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dreamersdare | Stuff I Love: Top Ten Edition Challenge 2


Make a Top Ten list for your favourite series and tell people exactly why you love it. This can be in any format - tv series, book series, radio plays, movie sequels, something else not mentioned here. Your series can be as short as two vaguely linked pieces of media and as long as... well, the sky is your limit. Whatever you like!

Ahh, let's see. I feel like I've gushed about a lot of these before, so I'm going to use a template. I'm including "things you might like" specifically because so often, "watch these similar shows" lists tend to be random shows that have nothing in common with the one being talked about. I've tried taking a more critical approach. We'll see how that worked.

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3. Heartstopper.

Discovered: Um... 2023? 2024?

Why I love it: The first two seasons made me smile. The third season is darker, but I appreciated it for what it was. Also, as someone who was disabled, neurodivergent and acearospec in high school, I can relate to certain elements of the show. Sitting in a classroom eating lunch with your teacher, anxiety eating at you... yeah. I know that one.

Did I Fic It? I tried writing one. Couldn't get into it. I've read a few.

Favorite Pairing: Nathan Ajayi/Yusuf Farouk.

Favorite Platonic Relationship: Nick and Tori, though Nick and Tara are a close second. Maybe even a tie.

Random Headcanon or Meta: None.

Other Things Fans Would Like: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend would pair well, mostly for the mental health aspect. And many Heartstopper fans came from Schitt's Creek. (Myself included! *Waves*)

4. Schitt's Creek

Discovered: Technically whenever it was on Netflix in the US, but like many people, I gave up after one episode. I rediscovered it in 2020 when I'd exhausted the other quarantine shows. (If someone had shown me the Open Mic episode, I would've been hooked instantly. What is wrong with the people in my life? SMH.)

Why I Love It: It's funny, but has a serious edge to it. As a Millenial who came of age late in life, David, Alexis and Stevie spoke to me. (Although I disliked them at first for that exact reason. Projection's one of hell of a drug.) And it has a wonderful queer love story.

Did I Fic It? And how. I actually thought I was done with the whole fandom thing until I started watching SC. I risked spoilers by looking it up on TV Tropes while I was watching, and saw there were fics for it. So I finished the show as fast as possible so I could read the fanfic. LOL. Back then, there were so many fics. Sadly, the fandom's dwindled quite a bit. I miss when fandoms lasted longer.

Favorite Pairing: David and Patrick. They're a queer pairing that's open and affectionate, and their sexuality isn't really the focus. There's only one Coming Out episode, and it's very well done. They're a loving couple that actually acts like they not only love each other, but like each other. (I mean, there is a bit of teasing, but it's affectionate, IMHO.)

I'm also going to squeeze in Johnny and Moira. (RIP Catherine O'Hara.) After all, they are David and Patrick's mirror in many ways, and I also like seeing an older couple that still loves each other. (And older characters who aren't silly for still having dreams and aspirations.)

Favorite Platonic Relationship: David and Stevie. But I think Moira and Alexis are a close second, for their evolution.

Random Headcanon or Meta: I don't think we have all day.

Other Things Fans Would Like: Heartstopper, Heated Rivalry, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, The Good Place... not sure what else. Maybe Parks and Rec, if you watch for the small-town humor.

Speaking of which...

5. Parks and Recreation

Discovered: I'm not really sure. 2011ish?

Why I Love It: It's funny. Makes me happy. However, I haven't seen it in a while, and... with everything going on in the US, I'm not sure I would still enjoy it. OTOH, it might make for a nice reprieve. See Headcanons.

Did I Fic It? Not really. I think I wrote one or two fics.

Favorite Pairing: Ben and Leslie, who were to me then what David and Patrick are to me now, for some of the same reasons. "I like you and I love you."

Favorite Platonic Relationship: At the time, it was Leslie and Ann, but I think on rewatch, I decided it might actually be Ron and Leslie and April and Leslie. Ann and Leslie are sort of the "fantasy" BFFship, I think, whereas with Ron and April, we really see the complicated evolution friendship can be. Maybe it's the difference between friends you make as young person and friends you make when you're older, even though I don't think Leslie ages that much.

Random Headcanon or Meta: It takes place in the same universe as Schitt's Creek and Red White & Royal Blue. Leslie worked under President Ellen Claremont and was lowkey obsessed with her. Also, Pawnee and Schitt's Creek are sister cities.

Other Things Fans Would Like: Schitt's Creek, The Good Place.

6. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (and Angel the Series)

Discovered: I mean, I'm a Millennial, so Buffy was always around. XD But I didn't really start watching it until c. 2007. We watched it in a English class after we read Dracula - we watched Buffy versus Dracula specifically. My friend at the time almost cried when I told her that was my first episode.** I struck a deal with her: I'd watch Buffy properly if she watched Firefly. Neither one of us ever looked back.

Why I Love It: I love the character dynamics, the found family, fighting the good fight.

Did I Fic It? I think I started a few fics for it. I never really found a fanfic community for it. Otherwise, I absolutely would've.

