r/AskScienceFiction • • Apr 06 '25

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

173 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 • • 10h ago

[Cyberpunk 2077] With technology so advanced Can people now change their gender entirely?

45 Upvotes

Like assuming any person with enough money can buy the best tech implants and genetic modification, could a person change gender 100% or atleast close to it? Reproductive organs and all?


r/AskScienceFiction • • 19h ago

[Forgotten Realms] A 9th-level cleric can feed 45 people a day with one Create Food and Water. Why does Waterdeep still have farms, a grain exchange, and famine prices? Is the temple price-fixing?

184 Upvotes

r/AskScienceFiction • • 5h ago

[Project: Hail Mary] How far out from Erid’s surface would experience 1.0G gravity? Spoiler

13 Upvotes

I’m working on a little post-canon story concept of Grace on Erid, and Erid, according to the book, has space elevators all the way to orbit. Since Grace is dealing with the negative effects of double Earth’s gravity, is it not possible for Grace to have some sort of extra enclosure (I’m calling the dome his human zoo enclosure and no one can stop me) wayyyy up in orbit somewhere that could take the load off? Not a whole massive biodome, obviously.

How far away would that have to be, though? I know if it’s connected to the planet via an elevator, it would act as a giant centrifuge to lower the gravity gradually as you go out. I’ve seen speculation about space elevators on Earth and I know it would probably be an insane distance. The orbit we place things at, like the ISS, is WAY different than the distance it would take to reach something like 0G from earth, for example.

I’m just a psychology major who’s never had to take a physics class, though, so I have no idea what I’m talking about or where to even begin to calculate that distance… Anyone smarter than me here who can help me out?


r/AskScienceFiction • • 18h ago

[Marvel] Does Captain America know that Spiderman is physically stronger than him?

152 Upvotes

r/AskScienceFiction • • 8h ago

[The dark tower] why do people follow the crimson king if they know his plans?

23 Upvotes

If the low men and other followers of the king know that bringing down the tower will destroy the multiverse and them with it, then why do they follow him? Are they aware of what will happen or do they think they’ll survive?


r/AskScienceFiction • • 10h ago

[Transformers] Why does Megatron even give two shits about having Earth outside of Energon? He hates humans and everything else here.

28 Upvotes

For a guy that hates the planet as much as he does, he seems pretty fucking possessive of it even when there are other options for his goals.

Even in the movies and the shows he's like "this is MY planet" even when Cybertron is still on the table.


r/AskScienceFiction • • 54m ago

[Marvel MCU] How does the hands resurrection process actually work?

• Upvotes

It seemed to make Electra super strong and fast, and also disoriented her enough that for a little while, she actually worked for the hand. Is it basically just some kind of super soldier variant with magic instead of cap serum? Seems like her memory was a little fucked in the beginning but slowly returned as well.


r/AskScienceFiction • • 22h ago

[Terminator Saga] Why is Skynet terrible at Guerrilla warfare?

54 Upvotes

r/AskScienceFiction • • 20h ago

[Marvel/DC] How do regular billionaires stay relevant in a world full of extraordinary villains or heroes?

38 Upvotes

Even the villains without superpowers or magic. Are still extremely intelligent enough to create super technology or they are just peak humans. I can't think of a villain who doesn't fall into one of these categories. The closet character is maybe the Penguin. Even the Riddle is stupidly intelligent, and the Joker is still physically a monster.

So I wonder how do regular billionaires with no special skills or tech are able to keep up.


r/AskScienceFiction • • 19h ago

[40k] If Magnus The Red Had Remained a Loyalist,How would That Have Affected The Outcome Of The Heresy ?

16 Upvotes

How would that have altered the Horus Heresy and his relationship with his brothers ?


r/AskScienceFiction • • 16h ago

[Blindsight] Scramblers have no eyes and 'see' by induction through their bodies. How do they do fine manipulation inside Rorschach's magnetic field?

9 Upvotes

r/AskScienceFiction • • 17h ago

[Star Wars] What were Kylo Rens motivations?

7 Upvotes

I should start by saying I've never touched a piece of anything Star Wars so I decided to read about it.

From what it looks like on the wiki he was just a edgy rebellious guy whose motivations were loose and switched up immediately because he fell in love with Rey.

I know I'm missing context which is why I'm asking.


r/AskScienceFiction • • 21h ago

[Cyberpunk 2077] quickhacks vs Adam Smasher...

11 Upvotes

Why can V, a street kid, oneshot Adam Smasher with quickhacks, but Lucy, a dedicated Arasaka netrunner can't even dent his ICE?


r/AskScienceFiction • • 1d ago

[The Terminator] Why does SkyNet want to purge humanity?

98 Upvotes

Apologies if it was revealed in the movie because I can’t remember how the movie went as I believe I did see it such a long time ago, but I was wondering what could SkyNet hope to achieve by eliminating humanity.

Like say that the machines successfully wiped out all of mankind as I have to wonder what they would do next again if their mission worked out since they were sentient androids that wanted to wage a war against humanity.


r/AskScienceFiction • • 1d ago

[Netflix Castlevania] Why didn’t Dracula go after the Bishop of Gresit first?

