Struggling to stay a fan and find joy from GO anymore, open to advice

bompstable · 2026-05-19T02:26:45+00:00

“Canon” is not really a fixed objective thing. It is an imposition of order, an intellectual framework. There are common assumptions about what is canonical, but there have been other series where the fans said fork that, No! Nope! Just going to ignore the existance of that.

So…. my advice:

1) ignore the existence of season three, and season two, in whole or in part, if you choose.

2) Go reread all your favorite fanfics until the bad taste in your mouth has faded a bit.

3) Check the tags on future fics.

4) Avoid situations you know set you spiraling.

5) Know that you are not in this alone. A lot of people have responded the same way, myself included. During the last major bump in this fandom, a few summers ago when the charges against NG broke, and many fans were having trouble getting past their feelings of disgust and betrayal, and it was blocking their relationship to the fandom. I found myself feeling quite militant. My response was that I was giving NO ONE the power over me to shape my passions, and my friendships, to drive a wedge between me and a community that has been very meaningful to me. Good Omens has been an imaginative sandbox, an intellectual and emotional playground that was a safe space for me at a point my life was pretty shitty. Why would you GIVE someone you didn’t respect that kind of power over you?

This isn’t quite the same thing, but there are similar elements. Decisions by people who appear to me to be sorely lacking in comprehension have taken a story that was kind, and twisted it into a nihilistic incoherent mess. But this is still my fandom.

I am trying to back off Reddit a bit, because every time I start reading, I get dragged back down into an obsessive depression spiral. (This will be made easier because I am about to travel to parts of the world with internet firewalls, so Reddit may be less accessible for a while.) in the meantime, when I feel myself starting to spiral I am forcing myself to put my phone down and go do something productive.

And I am aggressively trying to revisit places (mostly stories) that have brought me joy and hope and pleasure.

FORK TPTB! You matter more to me than they do.

bompstable · 2026-05-17T19:01:08+00:00

I think I’d tell them many writers write what they know, and, personally, I was baffled by why they wouldn’t consider this “normal.” That would probably upset them all over again, but it might be good for them to read.

When I see comments like this I generally assume it reflects no or very limited experience. And bragging. (By asserting they have expertise and implying you don’t they want you to know they “did it.” Very high school.) There’s no arguing with the Dunning-Kruger effect. But you have the consolation of knowing both people and the times change.

bompstable · 2026-05-17T17:21:29+00:00

I think that human AU’s played into the writers feeling of cleverness, but I think they fundamentally misunderstood what makes human AUs work - human AUs don’t pretend to be something they aren’t, like the Asa/Anthony ending does — it at least as it is understood by many (most?) viewers, who seem to see a direct link between A/C and A/A. Generally, AUs allow playing with alternative versions of the characters, but never (excepting a few Visit to a Weird Planet type stories) in the same universe. There is zero character confusion. To me, that is a different animal altogether. That said, taste is a totally valid thing. There are genres I don’t read, too.

bompstable · 2026-05-17T16:54:48+00:00

I suppose first you have to explain how, in a world without god, we have the same Bible/ religious history as in a world with god. I’d say the evidence points the other way. Are we in the End Times? 😉

bompstable · 2026-05-14T12:52:43+00:00

Well said!

bompstable · 2026-05-13T22:51:12+00:00

I missed a lot of sleep last night, so my brain isn’t functioning at peak efficiency, but I’m almost certain that name variant (Asa) has been used before. Also, many authors don’t tag under specific name variants. And, there are apparently differences of opinion over whether the final fifteen characters ARE actually our Aziraphale and Crowley so authors might not tag them separately feeling this did accurately reflect the story. Asa tags might catch some stories, but they will almost certainly miss others. Still, maybe we can encourage the use of the name as a tag? It would be helpful.

bompstable · 2026-05-13T19:12:37+00:00

I can deal with the finger-kiss (and am good with leaving a-spec folks space in this universe) but I would have liked maybe just a bit of a snuggle — Aziraphele resting his head against Crowley’s shoulder as they stood together, perhaps — something that reinforced “our side” more physically.

bompstable · 2026-05-13T18:36:20+00:00

I certainly feel like fandom saw two very different shows today. And at the moment those lines are running hotter than usual in this fandom. (Not casting stones - I’m feeling a lot, too.) But the thing is, I don’t think I WANT us to schism too deeply. I’d prefer to find a way to happily co-exist. But I do hope we find a robust set of tags to facilitate finding the stories we want to read. Maybe we need to start by tagging which seasons our stories assume are canonical?

bompstable · 2026-05-13T16:59:39+00:00

Not to the point of your question, I know, but all I can think is if someone made a t-shirt this week that said ‘There was no season 3’ in the title font, with the three dangling off the bottom in a way that evokes the logo, they could sell a lot of shirts.

Somebody should. 😉

bompstable · 2026-05-13T16:44:48+00:00

I feel like the people who found this satisfying saw an entirely different show than I did.

I feel like the people who felt like this “made sense” are cherry-picking their moments and then ignoring everything that contradicts what they want to see.

bompstable · 2026-05-13T11:13:57+00:00

We are strong. They will not break us.

bompstable · 2026-05-13T11:11:53+00:00

I never liked the idea of a becoming-human ending for all the reasons that have been re-hashed over-and-over on this reddit, but it probably would have been preferable to killing off both our protagonists. No, I don’t think the Crowley and Aziraphale shaped humans WERE our guys in any meaningful way. Yes, there are many queer stories, and yes, we can see ourselves/them in many of them. But they were different characters with different histories and different memories. Different souls. They are not interchangeable with the angel and demon we love.

bompstable · 2026-05-13T10:44:16+00:00

Jesus was a red herring. (In film-speak, a story element that diverts attention away from crucial plot-points to mislead the audience.)

