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We have been working on the tag set for 216 hours, and there are now 3196 approved fandoms in the tag set. We’re nearly there!

Please help us with the following issues:

17th Century CE RPF - We would like help to narrow this fandom down, as it is presently too broad. The characters nominated are:

• Ben Jonson


• Esme Stewart 1st Duke of Lennox


• George Villiers 1st Duke of Buckingham


• James VI and I


• John Donne (17th Century CE RPF)


• Robert Carr


• Robert Carr 1st Earl of Somerset

-are these Robert Carrs the same? Esme Stewart 1st Duke of Lennox died before 1600; nominator, which person did you mean?

Chronicles of the Raven - James Barclay - Ry Darrick only seems to appear in the sequel trilogy; is that incorrect, or does this fandom label cover both trilogies? We’d also appreciate a little more information on the Unknown Warrior.

The Dark Tower - Stephen King - this is approved, and includes both 'The Man in Black' and 'Marten Broadcloak'. Nominators, would you prefer they are merged, or kept separate?

NaPolA | Before the Fall (2004) - Two characters, Albrecht Stein and Friedrich Weimer, are characters in the film; the other two, Florian Stetter and Martin Goeres, are actors. Nominator, could you please confirm whether you wanted to nominate the movie, or to nominate an RPF canon of the movie’s actors?

Never Too Wanted - The Composed Faucet Collection (Commercial) - We can’t figure out which character you’ve identified as the US Marshall - pointers, please? (Anyone?)

New York Yankees RPF - this has been approved, with characters Aaron Judge, Didi Gregorius, Gary Sánchez, and Greg Bird. However, Baseball RPF has also been approved, with characters Adam Lind, Anthony Rendon, Bryce Harper, Ian Kinsler, James McCann, Jayson Werth, José Iglesias, Michael A. Taylor, Miguel Cabrera, Sean Doolittle, Trea Turner, and Wilmer Difo. Yankees nominator, would you prefer your nomination was folded into Baseball RPF or that it was kept separate? (NB: this is possibly the last year ‘Baseball RPF’ is eligible under its current label.)

No Game No Life - Kamiya Yuu - we're a little confused by the character 『　』| Kuuhaku | Blank. Could the nominator please give their reasoning for nominating this character separately?

Smosh - the characters nominated are Keith Leak Jr., Noah Grossman, Olivia Sui, and Shayne Topp. Could the nominator please clarify if this is a nomination for RPF, or for fictionalized characters that share the names of the real people?

Star Wars: Marvel Comics - this nomination combines characters from multiple different series. The characters nominated are Captain Tolvan, Eneb Ray, Lando Calrissian, Queen Trios, and Terex. Could each nominator please choose one title for us to approve?

刀剣乱舞 | Touken Ranbu - Unfortunately, we made a mistake when we sent this through. Sorry. While we’re happy to approve this, we’d like some help: could each nominator please tell us which characters they nominated and under which label? We’d particularly like to hear from the Katsugeki!-specific nominator.

Zero | Project Zero | Fatal Frame Series - this seems to be a nomination for characters from two separate games, with Hinasaki Miu, Kozukata Yuuri, and Kurosawa Hisoka from Fatal Frame V, and Kurosawa Rei from Fatal Frame III. Could the nominator please either clarify, or pick just one game? (Fatal Frame IV is in the tag set separately.)


All Media Types fandoms
We need clarification from the person (or people) who nominated the following fandoms. Please specify a single version of the canon and provide a link to your nominations page so we can confirm the nomination. If these aren't answered, the fandoms will be rejected:

• Kino no Tabi | Kino's Journey - All Media Types, characters: Kino (Kino no Tabi)


• Kizoku Tantei, characters: unnamed main character (Kizoku Tantei)


• A Room With a View - All Media Types, characters: Charlotte Bartlett, Eleanor Lavish

If you are commenting about your own nomination to say what you would like done with characters or fandoms, please link your nominations page! It is the page you get by clicking ‘My Nominations’ from the tag set.

If you notice any problems with your nominations - mis-spellings, etc - feel free to comment on this post.

