Nominations are open

[pumpkinkingmod]

Nominations are open!

Countdown until nominations end

You may nominate up to 6 fandoms with 6 characters each. Ships are not eligible. Vaguely defined groups of unnamed individuals are allowed. Original characters are allowed. We do not have a crossover section.

All character tags must be disambiguated. Character tags that are not disambiguated may be rejected.

Marvel Comics are being nominated by a character’s native universe.

DC will be divided by Earth designation, as well as its status relative to Crisis/Flashpoint for different Earths that share the same name. The “Main” Earth will be DC Earth-One for Pre-Crisis, DC New Earth for Crisis to Flashpoint, and DC Prime Earth for post Flashpoint.

DC's Arrowverse will consist of the shows Arrow, Supergirl, Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman, the Ray, and Vixen. Other shows that have crossed over but are generally not part of the ongoing narrative may be nominated separately. The characters who have crossed over into Arrowverse, such as the 90s Flash TV show Barry Allen, may be nominated under their home show or Arrowverse.

Marvel Cinematic Universe consists of all Marvel Studios live action movies.

Buffyverse (TV) consists of the television shows for both Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and Angel: The Series.

DCEU consists of the movies Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Justice League, Shazam!, Aquaman, Birds of Prey, and Wonder Woman 84.

Doctor Who is divided between 1963, 2005, and Torchwood.

Fate is divided into Grand Order, Stay Night, Extra/Extella, Prisma Illya, Apocrypha, Strange Fake, Prototype, and Requiem.

Mass Effect is divided into the original trilogy with Andromeda separate.

Dangan Ronpa has the original continuity together with V3 separate.

Star Trek is divided by show and the Alternate Original Series is alone. Movie characters from the Original Series or Next Gen movies may be nominated under the respective shows.

EDIT: I created a new category called "Alternate Universe Works." You may nominate canon characters in the style of original works. All of them must be disambiguated with "(AU-Canon)".

Examples
Kate Bishop replaces Clint Barton (AU-MCU)
Slayer Drusilla (AU-BtVS)

These will only be enforced based on what is in the tags. So if you nominate "Mermaid Diana (AU-Wonder Woman)" the person can fulfill it based on the 70s Wonder Woman movie, the 70s Wonder Woman show, Wonder Woman comic, the Wonder Woman pilot, or the DCEU Wonder Woman movie.

Comments

[sholio]

Do you want the Netflix Marvel shows nominated as individual shows, or grouped together under one umbrella tag?

[pumpkinkingmod]

Combine them. I know AO3 messed with the MCU Netflix Tag. Nominating them all under the Defenders is fine.

[sholio]

Thank you!

[kore]

....of course they did. Lord those tags keep getting worse.

[(Anonymous)]

Just a head's up, but "Steve Rogers (616)" is showing up under MCU.

[pumpkinkingmod]

They are now "Steve Rogers (Six One Six)"

[verecunda]

Would it be possible to nominate the works of MR James as one umbrella fandom, or would you prefer individual stories grouped as separate fandoms?

[pumpkinkingmod]

Can you tell me more about MR James? I'm not familiar with their works in any capacity. Tell me why you feel it works best as an umbrella fandom.

[verecunda]

Sure. James was an author of ghost stories (Wiki link for a quick summary). Most of them draw on his own background as a Cambridge academic and historian, with scholarly protagonists who stumble on the supernatural via ancient artefacts, discovered manuscripts, etc. In addition, at least two of them take place in a shared universe: the protagonist of "The Mezzotint" relates his experiences to the protagonist of "Canon Alberic's Scrap-Book", an earlier story in the same collection.

So the main argument for grouping his works together under one umbrella is because they are all short stories that share many common features and settings.

[pumpkinkingmod]

You may nominate them together this year.

[verecunda]

Thank you!

[rachelmanija]

I just wanted to second what verecunda said. Even if they're not explicitly in the same universe, they all feel like they are. I think it would make more sense to have them as one fandom than have to nominate individual ones.

[pumpkinkingmod]

You may nominate them together this year.

[rosefox]

Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis is already there under Books. I was planning to nominate under Chronicles of Narnia - All Media Types but I don't want to waste nomination slots on characters who are already there. What are your thoughts on having both in the tagset vs. having only Books vs. turning the book version into All Media Types?

[pumpkinkingmod]

I feel that Narnia books and Narnia movies should be separate.

[(Anonymous)]

Does this mean if we're ok with either a canon or an AU version of a character, we have to request both, or can we still request the canon and then give AUs as optional prompts?

[pumpkinkingmod]

You do not need to request both. You can still request just the canon and give AUs as optional prompts.

[wiccanslyr]

So A Nightmare on Elm Street is currently nominated as an "All Media Types" umbrella Fandom, but the Original Movie Series and the Reboot Movie (2010) are actually fairly different characterization wise. Is there anyway to separate or otherwise disambiguate those characters?

[pumpkinkingmod]

Sure. I will separate them out after nominations close. For now, if there is a character you want that isn't there already nominate it in the All Media Types version and I will separate everything all in one go.

[tehsharkie]

Hi, I'm just wondering - is there a reason why Fallen London tags are disambiguated as 'Fire Lion' and Sunless Sea tags are disambiguated as 'Sage Socks'? I'm sorry if I missed anything!

[pumpkinkingmod]

To prevent the tags from wandering. AO3 will associate disambiguated tags with other related fandoms. I took a look at the tagsets from previous years and the tags will wander back and forth if using 'Fallen London' and 'Sunless Sea' as the disambiguation. As I'm done fighting AO3 with trying to figure out variations that won't wander, I now use silly disambiguations that either have a joke or share the same initials. In this case it is sharing the same initials.

