r/AskScienceFiction Apr 06 '25

[Subreddit Business] Clarifications on our Watsonian/Doylist rule, general questions, and r/WhatIfFiction

169 Upvotes

Hi guys,

If you're new, welcome to r/AskScienceFiction, and if you're a returning user, welcome back! This subreddit is designed to be like the r/AskScience subreddit, but for fictional universes, and with all questions and answers written from a Watsonian perspective. That is to say, the questions and answers should be based on the in-universe information, rules, and logic of the fictional work. All fictional works are welcome here, not just sci-fi.

Lately we've been seeing some confusion over what counts as Watsonian, what counts as Doylist, what sort of questions would be off-topic on this subreddit, and what sort of answers are allowed. This stickied post is meant to address such uncertainties and clear things up.

1) Watsonian vs Doylist

The term "Watsonian" means based on the in-universe information, rules, and logic of the fictional work. In contrast, "Doylist" means discussions based on out-of-universe considerations. So, for example, if someone asked, "Why didn't the Fellowship ride the Eagles to Mordor?", a possible Watsonian answer would be, "The Eagles are a proud and noble race, they are not a taxi service." Whereas a rule-breaking Doylist answer might be something like, "Because then the story would be over in ten minutes, and that'd be boring."

We should note that answering in a Watsonian fashion does not necessarily mean that we should pretend that these works are all real, or that we should ignore the fact that they are movies or shows or books or games, or that the creators' statements on the nature of these works should be disregarded.

To give an example, if someone asked, "How powerful would Darth Vader have been if he never got burned?", we can quote George Lucas:

"Anakin, as Skywalker, as a human being, was going to be extremely powerful, but he ended up losing his arms and a leg and became partly a robot. So a lot of his ability to use the Force, a lot of his powers, are curbed at this point, because, as a living form, there’s not that much of him left. So his ability to be twice as good as the Emperor disappeared, and now he’s maybe 20 percent less than the Emperor."

In such a case, "according to George Lucas, he would've been around twice as powerful as the Emperor" would be a perfectly acceptable Watsonian answer, because Lucas is also speaking from a Watsonian perspective.

Whereas if someone associated with the creation of Star Wars had said something like, "He'd be as powerful as we need him to be to make the story interesting", this would be a Doylist answer because it's based on out-of-universe reasoning. It would not be an acceptable answer on this subreddit even though it is also a quote from the creators of the fictional work.

2) General questions

General questions often do not have a meaningful Watsonian answer, because it frequently boils down to "whatever the author decides". For instance, if someone asked, "How does FTL space travel work?", the answer would vary widely with universe and author intent; how FTL works in Star Trek differs from how it works in Star Wars, which differs from how it works in Dune, which differs from how it works in Mass Effect, which differs from how it works in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, etc. General questions like this, in which the answer just boils down to "whatever the author wants", will be removed.

There are some general questions that can have meaningful Watsonian answers, though. For example, questions that are asking for specific examples of things can be given Watsonian answers. "Which superheroes have broken their no-kill rules?" or "Which fictional wars have had the highest casualty counts?" are examples of general questions that can be answered in a Watsonian way, because commenters can pull up specific in-universe information.

We address general questions on a case-by-case basis, so if you feel a question is too general to answer in a Watsonian way, please report the question and the mod team will review it.

3) r/WhatIfFiction

We want questions and answers here to be based on in-universe information and reasonable deductions that can be made from them. Questions that are too open-ended to give meaningful Watsonian answers should go on our sister subreddit, r/WhatIfFiction, which accepts a broader range of hypothetical questions and answers. Examples of questions that should go on r/WhatIfFiction include:

  • "What if Tony Stark had been killed by the Ten Rings at the beginning of Iron Man? How would this change the MCU?" This question would be fun to speculate about, but the ripple effect from this one change would be too widespread to give a meaningful Watsonian answer, so this should go on r/WhatIfFiction.
  • "What would (X character) from the (X universe) think if he was transported to (Y universe)?" Speculating about what characters would think or do if they were isekai'd to another universe can be fun, but since such crossover questions often involve wildly different settings and in-universe rules, the answers would be purely speculative and not meaningfully Watsonian, so such questions belong on r/WhatIfFiction.

We should note, though, that some hypothetical questions or crossover questions can have meaningful Watsonian answers. For example, if someone asked, "Can a Star Wars lightsaber cut through Captain America's shield?", we can actually say "Quite possibly yes, because vibranium's canonical melting point is 5,475 degrees Fahrenheit, while lightsabers are sticks of plasma, and plasma's temperature is 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit or more." This answer is meaningfully Watsonian because it involves a deduction using specific and canonical in-universe information, and is not simply purely speculative.