Favorite Pairing: Tara/Willow, and maybe Buffy/Faith.

Favorite Platonic Relationship: Giles and Buffy. I also think Anya and Giles are a little underrated. Over on Angel, I wish we'd gotten Fred and Cordy. We didn't.

Random Headcanon or Meta: There's a version of Tara and Willow thriving in another dimension, with Cordy's help. (Actually, in Schitt's Creek, there's a joke about "farm witches". I kind of want Tara and Willow to be the farm witches.)

Also,I think Buffyverse and The Good Place could be in the same universe. I don't want to say too much so as not to spoil, but if anyone's interested in a more detailed entry, let me know. If you took away all the comedy in The Good Place, I think you'd get something way closer to Angel, or at least Buffy.

Other Things Fans Would Like: Our Flag Means Death and The Good Place have similar themes of found family and fighting the good fight, plus what I said above. And Stranger Things, which is set in the eighties, so it references a few of the same tropes Buffy initially referenced. Plus, it's also about young people fighting the Big Bad.  

**I don't think Buffy versus Dracula was as much a bad episode as it was a bad episode to introduce someone to. It's very camp and almost a parody OF the show. I definitely thought my negative impressions of the show were confirmed. It's like introducing someone to Jane Austen by showing them the BBC Pride and Prejudice, except it's just Mrs. Bennet screaming. 
 
7. The Good Place (since I can't seem to stop talking about it)

Discovered: 2015? 2016?

Why I Love It: Ethics and philosophy, afterlife, found family... the show has it all. It also constantly changes the status quo. Constantly. I love it.

Did I Fic It? Not really.

Favorite Pairing: Chidi and Eleanor, as well as Janet and Jason.

Favorite Platonic Relationship: Tahani and Jason. Also Janet and Michael.

Random Headcanon or Meta: See above.

Other Things Fans Would Like: In addition to what I've said, Man on the Inside feels like a spiritual successor, even though it's thematically quite different. They make frequent nods to The Good Place, after all. Just be aware that it does deal a lot with grief. I'd also recommend Ghosts - I've seen the U and the original BBC, and I think both work, although the US version is a bit sillier. (I actually kind of wish Michael Schur had adapted Ghosts for the US. I think it would be a lot closer to the BBC.)

8. Man on the Inside

Discovered: 2024.

Why I Love It: It has a bit of mystery, found family, people working together.

Did I Fic It? I have an idea at the back of my head.

Favorite Pairing: Julie/Didi.

Favorite Platonic Relationship: Emily and Charles. I also love Charles's relationship with his grandsons.

Random Headcanon or Meta: I have this theory that Charles is a reincarnated version of Michael from The Good Place. I'm not alone in that.

Other Things Fans Would Like: Probably any Michael Schur show? It's very Schur, though less The Office. I think The Office was Michael's training wheels. Not saying it was a bad show, I just think that his later shows are more demonstrative of Michael Schur as we know him. Blah. Sorry for the ramble.

(Only two more? To think I didn't know how I was going to list ten when I started.)

9. Community

Discovered: 2009?

Why I Love It: It's meta AF.

Did I Fic It? No.

Favorite Pairing: I don't think I really shipped anyone, except lowkey Britta and Troy.

Favorite Platonic Relationship: Abed and Troy.

Random Headcanon or Meta: Part of me thinks that the show is actually Abed's show that we see in season one, and it's a slightly exaggerated version of everything that really happened. But only slightly, because it's still Greendale and it's still the Study Group. :)

Other Things Fans Would Like: .. I don't know. I think any "nerdy show" would probably be appealing. 30 Rock was very similar, actually, in that it had a lot of pop culture references and a lot of what I'll call "crack episodes". ETA: Actually, Stranger Things would work. It's a fantasy with a lot of 80's pop-culture references. Abed would have LOVED Stranger Things.

10. North of North

Discovered: 2025.

Why I Love It: I appreciate that it focuses on indigenous characters. There's lots of Canadian humour (it takes place in Nunavut). And again, people trying their best.

Did I Fic It? No.

Favorite Pairing: None, really. I think the romantic elements of the show are actually a bit cliche and weak. Sorry.

Favorite Platonic Relationship: Bun and Neve. :)

Random Headcanon or Meta: I don't want to spoil too much, but I think that Neve sees Bun as another daughter, which is why she's so quick to help take care of her.

Other Things Fans Would Like: This is tricky. I might recommend Little Mosque on the Prairie, actually. It's another Canadian show about a small community in Saskatchewan, in this case focusing on Muslim characters as they form a Mosque in the basement of an Anglican church.
 

*I first read the phrase as "Netflix and Chili". I think I like mine better.

Don't get me wrong, the criticisms are not without merit. There are a lot of weirdo incels on Reddit, and a lot of the advice subs are pretty much, well...

Q: My aunt and I got into an argument over her rosebushes. What should I do?

A: Your aunt is a malignant narcissist. You should immediately cut all contact.

Yet sometimes, you'll get...

Q: AITA? My aunt started chasing me with hedge trimmers.

A: YTA. You're a malignant narcissist.