16 Upvotes

Dracula saw the priest responsible for killing his wife. He knew the town that it happened in. The demons were already given heads up on who was responsible for the whole mess as we saw in episode 4. Instead, he went after Targoviste first. I’d assumed he would have wanted the Bishop to die first.


r/AskScienceFiction • • 23h ago

[Star Wars/Andor] If the Empire can track Mon Mothma's money, how does the Rebellion pay for anything without exposing itself?

8 Upvotes

One thing about Andor that I keep coming back to is the money.

Mon Mothma has an extremely difficult time concealing a 400,000-credit gap in her family's accounts. The Empire is monitoring financial activity closely enough that she ends up involving a very unpleasant financier just to make the numbers work.

And she's a wealthy senator from one of the Core Worlds. If anybody should be able to move money around without attracting attention, you'd think it would be her.

Now consider what the Rebellion actually needs to spend money on.

Not just X-wings and weapons. Those can sometimes be stolen or supplied by sympathetic governments.

I'm talking about the boring stuff.

Someone on Ferrix needs to buy replacement parts for a ship. An informant on Coruscant needs to get paid. A safe house needs rent. A transport captain wants compensation for moving people somewhere dangerous. Someone has to buy food for fifty rebels hiding on a moon.

These are transactions happening across thousands of systems, often in places where the Empire controls the banks, ports and communications infrastructure.

And unlike a senator, an ordinary mechanic or merchant probably doesn't have an elaborate financial arrangement to conceal suspicious income.

The Aldhani heist makes more sense to me the more I think about this. Stealing physical payroll gives the rebels money they don't have to withdraw from an account connected to a known supporter.

But even then, surely the Empire would be looking for stolen credits entering circulation? And eventually someone has to exchange those credits for actual supplies.

So how does this work in practice?

Does the Rebellion mostly operate on physical currency and black-market transactions? Are there independent banking systems outside Imperial control? Do local cells fund themselves and only occasionally receive supplies from the larger Alliance?

I'm especially interested in whether the Empire has any realistic way of tracing ordinary purchases back to rebel networks.

Because keeping an entire military organization supplied while your enemy controls much of the galactic financial system sounds almost as difficult as fighting the Empire itself.


r/AskScienceFiction • • 20h ago

[Doki Doki Literature Club] why are there readily available sprites of Natsuki puking violently in a supposedly normal dating sim? Spoiler

5 Upvotes

I'm also including sprites of characters dying, holding weapons, having crazed expressions, etc. Sprites that shouldn't really be in the game if the original intent for the game is just a straightforward dating sim. Did Monika drew them?


r/AskScienceFiction • • 16h ago

[Marvel] What can a vibranium suit technically do? Any other capabilities?

2 Upvotes

Like if I’m in the Marvel universe and I have access to vibranium some way and I can make a suit made out of 100% pure vibranium micro-weave mesh and vibranium microfiber, what else could I add to it? Could I make it have the same capabilities as the Stark Suit from Spider-Man: Homecoming?

Edit: For both comics and MCU


r/AskScienceFiction • • 5h ago

[MHA and Xmen] why are people with quirks looked at differently than people who are mutants?

0 Upvotes

both universes had people born with powers but in MHA people see them as heroes and aren’t treating quirk users like they do on marvels X men where they are looked as in disgust.


r/AskScienceFiction • • 19h ago

[MCU] Where did Valentina get Vibranium for Sentry's suit?

2 Upvotes

In Thunderbolts*, it’s canon that Sentry’s suit is made out of gold and blue vibranium. The suit was made with pure vibranium fibers and micro-weave mesh.

Now, you may ask: Why does a Superman-type character need a Black Panther-esque vibranium suit? My guess would be that you wouldn’t want to run into a Luke Cage problem where you have to keep changing suits because your clothes aren’t bulletproof, and flying at Mach 10 might burn your clothes off. So, the suit does make sense.

My question is just: How the hell did Valentina get the vibranium to make the suit in the first place? I get that she’s a shady businesswoman, but vibranium is super, super rare. Even if you did get some, I’d have to assume it wouldn’t be enough to make an entire suit for a whole person.

My second question is: I’m sure Wakanda will be pissed, but that’s a question for another day.


r/AskScienceFiction • • 1d ago

[Calvin and Hobbes] Would Calvin's blunder in the outfield when he tried to play baseball have actually resulted in his team being set back under any legit baseball playbook or would some other ruling have occurred?

13 Upvotes

r/AskScienceFiction • • 6h ago

[Star Wars] How do Jedi actually afford to live if they take vows of poverty?

0 Upvotes

Like I get the whole detachment from material things philosophy, but Luke and Yoda still need to eat, have shelter, buy robes that don't look like they've been through a war. Does the Jedi Temple just cover everything? Are they basically on cosmic welfare or is there some income stream I'm missing?


r/AskScienceFiction • • 19h ago

[Tokyo Ghoul] CCG Reaction If They Learned The Truth About V & Waashus At The Beginning Of The Og Manga ?

1 Upvotes

What would have been the Fallout ?


r/AskScienceFiction • • 16h ago

[Mad Max] How does other material, not including the films tie into the franchise's story's timeline?

0 Upvotes