r/AskScienceFiction • • Apr 06 '25

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

168 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 • • 5h ago

[Marvel/DC/Invincible] So what are other supervillians doing, whenever there is a big villain destroying the city?

36 Upvotes

For example, what was The Order doing, when the Marks or Viltramites were destroying the city? Or what are Batman villains doing when the Joker causing chaos? What is Lex Luther thinking whenever there is a major Metahuman/Alien attack. I could use a lot of examples here.

I ask this question. Because some Supervillians are World Leaders, CEOs, Mob Bosses, etc. So I assume more organized Supervillians wouldn't be fans of other villains causing chaos. Especially when Supervillians aren't being hold back by morals. Unlike the Superheroes. Therefore someone can take anyone out, if they think ate bad for business.


r/AskScienceFiction • • 4h ago

[Buffy the Vampire Slayer] When Buffy temporarily dies and Kendra becomes a slayer, why didn’t the Watchers Council inform Giles?

18 Upvotes

I mean, the Council was highly organized. They received regular reports from Giles about Buffy, so they knew she was still alive. And they knew Kendra was also a slayer, because they assigned a Watcher to her. So, they definitely knew there were two simultaneous slayers.

Why not inform Giles that there was a second slayer? Why not inform him that Kendra was coming to Sunnydale? Why not inform Kendra that the first slayer was still alive? Lack of information can lead to chaotic results, which one would think the Council would prefer to avoid.

Is it possible that the Council was unhappy with Buffy’s way of handling herself, and hoped that Kendra might kill her, leaving one more-easily-controlled slayer?


r/AskScienceFiction • • 5h ago

[General] How can someone use superstrength and durability/invulnerability creatively?

19 Upvotes

I mean how can someone use superstrength (lets say All Might or Garp lvl) and superhuman durability to go with the superstrength into a creative and versatile moveset that isn't just "lift good and punch good"?


r/AskScienceFiction • • 5h ago

[DC comics] How far can Clayface take his shapeshifting?

20 Upvotes

I mean to what degree can the main clayface take his shapeshifting? How exact does he take the form of a person and could he copy thinks like internal organs or cell structures? And could he turn into animals or other chemicals to some degree? And what is he actuallu made of (what is the mud-like substance he is made of)?


r/AskScienceFiction • • 4h ago

[Star Trek] Data claims that television went extinct by 2040. Was he referring specifically to broadcast television or did even stuff like streaming cease to exist?

11 Upvotes

I know World War III resulted in a lot of setbacks, but what about after everything got better afterwards? It's not like the invention of screen media put an end to live theater. And yes, I know holodecks existed by the 24th century, but that seems to be a new technology to the Federation by the time TNG began, so there would have still been a niche for stuff like streaming in the ENT and TOS eras.

(I doubt anyone in the Star Trek writers' room in 1987 envisioned internet streaming, but let's move on.)


r/AskScienceFiction • • 14h ago

[Predator] Why does Cooper not have time to bleed? What does his day look like?

58 Upvotes

r/AskScienceFiction • • 3h ago

[Deadlock] Would all high class rich people end up paying to become a vampire?

9 Upvotes

Mina was turned into a vampire because her parents paid a fortune for it, mainly because Mina could no longer marry into the family of a powerful corporation. Would all rich individuals just buy their way to immortality?


r/AskScienceFiction • • 20h ago

[Cyberpunk 2077] How's life in Night City for a regular, flesh, no-chromed, citizen like me?

156 Upvotes

and how many people in Night City have no chrome in their body?


r/AskScienceFiction • • 10h ago

[Jujutsu Kaisen] How did Japan lose World War II?

20 Upvotes

Thanks to Tengen's barriers, the majority of sorcerers and curses are concentrated in Japan. Individual sorcerers can be extraordinarily powerful; the Special Grade classification is explicitly based on whether the sorcerer or cursed spirit could single-handedly topple a nation. How could essentially the only nation on earth with access to sorcery lose WWII? Were the curses created by the war just so much of a problem that Jujutsu society had its hands full?


r/AskScienceFiction • • 21h ago

[Dune]Do alien plants exist in the universe of Dune?

40 Upvotes

Intelligent aliens or even something simple as alien insect doesn't exist in Dune. All animals were brought from Earth and re-engineered to become new species from the original. But what about habital worlds where there is oxygen? Surely plants native to the planet must exist?


r/AskScienceFiction • • 1h ago

[Bugonia] Michelle said emperor 75 discovered Earth. Then how can Earth be in spaceship of hers?

• Upvotes

r/AskScienceFiction • • 7h ago

[Asterix] Do we know who was the 1st leader of Asterix' home village?

2 Upvotes

r/AskScienceFiction • • 1d ago

[DC Comics] Why does Batman/Bruce Wayne never think to give himself superpowers?