4) Reporting rule-breaking posts and comments

The r/AskScienceFiction mod team always endeavors to keep the subreddit on-topic and remove rule-breaking content as soon as possible, but because we're all volunteers with day jobs, sometimes things will escape our notice. Therefore, it'd be a great help if you, our users, could report rule-breaking posts or comments when you see them. This will bring the issue to the mod team's attention and allow us to review it as soon as we can.


r/AskScienceFiction 19h ago

[Marvel] Has Dr. Doom always been this powerful?

252 Upvotes

Casual fan here. I always thought Dr. Doom was just another main adversary to the fantastic four, like he’s to the fantastic four what green goblin is to spider man. But with the discourse of the past year and the new movie, it seems like he’s a crazy universal level threat. Has he always been this way and have I been missing that or have people been upscaling his power since the movie’s been announced?


r/AskScienceFiction 8h ago

[Marvel] Why are so many of the Omega level mutants telepathic/psychic?

16 Upvotes

Of the known Omega level mutants, most of them are telepathic/psychic to some degree. Jean Grey, Quentin Quire, Exodus, Franklin Richards, Proteus and I think even Vulcan can all use telepathic/psionic abilities.

Why is that?


r/AskScienceFiction 3h ago

[GTA SA] Where does CJ’s morality lie?

4 Upvotes

Just curious since I made it to San Fierro in the game as I was a bit confused by how his morality aspects were handled.

Like early on in the game’s story, he opposes corrupt police for how they treated his family such as his mother, but then later on, he goes on to sabotage a rapper’s career that ruins his reputation as I was trying to figure out where CJ’s moral alignment fell under.


r/AskScienceFiction 26m ago

[marvel] couldn't Thanos make the universe self-regulate its population.

Upvotes

This is making the generous assumption that he was right about population growth. Couldn't he just make the universe regulate its own population.

Like make every planet keep a record on how many people are born and slow down with too many are born.

If we're really being extreme kill the bad members of society if the population gets too big.

It's way less genocide and it is super ethical.

Or like put a universal cap at how many people can be born at any given time.


r/AskScienceFiction 16h ago

[Muppets] How is it OK that Miss Piggy is always smacking Kermit around? Isn't that like... bad... and illegal?

25 Upvotes

r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[Vampires] If you invite a vampire into your house, is the invite permanent?

108 Upvotes

Or do you have to keep inviting them over and over? ​Asking for a friend.


r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[The Odyssey] Why couldn't Penelope get rid of the suitors by proclaiming Telemachus as King of Ithaca?

332 Upvotes

First of all, I haven't seen the movie; I'm going off the original epic.

I understand that when Odysseus initially went missing, Telemachus was only ten years old and thus was not a clear successor, hence why the suitors showed up in the first place. However, Penelope managed to stave them off for ten years, by which point Telemachus is a grown man. So once he was old enough to be recognized as a ruler, why couldn't she have accepted (at least for public consumption) that Odysseus was most likely dead and therefore Telemachus should claim the throne?

I'm imagining a scene where Penelope enters the hall where the suitors are gathered...

Penelope: My honored guests, I can no longer deny it. I have at long last accepted the truth that my husband Odysseus, King of Ithaca, is dead. Therefore, the time has come...

*Telemachus enters in full regalia, flanked by his guards*

Penelope: ...FOR ALL TO BOW AND PROSTRATE THEMSELVES BEFORE THE GLORY OF TELEMACHUS, KING OF ITHACA!


r/AskScienceFiction 23h ago

[Lovecraft Mythos] What is the least bad lovecraftian deity to worship as a cultist?

80 Upvotes

Obviously, worshipping anything from beyond space and time is generally considered a poor decision, but let's say you dont have a choice.

"Least bad" in this context is "least bad for me"


r/AskScienceFiction 3m ago

[pacific rim] are there jeagers that rebuild cities that were destroyed when they fought the kaiju?

Upvotes

in a lot of the pacific rims fight scenes, we see that cities are destroyed in the battles and it has me thinking if they ever had a jeager where it’s only Job is to rebuild destroyed cities.


r/AskScienceFiction 18h ago

[Forgotten Realms] How often does one become a sorcerer by environmental exposure, and would it be easier than, say, becoming a wizard or warlock?

25 Upvotes

Since you can become a sorcerer by, say, exposing yourself to the Shadowfell or to the psionic powers of a powerful entity, I've wondered if that's a more effective means of becoming a spellcaster than forming a pact with a patron, serving a deity or having to find a place to learn magic. Certainly one with fewer tradeoffs. So what's the success rate of, idk, throwing yourself into a storm and hoping it takes root within you.


r/AskScienceFiction 9h ago

[GTA IV] How Did the Diamonds End Up in a Public Trash Can in a Park?

