#fanwork classification

[wtfanworkclassification]

Tour de France 2025 Fanwork Classification Masterpost

As night falls on the Giro, the sun rises on the Tour! Welcome back to the second edition of the Tour de France Fanworks Classification, and we hope you're all ready for an exciting race ahead- both by the peloton and those who wish to create a fanwork for this event! The maillot scintillement, defended by @legendofthefireemblem is up for grabs for any GC hopefuls this year, along with the return of the category classifications for those seeking a more specialised challenge. Continuing on from the Giro, another gauntlet has emerged for those brave enough to challenge it- although this one seems to only count submissions for stages that are multiples of three. Whether creating, betaing, or cheering everyone on, the mod team wishes you all the best of luck for this Grand Tour!

Rules: As always, Tumblr submissions will be counted only within the timeframe of when the collection itself is open. We have also put in place a Code of Conduct- please read over it to know the behaviour expected of participants towards others!

Timeline: Collection opens: 3rd July 00:00 UTC Collection closes: 29th July 11:59 UTC Classification winners announced: 9th August (roughly)

(useful links and legend below the break)

Ao3 Collection Explanation post for the challenges FAQs

[joutsummer]

things are happening in drafts.

[activate-shadow-of-the-window]

I and @aquinnix co-wrote this fic, Zed And Scar’s Guide on How Not To Do Basic Science, for @hermitadaymay’s Solstice Social Collaborative Fanwork Event!

My chapters, “Gravity, Velocity, and Basic Physics” and “Conductivity and Meteorology”, are below the cut!

Gravity, Velocity, and Basic Physics

Honestly, neither of the culprits, who also happened to be the victims, could remember how it began.

But where it started was certain. At a sheer cliff-face on a particularly tall mountain whose peak reached past the clouds.

Zed planted his hands on his hips, squinting past the blindingly white snow up to the flat landing some hundreds of blocks upwards. “All the way up there?”

Scar nodded, his face painted in a grin far too genuine to be real. “Yup! I mean, I’ve seen mountain goats make it up there, and sheep too, and some chickens, and the occasional horse, so why couldn’t you?”

“I mean, why not? It’s technically science! Because… gravity!”

“Yeah! Good luck!”

Zed almost immediately regretted his classification of the request as science. Most of the cliff was nearly vertical, with only the tiniest footholds for his hooves. And he wasn’t exactly used to walking on solid rock and slippery gravel and fresh snow, so the whole affair hurt like the dickens.

From somewhere down below, Scar called up what could be called encouragement. “You’re doing great! I can hardly see you, but I’m sure you’re doing great!”

“Thanks, I think? Oh, and how do you intend to get up here? I can’t be doing this all by myself! Science is cooperative, after all.”

A pause. He had not considered this whatsoever. “Uh. Well. I think I’ve got ender pearls in here somewhere…”

“Break your feet if you wanna.” Zed resumed climbing for a moment, but then he had an epiphany. “Wait. Don’t you have wings?”

“Wings. Wings? Oh, yeah, wings! I’m a half-vex, so I can fly! Right!” Manifesting the half-transparent, and honestly kinda pathetic flappers, Scar made for the cliff at a pitiable pace. “I’ll be right there!”

“Sure you will. See you at the top!”

Putting his all into not slipping off and falling and certainly dying, Zed made a mad scramble out of the rest of his climb. Externally, the whole affair looked rather desperate and haphazard. Internally, he was exclaiming ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow with every new hoof- and hand-hold.

But somehow, he made it.

Collapsing into a panting heap among the snow and grass, he only rose when a scream echoed from somewhere below. Popping his head over the edge, Zed saw Scar dangling from a single outcropping (that he had conveniently missed on his own ascent), beating his wings into a hurricane in an attempt to stay aloft.

“ZEEEEEEEEEEED HEEEEEEEEEEEELP MEEEE—”

“Oh, you’ll be fine! And I surely have something to drop you…” Rooting around his pockets, the scientist produced a few arms-lengths of useless sewing string, a bundle of spider eyes, and, finally, a good, sturdy chain about as long as a spruce can grow tall. “Grab on!”

Without looking over the edge, Zed dropped the chain, which had a soulfire lantern on one end, and a caldron on the other. Dropping the lantern down, he anchored the caldron with a swiftly collected bucket of powder snow before bothering to check on Scar. Evidently, from the noises alone, he was still terrified.

“Zed? Zed? Zed, you’re gonna bring me up, right? Right? Zed?”

“Of course! But this is another chance for science! There’s something called velocity I’m rather interested in. And you might be the perfect test subj— I mean, assistant for the job! Interested?”

“I mean, if it gets me up this cliff, yeah! Go ahead and do science!”

“Gladly!” Promptly downing a potion he found in his pockets, which was probably strength, he planted both hooves and grasped the chain. “Hold on tight, until you’re going so fast you can’t handle it!”

“Why would I be going fast wait wait wait this is fast this is reaAAAAAAAAA—” Quickly returning to screaming, Scar indeed hung onto the chain for dear life as Zed put his whole body, which wasn’t much but was still something, into swinging him around in the air. Not very far in the air, mind you, but he was still airborne.

