I don’t think you need to be a writer to criticize writing. And just because something is commercially successful doesn’t mean people can find faults with it. I don’t think you have to be a writer to realize huge issues like an important plot point (Russia) disappearing mid series for no reason.

I think it’s evident that Rachel Reid gives fans a basis for their imagination and the show a foundation for further exploration. Millions of people are resonating with stuff that’s not actually written by her. And I’d say a lot more people resonate with the show than Rachel Reid’s books and the parts they resonate with aren’t always in HR or TLG. People get pulled in by the premises, interesting issues complex queer POC characters that are done well, and they feel disappointed when it’s not in TLG. With the show being as successfully as it is, I don’t think it’s fair to say that people are resonating with just her work. The writer/director, actors, musicians, and everyone else who worked on the show deserve recognition as well.

I’ve also seen tons of fanon that becomes so common place that it almost looks like canon, like #protective Ilya Rozanov, “Ilya Rozanov could never say no to Shane Hollander”, and none of that is written by her.

I’ve always recognized that it’s OK for people to like the HR/TLG they have in their own heads. Or maybe you can just sit and enjoy the books. But there are people with mental health issues, queer people, POC who see these issues done poorly and it’s important not to silence these voices. Sure, tons of people resonate with her books. Some people have also been straight up traumatized. I think they deserve to be heard too.

All the Troy-haters asking, “Wait but he’s racist???”

No. No, he is not. He is literally not. He was just really homophobic and an asshole because he was hiding deep in the closet and was surrounded by other assholes.

It would have been awesome if Troy was a POC because then all the Troy-haters would have hopefully been stunned to silence.

So having Justice Smith as Harris is a delight (his smile is literal sunshine) and also a “fuck you” to the Troy-haters.

I genuinely don't understand where the idea of troy being racist came from, nor why it spread so far into fanon. and I've definitely seen a lot of instances where people hide behind "things troy would have said" to make their own racist comments to the poc characters. and while I WISH troy had been cast as a poc, I still hope harris being cast as one will quiet a lot of that, but who knows

The Ilya we see in Heated rivalry would not be throwing the first punch, he's not an enforcer. Ilya is a star center and a Pest. He wouldn't be doing his job correctly if he was punching players every other game, it would end up with not enough ice time to let him be the playmaker he's paid to be.

But being a pest can be playmaking! Find a player to bait, emotionally push them just enough that they try to fight you, and then get the fuck out of there before the ref gives you both penalties. This gets your team the power play. There is probably someone on Ilya's line dedicated to helping him get out of the fights he starts, and finishing them for him!

I also think this is also something that Shane would respect. Ilya is good at it and it's a good strategy for his team. I don't think Shane would see it as some dirty tactic, because Shane probably thinks everyone with a brain can see it for what it is! He probably thinks everyone should be able to see that being an asshole is a tactic for Ilya, that it's something to ignore and not fall for, that it's a strategy and not personal beef.

A lot of fandom seems to have collectively decided Harris is fat, but if you actually go back and read the books, he’s not really described that way. Rachel literally posted the model she based Harris on, and he’s more of a slightly pudgy guy. And honestly, standing next to a bunch of professional athletes, “slightly pudgy” is going to look even more noticeable. That’s very different from what a lot of people seem to be picturing.

And then there’s Bood. A lot of people fancast him as 100% Black. As a Black woman, I want to be very clear that I have absolutely no problem with that. But I’ve always assumed Bood was probably Indo-Trinidadian because of the last name Boodram. Maybe he’s mixed Afro-Trinidadian and Indo-Trinidadian, maybe not, but I’ve never understood where the certainty that he’s just Black came from.

It feels like fandom has spent so much time looking at fanart and fancasts that people have started treating those interpretations as canon.

And look, maybe I’ll be completely wrong. Scott Hunter is a 28-year-old blond guy in the books and look what happened there. Svetlana isn’t biracial in the books. Adaptations are allowed to make changes. They may very well do their own thing with Harris, Bood, Troy, Wyatt, or anyone else. Maybe Harris will end up being fat. Maybe Bood will be played by a Black actor. If that happens, I’ll be a happy camper.

I just think some people are setting themselves up for disappointment because they’re expecting casting choices based on fandom headcanons rather than what’s actually in the books. And when the announcements finally drop, I can already see people acting shocked when the actors don’t match the versions they’ve had in their heads for these past couple months.

He doesn't get much useful advice and soon the guys are arguing about how long you can pursue someone before it starts getting pathetic. Holmberg is at one end of the spectrum at two weeks ("We're rich professional athletes, man, we shouldn't have to try that hard.") and Wyatt Hayes is on the other at three months ("Maybe she likes you but just doesn't want the WAG lifestyle. You need to prove to her that you see her as a person with her own goals separate from yours.")

Then someone notices that Ilya, despite his wealth of experience, hasn't chimed in yet and asks, "What do you think, Cap?"

"Two years."

The entire room goes still.

"What?"

"Two years," Ilya repeats, completely unashamed. "Is not pathetic to go for what you want. Not if you think they're worth it."

In sync, every person in the room turns to look at Shane, who's pretending to fiddle with the laces on his skates, looking pink-faced and vaguely pleased.

Finally, Holmberg turns to the rookie. "Okay, I guess two years is fine if it's Shane Hollander. Is your girl Shane Hollander?"

The poor rookie has no response to that. His girl is, indeed, not literally Shane Hollander.

"Man, gay people move different," LaPointe mutters.

as a fat harris and poc troy truther im in mourning. the things we could have had...

I had resigned myself to not getting poc troy, so that's not really a surprise, but I am disappointed that they went with a very skinny man for harris, who is canonically a little chubby. I think it would have been so important to have that representation and I wish they had made another choice, but I am glad they went with a person of colour at least? idk it feels a little like diversity bingo to say that

however, I do enjoy justice smiths performances and charlie in julie and the phantoms had a GRIP on me for a while so I'm not as mad as I could have been? idk it's weird. I don't think these two will be replacing brover in my mind the way hudcon have replaced hollanov, but I am also prepared to eat my words because they're both very talented and I'm sure they'll give a great performance even if they don't look the way I wanted

Shane ends up being the one to explain the Drake vs. Kendrick feud to Hayden (who came into it cold when Not Like Us got huge). JJ started explaining it to him but, honestly, he was doing a bad job at it and Shane has heard Ilya rant about this for months now, every time there was a new development, so he takes over and Hayden and JJ both just stare at him in blank shock.

The veterans on the Centaurs ask Shane to explain the Cardi B trial because Ilya got too worked up over it and started speaking Russian when they asked him.

They watched the entire four-part documentary on Diddy that 50 Cent produced and Shane now gleefully tells people that 50 did an in-depth interview on ABC, specifically because that's one of the few channels shown in prisons (yes, Ilya made him watch the interview and cackled beside him the entire time).

During them watching that series, Shane asked Ilya "who's that?" when Biggie Smalls came up on screen for the first time. Shocked and appalled, Ilya played Shane Biggie and Tupac's entire catalogues and showed him several video essays covering the East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry.