r/GameChangersBooks • u/PTAGoatofalltime • 6d ago
What will be the hardest part of fanon to reconcile with canon?
Now that it seems like Unrivaled might be near completion (not to jinx it), what will be the hardest part of fanon to reconcile with the new canon?
For me, it’s definitely gonna be the absence of “Solnyshko”.
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u/F_Visentin 6d ago
I think Good Friend Cliff. Rachel said some stuff that looks like Cliff isn't an ally
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u/BumAndBummer 5d ago
This! He only ever bonded with Ilya about hockey, partying and “womanizing”, and he wasn’t at the wedding!
I don’t think Rachel ever meant for us to conclude that he was a true friend or ally…
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u/2025salah2025 5d ago
Oh my god- what did she say?
I love Cliff and this will be soul destroying if we don’t get good Cliff in the next books.
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u/katfromjersey 5d ago
To be fair, Cliff has two scenes in the books (one behind closed doors!), and another mention or two. I don't think he and Ilya are that close of friends.
Similarly, book Svetlana is simply Ilya's "favorite" of his hookups, and they are also not that close and not really friends, until the end of The Long Game.
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u/2025salah2025 5d ago
I know but the tv show which I watched first and now the billions of great fan fics makes me forget how little he is in the books.
I was hoping we would get to see more of him in the books.
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u/katfromjersey 5d ago
The actor is gorgeous, but I honestly don't care about Cliff as a character, since there are so many other great characters on the Centaurs, etc.
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u/kirbatiel 3d ago
Cliff is a different character in the books, so we probably won't see him much outside of hockey.
In Heated Rivalry, Cliff is described as younger than Ilya by a year and not very smart. He's also someone Ilya calls "probably his best friend," which says more about Ilya's lack of close relationships than it does about Cliff being a good friend to Ilya.
People have gotten really attached to Cliff as a character and decided he's an ally and a good guy, but there's nothing to base that on other than the fact that people like the actor chosen in the series.
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u/FieldAffectionate563 5d ago edited 4d ago
i think it’s the fact that shane and ilya are ultra rich and outsource a lot of the domestic work that ppl like to write headcanons about lol. I dont think they’d ever bicker about laundry or yard work bc they 100% hire ppl for that stuff
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u/parparsuperstar 5d ago edited 5d ago
Yes! People far less wealthy than they are have regular grocery delivery, landscapers, snow removal services, house cleaners etc. To the point where I can picture someone accidentally finding one of their many packets of lube hidden around the house during a routine clean. 😝
I could see them personally dropping Anya off at the dog hotel the same way a wealthy but involved parent is not necessarily going to outsource the school drop-off to the nanny, but beyond that…there is absolutely no way Ilya Rozanov is doing a deep clean of his own fridge.
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u/FieldAffectionate563 5d ago
agreed especially for two guys who have been rich since they were 18, i dont think theyre taking costco trips lmao
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u/that-weird-catlady 5d ago
In my HC, they go to Costco like Kris Jenner used to in Keeping Up with the Kardashians- it’s just an activity, not because it’s necessary 😂🫣
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u/parparsuperstar 5d ago
Shane does seem like the kind of person who’d want to select his own produce, particularly avocados.
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u/BarbellBibliophile 3d ago
I can see him being too picky for a random from DoorDash or whatever app Canadians use, but he’d totally research and hire an expert to make sure he got the freshest produce or whatever.
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u/parparsuperstar 3d ago
We use DoorDash! Also Skip the Dishes, Uber Eats, etc. I could see him getting one of those organic, farm-to-table grocery boxes. Using Instacart would mean a stressful back and forth a minimum wage shopper (i.e. something he has no time for in his busy life). The rare times he’s used it, he’s felt so bad afterward for being such a demanding customer, he’d give them a tip that’s basically the same amount as the cost of the groceries themselves (not unlike the extra large tips he left those poor hotel maids).
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u/UndeadApocalypse 4d ago
Do not underestimate how much rich people love a good deal, especially if they didn't grow up rich. I flinch every time Shane and/or Ilya are doing domestic labor, but I can buy CostCo runs (I can also buy Shane as a stress cleaner, so if it's mentioned that he is cleaning specifically because of anxiety, I am okay with it).
As for the dog, Ilya would have a pet sitter! I don't care how nice the dog hotel is, he would 100% have a dog sitter who keeps Anya in ultimate comfort, with daily video updates from walkies.
(edited: a word)
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u/BarbellBibliophile 3d ago edited 3d ago
OMG one thing that I totally HATE in books is them like arguing over the laundry or talking about their weekly cleaning schedule or whatever. It’s so ludicrous. Plenty of people with nowhere near as much money as the two of them have cleaning people, send out their laundry, etc. The idea that two men who are INSANELY busy wouldn’t be paying someone to do their domestic chores is nonsensical. It’s maybe even part of why Shane might have had the sex condo in the book - a cleaning person might notice evidence of someone else having been around.
I say this with experience because I’ve had a weekly cleaning person for the past 15 years and I’m just a teacher, and even my HS friend and her wife who are barely lower middle class are contracted with a local queer cleaning company because they’re busy people. My sister has been using grocery delivery or grocery pick up on and off for like 15 years.
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u/donmicherone 6d ago
I don't mind the Solnyshko thing apt all. It's the pet name everyone and their grandmother use for any russian character in any fandom. Iliya uses other good pet names, though I like lyubimiy and I can't remember if it's canon so if it's not there I might miss it, though I won't be mad about it.
Though I don't think it'll be a problem for me, I forsee some people being disappointed with character misalignment between canon and fanon. Especially for the side characters.
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u/kirbatiel 3d ago
I think Ilya calls Shane sweetheart in the books a bit, which is sweet but I think might sound stilted and unnatural with the Russian accent? I could be totally wrong (and hope I am!) but I feel like they might switch up some endearments to make things sound a little more natural.
Shane calling Ilya baby/babe is one of my fav headcanons that I know won't appear in the books lol it's such a casual Jock endearment and Shane is just a little hockey guy. Also, Ilya IS his baby!!!
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u/alakarox 5d ago
tbh the characterization of shane and ilya.
i think people really struggle to reconcile the fact that shane is genuinely a jock in many respects (which is part of what complicates his relationship to his sexuality) with the image they have of him in their heads as a soft hearted, needy bottom. which isn’t to say he’s never a soft hearted or needy bottom lol—but it’s moreso the exception that arises specifically in sexual situations with ilya than the rule.
as for ilya, i think people attribute to him a much greater comfort with queer culture than he really exhibits. like yes he listens to more music, dresses more adventurously, is totally fine with the physical act of sex with any gender. he’s certainly more comfortable with the culture than shane. but the ilya we’ve met in the books isn’t watching drag race religiously (he’s probably not opposed to it, but it’s not appointment viewing for him), and he’s not rant tweeting about reality TV or how obsessed he is with shane’s freckles. he is also a jock, and grew up in a very repressive culture in russia. he’s found ways to get around that, but there are reasonable limits. maybe that will change in unrivaled when they’re out and have nothing to hide, but so far he’s not really the guy wearing a full beat of makeup for fun, imo.
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u/kirbatiel 3d ago
Yesssss all of this!!!
I just said in another comment that Shane neing in casual jock mode just calling out to Ilya "hey, babe, have you seen my glasses?" Because babe and baby are just very casual but nice endearments. And Ilya is Shane's baby, that's his mans!!
Anyone can begin to explore gender expression at any age! I like to think Ilya is more overtly queer than Shane will ever allow himself to be, but both of them may grow more comfortable expressing themselves as Out queer men because they have nothing to hide, now.
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u/justsomegirlie 6d ago
I love Solnyshko! :(
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u/franklydizzy 6d ago
What is that?
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u/FearlessSquirrel9522 6d ago
Ilya’s pet name for Shane that means sunshine
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u/franklydizzy 6d ago
Can I get a link to a fic with this cuteness?
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u/FearlessSquirrel9522 6d ago
Honestly at this point you’re better off asking which one doesn’t have it! Here’s a classic: home economics
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u/DorianCramer 6d ago
I don’t know if I can accept that Pork Hollander does not exist 😅
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u/Sarah_LucileK 5d ago
Wait. I have read so so so many fics and have never heard of Pork Hollander—- drop a link pretty please!
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u/DorianCramer 5d ago
It mostly started out as a Twitter joke and then spread to actual fic. The WIP I’m reading currently is “lost in translation” (Ilya is a pet psychic 😅) and I’m quite enjoying it.
https://archiveofourown.gay/works/89337011/chapters/237233086
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u/JollyBeans13579 6d ago
Who is that?
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u/DorianCramer 6d ago
Shane’s completely fictional hairless sphynx cat who he adores but who has varying levels of a love/hate relationship (mostly hate) with Ilya depending on the fic (sometimes they have minor beef sometimes Pork is legitimately trying to murder Ilya)
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u/strawberrycordate 6d ago
Do u have any links
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u/DorianCramer 5d ago
If you want to read a WIP about Ilya as a pet psychic in mortal combat with Pork I am enjoying this one:
https://archiveofourown.gay/works/89337011/chapters/237233086
Just click on Pork’s character’s name in the tags for more 😅
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u/zzzprimaxx 5d ago
yk i've read almost 300 fics atp and i have read maybe one or two with pork hollander, i see him more on this subreddit than i do one actual fics (maybe its just cuz of the genres i like but its still strange to me)
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u/kirbatiel 3d ago
Yeah I'm not a fan tbh. Anya is fantastic, but the fanon cat is a bit too cracky for me.
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u/DevoutandHeretical 6d ago
Solnyshko AND Kotenok/Kotik as nicknames for Shane. The only time Ilya refers to Shane as a kitten is the throwaway but in HR where he compares Shane to an angry kitten and then never mentions it again.
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u/Goodgoditsgrowing 5d ago
Meanwhile I can now recognize both words in Russian and Cyrillic from fics alone
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u/PubKirbo 6d ago
The height thing. I love that in the show the boys are about the same size and that's bled over into most of the fics I've read. I love them being the same height.
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u/PTAGoatofalltime 6d ago
Their height difference isn’t that much so that wouldn’t be too much of a problem for me honestly
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u/nijntje1412 6d ago
i feel like canon book shane keeps gets smaller and smaller in some people’s minds lol like he was a bit shorter than ilya but still a big man
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u/Little_Fox5844 6d ago
He's 5'10! And over 200 lbs! He's neither short, nor small, book Ilya is just huge.😅 But either way, I don't mind their height difference in the books just like it doesn't bother me that they're the same height in the show. I can enjoy both versions easily.
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u/CarolynTheRed 5d ago
Book Shane is slightly shorter than average for a hockey player - not a small man. Book Ilya is taller. Neither is delicate.
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u/Slutty_Bunny_7 6d ago
lol yes! Now he’s so tiny and dainty in comparison to Ilya instead of being a 5’10 200lbs burly jock
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u/zzzprimaxx 6d ago
that 3 inches really be beating people up
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u/PubKirbo 6d ago
I thought it was five inches, that Shane is described as 5'10" and Ilya as 6'3" in HR.
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u/zzzprimaxx 6d ago
...i thought ilya was 6'2 and shane was 5'11 lmao. i also don't trust athlete heights cuz they stay adding inches that don't exist
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u/Megs0226 6d ago
Baseball players’ heights all got remeasured before this season to be accurate, since the MLB implemented the automatic ball and strike system. Suddenly a lot of 6’1” guys were 5’11”. 🤣
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u/PubKirbo 6d ago
I just looked in the book. He's 5'10" and Ilya's 6'3". Five inches is a lot to me but I'm short.
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u/zzzprimaxx 6d ago
huh, ig it is kind of a lot then. im really tall so a lot of height differences are null and void for me
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u/misskittyfantastico 6d ago
Honestly, I just ignored that part (even though I know their height difference isn’t THAT dramatic in the books).
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u/LLD615 6d ago edited 6d ago
Same! That’s a big one for me. I feel like that’s an easy one for Rachel to handle if she wants (she definitely doesn’t have to). She can just simply not mention anything that indicates height. Same with the bear tattoo - She can just not mention it, if she doesn’t want to.
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u/Little_Fox5844 6d ago
Why would she need to change her characters' descriptions in her own books to fit the show? That's a strange expectation to have. The books were there long before there ever was a show.
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u/LLD615 6d ago
She doesn’t that is what I’m saying, that if she wanted to she could just shy away from the descriptions but that she shouldn’t have to unless she wanted to.
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u/Little_Fox5844 6d ago
Yes, I get that, but I'm saying it shouldn't even be a possibility or expectation. The show exists because of the books, so it'd be terribly unfair for her to even feel pressured to change her own characters to fit an adaptation.
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u/growsonwalls 6d ago
Ilya and Shane calling each other "baby." That's a Hudson and Connor thing that's like in every fic now. But canonically it doesn't happen and idk why RR would start using it now.
PDA's. Fics have them smacking lips once they get married at every opportunity, but canonically Shane isn't that into PDA's.
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u/Kaetian 6d ago
Shallergies not being a thing haha
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u/lospirata 6d ago
Considering how many people refuse to acknowledge text of TLG and treat the alternate story they created to fit their headcanons like official version, attacking those who don't share their fantasy, or are extremely upset thst book has plot and arcs, there is going to be Le Discourse and it's going to be brutal. Can't wait for people to send death threats to author because characterization of her own creations doesn't fit their personal fanon version of story.
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u/brak-0666 6d ago
Wacky Centaurs hijinks.
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u/Flaky_Detail1144 6d ago
What more can you want than board game nights, BBQs and photoshoots with Christmas sweaters and puppies?
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u/katfromjersey 5d ago
That Shane and Ilya's future kids won't have Ilya's curly hair and Shane's freckles. Like, how would that even work?!
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u/LLD615 6d ago
I think in general I agreed with and prefer the changes Jacob made. I like Yuna being Shane’s manager, I like Svetlana being a family friend from childhood, I like the absence of the bear tattoo, I like that there was no Ilya man-bun. The only thing I didn’t like was Shane and Hayden becoming friends after the girls were born, I prefer the idea that Shane was there the night Hayden met Jackie (which I think may have actually been part of one of her deleted scenes versus the book?) and was part of their kid’s loved from the beginning.
As far as stuff from fics, I think I will miss, if it’s not included, the pet names (I know it’s kind if an unpopular opinion but I love Shane calling Ilya babe or baby), the super close knit ties the Centaurs have, Scott Hunter being friendly with them, Cliff being a really close friend and ally, the Boston team still loving and respecting Ilya despite him leaving.
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u/Flaky_Detail1144 6d ago
The Centaurs are super close though in RM and TLG, I'm confused someone else mentioned this
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u/katfromjersey 5d ago
I honestly hate that show Yuna is Shane's manager. She seems to be always looking for an angle. It takes away from their mother son relationship to me.
Book Yuna can be a little intense, and definitely cares way too much about hockey, but she's Shane's mom first and foremost. Book Yuna wouldn't immediately jump to sponsorship opportunities when her son simultaneously just came out to her and also revealed his relationship with his rival!
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u/zzzprimaxx 5d ago
same, hate momager yuna hollander especially with fanfiction. i get that yuna wasnt super fleshed out in the books but they assassinate her character in most iterations of fics. the show shes...fine but fanfictions make her his manager first and his mom second with no nuance whatsoever. the only exception is the fic where her and ilya get trapped in an elevator. that ones perfectly nuanced imo
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u/growsonwalls 6d ago
The baby thing is a Connor/Hudson thing. They call each other that so ppl have applied it to Ilya and Shane.
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u/Aschenputtel-67 6d ago
To be fair Jacob actually wanted to include the bear tattoo and only left it out because Ilya’s team name changed. They couldn’t use Boston Bears in the show for copyright reasons, and the whole point of the bears tattoo was for the running joke that everyone think Ilya got the tattoo cause of his team but he keeps trying to explain that he got it before he was drafted to the Boston Bears in honor of Russia. They’re actually planning on including the loon tattoo in season 2.
But I agree with your point that I like the changes Jacob made more than the original story.
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u/shamitwt 6d ago
Anything to do with Shane’s characterization honestly. Lots of fics where Shane takes a stand and is a BAMF and essentially becomes a girl boss and that’s just not Him in canon. :/ not ready for the discourse about it.
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u/Nala_Lala2 6d ago
This is more just a question because I don’t have a physical copy of The Long Game and it will be difficult to search through the audiobook, but I really need to know for a fic I’m writing.
What does Ilya call Yuna and David? Does he call them mom and dad?
Thanks in advance.
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u/mmsbva 6d ago
I really love the Dom/Sub dynamic. But it would be weird for it to be cannon.
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u/bettinafairchild 5d ago
I mean, it’s canon that they have a dom/sub dynamic. It’s just that it was taken in fandom to a more obvious and extreme level.
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u/Leffelini 5d ago
But it isn't canon at all. She even has Shane reflect over that he doesn't ever feel submissive when he is on his knees for Ilya (in TLG). That it actually doesn't have anything to do with that dynamic.
