'Sometimes, Klaus can’t look at Dave.'
OK, now that the trailer's out for the very lastest series of The Umbrella Academy (TUA) - for which I am both excited but also sad, because, lastest - this week's F3 seems super relevant.
...Happy coincidences, and all that jazz.
(Or maybe I need to read fanfiction from a wider range of fandoms - rec 'em in the comments if you got 'em!)
'The first time Bucky laid his beady yellow snake eyes on Sam, however, he knew none of the other demons’ vices held a candle to his own.
He fell in love with an angel, after all.'
I don't know whether I liked this week's fic.
...I mean, it's good. I just don't know whether or not I liked it.
Happens sometimes *shrugs*
'Five was scowling, “Try harder. We’re trying to figure out-“
“Blah, blah, how to get home. I know .” Klaus rolls his eyes. “I’d like to see you try to listen with all this noise.”'
I love it when there are tropes that are specific to the fandom.
Like, someone -
(or several someones, separately, in fandom harmony,)
- will come up with an idea - like, for argument's sake: Klaus from The Umbrella Academy (TUA) makes the ghosts visible to his siblings and they Freak. The eff. Out. -
(If you're new here - I can't swear, because my mother. If you're not new here - I still can't swear, because my mother. I can only swear in fiction, I don't know why. 😅)
- and then fandom will take this idea to their beautiful, nerdy, hearts, and freaking run with it.
'"Science waits for no man, Steve! Also Loki there's a welcome basket on your coffee table, let me know if you need help with anything!"'
This is some good, ol' fashioned, Avengers fanfic.
...Only Tony Stark is a vampire, because why not?
'“Okay, get up, the both of you.” He took out his phone, typed Shuri’s address in, and sent it to Steve’s number. “You’re going to get blood all over the upholstery. And then I’ll have to set fire to it, and then to you for making me sacrifice my good sofa.”'
I love it when fanfic authors have the determination, the dedication, the goddamn verve to write full-length novels.
When those full-length novels are so freaking good - so well thought out, so fleshed out in terms of world-building, so passionate and compelling, that you would legit. buy this as an original novel?
OH MY GOD!!!
'"No, Sam, you're on vacation. Phone it in, let someone else do it."
"Bucky, it's an hour. We can go check it out, then stop at mine and get my stuff and be at the airport by five, half five at the latest. We've got time."'
Narrator: it did not take an hour.
...OK, so this is a The Falcon and The Winter Soldier (TFATWS) fic because I am trash and have run out of effs to give. 😘
'He feels faint himself, his head swimming with a startling lack of oxygen. Stars peek through the leaves ahead, and he turns his eyes upwards, counting them over and over again.'
Never have I been tested so much by my 'if it's well-written, I must rec' rule...
...I genuinely didn't know whether to rec this fic.
'He grieves quietly.
The world is ending in three days; actually, truly ending.
Odd, how it feels like his already has.'
This is well-written, and you know we have a rule around these parts - if I find a well-written fic, I have to rec. it.
So - here we are! Rec'ing the fic.
"Jesus Buck," Sam says, "I leave for three days. Three days, and I come back to find you half dead in our kitchen."
Hopefully by the time this post goes up, AO3 will be back online.
AO3, for those unfamiliar, is the primary place for fanfiction on the internet - it's the most user-friendly, covers the broadest range of fandoms, and has the most people (as far as I can tell,) actively uploading fanfiction.
It's also where I read 99% of my fanfiction - because of said user-friendliness, and also because I can download to my e-reader - and so 99.99% of my fic recs are from AO3.
Fanfiction can open your mind to new perspectives, ideas, styles, explore ideas and characters and art forms...
...or it can 'just' be a lot of fun. (Which is pretty impressive in and of itself.)
So I figured I'd give you four fun fanfics to enjoy (because I'm nice like that.)
As always with these rec lists, please check the original rec'ing post for spoiler status and Content Warnings.
Because this is me doing the rec'ing - it's entirely possible that even the fun fics need Content Warnings 😅
'It was impossible.
Well.
Don’t let that stop you, O. B. had said.'
I kind of love this fic.
I mean... obviously, because I'm rec'ing, and, also obviously, I tend to say that a lot. But... yeah.
'Diego throws the knife with a grunt of frustration. It lands perfectly positioned in the wall.
“Good job,” Luther says dryly. “You killed the wallpaper.”'
One of the extremely few issues I have with The Umbrella Academy (TUA) is that the Hargreeves siblings are so emotionally constipated that we never get to bathe in the angst with them.
Like - I'm talking 'Gerard Way in the video for Ghost of You' style angst-bathing. We don't get much of that, and my emo goblin spaghetti brain would very much like that. *nods sagely*
It's Thursday, this is Dora Reads, so let's get some comics-y superhero-y goodness!
It's Thursday, it's a leap day, this is Dora Reads - let's get some comics-y superhero-y goodness!
'At first he couldn't hear the voice, he couldn't hear anything. But gradually he became aware of it, coming and going in bursts. He tried to grasp it, hold on to it, but it kept slipping away.
"Bucky? Can you hear me? Can you breathe for me?"'
When there's gaps in the canon, what's fanfic to do but to, y'know, step in...?
Like, when Avengers: Endgame leaves everyone in a nebulous situation, and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier (TFATWS) picks up after all the messy logistical stuff has already been dealt with and the brainwashed supersoldier assassin has already been pardoned.
...None of this is spoiler-y, since you can pretty much assume this from the trailer for TFATWS. #Don'tComeForMe
(Fandom notes:
Canon is the 'official' stuff in the book/film/whatever.)
And 2023 is OUT OF HERE!!!!
And thank whoever's listening for that.
Because, in case you weren't aware, my 2023 effing sucked.
“Find the front door,” Bucky snapped when Sam’s eyes went to the window again. He smashed someone’s head down on the banister with enough force to crack either bone or wood. “I’m not jumping through glass.”
So, we're talking The Falcon and The Winter Soldier (TFATWS) again today... well, kind of.
Strictly speaking we're talking the nebulous period between Winter Soldier and Civil War where Sam was looking for Bucky on Steve's behalf, and Bucky was happily living his post-Hydra best life - as in, the one where he got to buy plums in goddamn peace!
...But it's got a TFATWS vibe, and both lead characters, so that's what we're calling it.
You know I love, love, love it when fic authors get creative!
Isn't there something just so beautiful about taking that source material and just running with it?! Like it's not bound by the confines of the material that created it? Like it has a life and an essence that goes beyond one single medium?
Living art, dearest nerdlets. Living art.
So this week I have 4 fics for you where the fic author has gotten impressively creative!
As always with my fic-rec lists, please check the original rec'ing post - which will be linked - for Content Warnings and spoiler status.
'“You told me not to lie,” Klaus snaps at him, wiggling his fingers in Ben’s direction. “Zip it, Casper.”'
I haven't rec'd a The Umbrella Academy (TUA) fic in a while.
Aside from rec-lists, I haven't rec'd TUA since September.
...That's probably a record for me.
'It’s just that Bucky has spent his entire life trying to fulfill obligations — for the war, for Steve, for HYDRA — and now that he feels like he can make his own choices, he doesn’t know what to do.'
Bucky's bored.
He's really bored. Like - he needs hobbies. Badly. Preferrably ones with minimal interactions with people because are so... people-y.
Same, Bucky. Same. People are too people-y.
