jeremy Brett IS Sherlock Holmes. He's also a dead ringer for the original illustations.

[kore]

YES, he was so absolutely perfect. I never get tired of that series.

(Your icon!)

[corvidology]

It's a personal favourite for I think obvious reasons. Just go with the original! :D

[corvidology]

I would also treat the Sherlock TV series separately from the Granada series.

[smallhobbit]

A completely different kettle of red herrings.

[corvidology]

Smoked, not sushi...

[flirtoptionthree]

Any Star Wars fans? A lot of the legends properties are pretty clearly separate but I was wondering how people handle the movies and the EU dealing directly with them.

I'm leaning toward (in this challenge, if not in tags) counting them all as one thing just because I focus so hard on the reoccurring characters.