Fanfic Recommendations: The Next Generation

[Mamorien]

Clicking on the "crack treated seriously" tag for Hermione's New Job last night, I discovered the spiritual successor to Who Framed Roger Rabbit, if not the UF of animation fanfic.

From public radio station KTUN-FM 109.0, it’s Your Radio Toontown.

A collection of stories and radio interviews focusing on toons and their lives on and off set.

(AKA an excuse to include any and every fandom imaginable)

https://archiveofourown.org/series/2942838

There are two individual Your Radio Toontown stories so far, one complete and the other getting there, with the promise of other plots to come.

"Looking at the room next to ours, my eyes meet another girl’s. Her skin’s also tanned, has brown hair, and seems to be around my age. In terms of differences, we wore different outfits, our hairstyle was different, so was our ethnicity, and in general our art styles differed. We stare at each other for what seems like forever, and wave timidly, smiling but unsure whether to interact properly or not. Unfortunately, I hear my name being called, so I take my leave. Maybe we’ll get to know each other soon."

Welcome to our very first broadcast! In today's story that serves an introduction to the wonderful world of animation and Toontown, we follow the story of sister shows, Amphibia and The Owl House, how they began, their time filming and on the air, as well as the issues on and off set they faced, and how the stars of the show have created a bond that will last forever.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/39443244

And then the one I actually discovered first, which is appropriate in light of its structure.

“Sometimes I look back on how we got here. It almost makes me wish we were locked back in the water tower, almost. My sibs and I have existed for nearly a century, and just when things started coming up good for toons, the rug was pulled right under us. Now we could just start at the beginning, but where’s the fun in that when we can start at the end and work our way back?”

On today's episode of Your Radio Toontown, we take a look at the troubled history of Warner Bros. Animation, told by the toons who were there since the very beginning, and how it all came crashing down in August of this year in the Great HBO Max Purge, as well as a brief history of our town. All of which is told chronologically backwards.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/41448828

Spelling and grammar get a little idiosyncratic, but it grabbed me by the feels (I got to bed an hour later than I would've done if I hadn't spotted it), and anonimaus has clearly put at least as much effort into worldbuilding as Jo Rowling. This is someone who's having infectious levels of fun, and I do not, for one, feel a need to be cured.

ADDENDUM: anonimaus wears eir politics on eir sleeve. I happen to share a large portion of those politics, but ey do get onto the fine line between informative and preachy. Also, ey're taking a lot of queer subtext and elevating it to text. On the flip side, ey don't shy from confronting what the Disney+ summaries call "outdated cultural depictions", and that requires, well, depicting them. Take under advisement whichever of those you feel applies to you.