2024/2025 Schedule + Rules

[candyheartsex]

Candy Hearts is a multifandom gift exchange with a low minimum and a focus on relationships, both platonic and romantic/sexual. It is inspired by Chocolate Box and will not run if Chocolate Box is running.

The schedule for 2024/2025:

Nominations Open: December 20, 12:01 AM
Nominations Close: December 27, 11:59 PM
Signups Open: January 1, 12:01 AM
Signups Close: January 7, 11:59 PM
Assignments Out By: January 9, 11:59 PM
Works Due: February 8, 11:59 PM
Works Revealed: February 14, 7:00 PM February 16, 8:00 PM
Creators Revealed: February 21, 7:00 PM February 23, 8:00 PM

All times are in Eastern Standard Time (EST).

AO3 Collection
Tagset
App

If you need to contact the mod, you can reach me via candyheartsex at gmail dot com or leave a comment on this post. Anon comments are enabled.

Nominations

All fandoms are allowed, including RPF, as long as all real people nominated are famous in their own right and over the age of 18. The mod will veto RPF nominations for Donald Trump, people who are famous for willing participation in genocidal regimes, or serial killers alive after 1900. Any RPF nominations related to real-life atrocities may be vetoed at the mod's discretion.

You can nominate up to 10 fandoms, with a maximum of 10 relationships per fandom. Make sure that you are using & for platonic relationships and / for romantic/sexual relationships.

You can nominate group relationships--for example, Spock & USS Enterprise Crew--but keep in mind that any ensembles you don't break down into individual characters will basically be treated as "any two or more members of [x] group."

If you're nominating relationships where the characters have very common names or exist in multiple versions of the same canon, please disambiguate your nominations by putting the fandom name or an abbreviation for it in parentheses at the end of the tag.

Please avoid piping unless it is necessary to clarify your nominated characters' identities.

Nomination Format for Specific Fandoms

Crossovers Relationships: Nominate crossover relationships under Crossover Fandom.

Original Works: Nominate original ships under the fandom Original Work; if the gender of the original characters matters to you, make sure to specify it in the tag.

Dragon Age: Please nominate as "Dragon Age (Video Games)."

Doctor Who and Related Fandoms: Please break down nominations by subfandom: Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood, Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio), The Sarah Jane Adventures, novel series, etc. Entries in Big Finish Unbound should also be nominated individually.

Fire Emblem: Please nominate Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes as two separate fandoms.

Critical Role: Please nominate all Exandria campaigns under "Critical Role (Web Series)", all Candela Obscura campaigns under "Candela Obscura (Critical Role Web Series)", and any other campaigns separately. The Legend of Vox Machina should be nominated under "The Legend of Vox Machina (Cartoon)."

Dimension 20: Please nominate all campaigns under "Dimension 20 (Web Series)."

Marvel Cinematic Universe: Please nominate the characters who have appeared in the movies into this fandom. This will cover all movie franchises. Marvel Netflix shows should be nominated under The Defenders (Marvel TV). Nominate any other shows (Agent Carter, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, Moon Knight, etc.) individually. If your nomination includes characters from different shows, or from a show and a movie, please nominate under Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Marvel and DCU Comics: Please nominate main continuity into Marvel (Comics) and DCU (Comics), putting specific runs into the disambiguating parentheses instead of the fandom for these nominations only. Titles that are explicit alternate realities such as Age of Apocalypse, Marvel 1602 etc. can be nominated as specific titles.

Star Wars: Nominate under the appropriate movie, trilogy, TV show, etc (e.g., Rogue One, Andor, Original Trilogy). Crossover nominations with characters from separate Star Wars fandoms should go under Star Wars - All Media Types.

Star Wars Old EU: Nominate books under "Star Wars Legends - All Media Types." Nominate games as individual fandoms.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel: Nominate both shows under Buffyverse (TV). Please nominate the comics as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Comics 2019)" or "Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Comics 1998)."

Naruto, Boruto, and Dreaming of Sunshine: Please nominate these fandoms separately. Nominate Dreaming of Sunshine as "Dreaming of Sunshine (Fanfic Disambiguation)." Relationship nominations that involve one or more DoS character and one or more Naruto/Boruto character should be nominated under the fandom "Crossover Fandom."

