Recbox for nowrunalong

[beyondthealgorithm_mod]

Username: nowrunalong

Preferred Genres: comedy, rom-com, drama, fantasy/sci-fi, slice of life, mystery/detective, procedural

DNW Genres: violent/gory horror

Preferred Media Types: live action TV, movies, cartoons, comics, graphic novels

DNW Media Types: video games that take more than ~20 hours to play

General Likes: nuanced/morally grey female characters, women being heroes, women being villains, female friendships, romance of any gender configuration, slow burn, found families, comedy, feel-good stories, drama/conflict driven by characters, symbolism, outfits/costume design being a major part of the visual look of the series

General DNWs: torture porn, primary focus on abuse/rape stories, relentless angst/suspense/darkness

Fandom Preferences: femslash shipping potential!

Requests for Content Warnings: please warn for graphic violence, rape/non-con, child abuse, and death of bi/lesbian women

Examples of Media Enjoyed: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel & Faith comics, Lucifer TV, DC Extended Universe, Superman: the Animated Series (and the rest of the DCAU), Doctor Who, The Mandalorian, Lost Girl, Carmilla, She-Ra 2018, Legend of Korra, Scott Pilgrim (movie & graphic novels), Person of Interest, Elementary, Castle, The Mentalist, The Good Wife, Schitt's Creek, New Girl, Forever 2018, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Bob's Burgers, Much Ado About Nothing (every version I've seen!), The Raven Cycle, Tales From the Borderlands. If you want to see what movies I've watched, I have a list on letterboxd!

Examples of Media to Avoid: Torchwood/Class, extreme cringe humour like Curb Your Enthusiasm and the Office UK, fandom juggernauts like MCU (exception for Star Trek, feel free to rec individual shows!), soap-opera-type dramas (like Grey's Anatomy or Jane the Virgin), and the following sitcoms because I've already seen them: The Office, Parks and Rec, B99, Community, Seinfeld, Friends, One Day at a Time, Never Have I Ever, Scrubs, Silicon Valley, The Good Place.

Streaming Services I Can Access: Netflix, DC Universe, Amazon Prime, Disney+

Languages I'm Comfortable With: English, French, potentially other languages with accessible English subtitles

Comments

[graycardinal]

Two suggestions:

Gargoyles

Animated series, two seasons (technically there was a short third season, but almost no one including series creator Greg Weisman counts it as canonical). Available on Disney+.

This was a Disney animated series that originally ran in the same block with Darkwing Duck, but it looks and flows like something completely different. The roots of the drama are grounded in 10th and 11th century Scotland, and the first half of the series spends a fair amount of time showing us those roots, but the main action occurs in a 1990s Manhattan that's just a bit ahead of its time (mostly standard comics-grade high tech).

It's very much an ensemble affair. Our heroes are five living gargoyles (stone by day, patrolling the skies by night) led by Goliath, plus police detective Elisa Maza. There are two lead adversaries: Demona, a renegade gargoyle, and billionaire David Xanatos - and I say adversaries deliberately, because neither character is a one-note villain. Both are fascinating, complicated characters who are drawn with impressive nuance as the series develops. This core cast is augmented by a sizeable supporting ensemble as the show evolves, most notably Macbeth (yes, literally the one from Shakespeare), Thailog (an illicit clone of Goliath, who's arguably more dangerous than Xanatos and Demona combined), and a host of faerie folk right up to Oberon and Titania.

That description sounds like a recipe for a train wreck, but trust me: the writing is focused and carefully structured throughout. So besides being an action/adventure show that's stylistically not far off of the original Timmvere Batman, it's also a Scottish history primer (yes, really!), a family drama (some of Elisa's relatives are drawn in; Xanatos gets married!, younger gargoyles turn up), and a literal world tour of comparative mythology, with bonus Arthurian bits. Also, the voice cast is stellar, with several main characters and secondary roles played by alumni of Star Trek:TNG.

I'd say that the series hits almost all of your "general likes" buttons, particularly those for nuanced female characters whether heroic or otherwise. The one thing it's a little short on is femslash potential - there are some prospects among the secondary players, and maybe Fox (you'll see), but not many.

One storyline, involving "mutates", might bump up against your triggers/DNWs; the premise is that an evil scientist is injecting humans with animal DNA to create hybrids (i.e. noncon; the subjects are not consulted beforehand). A female character in the relevant episode is especially traumatized, reacting in a way that might indicate prior abuse. This is dealt with in the course of the arc (about two episodes, very early in Season 2), and thereafter, the mutates appear chiefly as background players.

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Narbonic

Webcomic, created by Shaenon Garrity; 2000-2006 (complete).

