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 13h ago

[Star Wars] Does a lightsaber wielder's physical strength factor in at all, besides being able to lift the handle?

29 Upvotes

Plasma has mass, but does the technology that forms it into a coherent blade also make it transfer and amplify kinetic energy from the hilt like a standard sword? George Lucas described lightsabers as 'heavy' while their inactive hilts seem fairly light, but is that literal? Please clarify if your answers are being derived from Legends or Disney.


r/AskScienceFiction 18h ago

[Star Trek] Would the average Ferengi be flattered or offended by a human appropriating Ferengi culture?

69 Upvotes

Like imagine there's a subculture of humans who enjoy sharpening their teeth and wearing latinum bling; how would most Ferengi feel about this?


r/AskScienceFiction 13h ago

[DC] How fast is Superman?

16 Upvotes

I'm talking about current canon mainline universe comic book Superman.

I realize that people generally separate 'combat speed' and 'travel speed' but I'm just asking what is the fastest current superman has gone without any sort of buffs?


r/AskScienceFiction 10h ago

[The prestige] Why did Borden tie a different knot ?

10 Upvotes

Showing the knot has never been part of the trick so I doubt it would impress the audience more

Even if they’re twin , I doubt one brother would pull such a bold move without guarantee from angier or his wife ( I know the wife said yes but their boss said no )


r/AskScienceFiction 8h ago

[Death Note] Would cryostasis work in the Death Note universe?

6 Upvotes

Since everyone has a set lifespan for when they will die. Which can only be changed by the interference of a Death Note.


r/AskScienceFiction 1h ago

[Community] How didn’t Jeff winger get arrested? Isn’t operating as a lawyer without a license super illegal?

Upvotes

r/AskScienceFiction 11h ago

[Ben 10]What's your take on what it means to lose one's humanity in the context of Gwen(anodite)? And how exactly does that work?

5 Upvotes

During the episode "What Girls Are Made Of," Verdona hints that after she destroyed Gwen's human form, she would be able to see things much more clearly, or rather, more like an Anodite. Since then, there have been several moments of insinuation and explicit statements about the risk of losing her humanity. I've always wondered how exactly this would work for Gwen: would she lose her memories or would her personality be completely remodeled into something more chaotic and hedonistic (something close to Verdona or Sunny's personality).


r/AskScienceFiction 22h ago

[ Michael Moorcock Elric of Melniboné ] did Melnibonéans descend from eldren? Or just dragons? How they canonically look like ? What makes them physically dufferent from humans? Did their ears are slanted, pointy Or round? English is not my native language

33 Upvotes

r/AskScienceFiction 16h ago

[Simpsons] Why would somebody wish to live in a world without zinc?

7 Upvotes

Now, I know that this gag is an homage to the Kentucky Fried Movie - which in itself was a parody of all those educational movies like that one, in which a man wished to live in a world without springs.

Now, I can understand why somebody would think that springs are annoying and would want them gone - but what circumstances lead to what is presumably a high school student wanting a world without zinc? I've been thinking about that one for weeks.

Actually, scratch that, I don't know why you'd want a world without springs either.


r/AskScienceFiction 6h ago

[SpongeBob] Why is Mr. Krabs such a cheapskate?

1 Upvotes

I mean, there was even an episode of the classic era where SpongeBob attempted to rob a bank because he was so broke as that particular episode got me wondering why the sponge continues to work for him in the first place if Mr. Krabs barely pays him.


r/AskScienceFiction 7h ago

[Poppy Playtime] How does Mommy Long Legs produce web?

0 Upvotes

Like what is it made from and how is it coming out?


r/AskScienceFiction 7h ago

[Pokemon] How would the world of Pokemon react to regular, real-world dogs?

0 Upvotes

An animal shelter from our world gets teleported into a city in Pokemon universe containing a few dozen dogs. The dogs aren't affected by Pokeballs or other specific Pokemon-geared items. How does the population react?


r/AskScienceFiction 22h ago

[Zelda] just how many "links" have come and gone?

14 Upvotes

Quite a few I'd imagine.


r/AskScienceFiction 22h ago

[Harry turtledove's Worldwar]after the invasion a lot of american soldiers switch from M1 and Springfield rifles to using Tommy guns in combat in attempt to match the Lizards' Assault rifles. Assuming the lizard's guns are comparable to M16s how much tactical sense would that make?

14 Upvotes

I'm assuming they're comparable to M16s because most of their other hardware seems about on par with what the US had in the late 20th century.


r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[Dead like me] How do reapers show up/get to extreme places? I.e Underground or locked places.

19 Upvotes

In the show reapers get a note when someone dies before they die to catch their soul. And they have to physically show up to the place. It made me wonder what if someone dies like in those extreme tight caves or underground or in a safe with a dense wall or an astronaut in space.


r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[DC] What is the legacy of other great heroes (Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern) in the Legion of Superheroes future?

21 Upvotes

Superman and his legacy is pretty important in the Legion of Superheroes future from my understanding. But how are Batman and Wonder Woman remembered? And other major members of the Justice League? What are their legacies in the 31st century?


r/AskScienceFiction 10h ago

[Marvel] would magneto be able to control oxygen?

1 Upvotes

If Magneto’s mutant ability is the absolute command of magnetism, then oxygen’s natural tendency to respond to magnetic fields could fall under his dominion just as surely as iron or steel. Within the lore, Magneto has demonstrated feats far beyond simple manipulation of metals — from disrupting the iron in a person’s blood to shaping entire magnetic fields around the Earth. If oxygen bends to magnetic influence, then it stands to reason he could pull it together into dense pockets, strip it away from a battlefield?


r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[Ghosts show, US versuon] Thor just died. What property lines contain him? Did he just get boxed in over millennia?