The screaming continued for an almost concerningly long amount of time, before Scar finally let go and was launched into the near distance. A tiny streak of blue and noise, Zed watched him depart happily.

Until he hit a tree. Face-first.

“Ooooh. Let’s mark that as human error… Aww, I don’t have my notes. Where could they have gone?”

One place, obviously. The ground beneath the cliff. Peering over the edge again, Zed spotted the book, the quill, the bottles of ink, the ink still in the sacks, the backup quills, and everything he needed to record his science, at the base of the cliff.

“Oh. Well. I do need to get whatever Scar dropped.”

He began the desperate scramble but in reverse, twice as terrified thanks to the dying light of the setting sun. The chorus of ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow returned in his head, and every so often he’d halt and start fiddling with his comms box to calm his nerves.

One of those times, he managed to leave it open and floating as he began descending again.

Of course, Scar chose that moment to ping him.

goodtimewithscar: Zed?

Yelping in fear and surprise, Zed performed his usual reaction.

A small jump.

The last thing he remembered from that afternoon was seeing his notes a split second before everything went black.

-

At least he remembered to record his observations the next morning.

“Note to self, falling off a cliff results in the worst back pain this side of getting kicked by a horse.”

Conductivity and Meteorology

Thunder sounded for seemingly the millionth time that evening, cracking Zed’s ears open again. It was loud enough to shake his cabinets, sending the pots and pans rattling. That noise gave him an idea, an idea that began bouncing in his brain harder the more the rain drove into the ground and the closer and closer the lightning became.

Who would be awake at this hour? he thought, and more importantly, who would hear me out?

He wasn’t on speaking terms with Cub after what had gone down in the shopping district, and Impulse was almost certainly still after his head for that thing with the cats. Grian wanted his hide for that incident with the fish, Cleo had sent multiple letters over that display he destroyed, and Scar…

Oh, he would do perfectly.

-

“Why did you want me to bring all my cutlery?” Scar asked, as he placed several shulker boxes on the kitchen table, their metal contents clattering.

“I didn’t even know you had that much cutlery.” Zed clapped his hands together out of sheer excitement. “This is perfect! You got the string?”

He produced several spools from his pockets. “Yeah..?”

Zed took up his largest pot and one of the forks. “Start tying things together. We’re going to capture lightning in a bottle.”

There was no hesitation. “Okay! Uh, is the string going to be enough? Your pots are quite big.”

“Don’t phrase it like that. And yeah, maybe we need something more. Got any wax?”

“…No? Maybe? Actually, let me check.”

He commenced a great rummaging in his pockets, pulling out boxes and bundles, tearing through piles of wood and stone and what seemed to be concrete. Zed started getting nervous when he began tossing terracotta around his kitchen.

“Did I catch you at a bad time, mate? You’ve got an awful lot of construction material on hand.”

Scar looked up, not even stopping in his search through gravel and dirt. “Huh? No, this is just what I happened to have on hand. Raw iron, moss, wool, oh! Even a lighting rod! Dyes, wheat seeds—”

“Did you just say you have a lighting rod, Scar?” Zed’s hooves began to drum in excitement. “Three copper, arranged in a line? An honest-to-Void lightning rod?”

”Jeez, calm down. Yeah, it’s a lightning rod. Wait, do you want to use it? To catch the lighting?”

“Yeah! I don’t know how yet, but that’s the beauty of the scientific method. Try, try, try again, and if you fail, try yet again! After all, what’s death in the face of great discovery? Or great fun!”

-

Zed stood looking at his newest contraption with pride. A monstrous shape of pots and pans with forks sticking out like so many feathers, her head, a kettle, was crowned with a lightning rod horn. It was terribly unwieldy and amazingly magnificent. She was also very, very heavy, and they had no chance at moving her anywhere.

“So… got any minecarts?”

“Nope!”

“I guess she’s staying here, then. Here’s to hoping that Seraphina won’t burn down the forest!”

“Cheers, Serena!”

“It’s Seraphina, Scar. Now all we’ve got to do is wait.”

”For what?”

Of course, lighting chose to strike Seraphina right then, thunder clapping barely a moment later. The flare momentarily blinded both of them, and while Zed instinctively dove for cover, Scar summoned his wings and flew directly upwards. And, being possessed of something akin to sense, he was wearing a good, sturdy, metal belt buckle.

Zed only stuffed himself deeper into his front yard’s bushes when Scar screamed. It was by no means a new noise, nor an entirely surprising one, but its length indicated that he wasn’t quite dead yet.

And a thump indicated that he had returned to the ground. At speed.

Finding some half-intact goggles in a pocket, Zed carefully wiggled out of his bush to tend to the half-vex. Very singed, very burned, and having lost his shirt to the storm, Scar was groaning mostly out of pain, but also out of annoyance.

“Ugh. I hate respawning after fire stuff. And I can’t see! You there, Zed?”

