It's That Infopost Time Again!
May. 15th, 2026 01:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
liartoldyouthatOh, huh, I guess I am the bandwagon this year. Funny how that works. Let's get to it!
You probably haven't heard of Heated Rivalry, it's such a niche little no okay it ate the internet for a couple of months.
Once upon a time, The ClawTM reached down and selected, from all the available M/M sports romances, Heated Rivalry, the second book of the Game Changers series by Rachel Reid, to be adapted into Canadian taxpayer-funded yaoi. (Some of the other books are also being adapted; the first book of the series, Game Changer had all of episode three and a pivotal scene in episode five dedicated to it.) It is, yes, a sports romance, but never fear! The actors cast as the three hockey star leads are two of the only Canadians who can't skate and a Texan who'd probably never seen ice before, and the show had about half a shoestring's worth of budget, so...
I'm especially fond of the shots of the crowd at the Stanley Cup final where they're obviously cardboard cutouts.
A fun fact about the Game Changers series: book one, Game Changer, was originally posted on AO3 as Stucky fanfic, before Rachel Reid pulled it down, changed all the names, and submitted it for publishing as an original romance novel. This means every character appearing in that book has a canon MCU counterpart. Ilya is Pietro Maximoff! This is also why there is a running joke in the series about him thinking Scott Hunter is the oldest man in the world despite Scott being a whole three years older than him, although in the show the age gap is probably somewhat larger, considering Scott's actor is 40 and the oldest Ilya is in season one is 26. While there is no evidence Heated Rivalry was ever actually fanfic, Shane and Ilya are based heavily on Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin and their IRL rivalry.
The first season of the show follows Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander, two generational talents in hockey and, respectively, the number one and two picks at the 2009 MLH entry draft (we call it the MLH in this universe so we don't get sued), from their first meeting at an international youth tournament in December of 2008 through their ensuing situationship until they finally confess their love for each other in the summer of 2017.
(The situationship era is actually seven years, since they don't start hooking up until the summer of 2010, but, y'know, details.)
Because of the 'trying not to get sued' thing, MLH teams have different names from their NHL counterparts, and may be in different places. San Francisco has a team in this universe, for example, and Ilya, at the time he's coming to Fandom from, has just been drafted by the Boston Raiders, not the Boston Bruins. (Also Paul Kariya doesn't exist in this universe and I'm deeply weirded out by it, but that's another story.)
Ilya Grigoryevich Rozanov (born June 15, 1991) hails from Moscow, Russia. His father was at the least verbally abusive, he has a horrible relationship with his older brother, who is trash, and his beloved mother, who struggled with depression, died by suicide when he was twelve. So his childhood sucked donkey balls, but lucky for him, he was really, really, really good at hockey, which gave him a ticket the fuck out of there, which is super necessary because he's also bisexual at a time Russia is becoming increasingly hostile to queer people. Ilya feels a strong sense of duty to his family, even though they suck, so he's not planning to seek American citizenship and cut contact at this time, but: he should.
At the time he is coming to Fandom, Ilya was recently drafted by the Boston Raiders, but his English is not strong and the MLH(/NHL) does not have a great track record with supporting foreign players who don't speak great English, ("Their teammates can translate for them!") so it was suggested that he enroll in an intensive English course over the summer. He ended up at Fandom University instead, which can definitely be...intense. Probably not the way he expected, though. If I decide to keep him past the summer, he will find that he is unable to leave the island except on official field trips.
Ilya coming to Fandom following the 2009 MLH entry draft means that he is eighteen, and will have some adjusting to do considering 2009 was seventeen years ago. (I am sorry I just reminded you 2009 was seventeen years ago.)