Star Trek: Divide nominations by show and movie franchise--for example, nominate Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Original Series (Movies) separately. Strange New Worlds, DS9, Lower Decks, Picard, Alternate Original Series, etc. should all be nominated individually, as should any tie-in novels/comics series. Nominate crossover relationships between different Trek canons via Crossover Fandom.

DC's Arrowverse: Please nominate characters from Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman, and Black Lightning (plus the webseries tie-ins) under "DC's Arrowverse."

Stargate: Please nominate under "Stargate - All Media Types"

X-Men Movies: Please nominate Original Timeline Movies and Alternate Timeline Movies separately, under those headings. The other X-Men movies, like Deadpool, should be nominated under their own series/movie title.

DC Extended Universe: DCEU movies should be nominated under "DC Extended Universe."

Assassin's Creed: Please nominate Assassin's Creed under "Assassin's Creed - All Media Types."

Baldur's Gate: Please nominate all games under "Baldur's Gate (Video Games)."

Legend of Zelda: Please nominate these in their separate games.

The Witcher: Please nominate these in their individual fandoms, not AMT.

Historical RPF: Please split these into subfandoms that indicates what timeperiod the nominated people are in. If there may be confusion about the identity of a nominated person, please be as specific as is reasonable.

Signups

You must be 18 or older to sign up.

You may request 1-10 fandoms, each with 1-10 relationships and at least one medium (Fanart, Fanfic, and/or Podfic). You can also request Any, which means you are requesting gifts for any of the nominated relationships for that fandom.

You can offer 1-10 fandoms, each with 1-10 relationships. You can also offer Any, meaning you're willing to create a gift for any nominated relationship in that fandom.

In your additional details, make sure to include any DNWs. These are things you Do Not Want, i.e., things that would ruin a gift for you and which your creator must avoid. These can only be enforced if they're in your actual signup.

You can also use the additional details box to list likes, prompts, and anything else that might help your creator make a gift you will enjoy. You can also provide a link to a letter posted on your Dreamwidth, Tumblr, etc.

You are only guaranteed a gift if you request at least three distinct fandoms. If you've requested fewer than three fandoms and you are a pinch hit at the time works are due, I'll contact you about potentially adding more fandoms. If you prefer not to, you'll still stay up as an available pinch hit, but you are not guaranteed a gift.

The collection will not open until everyone who has requested at least three distinct fandoms has a gift.

If you shame or harass other participants, or if there are signs that you have deliberately caused problems in past exchanges, the mod will delete your signup.

Matching

This exchange accepts Do Not Match requests. If there is someone you need to ensure you don't match to, please email the mod at candyheartsex at gmail dot com.

If none of your offers match any requests at the time signups close, I'll contact you, and you'll have 24 hours to add relevant offers. If that time elapses, or if you choose not to add any offers, I'll delete your signup.

If no one is offering anything you're requesting, you'll go out as a pinch hit and someone can claim the chance to create for you.

Assignments

Assignments are only guaranteed to match on one fandom, one relationship, and one medium.

Do not post works to the collection if they have been created using generative AI.

Minimum work requirements for fic and art are one complete fic of 300 words or one piece of original art that is not on lined paper. (Manips are okay for treats, but they do not fulfill your assignment.) The work must match a medium, fandom, and relationship requested by your recipient. The minimum requirement for podfic is the recording of a fic of at least 300 words.

Works should remain anonymous during the collection's anonymous period. Do not post your work elsewhere, link to it under your name, or put your name anywhere on the AO3 page until after creators have been revealed. Artists may sign their work, and audio recordings may include identification of the podficcer.

If you can't finish your assignment, please default by going to your AO3 assignments page and clicking the "default" button on your assignment. You don't have to contact the mod or explain why you've defaulted. Life happens! If you default, you may still get a gift, but you won't go out as a pinch hit if your creator also defaults.

Please note that recipients may refuse gifts for any reason.

Treats

There are no work minimums for treats. Treats can be posted to the collection without a listed recipient.

If your AO3 account was created after February 1, 2022 and you would like to receive treats, please make sure your account is set up to allow additional gifts: Go to Preferences and click "Allow anyone to gift me works."