Take one mad scientist, one evil intern, one newly hired computer geek, one super-intelligent gerbil, and the scientist's "mother". Add high explosives, a forensic linguist, several rival mad scientists, the Legion of Daves, a visiting demon, and assorted mutated animals of various species and sizes. Mix well; publish four panels a day (more on Sunday) for six years.

That's Narbonic in a nutshell. Our heroine is Dr. Helen B. (for Beta) Narbon, head of Narbonics Labs. Mell (for Melody Wildflower) Kelly, Helen B's intern, is just out of college, cute as heck, and really enjoys weapons of massive destruction. Dave Davenport either chain-smokes or doesn't (depending on whether the time travel arc has happened yet) and serves as perpetual guinea pig for a great variety of experiments. Artie is the gerbil, given super-intellect by Helen in an early experiment - unlike the rest of the cast, he's (a) sane, and (b) explicitly not evil. (No one is entirely sure why he continues to live in the lab; possibly he's trying to head off assorted schemes for world domination.)

Six days a week, this is an old-school newspaper-style panel comic strip - like Peanuts in its heyday, sometimes doing single-panel comedy but often featuring ongoing storylines. Essentially, on one level it's a pure workplace sitcom much like many of those on your "list of things I've watched", except that it happens in an Evil Mad Science Lab™.

At the same time (and especially on Sundays) there are genuine character arcs unfolding under the surface, slowly circling upward as the run of the comic moves forward. But unlike, say, the writers of Castle (don't get me started), Garrity knows exactly what she's doing at every step, and anything that may look like a random digression is almost certain to pay off eventually.

What makes all this stand out from every other mad scientist riff in the multiverse is that above all, the strip is funny, and while it takes its characters seriously, it never loses sight of the idea that mad science should be FUN. Even when there's angst in one of the story arcs, it's angst with a sense of FUN lurking underneath it. You wouldn't want an actual Helen Narbon in your living room, because the eventual cleanup would be epic. But reading Helen's adventures is one of the most reliable smile-generators I know of on the 'Net.

[nowrunalong]

These are such thoughtful recs, I was delighted to read your summaries of each of these canons.

Re: Gargoyles, I am very intrigued by this cast of characters - especially as an artist, because the character designs seem very fun to draw. :D I love the sounds of this! It seems like it hits on a lot of things I enjoyed about the Timmverse DC shows (and you're right, it's very visually reminiscent of the Batman animated series, heck yes!) - it's making me think about the Justice League show in particular because... ensemble cast in which more characters keep cropping up, but also there are actual story arcs, and character development! (...JL is also one of those shows with limited f/f shipping potential, but I make it work anyway. They don't even have to meet for me to ship them! They need only exist! xD)

I appreciate the heads-up about the noncon experimentation! That should be fine, especially going into it with foreknowledge.

Re: Narbonic, I'm very excited to get a comic rec! I'm actually an aspiring comic artist myself, but I've read shamefully few comics other than uh... Archie, Calvin & Hobbes, a few DC titles, and bits of pieces of other things (I do love me some Hark! A Vagrant).

You wouldn't want an actual Helen Narbon in your living room, because the eventual cleanup would be epic. But reading Helen's adventures is one of the most reliable smile-generators I know of on the 'Net.

I applaud your sales pitch! You've certainly convinced me to give it a try. The best thing about comics in this format is that it's easy to only bite off small chunks at once, which certainly makes it easier to dive right into. I'm loving the note about deliberate foreshadowing, too - that spine-tingling feeling when canon calls back to something you hadn't even realized would be important... :'D

Thank you so much for suggesting these! I look forward to investigating them further!

[graycardinal]

It belatedly occurs to me that two of my own Gargoyles fics are set either before the series premiere or just after it, and might offer some additional context as you wade in. Both of these are reasonably short, and neither presumes canon knowledge.

When the Bat in the Moonlight Flies is a brief crossover, in which we find Jenny Calendar from the Buffyverse working tech support in Manhattan just as the gargoyles are waking up 100-odd stories directly overhead. Your tourguide is Owen Burnett, right-hand man to David Xanatos - but is he a mild-mannered teddy bear or a shark in Armani clothing? Opinions differ....

And I Do Mean Yours jumps a bit farther back in time, looking in on Owen and Xanatos early in their relationship as they work out the best way to profit from an unusual semi-Shakespearean forgery.

[nowrunalong]

I read the Jenny Calendar crossover fic this afternoon - she's one of my favourite minor characters on Buffy, so I was excited to see a story exploring some pre-canon Jenny adventures. You've definitely captured my attention even more! Your story felt a bit Batman-esque in a way a really enjoyed. It got me to google Elisa Maza, too - I have decided I would adore her. I will check out the other as well!!

Thank you again for the recs!