“Yeah. And I’m fresh out of healing potions. You want me to make it quick, or do you want to stick it out?”

“Let me die naturally, please. Losing my head always gives me the most annoying neck pain. Is Sofia intact?”

“Seraphina. And yes, she’s fine. I can attach the bottle and we can get our captive lighting bolt in no time. Just stay put.”

-

Scar groaned again, this time out of boredom. “Zed, how long has it been?”

“Long enough. Are you sure you don’t want me to end it?”

“Yes, let me live for now. I think I can see the sun!”

“That’s the moon. And it’s still pouring.”

”Aww, my nerves must be shot. Wait, if it’s night, do we need to worry about mobs?”

“Probably not. Xisuma made me light this whole area to the Nether and back, after the enderman incident.”

Another arc of lighting struck some far-off lightning rod, giving Zed another reason to sigh. Seraphina wasn’t particularly tall, barely making it to the second floor of his house, and her rod was hardly the only one in the area. Most of his neighbors had the good sense to put one up.

“I am this close to going over there and stealing their lightning rods.”

Scar seemed to groan in response, deeper and longer. And again. And again…

Wait. That wasn’t Scar groaning. Scar was screaming again.

“Zed? Zed! Get over here! It’s zombies!”

”Of all the—“ Pulling out his sword, he ran to the only shadowed spot in his garden. Three zombies and a skeleton were shambling out of the darkness, and Scar was desperately scooting away, trying to nock an arrow on his bow.

“Get down!” With a swipe, he took one zombie across the chest, sending it stumbling back. “Put the Hot Guy away, too! You’re more likely to get me than any of these!”

“Aww, let me try! OUCH!” Before he could even loose an arrow, the skeleton sent one through his shoulder. “Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow—”

“This is too much for me. Sorry, Scar!” In one movement, Zed put his sword through the heart, and Scar turned into light. “I can’t let my assistant have a useless arm in addition to blindness. Now, would you four lay off? I’ve got science to do!”

-

Four destroyed mobs and an annoying arrow to the leg later, Zed had refitted Seraphina with a bottle on the… hoof? Foot? One of the sticky-outy bits that anchored her to the ground, and he was waiting for lightning to strike for the third time. Judging by his clock (which he thought worked, probably), he had two hours of night before the storm inevitably passed. Another boom sounded, in the far off mountains.

Void below, this was boring without Scar.

Zedaph: Is anyone else awake out there?

The radio silence stretched on for a little longer than necessary before someone answered.

docm77: I am

Oh. That is. Interesting.

Zedaph: Hi there, late night buddy! Or should I say early morning buddy?

docm77: What’s keeping you awake?

Zedaph: Science! Wanna see?

Radio silence, again. Typical. Turning back to Seraphina, Zed almost shut his comms box when a response finally popped up.

docm77: Not like I have anything better to do

-

Doc almost immediately regretted his decision.

“Why… no, what is the purpose of this?” He gestured at the giant pile of pots and pans and forks and buckets and scrap metal and old weapons and a single lightning rod. “I assume you want to conduct some electricity, but why?”

“I want to catch lightning in a bottle! And Seraphina here—“

“Of course you named it.”

“—is going to do it for me! Oh, and don’t look so glum, Doc. You don’t need to do anything but wait!”

“…fine.”

Settling down onto his hooves in a crouch, Doc couldn’t help but look around Zed’s front yard with concern. “Are you sure this place is mob proof? I can see a lot of shadows.”

“Don’t worry! X himself came over and certified it. I’ve got the paper somewhere in here.”

As he began rooting around in his pockets and Doc tried to count the number of forks on Seraphina, no-one heard the nigh silent footsteps of a creeper… well, creeping below the contraption.

And storm decided just then to send a bolt of lightning.

The creeper never saw it coming, but thankfully, Zed and Doc saw it easy enough. The surroundings were certainly dark enough for it.

“Hey Doc? Doc, why is the creeper glowing?”

“Don’t ask me, man! It’s your science!”

Zed began backing away very, very slowly. “I think it’s the creeper’s science now, mate.”

“You don’t say.”

“I mean, we kill it. Right? See what the lightning did to the insides?”

“No… No. This is your problem now.” Doc got up and pulled out a compass. “The nearest nether portal is a hundred and twenty blocks that way…”

Zed waved him a happy farewell. “Suit yourself! More science for me!”

In that time, the creeper had approached, creeping as best it could while glowing like a lantern. And then it did what creepers do.

-

Zed woke up the next morning in a lot of pain everywhere on the back of his body. It was a fascinating pain, like normal explosion remnants but somehow worse. He hurt especially badly on the back of the head and on his rear end, but it wasn’t anything debilitating. Yet.

Opening up his comms box, he found people conversing normally, Doc cursing his name for all to see, and Scar pinging him at least twice a minute.

goodtimewithscar: Zed

There was probably no use in replying.

goodtimewithscar: Zed

Probably.

goodtimewithscar: Zed

Okay, fine.

goodtimewithscar: Zed

Zedaph: Yes, Scar?

goodtimewithscar: Finally! Did you get the lightning?