Ilya is about six feet tall, very athletic, with (NSFW) one of those truly excellent asses hockey players really specialize in. He has curly, dirty blond hair, blue eyes, and a whole bunch of moles. He either still has all his teeth or better implants than guys his age usually go for because they'll just get knocked out again. He is your classic Slavic fuckboy. He wears a lot of Adidas, and a gold Orthodox cross on a chain around his neck (not because he is at all religious; it was his mother's). He is somewhat allergic to shirts (can you blame him?) He smokes. He has strong opinions about vodka. He's arrogant, and deservedly so: he is That Good at his chosen profession. He has a reputation as an asshole, and he is an asshole. He's mean and funny and he can find what bothers a person and dig at it until they snap. This is a professional skill. It's called 'drawing a penalty, or, in hockey parlance, 'chirping.' He's a thrillseeker. He's the life of every party, but has trouble letting people in. He's great with kids and loves dogs. He has depression, inherited from his mother, but it hasn't gotten as bad as it will about ten years from now yet, and he's not in any kind of treatment for it at this time. Ilya a military-grade gaydar and, in the books at least, the ability to collect other queer hockey players like Infinity Stones. Did I mention he's hot like a statue of Apollo came to life and picked up a hockey stick?
Oh, and his username?
It was almost 'sluttylittlewink'.
Here's another gif of Ilya being hot for the road:
Is this island big enough for two hot, immortal, amoral sorceresses with purple as a signature color? We're about to find out, because Yennefer of Vengerberg is returning for a limited time teaching engagement while I sent all my other teachers away for the summer to catch up on canon. Yennefer hails from The Witcher (TV show version), but has only experienced up through the end of season two, and frankly is fine with that. She and Jaskier have been living it up in the South of France since they left Fandom, and while she hadn't planned to return to teaching anytime soon, she supposes she shall make the most of it.
Erasmus and Lydia will be around this summer, but Don&Thor and Gray&Raiden have gone away to resurrect, respectively, Asgard and Lucifer's brat son (oopsie). They should be back in the fall. Pizza Planet and Over Easy remain open on a moddable, run-by-NPCs basis. If anyone wants a job for their character at either restaurant, hit me up!
Questions? Comments? Pie?
You probably haven't heard of Heated Rivalry, it's such a niche little no okay it ate the internet for a couple of months.
Once upon a time, The ClawTM reached down and selected, from all the available M/M sports romances, Heated Rivalry, the second book of the Game Changers series by Rachel Reid, to be adapted into Canadian taxpayer-funded yaoi. (Some of the other books are also being adapted; the first book of the series, Game Changer had all of episode three and a pivotal scene in episode five dedicated to it.) It is, yes, a sports romance, but never fear! The actors cast as the three hockey star leads are two of the only Canadians who can't skate and a Texan who'd probably never seen ice before, and the show had about half a shoestring's worth of budget, so...
I'm especially fond of the shots of the crowd at the Stanley Cup final where they're obviously cardboard cutouts.
A fun fact about the Game Changers series: book one, Game Changer, was originally posted on AO3 as Stucky fanfic, before Rachel Reid pulled it down, changed all the names, and submitted it for publishing as an original romance novel. This means every character appearing in that book has a canon MCU counterpart. Ilya is Pietro Maximoff! This is also why there is a running joke in the series about him thinking Scott Hunter is the oldest man in the world despite Scott being a whole three years older than him, although in the show the age gap is probably somewhat larger, considering Scott's actor is 40 and the oldest Ilya is in season one is 26. While there is no evidence Heated Rivalry was ever actually fanfic, Shane and Ilya are based heavily on Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin and their IRL rivalry.
The first season of the show follows Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander, two generational talents in hockey and, respectively, the number one and two picks at the 2009 MLH entry draft (we call it the MLH in this universe so we don't get sued), from their first meeting at an international youth tournament in December of 2008 through their ensuing situationship until they finally confess their love for each other in the summer of 2017.
(The situationship era is actually seven years, since they don't start hooking up until the summer of 2010, but, y'know, details.)
