Fandom and screen
A place for the stories people build around comics, games, characters and the line between official canon and community invention.
Fandom moves quickly, but its best questions are rarely about speed. Readers want to know what is actually in a game, comic or screen text, what a creator has confirmed, and what a community has made its own. This collection keeps those things in separate boxes without flattening the fun out of any of them.
These guides start with a concrete record: an official release, a visible teaser, a published work or a clearly credited fan creation. They then explain the context that makes the detail matter, with room for the delight of a character or idea that people want to carry further.
Start here
Start here
Who Is Petra Parker, the Trans Spider-Man of Fan Art
Marvel put the name Petra Parker on two different heroes. The internet borrowed it for a third, and fell for her hardest.
In this collection
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The Two Petra Parkers Hiding in Spider-Man Comics
The name was not invented by the internet. Marvel had already used it twice, for a teen hero and a singing princess. Here is the comic-book history behind the meme.
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Why Spider-Man Keeps Working as a Trans Allegory
A secret identity is a closet. A double life is a door. Here is why trans fans keep recognizing themselves under the mask, from Gwen Stacy to the new fan-made Petra Parker.
Main story
Fortnite Override Collabs: What the Teasers Actually Confirm
Peely has sprinted, fished and summoned falling blocks through a week of tiny trailers. Here is the unusually fun crossover lineup the screen evidence supports, plus the names that remain rumors.
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What the Lord of Mysteries Novel Is About
The game everyone is suddenly searching for came from a book, and the book is stranger than most. Here is the plot, the world, and the tarot-card trick at its heart.
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Who is Hello Kitty, and why does she have no mouth?
She is not a cat, exactly, and she has never needed to say a word. The 1974 origin of the face now riding in a Happy Meal.