Huh. It shouldn’t have been a surprise, but Scar wasn’t actually mad.

Zedaph: No

Zedaph: Creeper got the lightning, and creeper got me

goodtimewithscar: Oh

goodtimewtihscar: Did you do science?

He smiled. Maybe it was worth the pain.

Zedaph: Yes! Lots!

[runaeveena]

ao3 is not a fucking library database it's not an actual fucking archive it just has archive in the fucking name and all it has is fanfiction (and other related fanworks, and also very rarely original fiction) holy shit can you guys stop comparing your shitty fanfics to actual important pieces of literature.

Hi! As a masters student in library and archival studies I was introduced to ao3 in my first semester as the, and i quote, "the classification goal of all library systems". It's one of the most advanced databases for digital information searching, a word you would more commonly recognize as "library".

Your statement about it only having fanfiction is very wrong since a lot of art is placed in ao3, I mean the tags are right here for you to look at, I pulled them up in 2 minutes.

I'm curious as to why you claim it's not an archive. For the class, here's the definition of archive from wikipedia in the first sentence: An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. I'm sitting in an actual physical archive right now at one of the top universities of California. The only difference between this one, the Internet Archive, or ao3, is the content they hold. It is true that there's no literature so to speak, but we don't think there is. There isn't any "literature" on my desk right now, actually. I'm sitting next to a pile of scrap paper from 1825 that held the ramblings of the Governor of Mexico. Why would the archive have this if it isn't literature!? Because someone thought it was important. That's why we archive it.

That's all an archive is. It's just writing that we care about. Even if it is the cringiest, most obscene, self insert production, it's art. Do you not consider fanwork or fan made content to be worth keeping? You prefer you all write our stories in our head and burn our diaries later so we can be miserable on the internet like you? Art like fanfiction has not harmed you in any way and never will affect you, except you are choosing to be mad over it. I want you to ask yourself why.

[bonesandpoemsandflowers]

I've been thinking about the Richard Siken discourse again, and why exactly, besides the obvious, I've always found it so cringe that people read Crush as if it's actual honest to god intentional fanwork of Supernatural.

Obvious: the timelines don't add up, artists are their own people existing on their own terms, your framework is your framework and you cannot assume other people have worlds just as small, and most people do not write a whole fucking collection of poetry and go to the trouble of getting it published because they like a TV show. you are underestimating the slog of the publishing process.

Less obvious: having not seen SPN, but being culturally SPN-ish because I am on tumblr dot com, as far as I can tell the reason that people think Crush is a fanwork is because a reoccurring motif is Boys In Cars. Hot Guys Being Hot In Cars.

But that's because Hot Guys In Cars is just like, a thing. If you like guys you probably like Guys In Cars. It has nothing to do with if you like cars or not. I am utterly indifferent to cars. Not only did I never learn the breeds of cars: the general classification of cars eludes me, because I am so thoroughly disinterested in cars. The rideshare app says the driver will arrive in a sedan. What does this mean? I do not know. It is a mystery.

But I love Guys In Cars. It's so hot. But it is not about the car. It's about the intimacy of two people crammed into a small space for an indeterminate amount of time. Potentially a very long time, if we're talking American for roads and distances (and probably also guys and cars). It's that a car is a capsule is a hotel room is a shared journey is a getaway is a trap, and those people in there are just stuck together. Temporary, yes, but what isn't?

Shared space (car), shared goal (destination), isolation (limit to how many other people are in the car).

So it's intimate, is what I'm saying here, it's intimate over and over.

"You're in a car with a beautiful boy," Siken writes, and that line does so much work already. It implies that it's just you and the beautiful boy, maybe. Probably. He's trapped in there with you. You're trapped in there with him. He won't tell you he loves you: this is not an ideal place but it is an in-between place. "But he loves you." It is the place you have. Trapped in there with him. Trapped in there with you.

So it's intimate, it's hot. It is general as much as it is specific. It is, I would say, a fucking foundational ingredient. It's like this man wrote an omelet and you guys went "omg that HAS to be about my blorbos" because anything made with eggs is a direct reference to your blorbos.

Stop it. Recognize the universality of the things you read. Why is it relatable? Why is it delicious? Or I mean, you don't have to think about it, actually. You can just enjoy the omelet. But stop going directly to the chef about it, okay?

[becquerel]

i think it is like interesting what is quantified as "fanwork" and what is quantified as "inspired works" -- people get really upset at the implication of things like the divine comedy or paradise lost being fanfiction of the bible, but like at the same time what is the degree in which an inspired work no longer is just inspired and is now considered "fanfiction" ? surely this line must be drawn somewhere. surely everyone realizes "i know it when i see it" is generally a bad rule of thumb for things like artistic works. the defense of fanfiction and for people to create derived works is less so about fanfiction and fandom for me and more as an interesting thinkpiece into what is considered "real art" and what is considered "derisive slop" and clearly people get quite upset at the implication even badly made art is still art, or the implication that being classified as "art" is not a moral signal in and of itself, its a barebones classification. what is art if not anything made by human hands ? is the art of speech not still art ? the art of decorating? why do all of these thoughts of what is or isn't real art fly out the window when it gets to fanwork? this isnt to say fanwork doesn't have its own flaws either but i just find it odd people default to fantic not being art in its own right ? right?