Because of the 'trying not to get sued' thing, MLH teams have different names from their NHL counterparts, and may be in different places. San Francisco has a team in this universe, for example, and Ilya, at the time he's coming to Fandom from, has just been drafted by the Boston Raiders, not the Boston Bruins. (Also Paul Kariya doesn't exist in this universe and I'm deeply weirded out by it, but that's another story.)
Ilya Grigoryevich Rozanov (born June 15, 1991) hails from Moscow, Russia. His father was at the least verbally abusive, he has a horrible relationship with his older brother, who is trash, and his beloved mother, who struggled with depression, died by suicide when he was twelve. So his childhood sucked donkey balls, but lucky for him, he was really, really, really good at hockey, which gave him a ticket the fuck out of there, which is super necessary because he's also bisexual at a time Russia is becoming increasingly hostile to queer people. Ilya feels a strong sense of duty to his family, even though they suck, so he's not planning to seek American citizenship and cut contact at this time, but: he should.
At the time he is coming to Fandom, Ilya was recently drafted by the Boston Raiders, but his English is not strong and the MLH(/NHL) does not have a great track record with supporting foreign players who don't speak great English, ("Their teammates can translate for them!") so it was suggested that he enroll in an intensive English course over the summer. He ended up at Fandom University instead, which can definitely be...intense. Probably not the way he expected, though. If I decide to keep him past the summer, he will find that he is unable to leave the island except on official field trips.
Ilya coming to Fandom following the 2009 MLH entry draft means that he is eighteen, and will have some adjusting to do considering 2009 was seventeen years ago. (I am sorry I just reminded you 2009 was seventeen years ago.)
Ilya is about six feet tall, very athletic, with (NSFW) one of those truly excellent asses hockey players really specialize in. He has curly, dirty blond hair, blue eyes, and a whole bunch of moles. He either still has all his teeth or better implants than guys his age usually go for because they'll just get knocked out again. He is your classic Slavic fuckboy. He wears a lot of Adidas, and a gold Orthodox cross on a chain around his neck (not because he is at all religious; it was his mother's). He is somewhat allergic to shirts (can you blame him?) He smokes. He has strong opinions about vodka. He's arrogant, and deservedly so: he is That Good at his chosen profession. He has a reputation as an asshole, and he is an asshole. He's mean and funny and he can find what bothers a person and dig at it until they snap. This is a professional skill. It's called 'drawing a penalty, or, in hockey parlance, 'chirping.' He's a thrillseeker. He's the life of every party, but has trouble letting people in. He's great with kids and loves dogs. He has depression, inherited from his mother, but it hasn't gotten as bad as it will about ten years from now yet, and he's not in any kind of treatment for it at this time. Ilya a military-grade gaydar and, in the books at least, the ability to collect other queer hockey players like Infinity Stones. Did I mention he's hot like a statue of Apollo came to life and picked up a hockey stick?
Oh, and his username?
It was almost 'sluttylittlewink'.
Here's another gif of Ilya being hot for the road:
Is this island big enough for two hot, immortal, amoral sorceresses with purple as a signature color? We're about to find out, because Yennefer of Vengerberg is returning for a limited time teaching engagement while I sent all my other teachers away for the summer to catch up on canon. Yennefer hails from The Witcher (TV show version), but has only experienced up through the end of season two, and frankly is fine with that. She and Jaskier have been living it up in the South of France since they left Fandom, and while she hadn't planned to return to teaching anytime soon, she supposes she shall make the most of it.
Erasmus and Lydia will be around this summer, but Don&Thor and Gray&Raiden have gone away to resurrect, respectively, Asgard and Lucifer's brat son (oopsie). They should be back in the fall. Pizza Planet and Over Easy remain open on a moddable, run-by-NPCs basis. If anyone wants a job for their character at either restaurant, hit me up!
Questions? Comments? Pie?
no subject
Date: 2026-05-17 04:53 pm (UTC)FRY.
no subject
Date: 2026-05-17 04:58 pm (UTC)