Remix this year was a mixed bag. On the one hand, I got to play with celeste9's lovely works; on the other hand, I got some rude anon comments. Celeste had a cute story about Poe and Finn mixing up their uniform shirts, and I immediately thought about how that could have been a career-ending mistake in the US Navy not all that long ago, so I ended up writing an AU set during the Don't Ask/Don't Tell years. I do understand how someone could find that choice odd, but it was a story I really wanted to write. As a queer person who works in a conservative profession and lives in a conservative area, the relationship choices I made were constrained by my fear of losing my job. Obviously, I'm happily married and have no regrets, but I also see our country backsliding toward less accepting times. I remember feeling lonely when I was younger because I could never find slash that actually addressed the difficult choices I was facing, so I wanted the chance to write about some of those issues. Of course, I got a rude comment almost immediately, which was disappointing but not altogether unexpected. I'm still happy I wrote the story I wanted to tell.

Title: This Is Only a Drill (The Anytime, Anywhere Remix)
Pairing: Poe/Finn
Rating: Teen
Summary: The year is 1993. The Cold War is old news. Don't ask, don't tell is brand new. Poe Dameron is the best fighter pilot in the Navy, and he's in love with a man.
Word Count: 4800

We have been working on the tag set for 195 hours, and the number of individual fandom nominations has gone down from 5058 to 43. (Many of which 43 are mentioned below.) There are 3171 approved fandoms now in the tag set. We’re nearly there! Please note, though - the tag set won’t open the moment we hit zero. We’ll need a break to catch a breath & some of our own mistakes.


Please help us with the following issues:

Barcelona (album) - this is nominated only with characters Boy and Girl. Could the nominator please confirm what album they mean (the one by Freddie Mercury?) and what is meant by the characters? It seems like they might appear in just one song, The Golden Boy. Please clarify.

Battle: Los Angeles (2011) - By fandom name, this appears to be a nomination for the movie, but one character, Lee Imlay, appeas to be specific to the tie-in game. Could the nominator please confirm that all characters appear in the same canon, and confirm which canon they mean?

Carly Rae Jepsen (Musician) - This is nominated with the characters Alana Haim and Carly Rae Jepsen. We’re not really sure what the connection between the two is - could the nominator please clarify or suggest another fandom label?

CNN Pundits RPF - It’s not clear to us that The Magic Wall (anthropomorphic) belongs in an RPF nomination. Could the nominator please explain their reasoning?

Chronicles of the Raven - James Barclay - Ry Darrick only seems to appear in the sequel trilogy; is that incorrect, or does this fandom label cover both trilogies? We’d also appreciate a little more information on the Unknown Warrior.

Devil’s Cub - Georgette Heyer and These Old Shades - Georgette Heyer - these have been approved separately, with characters Dominic Alastair, Justin Alastair, Léonie de Saint-Vire, and Mary Challoner, and Hugh Davenant, Justin Alastair, Leonie, and Rupert Alastair, respectively. However, it’s been pointed out that they form a series. If (and only if) both nominators are willing, we will merge the nominations as the Alistair-Audley series. Nominators, how do you feel about that?

The Katering Show - We’re a bit confused by the nomination of The Thermomix as a character. Could the nominator please give their reasoning?

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017) - This fandom has already been approved, but we’d like to hear from anyone who nominated the tag The Mage | Guinevere. This is the canonical tag on AO3 (and Yuletide’s use of it is unlikely to change that; if you have strong opinions please refer them to Support). However, one person who nominated The Mage has argued that they are separate. Would the other nominator also be OK with changing The Mage | Guinevere to just The Mage? If so, we will change it; if not, we will leave it as The Mage | Guinevere.

NaPolA | Before the Fall (2004) - Two characters, Albrecht Stein and Friedrich Weimer, are characters in the film; the other two, Florian Stetter and Martin Goeres, are actors. Nominator, could you please confirm whether you wanted to nominate the movie, or to nominate an RPF canon of the movie’s actors?