4 Upvotes

Throughout both the main GTA IV game and its DLCs, we deal with a particular set of diamonds, and can see them changing hands constantly.

The last time Niko from the main game sees them, they get dropped onto a passing truck which seems to be carrying something like dirt or gravel and that seems to be the end of them.

However, if you play The Ballad of Gay Tony DLC, at its very end, its protagonist Luis accidentally colides with a homeless man, they both fall into a trash can and then the homeless man finds those same diamonds there.

So how did they get there? From an industrial truck into a park trash can. Once the dirt/gravel got off-loaded, the diamonds would be burried under it and presumably never found. So what gives?


r/AskScienceFiction 17h ago

[General] Other than Bruce Wayne, Tony Stark, and Scrooge McDuck, are there any CEOs in fiction that aren't evil?

19 Upvotes

r/AskScienceFiction 12h ago

[Warhammer 40k] what kind of GPS techs are available in the universe?

4 Upvotes

Do we need to deploy some satellites or is it star based?


r/AskScienceFiction 23h ago

[Avatar] Do the humans on earth know about Jake’s transition to becoming fully na’vi?

19 Upvotes

r/AskScienceFiction 2h ago

[Witcher] How common is allergy to potions?

0 Upvotes

r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[avatar] did the RDA ever think that the Navi were a threat on pandora?

15 Upvotes

r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[Marvel Comics] What kind of Korbinite name is "Beta Ray Bill"? Is 'bet ray' a nickname? Is his full name William? Do they speak English in Korbinite culture, and did William originate from a space-french "Guillame" like on Earth?

50 Upvotes

So Beta Ray Bill is a cool person and all, but one thing I can't understand is how or why his name is "Bill."

After all, other Korbinites have alien-ish names, or names I assume we've translated from their language, like Ti Asha Ra and Dar Mal Goth.

I understand most/all alien names won't have a direct analogue into human Earth tongues, but it seems "Beta Ray Bill" is this guy's actual name. Which seems to imply, like in English, that "Bill" is his given name, "Beta Ray" is some kind of title or descriptor.

I understand Bill was created, not born. But still. Why is his name Bill? Is it just a coincidence it sounds so Earth-like compared to other Korbinites? Why give him a descriptor/title for part of his name? We don't call Captain Marvel "Flying Girl Carol" as a full name, and it seems Korbinites don't normally do this in their culture?


r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[Marvel/DC]Are there any female heros that are attracted to male villains ?

48 Upvotes

r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[Friends] Why would someone even as stupid as Joey think that accidentally throwing a woman's prosthetic leg into a fire would be worse than doing the same thing with her dog?

15 Upvotes

r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[Pokemon] Can vegans and/or vegetarians eat grass-type Pokemon?

3 Upvotes

r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[Resident Evil: Gun Survivor] Were the tyrants on Sheena Island way weaker, or is Ark Thompson just THAT good?

8 Upvotes

He kills like three dozen T-103 tyrants on that island, while Leon and Claire weren't able to deal with one without a rocket launcher/Birkin.


r/AskScienceFiction 2d ago

[Marvel] Mr. Fantastic has used his intellect to save the multiverse. Sue Storm could cut off the oxygen to my brain with little effort. The Human Torch once took over the Negative Zone single-handedly. What does The Thing do?

361 Upvotes

Why does he belong in the team?


r/AskScienceFiction 8h ago

[Obsession] In a universe where wish magic openly exists, how is society still functional? Spoiler

0 Upvotes

So the entire movie is framed as taking place in our real, actual world. People go to work and make money and trade that for goods and services etc. Everything is the same, EXCEPT for the Wish Willows. Which are very obviously magical, supernatural and can gift you whatever you want. And society still works normally?

Magic is SOLD AT THE CORNER STORE. It's not a singular, secret magical artifact, a genie's bottle found in a cave, the controller from Click, or something that only the protagonist knows about. Anyone can walk in the store, buy a Willow, and use it to become a BILLIONAIRE overnight. Why are people still going to work? Why isn't the store overflowing with customers day and night? How is society still functional??


r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[Marvel] Kang the Conqueror has lived in multiple different times (Rama-Tut, Scarlet Centurion, Iron Lad) and has navigated through the time stream, yet he can’t just take a 23 & me or DNA test to see if he’s related to Doom or Reed?

39 Upvotes

It just seems super ridiculous that this is a consistent plot point for a character that can time travel.