cap_ironman | 2020 Cap-Iron Man Holiday Exchange Information and Rules Post

Yes — the Cap-Iron Man Holiday Exchange has arrived!

The Cap-Iron Man Holiday Exchange is our annual fanwork exchange for Steve/Tony works. Participants will be matched to one another to secretly create a Steve/Tony fanwork for another participant.

At the end of December the gifts will be revealed anonymously in batches, and then in early January the creators will be revealed!

Before signing up, please read through the General Event Policies and the following information below, even if you have participated in previous years.

For the full schedule and quick links to related posts, check out the 2020 Holiday Exchange & Community Gifts Information Masterpost.

★ SCHEDULE

October 10: Exchange sign-ups open
October 25, 22:00 UTC (what time is it for me?): Sign-ups close
October 26-30: Matching period
October 31: Assignments sent out at the latest
December 19, 22:00 UTC (what time is it for me?): Finished exchange assignments are due
December 27: Start of gift reveals
January 9 (approximately): Creator reveals

★ EXCHANGE PARTICIPATION REQUIREMENTS

You need to have an Archive of Our Own (AO3) account. If you don't have an account, you can request one here. If you can't get an AO3 account in time, let us know and we might be able to provide you with an invitation.

Fanwork types and minimums permitted for this exchange are:
- Artwork (traditional or digital mediums, fancomics permitted) - one complete illustration
- Fanfiction - 1000 words
- Fanvid - 30 second video
You are free to create more than the minimum for your giftee, but you must fulfill at least one of these minimums by the exchange deadline.

You must be willing to create a gift for someone in at least one of the universes listed in the Sign-Ups section.

You cannot specify a preference for what fanwork type you would like to receive. Please only sign up if you are happy to receive art, fic or vid.

All participants must be 18 or older.

★ SIGN-UPS

Sign-ups open on October 10 and close on October 25.

Matching is done based on the following universes, which will be available to choose in the Fandom field for both your 'REQUESTS' and 'OFFERS':

Marvel Cinematic Universe
Marvel 616
Marvel 1872
Marvel 3940
Marvel Ultimates
Marvel Adventures (Comics)
Marvel’s Avengers (2020 game)
Avengers Academy (game)
Avengers Assemble (cartoon)
Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (cartoon)
Iron Man Noir
Other (Unlisted) Canon Verse

Each of your 'REQUESTS' in your sign-up must be associated with a single fandom listed above, with no repeats.

At least one of your requests must be in one of the listed universes and not for "Other (Unlisted) Canon Verse".

Please only use the "Other" tag for prompts set in canonical but unlisted universes, such as alternate comic canons (Bullet Points, Secret War: Civil War) and other established media (Contest of Champions, Iron Man: Armored Adventures, Manga-verse). Only offer for this universe tag if you are familiar with a lot of non-listed universes or ready to read up on something you're unfamiliar with.

You can also mark the checkbox "Any Fandom" instead of specific universes for either (or both) your Request and Offer. Be aware that by checking "Any Fandom" you are saying that you are happy to receive/create for all universes, including the "Other" tag (so you can be matched to someone with a rare universe request or receive a work for your prompt in any obscure universe your creator choses). If you're going to be disappointed with receiving or creating a work for a universe you may not be familiar with or fond of, please do not tick the "Any Fandom" checkbox.

If you want to request an AU prompt (for example, a Coffee Shop AU), choose the universe tag for the fandom on which you want the characterisation to be based.

HOW DO I SIGN-UP?

You can sign up for the Exchange at the Sign-Up form here.

Sign-ups will be completely on AO3. ~~When the form goes live, it will be announced on all Cap-Iron Man platforms.~~ The sign-ups are now open!

You can edit and delete your sign-up until October 25, 22:00 UTC (what time is it for me?).

If you have any questions or concerns, please email the mods at cap.im.events@gmail.com before sign-ups close; we'll be more than happy to provide any clarifications and help you through the sign-up process.

Please note that if your sign-up does not not comply with the HE rules after October 25, it will be deleted.

HOW DOES MATCHING WORK?
Matching is done through AO3's auto-matching system using universes and Additional Tags to generate matches, as well as reviewing to ensure that every creator has at least two prompts to work with, and everyone is matched as well as can be.

Requests are at first matched by the system using "AND" operators based on your tags; if you have one request for Marvel 1872 with the "Fluff" additional tag, only someone who has offered Marvel 1872 in the universe field AND "Fluff" in the Additional Tags field can match that particular request.

Offers match using "OR" operators. So if you offered Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Noir and Avengers Academy, you won't match to any request for Marvel 1872, but you might match to one that only requested Avengers Academy, provided the Additional Tags in the request also match.

REQUESTS
You can make 1-10 requests in your sign-up. Each request must be for a different universe, and you will need to fill out the Fandom, Additional Tags, and Prompts and Details sections.