I encourage people who do not want treats, and who have not enabled their account to be open to treats, to specifically mention that in their additional details.

After the assignment deadline, a treatless spreadsheet will be posted to encourage treating.

Do not post works to the collection if they have been created using generative AI.

Pinch Hits

Pinch hits will be posted here, on the Dreamwidth community. Comments on the pinch hit posts will be screened, so if you want to claim a pinch hit, please reply to that post and state both your AO3 pseud and which pinch hit you would like to claim. Anonymous comments are enabled, so you don't need a Dreamwidth account to claim a pinch hit. You also don't need to be signed up for the exchange; all you need is an AO3 account.

On 2/1, there will be a post for collecting pinch hitter prompts for treating purposes, and any pinch hitters who post prompts there will be eligible for inclusion on the treatless spreadsheet.

Comments

[lurking_latinist]

So glad this is happening! Thanks for filling the gap :)

I wanted to ask if you have any nomination format preferences for Doctor Who & Related Fandoms. I will probably want to nominate more than one of its subfandoms; should I nominate them individually or just the umbrella fandom?

Thank you!

[candyheartsex]

Thank you for reminding me! I'll add this clarification to the post.

Let's go with Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005), Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio), Torchwood, Sarah Jane Adventures all separated out, thanks.

[siver]

Totally understandable but sad to see Chocolate Box couldn't happen this year, so it's great to see this. Thank you for filling in!

[candyheartsex]

I'm glad people are excited! I'd been really looking forward to Chocolate Box myself, so I wanted to fill the gap for this year. Fingers crossed the CB mods will have more relaxed schedules next time!

[(Anonymous)]

1. Can we nominate poly ships?

2. Can we nominate genderswapped versions of characters in a ship? (Ex: I only want Little Mermaid fanfic where Ariel falls in love with Princess Erica, I do not want Prince Eric.)

[candyheartsex]

1. Yes, poly ships are definitely allowed!

2. No, sorry--please only nominate canonical versions of characters.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm excited for this exchange!
I have a question about nominations:

Star Trek: Divide nominations by show. The Alternate Original Series is alone. Movie characters from the Original Series or Next Gen movies may be nominated under the respective shows.

What about characters from The Original Series who appear in TOS movies and I'd like to request in those movies era? Can I nominate for example "James T. Kirk & Spock" in the tag "Star Trek: The Original Series (Movies)"? It would make a great difference to me, so I hope you'll consider the possibility.

[candyheartsex]

I'm glad you asked about this! Based on your comment, I checked out the last year of Star Trek: TOS requests on the Automagic app--since a vast majority of requests focus on the show and don't mention the movies or their era, I can see how it would be hard for people who wanted to focus on the movies to find each other via offers or requests. I'll split the fandoms into Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Original Series (Movies) accordingly to make it easier for people to focus on what they want.

I feel like this is in line with splitting TOS and SNW even though there's a lot of character overlap and the two are officially in the same continuity, so it makes sense overall. I'll edit the post to reflect this change.

[(Anonymous)]

For Star Trek characters from different shows, should that just be under Crossover Fandom, or an overarching tag like with Star Wars?

[candyheartsex]

I've clarified this in the post now, thanks! Please nominate them under Crossover Fandom.

[unhindered_dreams]

I have a few questions.

1. I'm going to nominate a movie called The Gathering. On Letterboxd the release year is listed as 2001, on IMDb it's listed as 2002, and on the title of the Wikipedia entry it's listed as 2003, but in the write-up it's listed as 2002. Which year should I nominate it with?

2. There's a character I want to nominate as part of some pairings, but only if he's aged up; he's around 10 in the canon. Can I nominate the pairing as Aged-Up!Character/Other Character? I'd specify in my signup and letter the minimum age I'd want him to be for shipping purposes.

3. The name of a character I'm going to nominate is spelled incorrectly on IMDb, Wikipedia, etc., and I'm going to nominate him with the correct spelling. It's spelled as Carmac on those various sites, but the correct spelling is Cormac. Do you want me to post a screen grab of the movie's credits as proof of the correct spelling?

