Friday Five (And Then Some)

This Friday, I thought I’d switch things up and do a bit of roundup. I have an article on a potential future of fandom that I hope you will love, three fic recs from different fandoms, and prompts in case you want to write a fic, create some fanart, or create an edit this weekend. 

Also, just as a heads up, there will be no fan/work next Friday, because I’m only a partially lapsed Catholic, so I do still observe Holy Week. I’m working on getting something out by Wednesday for you wonderful readers. 

📺 A Show I Really Love Right Now 

One of my favorite discoveries over the past year was Dropout. I subscribed to Dropout last year after watching a lot of Game Changer clips on TikTok. If you haven’t heard of Dropout, they evolved from old CollegeHumor, a popular comedy channel on YouTube, and they have a slate of comedy and role-playing shows. 

Impersonations? ✅

A show where you drink and try to guess other people’s secrets? ✅

A show where we can be free to be pedantic nerds because it’s all about correcting errors? ✅

A show where the rules change every time? ✅

A musical improv show where the cast tries to create a new musical every episode? ✅ 

A show where four queens from RuPaul’s Drag Race play Dungeons & Dragons for the first time? ✅

What can I say, folks, Dropout really gets me. 

My current favorite Dropout show is Breaking News, where the comedians have to read increasingly zany, gross, and hilarious lines off of a teleprompter without smiling or laughing. It’s been one of my favorite shows to watch before bed because it’s around 5-10 minutes on average and the revolving door of comedians joining the show makes for some hilarious combinations. 

For anyone new to this show or Dropout, my recommendation would be Sam Reich Launches Dropout America, an amazing commentary on how famous people pivot to extremist views while also being a hilarious roast of Dropout CEO Sam Reich. 

📚Fic Rec

Remember, don’t yuck someone’s yum!

it’s amazing (what baking can do). If you’re like me and you thought Ted and Rebecca had great friends-to-lovers potential while watching Ted Lasso, this is the fic for you.

It features some of my favorite things: baking, the team being a family, adorable Phoebe and her uncles, the boys horsing around, and Ted and Rebecca being their gosh-darned wonderful selves. 

grey ridge (ríl liatroma). In honor of House of the Dragon’s dual trailers dropping (which really deserves a newsletter to it), here’s one of my favorite fics from the Rhaenyra/Alicent fandom.

In my mind, I refer to it as the Succession AU, but even that feels inadequate.

It has corporate maneuvering, late night plotting against the enemy, a heartbreaking chapter about its main antagonist, a thrilling section on childbirth that makes me feel the same way as a Tom Cruise stunt on a Mission Impossible movie (on the edge of my seat, slightly out of breath, and also a little bit in awe), and a well-crafted world and characters. There’s a reason this is a fandom favorite, as molter deftly navigates conflict and character development. IT’S SO GOOD. 

a matching pair (we go together). I got into 9-1-1 because I do love my fair share of workplace dramas and procedurals, and my favorite wee woo 🚨 show has a new season. I typically ship female characters together, but I do agree that Buck and Eddie have so much chemistry and it is unreal that they have yet to make them canon. There are over 20,000 fics for this pairing, folks. And because I love a getting together fic where Christopher gets to play a huge role, I decided to share this adorable one. 

💡Prompts

• Character A and B have a meet-cute because Character A is on an artist date and Character B is trying to find the right ingredients for their sister, who is hosting a dinner party. 

• “What do you mean he’s running for president?”

• Your favorite character is actually a spy. Enter an edit of their bad-ass moments to Taylor Swift’s Vigilante Shit.

• “I wasn’t done with my ramen!” 

• Your favorite found family decides to organize a Powerpoint party.  

🗞️ An article I enjoyed

I’m currently writing about the future of fandom for a research assignment, and one article that has lodged itself into my brain is Elizabeth Minkel’s ‘Terror Camp’ Could Be a Glimpse of the Future of Fandom and Scholarship. 

What struck me most is the idea that if fandom and fan studies continues to evolve to become more interdisciplinary, it needs spaces where scholars or academics can engage and share with fans who have developed specialized knowledge because of their fandom. It simply can’t be in silos anymore.

I think another reason it speaks to me is the idea that being in fandom encourages lifelong learning and interdisciplinary thinking—two things that I think will become important as emerging technology tries to simplify industries into tasks. I’m reminded of this popular post on Tumblr about what people dove deep into to write their fanfic, and it spans topics that are either ignored or just brushed on in school to things people just wouldn’t have known if they didn’t write their fic. 

There’s so much that we learn from being in fandom. I think it’s high time that people recognize that what we do in our leisure time seeps into other areas of our life and that it should be considered a legitimate way to develop skills, attitudes, and relationships, even if we don’t want to monetize it.

I’d love to hear from you! Do you have prompts, fic recs, or articles that you’d like to share? Things that are happening in your fandom that are worth a deep dive? Send me an email by replying to this newsletter, and I’ll make sure to give it a look. 

Happy Friday, folks!