Nemocnice na kraji města | The Hospital on the Outskirts of the City (TV) - This title seems to refer to several different versions & reboots of a show. The character Eliška Králová seems to only appear in the 2003 sequel show, Nemocnice na kraji města po dvaceti letech | Hospital at the End of the City Twenty Years On, while the other nominated character Ina Blažejová is in both the 1978 and 2003 shows. Could the nominator please clarify what canon is covered by the title they’ve nominated?

Never Too Wanted - The Composed Faucet Collection (Commercial) - We can’t figure out which character you’ve identified as the US Marshall - pointers, please?

No Game No Life - Kamiya Yuu - we're a little confused by the character 『　』| Kuuhaku | Blank. Could the nominator please give their reasoning for nominating this character separately?

The Scarlet Pimpernel - Takarazuka Revue - The nominated characters Chauvelin (Ryuu Masaki) and Chauvelin (Yuzuki Reon) appear to come from separate runs of this production, in 2008 and 2010. Nominator, could you please share your reasoning on nominating them together?

Smosh - the characters nominated are Keith Leak Jr., Noah Grossman, Olivia Sui, and Shayne Topp. Could the nominator please clarify if this is a nomination for RPF, or for fictionalized characters that share the names of the real people?

Southpaw Regional Wrestling - we can’t find confirmation that a “Swamp Monster” appeared in this canon. Could the nominator please clarify and confirm?

Star Wars Legends: X-wing Series - Aaron Allston & Michael Stackpole - We have approved this nomination. However, we have also approved a nomination for Star Wars Legends: X-wing Series - All Media Types, with characters Derek "Hobbie" Klivian (X-Wing), Plourr Ilo (X-Wing), Rial Pernon (X-Wing), and Wes Janson (X-Wing). Could the nominator of the Allston & Stackpole series please confirm if it is okay to combine their nomination with the All Media Types nomination?

Trial and Error (TV 2017) - We can't find the character Anne Cox. Could the nominator please confirm and give us pointers to when she appeared? (Did you mean Dan Cox?)

决对争锋 | Duì Jué Zhēn Fēng | Beloved Enemy - We can't tell if this refers to the audio drama, the web series, or both, and if both, we'd appreciate a further comment on why they should be grouped together, please. This was nominated with the characters Gu Qing Pei, Peng Fang, Wang Jin, and Yuan Yang.


All Media Types fandoms
We need clarification from the person (or people) who nominated the following fandoms. Please specify a single version of the canon and provide a link to your nominations page so we can confirm the nomination. If these aren't answered, the fandoms will be rejected:

• Kino no Tabi | Kino's Journey - All Media Types, characters: Kino (Kino no Tabi)


• Kizoku Tantei, characters: unnamed main character (Kizoku Tantei)


• Kurosagi - All Media Types, characters: Kashina Masaru, Katsuragi Toshio, Kurosaki (Kurosagi), Yoshikawa Tsurara


• A Room With a View - All Media Types, characters: Charlotte Bartlett, Eleanor Lavish

If you are commenting about your own nomination to say what you would like done with characters or fandoms, please link your nominations page! It is the page you get by clicking ‘My Nominations’ from the tag set.

If you notice any problems with your nominations - mis-spellings, etc - feel free to comment on this post.

We have been working on the tag set for 144 hours, and the number of individual fandom nominations has gone down from 5058 to 618. There are 2779 approved fandoms now in the tag set. We’re in the home stretch! (The not very fast home stretch.)


Please help us with the following issues:

2017 Oscars RPF / Academy Awards RPF - These were each submitted with the same character nominations: Andrew Garfield and Dev Patel. Nominators, do you have a strong preference as to what fandom label is used?

Chronicles of the Raven - James Barclay - Ry Darrick only seems to appear in the sequel trilogy; is that incorrect, or does this fandom label cover both trilogies? We’d also appreciate a little more information on the Unknown Warrior.

Dallas Stars (Hockey RPF) - Justin Courtnall does not appear to belong in this category; please comment, or we will either move him to another category (if an appropriate one exists) or reject him. It is not clear to us that Katie Hoaldridge is a celebrity in her own right; could the nominator please give their reasoning?

動物戦隊ジュウオウジャー | Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger - the character Insarn does not seem to belong here. Did you mean Naria?