4. I want to nominate the episode Night Creatures from the 1980s anthology show Alfred Hitchcock Presents. How do I format the fandom nom? Would it be:
Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1985-1989): Night Creatures

[candyheartsex]

1. Please use 2002.

2. No, sorry. Please only nominate canonical versions of the characters in the relationship. In your actual signup, you're still welcome to specify the minimum age you'd prefer the character to be in any ships, and you can also list anything below a certain age cutoff as a DNW.

3. You can nominate the character as Cormac without providing the screen grab.

4. Yes, that formatting is perfect, thanks. And if you decide to nominate relationships from multiple episodes of the show, you can nominate the fandom as just "Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1985-1989)" rather than nominating each episode specifically.

[unhindered_dreams]

I'm thinking of nominating the 1991 movie Child of Darkness, Child of Light. As far as I can remember, the two characters that I'll nominate aren't named in the movie. I'll watch it again to be sure, but if it's as I remember I plan on nominating the pairing as Daughter of God/Son of Satan. Is it okay to do it that way?

[candyheartsex]

Yes, if the characters don't have names in canon, using descriptions of them/their roles is fine.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi mod! Thank you for running this exchange to tide us over ^^

Could we get an official ruling on how to handle the Fire Emblem franchise? With the exception of direct sequels (ie Shadow Dragon/New Mystery, Genealogy/Thracia, Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn), individual games all have their own lore/setting/characters and are typically treated as separate fandoms, but I know there’s been some back and forth over what to do with Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes.

For context: Warriors Three Hopes is a spin-off game set in an alternate continuity of Three Houses. The two games share the same setting and cast (Warriors Three Hopes brought in a couple of new characters, but that’s it); Warriors Three Hopes definitely assumes the player is already familiar with Three Houses, but also has a plot that can stand on its own. I know some fans prefer to keep them separate so they can request one game without the other, while others think the differences aren’t significant enough to justify it. Some exchanges have had them as separate fandoms, others have had them as one.

I personally don’t have a preference, but I’d like to know ahead of time which we’re going for so I can plan my noms accordingly!

Thank you for your time.

[candyheartsex]

This is a very helpful breakdown, thank you! Please nominate Three Hopes and Three Houses separately, and I'll add that to the post.

[(Anonymous)]

The canonical tag for main continuity DC Comics is DCU (Comics). Is that OK instead of DC (Comics)?

Do you want original work under Original Works plural? The usual tag is Original Work.

[candyheartsex]

Yes, those are both mistakes on my part! I'll edit the post.

[lurking_latinist]

Another question: can nominations be formatted as A/B & C, or do they have to stick to one type of relationship?

[candyheartsex]

A/B & C is fine!

[(Anonymous)]

Ao3 has separate tags for Quantum Leap (1989) and Quantum Leap (2022). They exist in the same continuity, just 30 years apart, and have one or two characters in common. So far, Sam Beckett (the main QL 89 character) has not appeared in the 2022 version. If I wanted him to interact with the 2022 characters, do I need to nominate it as a Crossover Fandom?

[candyheartsex]

Since AO3 has separated them thus far, let's keep them as separate fandoms in the tagset and use Crossover Fandom for any overlap. Thanks!

[(Anonymous)]

Hi, I nominated an AO3-hosted work, the author has given permission. https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/576963.html?thread=3521642947#cmt3521642947

[candyheartsex]

Thanks! I'll approve that.

[meinterrupted]

I nominated this morning before coffee, and I got the wrong name! Under Vienna Blood, it should be "Clara Weiss/Jonas Korngold (Vienna Blood)".

[candyheartsex]

Fixed, thanks!

[(Anonymous)]

I totally missed "Stargate: Please nominate under "Stargate - All Media Types" the first time I read this post, so I nominated some relationships under Stargate Atlantis. It looks like you approved them as-is, but I'm happy to have them switched to Stargate AMT for consistency with any possible future nominators who read the instructions more closely than I did.

[candyheartsex]

I've moved all the Stargate noms to Stargate - All Media Types--that should have everything, if you want to verify that all yours are still showing up properly.

[ziskandra]

Hello!

I would like to nominate some relationships from the recently released Dragon Age: Absolution cartoon.

What fandom would the mods prefer I nom these relationships under?