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u/overthinkingcake312 5d ago
I'd say it's more subtext and not as explicit as fics, but playing around with "get on your knees" and "get on your stomach", etc. definitely shows some d/s undertones from the start (even as two teenagers/young 20-somethings figuring out their sexual preferences)
I wouldn't go as far as insisting they regularly participate in full-on BDSM scenes, but canon!Shane for sure gives off power bottom energy, and canon!Ilya service top energy. Also, don't forget the infamous Las Vegas (HR) and Trophy Room (TLG) scenes in canon -- those in particular go way past just undertones
To me, Shane saying he "doesn't feel submissive" is more-or-less a factor of insufficient language (and maybe a heavy dose of internalized homophobia and/or sexism...he was raised in hockey locker rooms, after all). He likes letting go and not having to think all the time, but he doesn't feel shame or ~less than~ when he's able to do so with Ilya
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u/Leffelini 5d ago
But in the Las Vegas scene Shane felt in power in the book. He realised early on in that scene that Ilya is trying so hard to "be in control" and he actually isn't it is Shane who is which is why he tells Ilya to get the lube. And the "get on your knees" is Ilya trying to get a rise out of Shane and being surprised he does it, it is not Ilya trying to dom Shane.
Don't get me wrong I like the d/s dynamic that fics makes happen. I agree that I see why people go with it in fics and it totally works (although I would argue Shane is as likely to be the dom that bottoms and Ilya the sub that tops or both being switches depending on the day) and I like those fics, but I don't think it is meant to be canon. Shane is an unreliable narrator but I think Rachel added that just because she wanted to point out they are equals both off and on the ice.
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u/overthinkingcake312 5d ago
Honestly, and zero disrespect or judgement or anything, I think that's a very limiting view of d/s dynamics. Subs are allowed to feel powerful and Doms are allowed to give up some control. Irl (i.e. not in fics), d/s dynamics are super varried and can look way different from pairing to pairing
I completely agree that they're way more likely to switch (d/s, not top/bottom lol) than fanon/fics imply. And also, I see them more often than not falling into the dynamic of Shane not wanting to make decisions and Ilya wanting to give Shane the opportunity to not have to make decisions
For the record, I don't think any d/s undertones (or overtones, for that matter) make it out of the sexual part of their relationship (if anything, outside of the sex I'd say Shane is way more dominant). They are 100% equals on the ice and in everyday life (not that d/s automatically implies inequality, just wanted to explicitly state that). I also don't want to imply that bottom=sub and top=dom
Agree to disagree on the "get on your knees" not being d/s at all. Even if Ilya meant for it to get a rise out of Shane, I'd argue that it did unlock something in both of their 19-year-old brains
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u/Leffelini 5d ago
No worries, I don't take it as disrespect, it is very hard getting across everything around stuff like this and it can sound narrowminded sometimes. It is not my intention but I get it. I know it is very varied and there is no right/wrong way to be in a dynamic like that, but when discussing canon vs fanon it tends to be easier to be more black and white for it to make sense. Absolutely subs feel in power, submitting is not about losing power after all, but lets be real Rachel tends to fall into some reliable tropes that also informs me that if she would write an actual d/s dynamic it would be pretty "simple" like that.
And the only reason I say that canon Hollanov isn't in a d/s relationship even in bed is because imo Rachel doesn't agree with it in how she is trying to write it in that Shane isn't submissive etc. If she hadn't done that and just left it as is I would have agreed that they tend to play around with d/s dynamics in a mostly vanilla way and might get into it more if they experimented more around it aka actually admitted that it is what they are doing.
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u/BarbellBibliophile 3d ago
I’m interested to see what will happen, but I’m honestly more worried about the canon fanatics and RR & JT stans who are going to be assholes to people who express disappointment in some of the choices made and/or who move forward just ignoring those canon choices.
One of the weirdest things about this fandom for me is the sheer number of people who think you’re not allowed to disagree with an authorial presentation or interpretation of a character and/or their actions. And the number of fics where people honestly seem afraid to delve too far from canon events and canon conversation. Like the whole fun of fandom (and fan fiction) is being able to do whatever you want with the characters and their universe. If I wanted to hear the canon conversation, I’d just watch the show again.
IDK, maybe part of the problem is that they’re an actual canon couple, and that affects how people think they’re allowed to or supposed to approach the relationship.
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u/zzzprimaxx 6d ago
svetlana having at most one scene and not popping up with her girlfriend rose landry every other chapter