Element of Fire - Martha Wells - this is nominated with the characters Giliead (Ile-Rien), Ilias (Ile-Rien), and Tremaine Valiarde. The characters don’t seem to match the fandom. Nominator, would you prefer to change the fandom or the characters?

Forgotten Realms - for Khelben Arunsun, is Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun or Khelben Arunsun the Younger meant, please?

Giant Robo - This is nominated with the characters Alberto (Giant Robo), Ginrei (Giant Robo), Hanzui (Giant Robo), Ivan (Giant Robo), Kenji Murasame (Giant Robo), Shokatsuryou Koumei, Sunny the Magician, Taisou (Giant Robo), Tetsugyu (Giant Robo), and Youshi (Giant Robo). As far as we can tell, this is a mix of 1960 and 1990s anime. Nominators, could you please confirm which media you want and if they should be separated out or sent through together?

合法ドラッグ | Gouhou Drug | Legal Drug - the character Watanuki Kimihiro doesn’t seem to belong here. Nominator, could you please clarify?

No Game No Life - Kamiya Yuu - we're a little confused by the character 『　』| Kuuhaku | Blank. Could the nominator please give their reasoning for nominating this character separately?

Numbers (Anthropomorphic) - There are multiple sets of nominations for this fandom. Going by fandom spelling, respectively, the characters nominated are:

• -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 7, Golden Ratio, Pi


• -128, -i, 0.5, 12, 16, 256, i, sqrt(2)


• 666, e, j, k

The last set in particular is confusing us. Do j and k together (without i?) refer to components of a unit vector? Or, if j and k refer to unrelated concepts, is j being used as notation for the square root of negative one, or something else, and what is k? Is this meant to denote 1000? Nominators, please elaborate on your thinking.

Smosh - the characters nominated are Keith Leak Jr., Noah Grossman, Olivia Sui, and Shayne Topp. Could the nominator please clarify if this is a nomination for RPF, or for fictionalized characters that share the names of the real people?

Trial and Error (TV 2017) - We can't find the character Anne Cox. Could the nominator please confirm and give us pointers to when she appeared?

You Could Make a Life Series - Taylor Fitzpatrick - we can’t find the characters Mason Draper and Nate Wozniak. Could the nominator(s) give us pointers, please?



All Media Types fandoms
We need clarification from the person (or people) who nominated the following fandoms. Please specify a single version of the canon and provide a link to your nominations page so we can confirm the nomination. If these aren't answered, the fandoms will be rejected:

• Kino no Tabi | Kino's Journey - All Media Types, characters: Kino (Kino no Tabi)


• Kurosagi - All Media Types, characters: Kashina Masaru, Katsuragi Toshio, Kurosaki (Kurosagi), Yoshikawa Tsurara


• The Martian - All Media Types, characters: Beth Johanssen, Chris Beck, Mark Watney (The Martian - All Media Types)


• Paint Your Wagon, characters: Ben Rumson, Elizabeth (Paint Your Wagon), Schermerhorn (Paint Your Wagon), Sylvester Newel. Did you want the movie or the musical, please?


• Rookies - Morita Masanori & Related Fandoms , characters: Aniya Keiichi, Kawatou Kouichi, Mikoshiba Tooru, Shinjou Kei


• A Room With a View - All Media Types, characters: Charlotte Bartlett, Eleanor Lavish


• 屍者の帝国 | Shisha no Teikoku | Empire of Corpses - All Media Types, characters: Alexei Karamazov, Friday, John Watson (Shisha no Teikoku), Nikolai Krasotkin


• XCOM (Video Games) & Related Fandoms, characters: Firebrand, Lily Shen (XCOM), The Commander (XCOM)

Ensemble characters
We will accept labels like “the Council” or “the hunters” for characters in cases where the ensemble does not have different distinct characters in it. For the following fandom, please either confirm that there are no distinct characters in the group, or pick a single character out of the group you’ve nominated:

• Compendium of World Knowledge - John Hodgman - Hobos, possibly also Cryptozoologists (?)