[tehsharkie]

Thanks for clarifying!

[meteordust]

Hi, I'm the one who nominated Dream of the Endless etc under the fandom "The Sandman (Comics)" this year. I see that they've been approved under "DC New Earth", but would you consider moving them back? The Sandman comics largely stand alone, and I feel like people who want to request and offer the fandom would look for it under that title.

(It looks like in the 2016 tagset, it was listed under "The Sandman (Comics)", and in 2017 and 2018, it was changed to "DC New Earth".)

[pumpkinkingmod]

I acknowledge that no method of handling DC Comics and Marvel Comics is perfect as some characters move between titles/universes and others are self contained, plus reboots and multiple versions of the same character. I did not move any Sandman nominations, someone else nominated them under "DC New Earth" and they were accepted.

The current solution is the one I've found that works best for my sanity as the moderator.

[meteordust]

Thanks for the reply! I didn't realise someone else had nominated them. Comics categories seem complicated, but I guess at least the characters are in.

Dreaming of Sunshine (per our Discord Conversation)

[charientist]

The Dreaming of Sunshine fandom is distinct from the Naruto fandom. We maintain an AO3 collection for DoS fic which currently has over 250 works and have run a DoS-exclusive exchange as well as multiple fandom challenges (such as a rolling remix and an art challenge). And in case it is in question, we do have permission from Silver Queen to create fanworks based on her fic.

Our communities aside, the work itself is distinct from what the Naruto fandom considers to be canon:

Dreaming of Sunshine has extensive worldbuilding, exploring the magic system, foreign politics, and the organization and logistics of the primary location, and we bring that world to our recursive fanfiction. Dreaming of Sunshine fic is written for fellow DoS fans, making basic assumptions about the setting, characters, and relationships that often don’t translate to Naruto canon. Additionally, many DoS readers and writers have seen and read little to no Naruto canon and have little to no interaction with the Naruto fandom except through the lens of Dreaming of Sunshine and its community.

As for the specifics of an exchange, Naruto characters are often different from their DoS versions and shouldn’t be considered a proper match. Many minor characters from Naruto play major roles in DoS, while many major or popular characters from the original become radically different or completely irrelevant. There are several living characters who should be dead, dead who should be alive, or who show up years before they should have been introduced.

I’m assuming you’re not into Naruto, so here are a few examples of Naruto characters (most of them currently in the tagset) that a DoS author would find difficult to write for someone who wants the Naruto version… and a Naruto author would likely find impossible to do the reverse:

• Nara Shikamaru – in Naruto canon, Shikamaru is an only child with two arms. In Dreaming of Sunshine, he has a twin sister, a younger brother, and he lost an arm on a mission which was eventually replaced with a semi-corporeal prosthetic
  
  
• Sai – in Naruto canon, Sai is introduced at the beginning of part 2. In Dreaming of Sunshine, he’s introduced before the timeskip between canonical parts, starting his character arc years early and changing many of the characters involved
  
  
• Haku – Haku dies with his teacher in a very early arc of Naruto canon. In Dreaming of Sunshine he lives, helps form an important political alliance between foreign powers, and takes on a new power that will make him a primary target of the fic’s antagonist
  
  
• Uchiha Obito – In Naruto canon, Obito is presumed dead for years only to be revealed as a major antagonist toward the end of the series. In Dreaming of Sunshine, he really did die and won’t be reappearing.
  
  
• Yuhi Shinku – In Naruto canon, he appears on a single page of the manga. In Dreaming of Sunshine, he’s an antagonist for the duration of the Police Arc.
  

Many people who like Dreaming of Sunshine also like Naruto, but the characters aren’t interchangeable. These examples are among the easiest to explain, but almost no Naruto character has been left untouched. There are also many original characters: the minor character document used for the Dreaming of Sunshine exchange lists about 100, and the protagonist of DoS is original to the work. We absolutely want to nominate her, but she clearly does not belong in the Naruto fandom tags.

These differences mean that if we match with Naruto writers or recipients, both sides will be frustrated and disappointed. There’s about 70 comments reflecting that frustration here, caused by having no split between Naruto and Dreaming of Sunshine in a recent flash exchange.

Since we’ve confirmed at least three people wishing to write and/or receive Dreaming of Sunshine works, we would appreciate being able to participate in the exchange without bothering Naruto fans or risking having to default if we match with someone who’s not actually requesting what we offered.

Re: Dreaming of Sunshine (per our Discord Conversation)

[wafflelate]

Hi, just wanted to say I write a lot of DoS fic and I'd really love to sign up to this exchange with DoS as its own fandom. I am not interested in signing up to offer or recieve Naruto works, as that is a different fandom.

Re: Dreaming of Sunshine (per our Discord Conversation)

[everysecondtuesday]

I'm not sure how much this will help, but I'd also really appreciate them being split. I'll be participating either way, but I think it will be easier on Naruto fans, DoS fans, and fans of both to have them separate. DoS fans will be able to request what they want without concern about the characters they're requesting being a different version, and those who haven't consumed Naruto will be able to offer DoS instead of finding entirely different fandoms and just treating DoS requests; Naruto fans won't have to worry about getting matched to someone who is potentially indifferent to their canon and won't need to sort through requests to make sure their potential matches want entirely different versions of the characters.

Thanks for this in depth comment, charientist, and thank you for all your hard work, PumpkinKing! I'm really looking forward to Trick or Treat!

Re: Dreaming of Sunshine (per our Discord Conversation)

[pumpkinkingmod]

I am willing to give it a try this year. If it opens the door to too much fanfic as fandom or if it results in people using well known fanfics to essentially only request one fandom, it will be removed from future rounds.

For this year nominate it as "Dreaming of Sunshine (DNM)"