[ryin-silverfish]

I remember that a while ago it had been discussed as if the children of the nine-tailed fox in Jttw could be something that is not explained/loophole because if they were biological children, then heaven accepted children of a demon that is implied, eats humans (so most JTTW adaptations, they are considered adopted). But my biggest question was, does heaven have some kind of rules as to who can be part of heaven? If the son of a Yaoguai or mortal human who did bad cultivation could not enter heaven because of what his parents did even though the son did not follow the same way of cultivation?

I understand that there are certain crimes that the pilgrims were forgiven, but I wonder in the case of families and descendants.

I mean...I don't think yaoguais were denied entry into the Celestial Bureaucracy on the sole basis of being yaoguais, or having done bad stuff.

Sure, the ones that did do bad stuff were usually admitted under very specific context——getting their asses kicked by a more powerful god/immortal and becoming their new employees.

For example, in his non-JTTW mythos, Numinous Official Wang of the Thunder Bureau was once a yaoguai/demonic deity subdued by one of the Four Daoist Heavenly Masters, Sa Shoujian.

JTTN is basically about Emperor Zhenwu kicking demon asses and taking names, though the demons he subdued were often forced into servitude via water/fire pills that would corrode/ignite their insides whenever they tried to rebel.

As for families and descendants...I don't think there would be any formal bans against them entering the Celestial Bureaucracy?

They still had to find a master and cultivate themselves up to a level where they'd catch the attention of the Celestial Host, or, in the case of foxes, pass Bixia Yuanjun's fox cultivation exams.

(I love the fox cultivation exam in Qing folklore collections. Like, it seems to be a fox specific thing, but nothing's stopping you from extending that to the rest of yaoguai-kind in mythos-inspired works and fanworks.)

Like, it's still gonna be very difficult. Going by the Zhong-Lv classification system of immortals, what differentiates a Divine immortal from a Heavenly immortal is basically a formal appointment from the Celestial Host, and to get that appointment, you usually have to accumulate a lot of merits through preaching the Daoist Way + acts of great virtues.

As a result, Lv Dongbin said in the text that "Being a Ghostly immortal was undesirable, and a Heavenly one, unrealistic/beyond one's hopes..." Which suggests it isn't the ultimate goal every cultivator should strive for, since the power of appointment is not in their hands.

HC-wise, I feel like yaoguais and their descendents are still gonna face prejudice, won't have a lot of upwards mobility, and can be subjected to collective punishments if their family members did something bad.

However, they are not outright barred from the Celestial Bureaucracy by virtue of their yaoguai blood either.

[bare1ythere]

what is a tumblr sexyman????? do explain

Dear anon I was waiting a few days because I wasn't sure if my friend was going to post our ranking or not, so I will follow this up with my reblog of their post on it!!

But after looking through the tumblr sexyman wiki for a few hours last week, I think a lot of characters shouldn't actually be on there. Because I think the classification of a character as a tumblr sexyman is based three factors: Tropes the character fulfills, popularity within their fandom, and fanwork energy.

Me and my friends talked a lot about what tropes the characters need to fit, which is in the next reblog. But a character can fill all expected tropes and still not be a tumblr sexyman if they don't have the fandom energy behind them. They have to be one of the most popular characters in their fandom, and people need to make the type of fanwork that is commonly associated with tumblr sexyman. Think pin-up style works from fan artists, and self-ship and long headcanon lists for both artists and writers. They're also often shipped with another character, often another main male character, so ship art will be common then. But it is not common for this love interest to be as popular as the sexyman.

[br1ghtestlight]

i find fanworks featuring the B.R.I.A.N/J.U.S.T.I.N/A.D.A.M robots to be so fascinating tbh bcuz obviously all the characterization we have of them is really just from the livestream they did and the Few moments they had in the episode. but it's like those were still based on the real actual directors of ii. but like a weird fictionalized version of them. and then from THAT they're further bastardized. like obviously no reason or real way to try and capture the complex emotions and experiences of these real human people into cartoon robots literally made to have very little emotional processing. but seeing what parts of them stayed through til the final version of a fanwork made about a fictionalized version of them as robots improving in a livestream. which clearly isn't the real core of who they are as people cuz that wasn't ever the intention. but its. there's Something there. idk maybe im just being a nerd i think psychology and personality classification is so interesting

[yumeurl]

For the ship classification ask game:

tomdraco

tomdraco - doesn't make sense, compels me

tomdraco is fascinating to me because it honestly isn't supposed to work but in my head it really does?? tbh i don't even remember why i first got interested with this ship, it's most probable that i just have tom and draco as my faves that i decided to mash them together and coincidentally found great fanworks for them

i think i pretty much have the same opinion as the rest, i view tomdraco as a relationship not derived from a preconceived destiny or even initial attraction to help them stay together, but instead a relationship that makes a firm choice to stay together. they need hogwarts years to force them to stay together lmfao. of course tomdraco in a lord voldemort era would be really different and more on power imbalance, but it's still a relationship that stays as one because they (or just one of them if it's LV) chose it to stay like that

it's a ship that needs alot of work to stay or even be formed, but maybe that's why it's so compelling

send me a ship and i'll tell you where it lies for me

[wtfanworkclassification]

Giro d'Italia 2025 Fanwork Classification Results!