If you are commenting about your own nomination to say what you would like done with characters or fandoms, please link your nominations page! It is the page you get by clicking ‘My Nominations’ from the tag set.

If you notice any problems with your nominations - mis-spellings, etc - feel free to comment on this post.

We have been working on the tag set for 102.5 hours, and the number of individual fandom nominations has gone down from 5058 to 1660. There are 2054 approved fandoms now in the tag set.

Thank you for your answers to the previous queries! We have some more, and some lingering:


Дуэлянт | The Duelist (2016) - We can't find Pyotr Yakovlev's brother. Could the nominator please confirm he appears in the film?

Extraction (2013) - We can't find a Victor. Could the nominator please confirm he appears in the film?

灵契 | Ling Qi | Spiritpact - This has been nominated with overlapping characters, using Japanese and Chinese names respectively: You Keika, Tanmoku Ki, Tanmoku Rakugetsu, and You Nei; and Yang Jinghua, Duanmu Xi, Duanmu Siming, and Qin Siyao. Could each nominator please confirm which media they mean, and can we please combine these character names using one of the versions?

No Game No Life - Kamiya Yuu - we're a little confused by the character 『　』| Kuuhaku | Blank. Could the nominator please give their reasoning for nominating this character separately?

A Place to Call Home (TV) - We can't find the character Tom. Could the nominator please give us a pointer?

Plantagenets Series - Sharon Kay Penman - For Geoffrey Plantagenet, could the nominator please confirm they mean Geoffrey V Count of Anjou, or some other character?

Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo - It's not clear to us that Nikolai Lantsov belongs here. Could the nominator please give us their reasoning?

Smosh - the characters nominated are Keith Leak Jr., Noah Grossman, Olivia Sui, and Shayne Topp. Could the nominator please clarify if this is a nomination for RPF, or for fictionalized characters that share the names of the real people?

Sylvester or the Wicked Uncle - Georgette Heyer For Lady Marlow, could the nominator please confirm whether they mean Lady Verena Marlow or Lady Constance Marlow?

These Old Shades - Georgette Heyer - As far as we can tell, Dominic Alastair does not appear in this book. (He is also nominated in The Devil's Cub.) Could the nominator please give their reasoning for nominating him here?

Trial and Error (TV 2017) - We can't find the character Anne Cox. Could the nominator please confirm and give us pointers to when she appeared?


All Media Types fandoms
We need clarification from the person (or people) who nominated the following fandoms. Please specify a single version of the canon and provide a link to your nominations page so we can confirm the nomination. If these aren't answered, the fandoms will be rejected:

• Gone With the Wind - All Media Types, characters: Belle Watling, Careen O'Hara, Mammy, Melanie Hamilton (Gone with the Wind - All Media Types)


• The Martian - All Media Types, characters: Beth Johanssen, Chris Beck, Mark Watney (The Martian - All Media Types)


• A Room With a View - All Media Types, characters: Charlotte Bartlett, Eleanor Lavish


• The Witches of Eastwick - All Media Types, characters: Alexandra Medford, Darryl Van Horne, Jane Spofford, Sukie Ridgemont [if we don't hear back from the nominator on this one, we may go with the 1987 film]

Ensemble characters
We will accept labels like “the Council” or “the hunters” for characters in cases where the ensemble does not have different distinct characters in it. For the following fandoms, please either confirm that there are no distinct characters in the group, or pick a single character out of the group you’ve nominated.

• Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016) - The Rowdy 3


• The Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Orczy - The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel


• Velvet Goldmine - Flaming Creatures

Ineligible RPF fandoms
The follow RPF fandoms are too large and will not be approved. Nominators, please suggest an alternative category; if we do not hear from you, we may either fold the characters into another nominated category, or reject the fandoms & characters.

• Formula 1 RPF - characters: Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna


• Pop Music RPF - characters: Beyoncé Knowles, Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake

If you are commenting about your own nomination to say what you would like done with characters or fandoms, please link your nominations page! It is the page you get by clicking ‘My Nominations’ from the tag set.

If you notice any problems with your approved nominations - mis-spellings, etc - feel free to comment on this post.