And of course, half the stories are probably fake. 

AITA for robbing a Build-a-Bear during an orphan's birthday party?

I mean. 

Tumblr has similar flavoring when it comes to people  having very disproportionate responses. There's a lot of "how dare you say we piss on the poor". Then there's weird fandom drama, and my sense is that I've only seen the milder weird fandom drama, so I can only imagine what the rest of it is like.

That said, I've been Very Online for a very long time. Most spaces have things like what I mentioned above. Overreactions, gatekeeping, really bad advice, fandom drama. (fandom_wank existed for a reason.)

Moreover, I've found community for things that I'm interested in. I've seen people actually get a lot of support. Cliche though this advice is, you really do need to curate your experience. I stepped away from a fandom I felt was becoming too toxic. I stopped reading the relationship advice and AITA subreddits, although I do like BestofRedditorUpdates. 

And I like that where tumblr is concerned, it reminds me a lot of old school LJ. Probably because a large portion of the populace are former LJers. I mean sure, that's also why the drama can be beyond, but it's also very quirky and fun and SLIGHTLY CHAOTIC.

So yeah. Reddit and tumblr are definitely imperfect. Lots of pissing on the poor to be had. But curating my experience has helped a lot. 

From The Friday Five.  

  The romance of summer! What do you love? Write about anything you feel sentimental about or that gets your heart pumping.

I posted about this on tumblr, but I've said in the past that I don't really care about romantic storylines. Except I've come to realize, that's not true at all. There have been a lot of pairings I've loved, both in canon and in fanfiction. (Sometimes more in one than the other.)

Since this is meant to be a positive entry, I'll focus on what I love in my romantic pairings. I love seeing two people working together - perhaps in the sense that they're coworkers or have intersecting jobs, perhaps in the sense that they have a common mission, be it something major or minor. I love when the story is less about whether or not they'll be together, and more about what happens once they are. I love seeing them connect with one another's friends and family. I love seeing them help each other be their best selves. I love when conflict isn't about whether or not they "truly" love each other, but how new information or a miscommunication has - temporarily - rocked the boat. I love physicality. The way they hug and kiss, the way they move together, in a natural tandem.

Don't get me wrong - I'm here for some UST and other things you often see. I love a little drama. :P I just prefer all of that as the starting point, and I lose interest if it drags out for too long.  I love even more when none of that happens, and the couple just... comes into being. 

 Day 3: In your own space, talk about a fandom opinion you hold that has changed over time.
 
First, for transparency's sake, I actually struggled with this question as I've held a lot of misconceptions over the years. I've been in fandom since 2000, after all.  I'm also not entirely sure what I've covered before.

But I think one, which was touched on in sarajayechan 's post, is the strict standards a lot of the internet held people to. Fanfic writing in particular - as their entry points out, it was considered fine to criticize or even openly mock a fic because "you posted it, it's fair game now". Which I don't think was fair. But it was also acceptable to make fun of how people typed on forums and on LJ comms. The kinds of things people said.  

I even corrected people on forums I belonged to, and when I say I didn't see anything wrong with it, I really mean it. I thought I was saving them, the way  terse forum mod sonce "saved" me. Except what were mods saving me from? What was I saving those people from? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

It was also common to make fun of individual fandomers, whether their fics or just who they were in fandom. Often the comments were way too personal, especially when it came to fic writers. Even when it came to people who deserved personal criticism, sometimes comments still went way too far.

It's interesting. This isn't really fandom, but stick with me here. I was thinking about the site STFU Parents, which made fun of the way parents (usually moms) talked about their kids on social media. I remember feeling like the blog was very harsh, and I recently gave it a re-read. While there were certainly awful posts that deserved to get sporked, a lot of them were just... people daring to talk about their kids instead of whatever was "cool" to like on the internet at the time. Sometimes they'd USE ALL CAPS or word something a little awkwardly. Okay? It happens. And no, I didn't care about people's kids either, I was online to geek out about stuff, but I also realized Facebook wasn't where geekery was happening. (I'm not saying that people necessarily thought that, either, I'm just. Saying.)

Even the reaction to Rebecca Black's "Friday" is arguably part of this idea that the internet had to be protected from... something. You're Wrong About (I think) had a whole episode about that, where they pointed out that those kinds of videos were outliers on YouTube back then. I get why Rebecca Black stood out like a sore thumb, but let's maybe not make fun of thirteen year old girls? That bothered me too. (And can I just say, Party in the USA, released around that same time, wasn't a whole lot better? Miley Cyrus just sings like, well, Miley Cyrus, whereas Rebecca Black just sang like a teenage girl. Because she was a teenage girl. Maybe Glee made us forget how most teenagers sing.)

So yeah. The internet is a lot worse in many ways, unfortunately. But I'm glad I can read YouTube comments now without losing my faith in humanity, I'm glad people aren't flamed on Ao3 as frequently as they were on fanfiction.net. (At least in my experience.)

Note: I decided to write about reincarnation for LJ Idol's "Without You" prompt.  As a heads up, this does deal with grief.

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