The results are in at last- and the mods would like to thank everyone who participated in the 2025 Giro Fanworks Classification. Whether you created a fanwork, commented, betaed, or cheered everyone one it is a net positive for Cycling RPF as a whole. But we do have some winners of the classifications to congratulate.

First, the general classification and thus the maglia glitterata has been won by a substantial margin by those who chose to post anonymously this classification. While this means the jersey cannot be formally awarded to any individual in particular, it does mean that whoever wishes to post anonymously next Giro is thus helping to defend the jersey. Congratulations to however many authors were involved in this- it was an impressive GC campaign!

For the individual campaigns hoelywritingsx won the hilly (or AU) classification, legendofthefireemblem won the mountain  (or trope) classification and olympiaslover won the ITT (or challenge) classification. For the first of the gauntlets, Hyperspecific Week, the anonymous collective reigns supreme- perhaps another gauntlet will approach in the near future for people to try? Who knows! Nevertheless, congratulations to all our participants and we hope you all had a wonderful time! See you all soon for the Tour!

(admire the maglia glitterata below)

[joutsummer]

they say we're buried far (just like a distant star)

tour de france fanwork classification, stage 20: trope -> soulmates (133 words)

also on ao3.

primož knows, realistically, that he can't actually feel the mark on his right shoulder blade. that's not how soulmate marks work.

and yet.

the burning on his back and side, two weeks after he leaves the team in cluses.

the pressure on his shoulder, even as they come over the top of the plateau de salaison hand-in-hand.

the familiar ache of a phantom pain, watching from his couch as jonas raises the trophy above his head.

he's never been able to decide if it's better or worse that soul marks aren't always reciprocal. maybe it's the mentor in him, that inescapable need to protect a younger teammate.

the mark doesn't go away when he pulls on his new bora-hansgrohe jersey. there'd been a part of primož that had sort of thought it might.

[httpskarmaco-main]

Httpskarmaco's favorite rare pairs!

* The classification of rare-pair is a pairing or ship that is rare in a fandom. It is not featured in many fanworks and makes up only a small proportion of the overall total. Some pairings may be shipped by a lot of fans, but are uncommon in fanworks. Often, a rarepair may also be a crackship, but not necessarily if said crackship is popular.

If the pairing has little to no fanworks on Google/Safari,Twitter/X, Tumblr, Deviantart, Wattpad, or AO3 then it can be classified as a ‘rare-pair.’ If that ship name hashtag on Tiktok also has little views where most edits and appreciation posts of ships would be found can be taken into accountability.

The fandoms I’ll be sharing my favorite rare-pairs in are: Danganronpa (the whole series), Genshin Impact, My Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, and Hazbin Hotel/Helluva Boss.

Danganronpa:

Ikusaba/Oowada/Ishimaru

Celestia/Ikusaba

Celestia/Oowada

Celestia/Daiya (They are both the legal age and the age difference wouldn’t be more than 5 years.)

Asahina/Kirigiri

Kuwata/Togami

Souda/Owari

Tojo/Momota

Sato/Koizumi

Genshin Impact:

Dottore/Xianyun

Cadence/Xiao

Shenhe/Thoma

Dehya/Itto

Rosaria/Arlecchino

MHA/BNHA:

Tenya/Hanta

Yaoyorozu/Kaminari

Bakugo/Jirou (in the middle of being a rarepair)

HH/HB

Velvette/Rosie

Velvette/Cherri Bomb

Mollie/Cherri Bomb

Sera/Carmilla

For Celestia and Daiya. Again they are of legal age. They entered Hopes Peak at the ages of 16-17 proof with Kuwata's backstory stating he went to Hopes Peak at around 17 years old. Then they were there for two years making them 18-19. Daiya is not that much older than Mondo seeing that Daiya doesn't look that much different from Mondo. He is possibly around 21, max 25. They wouldn't have that much of an age gap plus they are both adults/of legal age. If Daiya was stated to be much older than Mondo, meaning possibly 30 then I wouldn't consider the ship. This is just for clarification.

[gender-in-fandom]

Being Non-binary in Fandom Spaces

Whether intentional or unintentional, fandom spaces tend to be divided by gender. Some of the perceived gender divisions can be attributed to how “masculine” or “feminine” a certain interest may be. I previously discussed how many music fandoms are stereotypically seen as spaces full of teenage girls. This might be true for some of them, but there are plenty of music-based fandoms that lean male, or might not lean at all. Sci-fi fandoms are stereotypically seen as “fanboy” domains, but we know from our initial history lesson that women played an important role in the history of the Star Trek fandom. Like any stereotype, our preconceived ideas of gendered fandoms fall apart when looked at with a critical eye. I am fascinated by where these stereotypes originate, and what they mean for us as people who have to exist in spaces dominated by the gender binary.

