2025 Fandom Recap
Jan. 6th, 2026 05:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darkrosaleenI posted five fics to AO3 in 2025, in addition to being a neutral spreadsheet mod for Battleship. I watched a couple TV shows, a lot of movies, and read a whopping 12 books for the first time in years. 2025 was a weird year.
Favorite Media
Favorite TV show:
Etoile. I only finished one new show this year, and it was a really fun one. RIP to yet another one season wonder.
Favorite book:
Collectively giving this to the Locked Tomb series, because they're all so different and engrossing and I can't pick a favorite.
Favorite 2025 movie:
Sinners, absolutely no competition. Sammie Moore is indeed one of my top 2025 blorbos ♥ Honorable mention to Weapons and the Jaws 50th anniversary screening, which were both super fun theater experiences.
Favorite older movies I watched for the first time in 2025:
Lots more in this category, so have a top five in alphabetical order.
Baby Driver
The Brutalist
Candyman
The Company of Wolves
Mission Impossible 7: Dead Reckoning
Fics Posted
Georgia O'Keefe Shit - Challengers, E, Art Donaldson/Tashi Donaldson/Patrick Zweig. Weeks after the New Rochelle Challenger, the Donaldson Foundation held a garden party fundraiser. No one expected Patrick Zweig to crash it.
Dirty Water - Jaws/The Witch crossover, E, Martin Brody/Thomasin. A divorced single father moves to a small island and meets a beautiful young woman on the beach.
Nona Has Three Mommies - The Locked Tomb, E, Nona & Palamedes Sextus + Nona/Camilla Hect + Nona/Pyrrha Dve. Nona was feeling even more baby than usual.
reach out and touch faith - The Locked Tomb, Not Rated, Gideon Nav/Harrowhark Nonagesimus. The corpse of Gideon Nav wanders the Mithraeum and yearns.
Mama's Boy - Scream, Not Rated, Billy Loomis/Stu Macher. It's a normal night for Stu Macher, watching Psycho and talking about murder and wanting to fuck his best friend.
End Of Year Fandom Meme
Character/ship of the year
I liked too many ships to pick a favorite, but this year belongs to three blorbos: Sammie Moore from Sinners, Gideon Nav from The Locked Tomb, and Will Byers from Stranger Things. Apparently I love normal people thrust into extraordinary magical circumstances and finding great depths of badassery.
Leitmotif(s) of the year
I think it's vaginal symbolism, lol. "Georgia O'Keefe Shit" has flowers (obviously), "Dirty Water" has briny ocean seafoam, "reach out and touch faith" has wound cunnilingus, and "Mama's Boy" has Janet Leigh's wet naked body getting stabbed in Psycho.
My most popular story
"Mama's Boy," which I chalk up to writing the juggernaut ship for a decently popular fandom. The Challengers throuple fic is close second for the same reason.
My best story
Nothing really sticks out to me!
My most self-indulgent story
"Dirty Water" is a niche crossover I've been brainstorming for a while between two of my favorite movies, set in my neck of the woods, centered around sexual freedom and exploration.
Story most underappreciated by the universe, in my opinion
I don't think anything I wrote was underappreciated, since my least popular fic is the aforementioned niche crossover.
Story the universe appreciated way more than I expected it to
Again, my most popular stories are for the most popular fandoms/ships and vice versa. My otherwise low-stat mommy diaper kink fic has the most hits, which amuses me.
Biggest disappointment
I did not finish any of my Stranger Things WIPs before the new season, and the finale and epilogue jossed a lot of my details anyway. I was also disappointed by season 5 as a whole, which sucks for the final season of one of my favorite shows (and popular consensus agrees with me for once, so I'm worried the fandom will die the abrupt death of hated finales).
Biggest pleasant surprise
I'm very impressed with myself for writing more than one Battleship treat while being an assistant Battleship mod.
Hardest story to write
"reach out and touch faith" was a late pinch hit that I had three days to write, and I was unhappy enough with the result to majorly rewrite the last section right before reveals.
Easiest story to write
"Mama's Boy" came together pretty quickly.
Sexiest story
"Georgia O'Keefe Shit," a good old-fashioned threesome PWP with sweaty party clothes and outdoor semi-public cunnilingus.
