the wild blue yonder looms

Major discussion questions for this post:

Is OP saying that consent is not needed in sexual encounters?

Why is framing consent as “sexy” potentially problematic?

What pitfalls can you imagine could come from framing consent as a bonus that makes sex more enjoyable rather than a basic requirement for any sexual encounter?

the sound of you by @craftclass

we radiate, in shades of gray by @langdonmels

on some pacific wind by @writeraquamarinara

same old someone that i knew by @kmsk8r

the only explanation I can find (aka 🐴🐣) by @peachypitt

city baby by @cvldbones

sugar rush by littlefoolswriting

***disclaimer that this is not aimed at anyone in particular, this is something I noticed maybe a year ago and have been discussing in dms for a couple of months. ***

I have noticed over the past few months that there is a significant contingent of this fandom that have a fear of reading AUs for Kingdon, or they at least have a reluctance to interact with AU fics which I think is a real shame.

There is only so much that can be explored in the canon world with the guardrails set in place by the show. This can be circumvented in AU! Dynamics can be twisted and we can explore these characters in deeper, more tangible ways! AND IT’S FUN! At its core, an AU removes these barriers and puts up new ones. It requires so much skill on behalf of the author to create this new world but to also stay true to the ship we know and love, and I think a well crafted AU is one of the delights of fandom. This strict adherence to canon reads to me as a lack of imagination and curiosity about how unique Mel and Frank’s dynamic is and personally? I think that’s sad. Sorry! Canon is not the be all end all. To write fic is not to be proven right, and it's not solely to just continue canon. At its core the purpose is transformative.

I’ve also been thinking about the lack of AUs a lot recently because I think it’s also a factor in how a lot of people received s2 of the show. I have noticed some people saying they only read canon-compliant fic and have no interest in any AUs which IN MY OPINION (!!) skews their perspective on what canon actually is, and they’re unable to separate the idealised version of the ship from canon. So at several points in s2 people would say they were disappointed in certain Kingdon scenes because it wasn’t blatantly shippy holding hands heart eyes, whereas if they actually removed the characters and their dynamic from the context of the show they’d be able to understand how the interactions we did get were so fantastic for Kingdon. It becomes this vicious cycle of letting fic inform your view of canon characters and then getting mad when said characters are not like they were in fic. That’s not how it works I’m afraid!

A few months back I decided to do some digging: did you know that out of the top ONE HUNDRED Kingdon fics sorted by kudos, only ONE is a total AU. The fact that for a lot of writers their AU fics statistically fare 'worse' than canon compliant fics is damning for a lot of the Kingdon readership.

I maybe understand not being as interested in a specific kind of AU because it's not your type of fiction (historical/sci-fi/fantasy/paranormal etc.) but the way some people have said they outright refuse to read any AU at all when it’s SO broad a label is confusing to me personally I guess.