The "Fandom" field is where you specify the universe. If you would like to request multiple universes, you must fill out multiple requests and choose a different fandom tag for each request (you can't make two 616 requests: you have to put all your 616 prompts inside the same request. You need two requests if you want to request 616 and MCU).

ADDITIONAL TAGS
We recommend filling this section out AFTER you have decided on your prompts.

For each of your requests, please list in the Additional Tags field ALL the tags from the 2020 HE tag set that apply to your prompts. You can see the full list of tags here on AO3.

Your Additional Tags will be used to match you to a creator. You must choose a minimum of 4 Additional Tags, and you have a maximum of 15 Additional Tags per request. Please choose as many tags as apply to your prompts and don’t hold back for fear of not being matchable. In this exchange more tags mean better matches!

The tags you choose in the Additional Tags field must match the prompts you're giving in the Prompts and Details section.

For example, don't choose the "Angst" tag if all your prompts are fluffy, or "Wedding" if you don't have a specific prompt related to weddings. Similarly, if one of your prompts contains identity porn, please add "Identity Porn" to the Additional Tags field of your request.

Please look at our example sign-up post with embedded images and read the instructions carefully.

PROMPTS
Every sign-up must have at least two long prompts and two short prompts that you would be happy to receive a gift for. These can be in one request (if you only want a single universe) or across several requests (if you are requesting multiple universes). Make sure you have the minimum number of prompts when sign-ups close.

Don't indicate any preference about which prompt you'd like to receive the most!

Please provide the following required information in each request:

LONG PROMPTS (required)
In this section, please provide 1 to 4 'plotty' prompts: basic synopses of plots you would like to see as a short story or comic for the universe the request is for. Please give each prompt its own numbered paragraph, as demonstrated in the example sign-up.

SHORT PROMPTS (required)
In this section, please provide 1 to 4 'short' prompts: a prompt up to 15 words that describes a theme, basic trope, or is a link to a poem or song as inspiration. Please give each prompt its own numbered paragraph, as in the example sign-up.

You may also provide the following optional information in each request:

CROSSOVER AND FUSION PROMPTS (optional)
You can request one or more crossover or fusion prompts (for example, Ults/AA, crossover 616/Inception fusion).
- A crossover or fusion prompt does not count towards the 2 long and 2 short prompts minimum for a sign-up
- A crossover or fusion prompt does not count towards the maximum of 4 long and 4 short prompts in a request.
- Please specify the universes in the prompt text and make sure to select "Marvel Multiverse Crossover" or "Fusions/Crossovers" as one of your Additional Tags.
- Do not make a separate request for your crossover prompts: include them in one of your other requests (for example, if you have two 616 prompts and a 616/MCU prompt, include it in the 616 request.

ADDITIONAL DETAILS
These go in the "Prompts and Details" section of the sign-up after you have written out your prompts.

LIKES (optional)
List tropes, characters, side pairings, etc. that you would be happy to see included in any gift you receive for this universe. Do not repeat things already in your prompts. This is a bonus list for 'extra inspiration', and your creator is not required to include any or all of these in your gift.

DO NOT WANTS (optional)
List tropes, warnings, characters, side pairings, etc. that you do not want to see in your gift. Your creator is not allowed to include any of your Do Not Wants in your gift. If these only apply to specific prompts, then you can list them in the prompt as well. Conversely, if there is one prompt that is an exception to this list, mention that in the prompt.

LANGUAGE (optional)
Mention any languages other than English that you are willing to receive gifts in. This means that if your creator is fluent in one of the languages you have listed, they will have the option to create a gift in that language(s).

OFFERS
Opposite to your requests, you have ONE offer to indicate ALL the universes and tags you can create for.

You must select at least one universe that you are willing to create in, but you can select as many as you like.You can tick the "Any Fandom" checkbox if you are happy to create for all fandom tags in the tag set.

In your offer you must select at least 9 Additional Tags, but can offer up to 20 — which is the upper limit AO3 sets for their sign-up form at the moment.

If you want to offer more than 20 additional tags, please put your top 20 tags in the Additional Tags field, because this is what the initial algorithm uses for matching and then list all the other additional tags you’re willing to create for in the "Additional Notes" field to allow us to exchange tags in the sign-up to make you matchable to other participants during the matching process.

All tags you offer should be universes and genres/tropes you are absolutely willing to create, as these are the tags we are matching you on. You cannot change your offer after sign-ups close.

Be aware that we can only guarantee you’ll find two prompts to work with. We can’t guarantee that all of your recipient's prompts will appeal to you.

If you have any extra notes for us — e.g. hard triggers, tropes you are unable to create for — please tell us in the "Additional Notes" field and we will try our best to take it into account. A short list of your hard nos and specific dislikes you don’t want to create will also help us make sure you find more prompts to work with in your sign-up.

