we're all stories in the end

So another batch of my friends have got into Avatar TLA lately which is always a source of enormous joy. And now that Korra has finally started, eeeeee, I'm hoping this fandom will only continue to grow!

(People who still haven't seen this show, I really can't recommend it enough. It's just. So good. Hilarious and compelling and full of heart with fantastic characters from the main team to recurring to standalone, and it fulfils so many of my hopes and dreams re. representation, with an entirely Asian culture-based fantasy world, a huge range of different kinds of female characters as well as one of my favourite disabled characters ever, and it's all about a team of adorable dorks who love each other and save the day and a;lsdasja;lskd. It makes me so, so happy in my heart.)

Anyway. Here are some links to Avatar fandom hangouts and fanworks I like etc. Please feel free to add links in the comments - self-reccing encouraged!

This list has been written for people who've caught up on the show, so assume spoilers for everything including aired episodes of Korra.

So on Dreamwidth I co-mod white_lotus, which runs a yearly fanwork exchange as well as being a general repository for fanwork posts and news about the show. Now that Korra's airing we're having weekly discussion posts. The quality of the things people post there is so high, there's so much good stuff and it's a great place to go and find icons etc. That's how I saw a fantastic and comprehensive batch for the first two episodes of Korra by piconz, for instance.

If you're into Tumblr, I don't follow that many Avatar blogs but I do enjoy the following. (Potential spoilers for today's episode of Korra below.)

bryankonietzko (co-creator of Avatar & Korra)
effyeahmaizuko
avataraang
appasbossdays (I dream of this updating again one day!)
tftfn (for all your Texts From Last Night needs)
oma_shu

Fanwork recs - I have some delicious bookmarks and this is the recs tag on my journal.

( some personal favourites below the cut )

+ At white_lotus we've started posting fanworks for the Lunar New Year exchange - so far there are two fics, one about Ursa and one Katara/Zuko, and a vid about Toph & Azula. All highly recommended!

+ FESTIVIIIIIDS! I got a wonderful vid, Baby Got Going (Bridesmaids), which I looove and need to praise the vidder in much detail about why it's great, but have yet to find the right words. Basically it captures all the stuff I love best about the film (female friendships! ridiculous faces! hilarity!) and is really well-edited with some great timing and eeee. :D I shall have some more festivids recs later when I've had a chance to watch a few more. (I'm putting off some that look wonderful because they'll probably make me cry - so tomorrow when I'm home alone, then!)

+ Here in the UK it is the National Television Awards tonight (decided by public vote), and Matt Smith and Karen Gillan have picked up Best Drama Performance awards, hurray!

( They are both looking rather fab )

+ Speaking of Karen Gillan, her biopic about Jean Shrimpton, We'll Take Manhattan, is airing on BBC Four tomorrow evening and will presumably be on iPlayer thereafter - I don't know about international airings. From the promo pictures, it's going to be extremely pretty at the very least.

( picspam )

Avatar: the Last Airbender

Filial Impiety by lizbee (Azula/Toph)

lizbee makes this pairing work so, so well, this is a great future fic.

Grey by melodytree (Kyoshi)

For queer_fest, this is a long and lovely look at Kyoshi's life and her negotiations of being genderqueer.

Doctor Who

Vids:

St. Stephen's Cross by kaydeefalls (Amy/Rory)

kaydeefalls + Vienna Teng + Amy/Rory = all the happiness.

Whatever It Is by usuallyhats (ALL THE COMPANIONS OMG)

A lovely, quiet look at all the amazing companions of the show from Ian and Barbara to Amy and Rory. <3

Before I Met You by fizzyblogic (Doctor/River, various others)

eeee! fizzyblogic made this for ME and it is LOVELY. An awesome look at love through time and space and the Doctor and River's different approaches to it, and also the two of them being all pretty and wonderful.

Fic:

Straight Lines by calapine (Eleven/TARDIS)

The perfect coda to 6x04.