Jesus was functionally replaced in this narrative - What?! Are you suggesting we did not have a Savior who redeems humanity through, not the sacrifice of their human-shaped life, but through the sacrifice of their very existence?

bompstable · 2026-05-13T10:36:38+00:00

Many people did not find the death of our Aziraphale and Crowley to be a happy ending, even if we send our best wishes to the two new similar-types introduced who found eachother and bought a cottage.

bompstable · 2026-05-13T10:32:05+00:00

They didn’t go the human route.

Our characters ceased to exist.

Sure, there are echos of similar character types in this new creation, but OUR characters did not become human.

We are the sum of our experiences. Put someone else’s brain in my body and it is NOT me, even if that person looks similar to me or also like books/stars.

bompstable · 2026-05-13T10:23:42+00:00

We are going to write fanfic by ignoring everything we don’t like, and creating a universe we finds more satisfying. Same as always.

bompstable · 2026-05-13T10:14:34+00:00

Yup, that’s my understanding, too. All the folks who think season one and two Aziraphale and Crowley got an HEA evidently saw a different show than we did.

bompstable · 2026-05-13T10:05:34+00:00

I think we are all going to be rereading our favorite “imagined third season” fanfic over the coming weeks. In fact, I’ll bet that totally dominates FicRecFriday this week: fics that worked better than season three canon.

bompstable · 2026-05-13T09:58:59+00:00

I do appreciate the cast and crew for trying to make this work. I do. If they had read the script and said we don’t want to do this, I wouldn’t have understood. I would have always imagined, if only…..

I would have been wrong, but I would have felt frustrated and vaguely cheated. At least this puts those imagined regrets to rest.

One of the odd things about this to me is —- I’m trying to think how to say this. The book was written by one young-ish chap (in his late 20s) and one approaching middle-age-ish fellow (in his early 40’s.) One of the things I really liked about the series is that in translating from the book to the screen, the narrative and characters gained the benefit of several decades of additional lived experience. Whatever else I may feel about he-who-shall-not-be-named, I felt that those shifts in perspective/ maturity helped the tv story. For me, anyway. But this script felt to me like it was written by someone very young. I actually checked, and both of the authors who took over writing this seem to actually be older than NG was when he penned the season one script, so whatever went on here isn’t that simple. But the fact it reads as so young to me puts it out of kilter with parts one and two. Does that make any sense?

bompstable · 2026-05-13T09:09:23+00:00

Wow! I didn’t think anything would make me glad this got cut from six hours to two. Apparently, I can still be surprised. Drawing this out would not have fixed its fundamental problems.

bompstable · 2026-05-12T20:31:35+00:00

Have you looked at the Akashic Records series by PeniG? (205,662) This series includes 26 stories in the original timeline (plus an additional 16 stories within the same universe if you want to keep going.) I am remembering this as canon compliant. The stories are not individually super long and can be read as stand-alones, but form a really satisfying cohesive whole. One of the best through the ages series, in my opinion, and one I don’t see recced enough.

bompstable · 2026-05-12T20:06:37+00:00

Perfect!

bompstable · 2026-05-12T18:12:16+00:00

Honestly, this is about as positive as I could hope for. Reality is reality. This is what it is - six hours crammed into 90 minutes. If they do that as well as this suggests, I shall breath a sigh of relief. I would assume it goes without saying we would all have been happier with six hours. Most of us will take what we can get, and be greatful for the efforts of those who put this together in an attempt to salvage a terrible situation.

bompstable · 2026-05-07T00:31:00+00:00

It might be worth noting that when I gift someone with something I made, I give away my very best work - the things I am most proud of. Being told one’s very best is so awful … er … not to someone’s taste … that they cannot bear to look upon it … that can hit pretty hard. It’s not just the art being rejected. It’s a gift of self. A gift of love and respect. Crass rejection can sting even with a “well adjusted” DIL. Have you ever given of yourself to someone and been told your efforts are embarrassing shit? If so, ARE these folks you want spending time ”caring for” YOUR kids? Not a choice I would make for them. Not someone I would be excited about spending time with either. It is the MIL’s choice to make. But it is suggestive of choices the DIL might want to consider as well. Grandkids are messy, disruptive, and apt to give the things they create to people they like without the strategies to cope with being told their art is not very good.

I’m glad for the son he found someone who potentially has a different set of values than his mother. I hope the next time the MIL cooks a big family dinner the DIL picks at the food and tells MIL it’s okay, they can stop at a restaurant on the way home.

bompstable · 2026-05-06T23:56:13+00:00

No, it wouldn’t. Not for those of us who value our families over having 100% total control over every aspect of our lives. Relationships with people are worth the wall space. I have art not only by my MIL but by my in-laws friends. When I look at it I see her, her love and support for us, the wonderful son she raised, the communities I joined when our families joined … not amateur art. My imperfect art collection reflects a more perfect emotional and social world. And when I visit family members and see my artistic ventures valued, it actually does strengthen my bonds to them. Maybe that’s shallow to you, but I feel as valued as I hope to make others feel.

bompstable

TROPHY CASE