The gender binary is the classification of gender into two categories, those categories being masculine and feminine. These categories align with the two most common categories of biological sex (male and female). Masculinity and femininity are not dictated by biological sex, however. They are defined by the cultures and societies that recognize them. In the Western world, these categories are strictly defined. In many cases, masculine and feminine attributes are considered to be opposites. Our society is consciously and unconsciously shaped by the gender binary in many ways. Even in spaces where the genders of individuals cannot be immediately identified, such as in online fandoms, the gender binary persists and assumptions are made about the identities of people based on societal understandings of each gender. Entire fandoms are reduced down to gendered stereotypes.

Gender roles exist in fandom because people exist in fandom. Ideas that are taught to us by society shape the way we interact with the world, with each other, and with ourselves. Some interests are stereotyped as masculine or feminine, but behaviors that exist within fandom can also be stereotyped. In my third post, I discussed how the creative arts are seen as feminine, especially when placed in contrast to the sciences, which are stereotypically masculine. As a participatory culture, creation is intrinsic to fandom. Whether or not the people who create fanworks actually identify as women, there is a stereotype that associates fanfiction and fanart with girls and women. Additionally, the association between masculinity and the sciences provides a basis for the idea that sci-fi is a man’s world. These gender roles shape how people treat each other in fandom spaces, but also what it means for someone to be in that space. How many boys have been afraid to express themselves because someone told them it was girly? How many girls were bullied out of male-dominated fandoms just for being girls? It's impossible to know, but these are very real scenarios that reinforce gender segregation in fandom and in our culture.

Being someone who identifies as non-binary, I think about how the gender binary affects not only how I see myself, but the way that others see me as well. On the internet, I can put my pronouns in my bio on social media and avoid any other indication of my gender, but that does not mean much when the gender binary is so much more than pronouns and personal appearance. By simply being in a given fandom, am I behaving masculinely or femininely? If I’m open about my love of K-pop boy groups, am I performing a feminine act? Was it masculine to obsess over Minecraft when I was 12, and is it still masculine now? How can I be non-binary in a gendered space without just tattooing it on my forehead? Is it even possible?

There’s an important question that I haven’t asked yet: does any of this matter? Out of every issue that plagues our world, is the non-binary experience in fandom really something that needs to be addressed? My answer to this question is that it’s not really about fandom at all. Fandom is the vehicle to understand the greater issue, which is how the gender binary is enforced in so many ways that it feels damn near impossible to exist outside of it. The real issue is inclusivity, or the lack thereof. Fandoms are just groups of people, and people are full of conscious and unconscious ideas about how the world works. My struggle to be authentically nonbinary in fandom is identical to my experience in real life. Outside of myself, I am at the mercy of other people to have my identity recognized and respected. This cannot happen so long as non-binary identities are ignored or actively despised outside of queer and ally spaces. The desegregation of gendered spaces in fandom occurs when gender segregation is addressed in society at large, and that happens when the gender inequality engrained into our culture is addressed.

[willowbird]

I've always kinda wondered, do you know why AFTG fandom has leaned so hard into Neil being ginger when I don't think he is canonically? Like, I wouldn't say auburn = ginger, especially not the neon orange a lot of fanart has. He even describes his natural hair color as a shade of brown — "Neil had dyed his hair brown from time to time, but never this shade [...] This was his natural color[...]" (TRK, CH 16) etc. Like, in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter at all lmao but I read the books before I saw any fanart, so I was surprised when I saw Neil looking like a Weasley lol.

Okay so I will preface this by saying that I am not someone who has strong feelings about the Neil Josten Auburn vs Ginger "discourse" that occasionally pops up. When I was younger, and my hair was longer, and I actually saw sunlight on a semi-regular basis - my hair was described as auburn so when I pictured Neil I pictured him with dark reddish-brown hair that was "reddish" in the sense that it was warm and had that red-glow in the sunlight but at a glance would definitely be described as "brown".

Coming onto tumblr and seeing fanart with him with red red and/or ginger looks was mildly surprising but I liked the combo of red hair & blue eyes so it didn't really faze me.

But you asked *why* and I thought about it, and well, here's how I think it happened:

First, know that unless you have auburn hair or know someone who you've heard describe their hair as auburn - and it's distinctly brown - you probably only have a vague idea of what "auburn" means. Red-brown is kind of vague when you think about it. Just think of all the different wood stains in the red-brown category! There's like 50!

And when you Google auburn hair, this is pretty much what you get:

Which definitely implies that "auburn" is "dark red" rather than "reddish-brown".

