2020 Schedule + Eligibility Post

[ficmod]

Hi there, and welcome back! I had a fun time last year, so let's go for a second round, shall we? Below is the schedule for 2020 - modified slightly so that reveals are sliiiightly earlier.

Eligibility Review Period: January 16 - 28
Nominations: January 28 - February 11
Sign Ups: February 16 - March 1
Assignments will be sent by: March 6
Works due: April 30
Works Revealed: May 14, 9 AM MST
Authors Revealed: May 21

The pinned FAQ post, as well as the DW profile, has been updated with the 2020 schedule. Remember, for this year's round, the new cut off for fandoms is December 31, 2010. A new decade!

This post will also function as the eligibility post, for any fandoms you wish to nominate that you believe are on the line. Fandoms that were accepted last year will be automatically accepted this year, no need to make a case for those. The tagset is here if you wish to take a look.

When making your case, please include the canon's full name (as you would nominate it in the tagset), the date(s) of all the canon material that has been released, and your reasoning as to why I should accept it. Here's an example:

Ella Enchanted - Gail Carson Levine (1997)

A prequel, Ogre Enchanted, was published in 2018. While the events of Ogre take place in the same timeline/continuity, it follows a main character who did not appear in Ella. The main cast of Ogre is for the most part completely separate, apart from two characters (their identities being spoilers) who were extensively mentioned in Ella, but appeared only briefly in the original book. Therefore, I feel as if the two novels should be considered separate canons.

In cases of tie-in comics and novels, my rule of thumb is: 1. are the tie-ins well known? 2. are they by the same creators? and 3. does it clearly follow the original canon in terms of continuity/characters? If the answer is "no" to at least two of these, I won't consider them as disqualifying material. If you disagree with me about a particular judgment call, feel free to point out why - I'm not super familiar with everything, and Google can only do so much!

Lastly: you can comment here anonymously, and commenting here with your fandom does not qualify as an actual nomination. The tagset/collection for 2020 are not up yet, but I will add links to the pinned post once they are. 

Comments

[leahandillyana]

I have questions about a few fandoms.
Neon Genesis Evangelion: original anime ran from 1995 to 1997, manga adapting it with a changed ending from 1995 to 2014, remastered cinematic edition diverging from the original anime in the last minutes of second of three movies released so far in 2012. Is this canon eligible?
Sailor Moon - original manga 1992-1997, New anime adaptation with minor plot changes 2014-2016.
Revolutionary Girl Utena - original manga and anime 1996-2000, additional epilogue volume in 2019.
Code Geass - original anime in 2006-2008, an OVA series starring different characters in 2016, a film overriding the ending of the first season in 2019.
Additionally, what about American comics? The runs are never ending, but what if I am interested in a fanfic based on specific run?
What about Gundam? Each season/OVA series/movie/manga/novel is its own story, mostly self-contained, but as in the case of American comics about half of the stories happen in the same continuity (Universal Century), with the most recent entry still ongoing. I guess Universal Century does not apply, but do other settings?
Also, do you think it is worth asking for pretty obscure works that seem not to have an official release in English?

[ficmod]

Adaptations don't count as "new" material, per se, that being said - does the changed ending in 2014 affect the story/characters significantly?

Utena releasing new story in 2019 makes it ineligible, but if the new Sailor Moon is just an adaptation, then that canon would still be accepted.

If a new canon has a different set of characters, then it would count as a separate continuity. However, if the film continues the continuity of the original anime, then that would make it ineligible.

I count separate runs of comics as different canons. You can read through the FAQ for examples, or look at last year's tagset for examples of specific comic runs that I accepted.

My rule of thumb is that if the story is self contained, and has a unique cast of characters, then it would be its own canon. Taking place in the same universe doesn't mecessarily qualify it - Star Trek the Original Series, for instance, technically takes place in the same continuity as the 2009 movie - however, since the characters are significantly different and the new movies don't continue the original story, I considered them separately. You'd have to provide more detail about a specific season/OVA/etc of Gundam if you want a specific answer.

And yes, it never hurts to ask! Requests will be visible during sign ups, as will the sign up summary. What I would ask is for everyone to make sure they're offering something that at least one person is requesting, so that everyone can be assigned a recipient. For requests - if all of them are fairly rare, you might end up on the initial pinch hit list. But I try not to ask people to add more requests unless it's my very last resort.

[leahandillyana]

In case of Evangelion, anime, manga and the remake films are treated as alternate continuities, starting from the same point and slowly diverging to the point of ending up as different genres. Would it make anime continuity eligible but not manga and remake ones? The case of Code Geass is the same - the film follows the effects of alternate resolution of first season's climax, and establishes a different continuity. Does it make original anime eligible but not the alternate continuity?

[ficmod]

If all these different iterations are self-contained, then yes I would consider them separately. That means whichever ones ended before the end of 2010 are eligible!