In your offer you can optionally provide us with the AO3 username of one person (your beta, roommate, sibling, etc.) who you'd rather not be matched with, no explanation needed. We will try our best to not match you with them, but can’t always guarantee they’re not your only match.

★ ASSIGNMENTS

Will when I receive my assignment?
Assignments will go out no later than October 31.

How do I fulfill my assignment?
To fulfill your assignment, you need to create either:

one story of at least 1000 words, or
one piece of finished art (traditional or digital medium; no manips, gifsets or playlists)
one fanvid no shorter than 30 seconds

Once your work is completed, submit it to the 2020 Captain America/Iron Man Holiday Exchange collection on AO3 by the deadline, December 26. They will automatically appear as anonymous "Mystery Gifts" in the collection after they are approved. Mods will review all gifts before approving them, so if your gift does not appear in the collection as soon as you post it, don't worry. A guide on fulfilling your gift assignment can be found in our AO3 Guide.

You must create a gift that completely fulfills at least one of the prompts your recipient lists. Beneath their prompts, your recipient might list optional "Likes". You are not required to include any of these if they don't appeal to you, but you can use them for additional inspiration.

Gifts cannot include any "Do Not Wants" the recipient listed. Please do your best to work with any request as it is and create a gift that will appeal to your recipient to the best of your ability.

Fanworks must be newly created for this exchange.
Stories cannot be sequels to existing fic or part of a previously posted series. Art and fanvids cannot be based on other existing fanworks.
Betas are not required but strongly encouraged. If you want to find a beta reader, there is a list of beta readers available here.
There is no upper word count limit and you can create as many fanworks as you like for your recipient, if you feel inspired to do more.

Do not upload incomplete works. You can do small edits to your story after the deadline, but this should be reserved for minor changes, such as fixing typos. The mods will check all stories on the deadline, and any incomplete entries will be rejected and counted as defaults which are not penalty-free. Make sure you upload your complete work and don't leave it as a draft in the collection—you must post it before the deadline.

Don’t forget: assignments are to be kept secret from the rest of the community until creator reveals happen.

Please ensure that your finished assignment complies with Cap-Ironman's Event Work Requirements.

I don't like any of my recipient prompts. Can you match me to somebody else?
No. After assignments are sent out we can't recall or change any of the matches. However, if there is a problem with the assignment you received because it doesn't match what you offered, please contact us by emailing cap.im.events@gmail.com immediately.

Remember you are only guaranteed to find at least two prompts matching your offer.

Extensions and Dropping out (Defaulting)
If you realise at any time that you won't be able to finish your story, please hit the "Default" button on AO3 as soon as possible (found next to your HE assignment here: archiveofourown.org/users/YOURUSERNAME/assignments).

There is no penalty for dropping out before the December 19 deadline, so please default as soon as you know you won't be able to fulfill your assignment! This lets us know that you won't be able to finish your gift so we can look for a pinch hitter.

If you think you can finish with a few days' extension, please get in touch with the mods before December 19. Email cap.im.events@gmail.com with your draft and request an extension.

If you don't have a finished gift uploaded for your recipient by the Holiday Exchange assignment deadline, we will automatically assume you've dropped out and send your assignment out to our pinch hitters.

If you drop out after the exchange deadline, you will be ineligible to participate in next year's Holiday Exchange and other collaborative Cap-Iron Man events until you fulfill the requirements to lift your temporary ban or become eligible again. You can find more information on defaults and bans here.

POSTING PERIOD
Starting on December 27, fanworks will be revealed on AO3 each day, and announcements will be posted to the cap-im social platforms.

AO3 only sends notifications when a collection is revealed completely, so please check the collection regularly during the reveals period to see if your gift was posted, or read our daily reveals round-up posts.

Initially, works will be revealed but still have anonymous creators. You must remain anonymous until creator reveals happen at the end of the event. Please respect the anonymity and do not discuss or promote your fanwork publicly.

Before the creators are revealed, there will be a post where everyone is invited to guess the anonymous creators. Creator names will then be revealed.

Don't post your fanwork anywhere else until creators are revealed. (But feel free to link and share revealed fanworks and the general collection without breaking the anon requirement!) After reveals, you are welcome to post anywhere and promote your own work, and we will reblog any Tumblr posts that we find.

Don't forget to comment and thank the person who created a gift for you!

Community Gifts and Pinch-hitting
If you don't want to sign up for the challenge but still want to be involved, or are willing to create more than one fanwork, you can participate in the Community Gifts part of the event. You can find detailed information about Community Gifts here.

You can also help us out as a pinch-hitter. If, as a pinch-hitter, you want to post your work yourself, an AO3 account is required.

To sign up as a pinch hitter, please click through to this info post.

For more information, you can find the Cap-IM Holiday Exchange FAQ here.

If you have any questions or concerns, you can contact us at cap.im.events@gmail.com, in the comments on this post, or by sending us a DM or message on Tumblr.