Once you have it in your head that auburn is a classification of "dark red" it's incredibly easy for creative license and interpretation to open that up into "red hair". From which the leaning will be toward "ginger" as that's a very popular aesthetic in fiction. A lot of people think ginger when being told a character has red hair, despite there being a lot of different shades of red hair that wouldn't necessarily be considered "ginger". And yes, a part of this is probably because when you think of redheads in pop culture, you get characters (like the Weasleys) who are ginger and are described by the more broad classification of having red hair/as redheads.

And so, even if you KNOW people with red hair who aren't gingers, or with auburn hair who aren't redheads, the association between "hair with red in it" to "ginger" becomes pretty easy and commonplace.

At least, this is my interpretation. Fanlore likes bandwagons, so maybe an artist once went "Oh but I like the combo of ginger/redhead with blue eyes let's do that for Neil" and people liked it and so it stuck *shrug* I only joined this fandom in 2020 so I couldn't tell you exactly how it started.

Either way, I think it's cool to see the different ways people interpret the characters. The fandom has kind of universally decided that Dan & Matt are Black and Renee is often drawn as being Asian, which is really cool. Also, the incredible variety of interpretation of the Minyards. Sometimes they're twinks, sometimes they're stocky lil boulder men. Curly hair, straight hair, every shade of blond imaginable. There isn't really a consensus when it comes to them like there is with many of the other characters.

We all just love them so much, and so when we write or draw them, we imbue more of what we like/love into the designs. That's kind of the beauty of fanworks. You can take something you already like and then add more of what you like to it! And then share it with other people who like it too!!

Anyway, I'm gonna stop here before I go on an extended rant about how much I love fanfiction as a Thing. Hope that helped answer your question!

xoxo - Will

[olderthannetfic]

Here’s my portion of the GGC fandom stats panel. This is what my charts from a few weeks ago were for.

I’ve gotten increasingly weary of fujoshi-haters moaning about AO3 as though it’s The Establishment and needs to be rebelled against. The preponderance of m/m on AO3 is impressive, but it’s also unusual. Sometimes, people try to pit m/m and f/f against each other, but I don’t think actual site stats bear out that kind of approach.

The reality is that AO3, like parts of tumblr, is a rare island of amorphous queerness, floating in a vast ocean of het-as-default spaces. If I never again see a hand-wringing thinkpiece about what AO3′s m/m percentage meeeeeans and how it must indicate that No One likes female characters, it will be too soon.

Put simply, AO3 is full of m/m and has a high proportion of fics with multiple ship types as well as a higher proportion of f/f than many spaces (though still not a high percentage).

FFN and Wattpad are both popular, both active, and both full of het and gen. They also both have more fanworks, arguably, though Wattpad works tend to be very short, and FFN’s rate of new works is falling behind AO3′s. Some people who prefer AO3 themselves will take this to mean that only AO3 is relevant, but that’s like standing in the gay bookstore going, “Gosh, it sure is sad that there aren’t any STRAIGHT bookstores! Think of the hets!”

Any fool you see doing this is helping the people who hate queer content to shit on that queer content. Anyone who repeats the myth that most fanfic is m/m is furthering an anti-queer narrative whether they mean to or not. (Yes, even those of you complaining about “straight girls” and “fetishization”.) I’m tired of these bad takes being given a pass.

AO3′s metadata is designed to put queer content on the same level of importance as straight content. It also makes it easy to get shipping stats. Other sites don’t give a fuck about queer content and make it hard to get shipping stats. This has led to very skewed understandings of what fic fandom as a whole looks like--skewed understandings that help bullies go after m/m content with the pretense that they’re striking back against The Man.

It’s time those of us who like fandom stats took responsibility for lopsided, AO3-centric narratives and the social damage they can do.

Here is what fandom looks like actually:

Notes on the chart data below the cut:

These are stats showing, to the best of my ability, what is extant on these sites in 2020. (So it’s fic posted throughout the archives’ histories, not fic posted in 2020.)

The AO3 numbers were compiled by going to the ship type tags and pulling the actual numbers. The Wattpad and FFN numbers are from randomly sampling those archives, then hand-classifying the sample. A quick check of the posting dates and fandoms represented suggests the samples are pretty representative, but it would be good to see other people repeat this exercise for comparison data.

There is some inevitable gray area between het and gen, and the vast, vast majority of these works were not clearly marked for het even in cases where they have graphic het sex scenes. The m/m and f/f fics were typically marked more clearly. In cases where headers mentioned a ship name or words like ‘slash’, ‘yaoi’, ‘bl’, ‘yuri’, etc., I used that as the classification. In ambiguous cases, I skimmed the fic and did text searches for ‘kiss’, ‘fuck’, etc. to see if I could find shippy content.

The “Multi & Other” category includes anything with more than one ship type (e.g. separate M/M and F/M ships in the same fic) as well as m/m/f, masturbation fics, tentacle monsters, etc. I did this because the numbers are so low on Wattpad and FFN that pulling out a separate slice for m/m+f/m or m/m+f/f would unnecessarily complicate the graph. It also helps weed out background ships on AO3. The m/m, f/m, f/f, and gen slices are works that are only tagged with that on AO3, and the whole pie chart adds up to 100%, like the other two do.