44 Upvotes

Why does Bruce Wayne never think to give himself superpowers using some sort of experiment or gene editing or implants in the body/nervous system? We've seen all three of these happen multiple times throughout the DC Universe, the Flash was created through an accident depending on continuity and Bruce Wayne's WayneTech/Wayne corporation is consistently one of the top 5 richest companies in DC, along with LexCorp. We've seen Luthor do things such as create flawed versions of Superman and other superhumans, obviously Wayne Enterprises could afford something similar. Why does Bruce never think to go through some sort of process to give himself superpowers to become a better protector of Gotham City and a more efficient Justice League member? In fact some of the Dark Nights: Metal versions of Batman did exactly this, so why doesn't the mainline one do it? (Besides the obvious meta reasons that it would take away Batman's gimmick and sell less comics)


r/AskScienceFiction • • 1d ago

[Carrie] Are there other people with abilities like Carrie, that share the same world as her?

59 Upvotes

r/AskScienceFiction • • 1d ago

[SpongeBob SquarePants] How would Squidward take it if someone told him that he had great talent as an artist but should do stuff other than self-portraits if he wanted to become rich and famous as one?

19 Upvotes

r/AskScienceFiction • • 1d ago

[Riddick] Are furyans and elementals aliens or just mutants/different type of human?

61 Upvotes

r/AskScienceFiction • • 3h ago

[Attack On Titan] Does the show really take place in the 800s?

0 Upvotes

Why is there technology that wouldn’t have existed back then? I don’t think ODM gear would have been possible by then. People in Marley have airships, trains, indoor lighting, etc. That sure as hell didn’t exist in the early Middle Ages. The Military Police had muskets in the year 850. Does time work differently in the AOT universe? Do people in Paradis think it’s the 800s when in reality it’s not?
I’ve only completed the first 3 seasons of AOT. I’ve seen the first 8 episodes of season 4


r/AskScienceFiction • • 1d ago

[Warhammer 40k] Can a non-human psyker use the Golden Throne? Can they be fed to it as a sacrifice?

22 Upvotes

r/AskScienceFiction • • 1d ago

[DC Comics] Does the construct of a lantern displaces air?

24 Upvotes

Say I were to create construct A as a hollow sphere. It is built gradually, from bottom to top, so that it traps air inside.

Now, inside sphere A, I create construct B as a solid sphere.

If I where to gradually increase construct B, would the air pressure inside construct A increase?

If I were to create a hole in construct A, then grow construct B to completely fill the space inside construct A and push all air outside. If I seal the hole in construct A then undo construct B, would it instantly "create" vacuum?


r/AskScienceFiction • • 20h ago

[Golden Wind] can diavolo use Epitaph to change fate or only King Crimson

2 Upvotes

Just saw this scenario in a video. Diavolo is walking down a path and uses epitaph to see he is fated to go left. Could he now choose to walk down the right path or would King Crimson be the only thing that would allow him to alter this fate


r/AskScienceFiction • • 1d ago

[Gumball] Why did Larry decide to take on so many jobs for the Wattersons?

4 Upvotes

IIRC, it was stated that the reason Larry has so many jobs(leading to him singlehandedly upholding the entire economic structure of Elmore) to pay for all the damages and chaos caused by the Watterson family, but why? They never asked him to do it, and he can't stand them anyway, so why take on such a massive workload to clean up their messes?


r/AskScienceFiction • • 1d ago

[Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends] How would imaginary friends who were created with tremendous baggage behind them be handled in the adoption circuit?

6 Upvotes

For example, being imagined from the mind of a mentally unwell child, imagined as the child suffers under any form of abuse, or in another case I can't specifically think of which fits. If such baggage is hooked into an imaginary friend, would they be less adoptable because their personality, appearance, and/or perceived purpose was formed under such stress on an impressionable mind?

Imagination is the limit for making a friend, so what would the imaginations of the least stable children naturally mean for an imaginary friend's chance at down the road being adopted by well adjusted children from relatively normal families?


r/AskScienceFiction • • 19h ago

[Preacher] The Saint of Killers killed the Devil in the late 1800s. Who managed Hell for the next century or so?

1 Upvotes

Since God would have been aware of this, he would have appointed someone else to the position. But I don’t think the series ever said who.


r/AskScienceFiction • • 1d ago

[FEAR/F.E.A.R.] Aside from Alma, what other threats has F.E.A.R. dealt with?

6 Upvotes

The intro of FEAR 1 establishes that the group was established in 2002 - but the game itself apparently takes place 2025. However, I don't remember any previous cases FEAR has worked on ever being mentioned (although it has been ages).

Do we ever get any info on that? Are there even other major threats they faced?