Most fucked up story
Maybe the age play or the wound cunnilingus? I didn't write anything truly fucked up this year, but my bar is high.
Truest story
"Mama's Boy," because I have definitely had weird horny thoughts while watching horror movies with a guy I'm attracted to.
Favorite title
"Dirty Water," named after the iconic Massachusetts anthem and thematically appropriate in multiple ways.
Favorite opening line
Nona Has Three Mommies: It was hard being not-quite-nineteen, and it was hard being nearly six months, and poor Nona was both.
The recipient of this fic said I nailed Muir's writing style, which is extremely high praise. It's a really fun, offbeat style to write in, and I love how the quirks of Nona's situation and personality make her a perfect adult baby.
Favorite closing line
Dirty Water: "Mister, do children swim on this beach?"
I think my favorite random similarity between Jaws and The Witch is demonic evil animals murdering kids.
Pairing/genre/fandom that I wrote that I never would have predicted last January
I can't say "writing femslash" when that's been my most unexpected writing choice for like three years, but my yearly output being 40% femslash is a bit unexpected. The perils of small sample sizes.
Fandom I read/wrote that isn't reflected in my posted works
I didn't post anything for Sinners, despite it having such a wealth of great characters and ships. I started writing a dubiously consensual Sammie/Pearline/Remmick threesome, but didn't get very far.
Writing risks and lessons learned
I didn't really take any writing risks, but I took a big risk volunteering to be a spreadsheet mod for Battleship. While it was an intense, stressful, emotionally taxing and logistically challenging experience, I don't regret it and I feel like I learned a ton not just about modding, but about what kind of mod I am, and how I react to high pressure situations in general. I won't decide whether I'll volunteer for 2026 until I know what my work commitments and free time will be like, but I want to get more modding experience once I have the bandwidth. I do know that I'll never volunteer for spreadsheet modding unless I can either take all of Battleship off from work, or we have something that automates the incredibly tedious manual process of work checking.
Fandom Goals
Here are my 2025 fandom goals, none of which I accomplished:
Don't participate in bangs/fests/exchanges until July 1 or I've posted 2 fics outside an event, whichever comes first (not counting my in-progress treat for Candy Hearts)
Post 4 fics outside of bangs/fests/exchanges
Post 3 unfinished fics from the past two years
Post one work to AO3 that isn't fic
Post my Stranger Things post-canon Will/Mike/Eleven fic before the final season comes out and josses everything
My 2025 royally sucked for reasons that had nothing to do with politics or current events (so all that suckiness was happening in addition to the other suckiness). It's honestly a miracle that I wrote anything, let alone that I wrote things and modded one of the biggest most complex exchanges in fandom and read twelve books to completion.
Instead of making more goals I won't meet, I'm going to list a bunch of good things that happened to me in 2025, because it's important to remember that good things happened.
-I finished twelve books, the most I've read in probably a decade. Some of those books are going to be forever favorites.
-A lot of people had a great time with Battleship despite the stress, and my hard work and time commitment made that happen.
-Oasis reunited!! I couldn't travel to see their reunion tour because life sucked, but good quality concert videos on YouTube got me through a really tough month.
-I got to see Jaws and Scream on the big screen for the first time.
-The "I Lied To You" dance sequence in Sinners exists.
-Will Byers got a nosebleed, which I've been desperately wanting to see since season two.
-I got to see Mission Impossible stunts in IMAX for the first time, and the arctic sub sequence in Final Reckoning was absolutely worth the wait.
-I got to see The Brutalist in 70mm, and the part in the beginning where the camera flips over to film the upside down Statue of Liberty took my breath away.
-Stardew Valley was a much needed escape this year, and my himbo husband Alex was always there to tell me how buff I'd gotten from farming.
-The Stranger Things finale was much kinder to my ships than I anticipated, and the Duffers did two things I really wanted them to do.
Favorite Media
Favorite TV show:
Etoile. I only finished one new show this year, and it was a really fun one. RIP to yet another one season wonder.
Favorite book:
Collectively giving this to the Locked Tomb series, because they're all so different and engrossing and I can't pick a favorite.
