- (extra)ordinary men by PetraPan. A Merlin adaptation of the 2015 film The Last Witch Hunter. This fusion worked quite well with the existing characters and I particularly enjoyed the roles Gaius and Mordred got to play. It was a treat to have the whole story fleshed out in a novella length story as so often these kinds of fusions are short.
- From the Top by garamonder. Takes Peter B. Parker from Into the Spiderverse into the MCU to come across its Peter Parker. Across many days he comes to realize why having a team would be a real asset.
- 99 Problems by John Jay. Snappy vid focusing on Ben Kenobi's saber skills across movies and TV shows. Some lovely little edit matches and a nice ending to it all.
- Black Helicopters at Dawn by whizzy. A semi self-exiled Rodney picks up a curious transmission and ends up befriending a stranded pilot. I really enjoyed the Sheppard and McKay voices, and was entertained by the story as it unspooled. Also a big thumbs up for its continuation Black Mountainside.
- Mountains and Badgermolehills by Glass_Onion. "After the Blue Spirit frees the Avatar from the Pohuai Stronghold, Admiral Zhao captures Prince Zuko under suspicion of treason. Isolated from his Uncle and his crew, Zuko has only one ally: the chatty prisoner one cell over."
I laughed so much in the early chapters of this, Zuko and Sokka make for such a funny team. Although I felt Zuko was a little too woobified by the end, the story is a great approach to how Zuko could come to see the world in a different way.
- Reprise Series by Elfpen. Star Wars first trilogy. As much as I enjoy time travel as a story type, I have found there is such a thing as too many of them. So what I really enjoyed about this one is the way it defies expectations.
So many time travel stories are fixits which focus heavily on changing key issues in a timeline. I suspect many a reader feels like Mace does, wondering when Ben will give up his secrets and set new pathways in motion. But I really enjoyed seeing that Ben himself needs help in reconciling himself to this role he's been put in, and healing the damage of the past. And I also really loved how his mission dovetailed with getting a new future in motion. An intriguing read that's all about character development and a reminder that when someone returns to the past, a new future is already in motion and extreme caution is needed. - Gwen's Guide to Happiness by jules_evan (julien_avec_rien). "Gwen's fine. Well, she's okay. She could be happier, in her own opinion. But how does one go about getting happier? Fortunately, she has lots of friends to whom she can pose her question: what's the secret to happiness?" Pretty much what it says on the tin. Yet this fic was wonderfully unusual in its thoughtful approach to the question, matching points of view with the various characters, and being very true to Gwen's character as well. Also, a Merlin fic centered on Gwen! Not to be overlooked.
- A Chorus of Ordinary Women by kalima, Star Trek Kelvin verse exploration of how things on Hellguard might have turned out differently. Rather tough subject matter and I skipped ahead in one place, but nonetheless rewarding read with both many OCs and a lot of focus on Spock/Uhura. I think the Epilogue proves how connected one becomes to the new characters.
- when you wake by sevenfoxes. Captain America.MCU. Time loops are a favorite trope for me, which means I particularly appreciate it when someone does something different with it. Extended ones are a variation for longer stories but I had yet to run into one where the resets might occur at different points in time instead of the same one. It made the story more of a roads-not-traveled sort of tale than one about correcting particular mistakes. And I loved the ending.
- when you make it seem, enchanted by somethingaboutwriting. "In a black-and-white television show with a ridiculously small audience, Merlin reunites with his fiancé Arthur Pendragon in the 1950s. This is completely normal, and has nothing to do with how long Merlin has had to wait for the Once and Future King to return. WandaVision AU" Once I read it, it surprised me that I hadn't already thought about how perfectly the series premise would lend itself to an Arthur returns fic.