as a subtitler im incredibly biased as i say this but. shoutout to forms of fan labor other than fanart and fanfiction. fanart and fanfiction are awesome, don’t take this as a dig at those, but i have a big appreciation for fans who provide closed captioning/subtitles/translations of works out of love n passion; fans who recap and explain aspects of the original work; fucking SPEEDRUNNERS, holy shit, shoutout to speedrunners and challenge runners in video game communities. lots of things that fall outside the scope of what comes to mind when people think of fanart/fan labor are integral parts of a healthy fan ecosystem
i guess basically i just feel a whole lot of love for people who work to find out and share everything they can about the thing they love and make the thing they love more accessible. people who take the time to add captions/descriptive audio to an auditory/visual work, record an audio version of a written work, adapt a work into a different language, explain the historical cultural context in which a work exists, rip and publish the files of a work, and uncover and share details that are easy to miss. everyone who, in their way, is saying “i love this thing so much. i want to know everything about it, and i want everyone to be able to participate.”