Favorite 2025 movie:
Sinners, absolutely no competition. Sammie Moore is indeed one of my top 2025 blorbos ♥ Honorable mention to Weapons and the Jaws 50th anniversary screening, which were both super fun theater experiences.
Favorite older movies I watched for the first time in 2025:
Lots more in this category, so have a top five in alphabetical order.
Baby Driver
The Brutalist
Candyman
The Company of Wolves
Mission Impossible 7: Dead Reckoning
Fics Posted
Georgia O'Keefe Shit - Challengers, E, Art Donaldson/Tashi Donaldson/Patrick Zweig. Weeks after the New Rochelle Challenger, the Donaldson Foundation held a garden party fundraiser. No one expected Patrick Zweig to crash it.
Dirty Water - Jaws/The Witch crossover, E, Martin Brody/Thomasin. A divorced single father moves to a small island and meets a beautiful young woman on the beach.
Nona Has Three Mommies - The Locked Tomb, E, Nona & Palamedes Sextus + Nona/Camilla Hect + Nona/Pyrrha Dve. Nona was feeling even more baby than usual.
reach out and touch faith - The Locked Tomb, Not Rated, Gideon Nav/Harrowhark Nonagesimus. The corpse of Gideon Nav wanders the Mithraeum and yearns.
Mama's Boy - Scream, Not Rated, Billy Loomis/Stu Macher. It's a normal night for Stu Macher, watching Psycho and talking about murder and wanting to fuck his best friend.
End Of Year Fandom Meme
Character/ship of the year
I liked too many ships to pick a favorite, but this year belongs to three blorbos: Sammie Moore from Sinners, Gideon Nav from The Locked Tomb, and Will Byers from Stranger Things. Apparently I love normal people thrust into extraordinary magical circumstances and finding great depths of badassery.
Leitmotif(s) of the year
I think it's vaginal symbolism, lol. "Georgia O'Keefe Shit" has flowers (obviously), "Dirty Water" has briny ocean seafoam, "reach out and touch faith" has wound cunnilingus, and "Mama's Boy" has Janet Leigh's wet naked body getting stabbed in Psycho.
My most popular story
"Mama's Boy," which I chalk up to writing the juggernaut ship for a decently popular fandom. The Challengers throuple fic is close second for the same reason.
My best story
Nothing really sticks out to me!
My most self-indulgent story
"Dirty Water" is a niche crossover I've been brainstorming for a while between two of my favorite movies, set in my neck of the woods, centered around sexual freedom and exploration.
Story most underappreciated by the universe, in my opinion
I don't think anything I wrote was underappreciated, since my least popular fic is the aforementioned niche crossover.
Story the universe appreciated way more than I expected it to
Again, my most popular stories are for the most popular fandoms/ships and vice versa. My otherwise low-stat mommy diaper kink fic has the most hits, which amuses me.
Biggest disappointment
I did not finish any of my Stranger Things WIPs before the new season, and the finale and epilogue jossed a lot of my details anyway. I was also disappointed by season 5 as a whole, which sucks for the final season of one of my favorite shows (and popular consensus agrees with me for once, so I'm worried the fandom will die the abrupt death of hated finales).
Biggest pleasant surprise
I'm very impressed with myself for writing more than one Battleship treat while being an assistant Battleship mod.
Hardest story to write
"reach out and touch faith" was a late pinch hit that I had three days to write, and I was unhappy enough with the result to majorly rewrite the last section right before reveals.
Easiest story to write
"Mama's Boy" came together pretty quickly.
Sexiest story
"Georgia O'Keefe Shit," a good old-fashioned threesome PWP with sweaty party clothes and outdoor semi-public cunnilingus.
Most fucked up story
Maybe the age play or the wound cunnilingus? I didn't write anything truly fucked up this year, but my bar is high.
Truest story
"Mama's Boy," because I have definitely had weird horny thoughts while watching horror movies with a guy I'm attracted to.
Favorite title
"Dirty Water," named after the iconic Massachusetts anthem and thematically appropriate in multiple ways.
Favorite opening line
Nona Has Three Mommies: It was hard being not-quite-nineteen, and it was hard being nearly six months, and poor Nona was both.