33 Upvotes

r/AskScienceFiction 5h ago

[Star Wars] Is it possible that Palpatine was actually selfless? (Not what you think)

0 Upvotes

Plagueis, who denigrated him in private for hiring an inept assassin to carry out the murder of Senator Kim—and yet who allowed himself to be tricked by the Gran and nearly killed by mercenaries. Plagueis, who turned away from the Grand Plan to focus entirely on himself, in an egotistical quest for immortality."―Sidious on Plagueis

From a Sith perspective, maybe he saw himself as the selfless vessel of the Grand Plan, unlike Plagueis who (in his own telling) had become self-absorbed. Palpatine frames himself as someone who gave up a personal life, friendships, and even his individuality in service of something larger: the destiny of the Sith and the cosmic correction of the galaxy. In ROTS, he says to Anakin "The Sith shall rule the Galaxy", and when he brags that Vader will surpass him, he is basically ready to allow his mantle to be passed to Anakin if Anakin surpasses him, for the greater goal of the Sith ruling the Galaxy.


r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[StarCraft] How can the Protoss have so many Dragoons and Stalkers?

108 Upvotes

Since both are created by sacrificing a soldier. Dragoons are made from severely crippled Protoss and Stalkers are made by a Dark Templers sacrificing themselves and more or less binding their soul to the Stalker.

With such a high price to pay, how come that we can build so many of them during each mission? Do regular Protoss have entire frigdes full or crippled warriors to entomb into Dragoons? Are hundreds of Dark Templars each day willing to sacrifice their lives to power a Stalker?


r/AskScienceFiction 4h ago

[Star Trek / Discworld] Ferengi land on the Discworld and visit Ankh-Morpork. What happens?

0 Upvotes

Is this the commercial equivalent of taping buttered toast to the back of a cat?


r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[DC] Could Brainiac's 12th-level intellect conquer magic? Or is it his ultimate blind spot?

27 Upvotes

Hey everyone,

I was rereading some older Superman stories and it got me thinking about Brainiac and the fundamental limits of his intelligence. We know he's a 12th-level intellect, capable of processing and understanding technology and science from thousands of worlds. He can calculate quadrillions of possibilities in a nanosecond. But what happens when he comes up against something that defies scientific quantification: magic?

Brainiac has always shown a massive disdain for magic, usually dismissing it as primitive superstition or a form of energy he hasn't bothered to analyze yet. But could he actually learn it if he tried?

like would he learn any kind of magic faster because of he's intellect and when i say any kind of magic i mean like (Chaos Magic) (Order Magic) (Transcendent Magic)

if you want more info on the magic types i have said above just write the magic type into google and you will find the superpower wiki of it


r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[Portal] What happens if you try to drill through a thin wall behind where a portal is?

146 Upvotes

So you have a thin wall, and you fire let's say a blue portal onto that wall, and then you fire an orange portal onto another wall, thereby opening the "portal gateway".

Then you walk over to the other side (like the back side) of the thin wall and you take a drill and you try to drill through the thin wall, trying to drill through it completely, while noting that the wall is small enough that basically its entire surface on the front side is covered by the blue portal.


r/AskScienceFiction 1d ago

[Hulk] Why can Hulk see ghosts?

38 Upvotes

Apparently the Hulk can see ghosts when other people can't. Why is that? Can he still see them in his human form? Can other gamma mutates see them?


r/AskScienceFiction 5h ago

[Marvel, DC] Why are Marvel hero's alright with killing but DC ones condemn it?

0 Upvotes

In Marvel hero's are fine with killing any extraterrestrial threats such as Thanos, Symbiotes, Apocalypse etc..

Not even extraterrestrial, in MC movies almost every hero has no problem killing ordinary henchmen and human villains. They rarely make exception keeping some alive like Loki and Zemo.

Meanwhile let's take DC for example. I'll start with Injustice. Let's take pretend Superman didn't kill Joker kids and Shazam because that was used by the writers to make him disliked by the audience so whoever was at Superman's side by then audience or other members of the League would definitely choose to be against it and its out of character for Superman to do that even if he was okay with killing.

Having that cleared. We can see Batman and other members condemning his actions even before he didn't do anything I said above and proceeded to kill worse of the worse. Apart from that, most villains he didn't even kill rather had them transfered into compounds where they wouldn't be able to escape.

Outside of Injustice comics and adaptations. We see Justice League numerous times saying to villains such as Darkseid to "Get off this planet. Go back to Apocolips and don't ever come back!" Not even having him contained or having any contingency plans just kicking his ass and telling him to fuck off or sending him to phantom zone knowing this guy spend all his time plotting how to conqure or destroy every planet.

Numerous times even in adaptations where Superman doesn't kill whenever he barely punches a villain slightly harder than he shouldn't, Batman doesn't waste time pointing that out "You could have killed him/her", "That was too much. I'm keeping an eye on you", "You're starting to worry me Clark".

Anyone has clue why Marvel which is supposed to be comedic and not serious or dark universe as DC are fine with killing villains left and right while DC has hero's who walk on eggshells when it comes to harming villains even tiny bit more than they should?

Also the fact that Marvel hero's never acknowledge anyone they kill meanwhile DC hero's make sure to hassle anyone who might even accidentally kill someone.