I see above that Dragon Age characters should be nommed under Dragon Age (Video Games), but as most of these characters don’t appear in the video games (there’s a couple of cameos from the main series but that’s it), I was wondering if they would be better off nominated separately, under Dragon Age: Absolution or somesuch?

Thank you for your help and apologies if this has already been addressed elsewhere and I’ve overlooked it!

[candyheartsex]

Thanks for checking! Since Dragon Age: Absolution is still fairly new and it looks like most of the existing AO3 works are also listed under "Dragon Age" generally, let's keep it all under "Dragon Age (Video Games)."

[alchemise]

Hi, could you clarify if crossovers between Marvel TV shows should go under Crossover Fandom or MCU?

[candyheartsex]

Hi! Please put those under MCU.

[lemonsharks]

Bless you for splitting fire emblem three houses and three hopes into two fandoms

Now for questions:

1. How should we nominate Willow (Movie) (1988) and Willow (TV) (2022)? The 2022 tv show is a direct sequel to the movie with about 75% continuity of cast and characters, so it wouldn’t be appropriate as a crossover fandom. There’s also a novelization of the film. My instinct is to nominate Willow - LucasArts - All Media Types.

[candyheartsex]

Thank you!

Willow - LucasArts - All Media Types sounds good to me. There are some entries in the tagset under Willow (2022), but I can combine them, so go ahead and nominate under All Media Types.

Another FFA original work

[(Anonymous)]

I’d like to nominate The Prince’s Progress, an FFA OW. Author permission here:

https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/576963.html?thread=3522411203#cmt3522411203

Re: Another FFA original work

[candyheartsex]

Great, thanks!

[(Anonymous)]

There are some duplicates in the Locked Tomb tags:

John Gaius/Augustine the First (Locked Tomb)
and
Augustine the First/John Gaius | Necrolord Prime (Locked Tomb)

The Body | Alecto | The Girl in the Tomb/Harrowhark Nonagesimus (Locked Tomb)
and
The Body | Alecto | The Girl in the Tomb/Harrowhark Nonagesimus (TLT)

Gideon the First/John Gaius (TLT)
and
John Gaius/Gideon the First (Locked Tomb)

The Body | Alecto | The Girl in the Tomb/John Gaius | Necrolord Prime (Locked Tomb)
and
John Gaius/Alecto (Locked Tomb)

[candyheartsex]

Thank you! I've removed the duplicates.

[pinkygrocket]

There are a pair of duplicate approved fandom tags for Super Mario; both Super Mario Bros. (Video Games) and Super Mario (Nintendo Video Games) are approved.

[candyheartsex]

That's on my list of clarifications to ask for! I'm putting up a new set of questions/requests for clarifications on Monday.

[(Anonymous)]

There's a duplicate in Stargate:

Dave Sheppard & John Sheppard (SGA)
Dave Sheppard & John Sheppard (Stargate)

Nominations

[(Anonymous)]

Hi, Can I ask why all of the Interview with a Vampire ship nominations were rejected?

Re: Nominations

[(Anonymous)]

Disregard. It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me.

[habenaria_radiata]

Hi, mod! In the past, I've been able to nominate and request Character/Any for Chocolate Box. Is that something I can still do for Candy Hearts?

[candyheartsex]

Sure, that's fine!

[underscored]

Any reason Blue Lock (anime) and Blue Lock (manga) are separate? I'm not a big exchanges person so forgive me if this is a silly question!

[candyheartsex]

They were nominated separately, so I'm planning on asking about whether or not people want them separate or combined. (Combined is definitely more common, but if people in the fandom have reason to want them separated, I'm fine with leaving them that way.) I'm putting up a new set of questions/requests for clarifications on Monday, so I'll ask then.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi! Princess Diaries (All Media Types) got disambiguated a few days ago, after some nominations had already been approved, and the book nominations are still showing up under Movies in the Candy Hearts tagset (the movies are accurately tagged as movie tags). Since we're still in the nomination phase, is there any way the mods would be willing to adjust those so that they reflect as book nominations? Book fic is so rare for this fandom and I'd love it if it was more visible for folks to find. The new tag is "Princess Diaries — Meg Cabot".

[candyheartsex]

I've separated these for you!