The recipient of this fic said I nailed Muir's writing style, which is extremely high praise. It's a really fun, offbeat style to write in, and I love how the quirks of Nona's situation and personality make her a perfect adult baby.
Favorite closing line
Dirty Water: "Mister, do children swim on this beach?"
I think my favorite random similarity between Jaws and The Witch is demonic evil animals murdering kids.
Pairing/genre/fandom that I wrote that I never would have predicted last January
I can't say "writing femslash" when that's been my most unexpected writing choice for like three years, but my yearly output being 40% femslash is a bit unexpected. The perils of small sample sizes.
Fandom I read/wrote that isn't reflected in my posted works
I didn't post anything for Sinners, despite it having such a wealth of great characters and ships. I started writing a dubiously consensual Sammie/Pearline/Remmick threesome, but didn't get very far.
Writing risks and lessons learned
I didn't really take any writing risks, but I took a big risk volunteering to be a spreadsheet mod for Battleship. While it was an intense, stressful, emotionally taxing and logistically challenging experience, I don't regret it and I feel like I learned a ton not just about modding, but about what kind of mod I am, and how I react to high pressure situations in general. I won't decide whether I'll volunteer for 2026 until I know what my work commitments and free time will be like, but I want to get more modding experience once I have the bandwidth. I do know that I'll never volunteer for spreadsheet modding unless I can either take all of Battleship off from work, or we have something that automates the incredibly tedious manual process of work checking.
Fandom Goals
Here are my 2025 fandom goals, none of which I accomplished:
Don't participate in bangs/fests/exchanges until July 1 or I've posted 2 fics outside an event, whichever comes first (not counting my in-progress treat for Candy Hearts)
Post 4 fics outside of bangs/fests/exchanges
Post 3 unfinished fics from the past two years
Post one work to AO3 that isn't fic
Post my Stranger Things post-canon Will/Mike/Eleven fic before the final season comes out and josses everything
My 2025 royally sucked for reasons that had nothing to do with politics or current events (so all that suckiness was happening in addition to the other suckiness). It's honestly a miracle that I wrote anything, let alone that I wrote things and modded one of the biggest most complex exchanges in fandom and read twelve books to completion.
Instead of making more goals I won't meet, I'm going to list a bunch of good things that happened to me in 2025, because it's important to remember that good things happened.
-I finished twelve books, the most I've read in probably a decade. Some of those books are going to be forever favorites.
-A lot of people had a great time with Battleship despite the stress, and my hard work and time commitment made that happen.
-Oasis reunited!! I couldn't travel to see their reunion tour because life sucked, but good quality concert videos on YouTube got me through a really tough month.
-I got to see Jaws and Scream on the big screen for the first time.
-The "I Lied To You" dance sequence in Sinners exists.
-Will Byers got a nosebleed, which I've been desperately wanting to see since season two.
-I got to see Mission Impossible stunts in IMAX for the first time, and the arctic sub sequence in Final Reckoning was absolutely worth the wait.
-I got to see The Brutalist in 70mm, and the part in the beginning where the camera flips over to film the upside down Statue of Liberty took my breath away.
-Stardew Valley was a much needed escape this year, and my himbo husband Alex was always there to tell me how buff I'd gotten from farming.
-The Stranger Things finale was much kinder to my ships than I anticipated, and the Duffers did two things I really wanted them to do.
no subject
Date: 2026-01-07 12:58 am (UTC)-Oasis reunited!! I couldn't travel to see their reunion tour because life sucked, but good quality concert videos on YouTube got me through a really tough month.
💗ðŸ˜
Stardew Valley is such a great escape, and Alex is one of my favorites. I love his little bi awakening arc when I romance him with a male farmer. <3
no subject
Date: 2026-01-07 04:07 am (UTC)I really feel like the Gallaghers reuniting healed a tiny part of the fucked up world ♥ There's such positive energy among the band and the fandom.
Stardew is such a good escape! Alex was my male farmer's first spouse and I'm defensive of him, especially since Haley starts out just as unpleasant but has tons of simps in the fandom.
no subject
Date: 2026-01-10 06:24 pm (UTC)Yes. 😠So much of 2025 was so fucked up, but then they brought so much joy. ;____;