We have been working on the tag set for 36 hours, and the number of individual fandom nominations has gone down from 5058 to 3086. There are 1076 approved fandoms now in the tag set*.


Please help us with the following issues and queries!

Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan - Both Elan Morin Tedroni and Ishamael | Moridin are nominated; other Forsaken are nominated with their original names. Please either explain why you think they should be separated out, or confirm we can approve both tags as Elan Morin Tedroni.

Expert Judgment on Markers to Deter Inadvertent Human Intrusion... - Sandia Labs - As far as we can tell, Color Changing Cat is not actually from this canon, but a different exercise in considering the problems of long-term nuclear waste storage - see http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_eye/2014/05/14/_99_percent_invisible_by_roman_mars_designing_warning_symbols_for_the_nation.html. Could you please let us know if we’ve missed the cats, or if there’s another reason you believe they should be included.


Ensemble characters
We will accept labels like “the Council” or “the hunters” for characters in cases where the ensemble does not have different distinct characters in it. For the following fandoms, please either confirm that there are no distinct characters in the group, or pick a single character out of the group you’ve nominated.

• Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat: Veretian Council


• The Darkness (Comics): Darklings (The Darkness)


• 終末のイゼッタ | Shuumatsu no Izetta | Izetta: The Last Witch (Anime): The Royal Guard

All Media Types fandoms
We need clarification from the person (or people) who nominated the following fandoms. Please specify a single version of the canon and provide a link to your nominations page so we can confirm the nomination. If these aren't answered, the fandoms will be rejected:

• Captain Scarlet - All Media Types, characters: Adam Svenson | Captain Blue, Charles Gray | Colonel White, Conrad Turner | Captain Black, Paul Metcalfe | Captain Scarlet


• Gone With the Wind - All Media Types, characters: Belle Watling, Careen O'Hara, Mammy, Melanie Hamilton (Gone with the Wind - All Media Types)


• Goosebumps - All Media Types, characters: Cooper Holmes (The Barking Ghost), Drew Brockman (Attack of the Jack-O-Lanterns), Ginger Wald (The Beast From the East), Michael Webster (The Cuckoo Clock of Doom)


• The Martian - All Media Types, characters: Beth Johanssen, Chris Beck, Mark Watney (The Martian - All Media Types)


• Midsomer Murders - All Media Types, characters: Jamie Winter, Kam Karimore


• A Room With a View - All Media Types, characters: Charlotte Bartlett, Eleanor Lavish


• The Witches of Eastwick - All Media Types, characters: Alexandra Medford, Darryl Van Horne, Jane Spofford, Sukie Ridgemont

If you are commenting about your own nomination to say what you would like done with characters or fandoms, please link your nominations page! It is the page you get by clicking ‘My Nominations’ from the tag set.

If you notice any problems with your approved nominations - mis-spellings, etc - feel free to comment on this post.


*(NB: that’s not because we rejected ~900, but because 5058 and 3086 are totals of how often the fandom slot was filled out by nominators - whether or not they nominated the same fandom. When we approve a fandom that was nominated by two people, the total number of fandom nominations goes down by 2, and the approved fandom total goes up by 1.)

Final number of nominations: 5058

That means that at least 1686 people nominated.

We now move into the sorting phase. Over the next days you will see the fandoms and characters you nominated being approved or rejected. You will also see us make posts here, asking for clarification.

Whenever we have enough questions for a new clarification post, we will move unanswered questions into the new post.. This is to help us keep track of which things are outstanding and prevent us from missing comments on older posts. You can help by keeping an eye on the community and helping to answer questions. The first question post will be up soon.

The evidence post is now closed, and we'll be using the evidence to review fandoms. Thank you to everyone who took the time to submit evidence.

If you are looking at your nominations page and you see that a character has been rejected, it may be that it has been approved under a different name (for example, with a fandom-specific disambiguation). Please wait until the tagset is public before raising the issue.

Lastly, please don't hammer AO3 trying to check if your fandoms have been reviewed. Doing this will only slow things down. We're not saying don’t check, but don’t sit there pressing F5. The tagset will be visible after sorting; at that point you can help us find what problems remain.