Harry Potter

Souvenirs and Lost Luggage by anonymous at hp_beholder (Petunia)

This is a wonderful and sympathetic look at Petunia rediscovering herself post-series.

Dudley Dursley and the Elusive Difference by kahvi

Another queer_fest story, this does a really great job of keeping Dudley's characterisation consistent with the series while also giving him a lot more depth, spinning from the premise that he's intersex and doesn't know for a long time. Lovely.

Fannish News

kink_bingo is gearing up for another round, whee! There are essays and updated rules and so on at the comm, which are all worth reading. Some of the rule changes are pretty great, particularly the addition of various achievements for things like getting a line bingo with asexual characters etc, and also the fact it's extended for an extra month, which gives me something to do when I am post-degree and job-hunting in September, awesome.

Happy new year, everyone who's celebrating! <3

Over at white_lotus, we're celebrating by kicking off our gift exchange. YOU GUYS. There is SO MUCH AWESOME, I cannot even begin to tell you. We have so many different kinds of fanwork, from fic to vids to art to crafts and more, and all kinds of characters, ships and genres represented. IT'S VERY EXCITING.

I won't be posting recs for the fest as that is unmodly, but I will link you to our first fanwork, an outstanding vid:

Watershed (Aang, Zuko, ensemble).

+ zahrawithaz has some interesting analysis of Merlin 3x01. Lots of food for thought!

+ festivid nominations are open! \o/!

+ ladiesbigbang is posting, with a multimedia extravaganza. Here are a few things I've particularly enjoyed:

+ Imagine the Ocean by damkianna (A:TLA, Katara, Sokka, Aang, Suki, Zuko, Iroh)

This is a wonderfully compelling AU where Aang didn't make it out of the iceberg and Katara is the Avatar instead. It's not complete, but the 50,000 words up there so far make for great reading, and I hope to see more of Katara & co's adventures soon!

+ Let It Grow by blueflamingo (SGA, Keller/Vega, Cadman/Brown)

This is an entirely charming S5 AU that fleshes out all four characters nicely and has a lovely, understated look at queer life on Atlantis, with a background pairing that made me clap my hands with glee.

+ 300 icons by hermitsoul, featuring 12 awesome women.

+ kuwdora has recs from eid_ka_chand and daysofawesome.

+ The Eleventy Project is back! fan_eunice made Break The Night With Colour for Vincent and the Doctor and it's utterly gorgeous.

+ neilife7 is gathering interest for a Whoverse meetup at Dragon*Con.

+ I am keeping an eye on this page of guests dropping out of D*C and sadfacing.

+ glass_icarus made Vienna Teng icons.

+ wiscon_vidparty is soliciting vid premieres for next year! Go forth and make feminist sci-fi vids, hurrah.

+ I am still deeply amused by lizbee's Avatar/Doctor Who crossover art. Toph ftw!

+ Oh my god adorable baby otters.

Doctor Who

Stuck To You by humansrsuperior [Amy/Rory/Eleven]

GLEE. GLEE ALL OVER MY FACE. :D

Set My World Into Motion by beccatoria [River, River/Doctor]

In which River is MORE AWESOME THAN EVERYONE. Also, the editing on this is really cool. *makes notes*

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Tamacun by cherryice [Appa]

Okay, so when I was flailing over ATLA the other day, thefourthvine quite rightly reprimanded me for failing to demonstrate my love of Appa, the best sky bison ever. So here, watch this vid, which is awesome. Some spoilers for the whole series, but possibly the best introductory vid out of the three I'm reccing.

Heavenly by bananainpyjamas [Zuko]

If I had Sylar-esque powers and could steal other vidders' abilities (though preferably without the brain-eating and whatnot) I would absolutely steal bananainpyjamas' eye for motion, which is put to fantastic use here. It's also a great look at Zuko's arc through the show, with major spoilers for the whole series.

(... okay, that was probably one of the creepier recs I've written!)

Paper Planes by thedeadparrot [Toph]

TOPH. BEING AWESOME. :DD I love how fun and action-y this vid is. Again with the spoilers.